Original message (3606 Views )
| OmegaDog 1435th Post
 
Red Carpet Executive Member
    
    
    
    
|  "Some old adventure titles, free to the public" , posted Sun 13 Feb 13:19:
This is actually considerably old news, but I figure there might be adventure game fans here who might not know of it.
Two old adventure games that were once commercial were released to the public a long while back.
- Beneath a Steel Sky
Virgin Interactive Entertainment / Revolution Software
commercial release: 1993/1994; freeware release: August 2003
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
- Flight of the Amazon Queen
Warner Interactive Entertainment / Interactive Binary Illusions
commercial release: 1995; freeware release: March 2004
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
And you can download them via the ScummVM Downloads page -- both the floppy and the CD/talkie versions. You'll also need ScummVM to play them (as the original executables aren't included and wouldn't work anyway, as the audio is compressed). Don't worry, though -- ScummVM is open-source freeware program that's available for a wide variety of platforms (even Dreamcast) -- and at least on Windows, PocketPC, and Dreamcast, it works wonderfully. [It's actually meant to be an interpreter for LucasArts adventure games, though there's support for other engines too.]
Other info:
=== Here's a Beneath a Steel Sky HTML Manual from this fan page, which also offers their own BASS download -- though it seems the ScummVM executable there is tailor-made to just play BASS.
=== If you want to know how to set things up with the Dreamcast port of ScummVM, lemme know and I'll gladly post how. If you're already familiar with making your own bootable DC Homebrew discs, though, just a couple warnings (I'll post more detailed info about the warnings if folks request it):
- If you use Selfboot Inducer to burn your DC Homebrew discs, the latest ScummVM SBI pack off of sbiffy.com doesn't work without extra files (this SBI pack should work, though).
- To use the talkie version of Queen with ScummVM DC, you'll need the uncompressed audio version. It can be grabbed here -- though it's in a CD image in Discjuggler format. (I couldn't extract it via DAEMON Tools -- I had to burn a CD and then take the queen.1 file off of there.)
CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 20
[this message was edited by OmegaDog on Sun 13 Feb 13:24] |
| Replies: |
| Lupin 2924th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
| "Re(1):Some old adventure titles, free to the" , posted Sun 13 Feb 13:42
Interesting, I don't mind that it's old at all. quote:
This is actually considerably old news, but I figure there might be adventure game fans here who might not know of it.
Two old adventure games that were once commercial were released to the public a long while back.
- Beneath a Steel Sky
Virgin Interactive Entertainment / Revolution Software
commercial release: 1993/1994; freeware release: August 2003
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
- Flight of the Amazon Queen
Warner Interactive Entertainment / Interactive Binary Illusions
commercial release: 1995; freeware release: March 2004
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
And you can download them via the ScummVM Downloads page -- both the floppy and the CD/talkie versions. You'll also need ScummVM to play them (as the original executables aren't included and wouldn't work anyway, as the audio is compressed). Don't worry, though -- ScummVM is open-source freeware program that's available for a wide variety of platforms (even Dreamcast) -- and at least on Windows, PocketPC, and Dreamcast, it works wonderfully. [It's actually meant to be an interpreter for LucasArts adventure games, though there's support for other engines too.]
Other info:
=== Here's a Beneath a Steel Sky HTML Manual from this fan page, which also offers their own BASS download -- though it seems the ScummVM executable there is tailor-made to just play BASS.
=== If you want to know how to set things up with the Dreamcast port of ScummVM, lemme know and I'll gladly post how. If you're already familiar with making your own bootable DC Homebrew discs, though, just a couple warnings (I'll post more detailed info about the warnings if folks request it):
- If you use Selfboot Inducer to burn your DC Homebrew discs, the latest ScummVM SBI pack off of sbiffy.com doesn't work without extra files (this SBI pack should work, though).
- To use the talkie version of Queen with ScummVM DC, you'll need the uncompressed audio version. It can be grabbed here -- though it's in a CD image in Discjuggler format. (I couldn't extract it via DAEMON Tools -- I had to burn a CD and then take the queen.1 file off of there.)
