Classic SSI RPG rereleases by Forthright Entertainment

[KeighnMcDeath]

Probably Lucas McCain.

 

[Infinitron]

More SSI rereleases from Forthright:

https://af.gog.com/game/shard_of_spring?as=1649904300

Quietly released by SSI in 1986 and 1987 were 2 PC conversions of their classic Apple II RPGs: Demon's Winter and The Shard of Spring. Both games are solid "conventional" RPGs (i.e. top-down view, lots of loot and monsters) which emphasizes level advancement and typical "kill the big foozle" endgame.

The blessed island of Ymros is always at ease thanks to the Shard Of Spring -- a crystal that bestows eternal springtime. Now, the evil sorceress Siriadne has stolen the sacred shard and you have to get it back. The world you once knew has fallen to hunger, famine and despair. Everyone now asks you to come forward and take the challenge!

Shard of Spring is a role-playing game, in which the player creates and builds up a party of adventurers composed of the traditional races of humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, and gnomes. The two main classes are warrior and wizard; each class specializes in different skills (such as elemental proficiencies). Towns are represented by simple text menus; most of the action takes place in the dungeons, fighting enemy parties in turn-based combat.

https://af.gog.com/game/demons_winter?as=1649904300

In Demon's Winter, you must search the lands and seas for spells to trap the demon-god Malifon and undo his mystical curse. Entertaining and very well-written, if not revolutionary.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

 

[Null Null]

time for codex to buy the trademark for SSI games

Serious question: are there old-school trademarks still for sale, and how much would it cost to buy?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

For SSI?

 

[Null Null]

Yeah, but probably doesn't make much sense at this point.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Atm, only old games on DOS are slowly being released. I snagged that abandonware ages ago. You can still find it on Russian sites and a few hidden private archives. Most others are scrubbed. It is retarded when they scrub c64, appleii, etc. etc.

 

[JamesDixon]

time for codex to buy the trademark for SSI games

Serious question: are there old-school trademarks still for sale, and how much would it cost to buy?

In the US it would be $250 per class of goods and services using TEAS Plus or $350 for TEAS. In the US, it's a use it or lose it situation on trademarks and you have to rigorously defend them.

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like they're coming to Steam. Sword of Aragon is listed.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Pity no releases of a Road war 2000 and RW Europa.

 

[Comte_II]

Also Age of Rifles thats all I want

 

[newtmonkey]

The steam page description is taken word by word from the Home of the Underdogs review. That is probably a good indicator of how much effort went into putting this on Steam. I would not be surprised if they just got the game itself from the same source lol

[Edit]
This has continued to annoy me. It turns my stomach that these vultures are profiting on the work of fans who have kept these games alive for years and years simply out of love for the games. Then some vulture swoops in and does the bare minimum, literally steals the product description from a fan, and now you are forced to buy this thing from them.

What's worse is that the Internet in general is now a giant farce. Everyone has jumped ship to officially sanctioned "forums" (Steam forums, Discord) completely controlled by these vultures. There is no legitimate means of discussing this stuff anymore. No offense to the Codex, but who pays any attention to this place? Even if I bring this up on the Steam forum, the company can simply delete my post. Even if I complain to Steam, they can simply ignore it. There is no recourse, and it sucks.

 

[SpoonFULL]

Agree with newtmonkey sentiment. For the Sword of Aragon, I think it is only plagiarism of game description. The game was previously released in GoG (with the same description).

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Is freegogpc a shit place to ahem... yardity har har from the high internet seas? It sure as hell ain't hard to find. SAFE? I dunno.... Ethical... well, that's up to you. I think I own the dos Arragon from before GoG came to be when myabandonware wasn't being pinched by the vultures. Hell, I probably had it from HOTU back when they hosted games. Now... a many kilobyte game becomes a many megabyte game but it plays and looks just the same.

 

[LESS T_T]

Well, I should have noticed that these trademarks are abandoned as of the time we found them out because they didn't submit docs stating their actual use cases.

They re-applied SSI-related trademarks in July.

But looks like they are different set of marks from the last time. No Phantasie this time but instead they have things like Raven's CyClones.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Well, I should have noticed that these trademarks are abandoned as of the time we found them out because they didn't submit docs stating their actual use cases.

They re-applied SSI-related trademarks in July.

But looks like they are different set of marks from the last time. No Phantasie this time but instead they have things like Raven's CyClones.

I'm pretty certain that People's General was released on GOG earler this year.
Any change that this might impact availability of it?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

The shit is ANY SSI title from apple/atari/c64 on up is locked up unless you fish around. I hate that shit as they'll never release those titles. DOS/Win might get releases but other... NOPE!

Edit... now finding the game files isn't terribly hard but documentation can be a real fucking chore (esp if on multiple game computer platforms).

 

[newtmonkey]

Even if I bring this up on the Steam forum, the company can simply delete my post.

BTW, they just did this haha. I would distrust anything released from this company. Download all the SSI games from the usual places while you still can.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Esp the non DOS.

 

[newtmonkey]

Update on this: They removed my post, and messaged me on Steam thanking me for pointing it out, and blaming it on a "freelancer." Two months later, the description is still there haha.