PLATO Flats
Description
PLATO Flats is a golfing simulation on the PLATO network. The game features various terrain types such as sand and water hazards, rough, fairway, putting greens, trees, etc. The game uses a top down view to display the course with various zoom levels, but the player enters their shot information using a text prompt. For each turn the player must pick a club and adjust aim based on wind velocity and direction as well as give a power level for the swing. Direction is entered as an angle, where right = 0 degrees, up=90 degrees, left = 180 degrees and down = 270 degrees, which takes some getting used to. After each shot the graphics update once to show the new location of the ball and you repeat the process. The game allows play with multiple players over the network. Also included is a driving range for practising hitting the ball.
The game was eventually removed from the PLATO network and recreated from scratch as "Golf".