How do we know they are freeware?
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| Oroch 796th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(1):Some old adventure titles, free to the " , posted Sun 13 Feb 14:14
quote:
This is actually considerably old news, but I figure there might be adventure game fans here who might not know of it.
Two old adventure games that were once commercial were released to the public a long while back.
- Beneath a Steel Sky
Virgin Interactive Entertainment / Revolution Software
commercial release: 1993/1994; freeware release: August 2003
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
- Flight of the Amazon Queen
Warner Interactive Entertainment / Interactive Binary Illusions
commercial release: 1995; freeware release: March 2004
MobyGames listing (not a download link)
And you can download them via the ScummVM Downloads page -- both the floppy and the CD/talkie versions. You'll also need ScummVM to play them (as the original executables aren't included and wouldn't work anyway, as the audio is compressed). Don't worry, though -- ScummVM is open-source freeware program that's available for a wide variety of platforms (even Dreamcast) -- and at least on Windows, PocketPC, and Dreamcast, it works wonderfully. [It's actually meant to be an interpreter for LucasArts adventure games, though there's support for other engines too.]
Other info:
=== Here's a Beneath a Steel Sky HTML Manual from this fan page, which also offers their own BASS download -- though it seems the ScummVM executable there is tailor-made to just play BASS.
=== If you want to know how to set things up with the Dreamcast port of ScummVM, lemme know and I'll gladly post how. If you're already familiar with making your own bootable DC Homebrew discs, though, just a couple warnings (I'll post more detailed info about the warnings if folks request it):
- If you use Selfboot Inducer to burn your DC Homebrew discs, the latest ScummVM SBI pack off of sbiffy.com doesn't work without extra files (this SBI pack should work, though).
- To use the talkie version of Queen with ScummVM DC, you'll need the uncompressed audio version. It can be grabbed here -- though it's in a CD image in Discjuggler format. (I couldn't extract it via DAEMON Tools -- I had to burn a CD and then take the queen.1 file off of there.)
i know for a fact that BASS was released as freeware a few years ago by the developers themselves
and its definately a game that everyone should try
as for the other, im not sure
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| OmegaDog 1437th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "More info on their freeware release" , posted Sun 13 Feb 19:04:
Heh, I suppose I should've researched it and confirmed it beforehand, eh? Aw well, here it is anyway.
Beneath a Steel Sky: Revolution Software mentions both on its front page (scroll down) and the BASS game page that game was released as freeware.
Flight of the Amazon Queen: I couldn't find any mention of Queen on the Warner Interactive Entertainment page, and I couldn't even find company pages for Interactive Binary Illusions or Renegade Software. (Defunct?) But according to the Queen README, it's the co-creators of the game, John Passfield and Steve Stamatiadis, who own the copyright and released the game as freeware. Both of them are currently co-owners of Krome Studios, developers of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.
John Passfield mentions the freeware release in his page -- I couldn't find a mention from Steve Stamatiadas's page, more than a mention on his bio that he made it (though it turns out he's a fan of Akiman, which makes him cool all the same). Either way, when you have decently high profiles like those, I'd imagine it's safe to assume they know not to release stuff that isn't theirs.
Oh, and apparently, more free stuff from these companies.
- Revolution Software released their first adventure game, Lure of the Temptress, for free.
- John Passfield has a couple of non-game toys on his site (same link as above) for download that he and Steve Stamatiadis designed.
- Warner Bros. has an entire online arcade, though of note for this thread will be the two adventure games featured there: Arcane and Steppenwolf, both made by a studio in Quebec named Sarbakan. For being flash games, it seems they had decently-high budgets.
CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 20
[this message was edited by OmegaDog on Mon 14 Feb 03:28] |
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