Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)
Hi all,
I was a big fan of Level 9 back in the 80s, and had virtually all of
their games for my trusty Amstrad CPC. Sadly, when the time came to sell
it the games had to go too. Between that, going off to university and
all the rest of it, it's taken until now to pick one up again. Happily,
for once they're just as good as I remembered.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'd like to put together a sort of
"definitive" set of their games, including the best version of each
game. I seem to remember that Level 9 might have tailored their games to
fit within the confines of each platform, adjusting the amount of text
and number of graphics if necessary; the idea is to root out the
versions that have the best of each. The IF Archive mostly has Spectrum
and BBC versions, which don't always include the bitmap graphics that
the later games had on some platforms, for example.
Since there are people here who know a lot more about this than I do, it
would be good if I could pick a few brains... (All those who are annoyed
by pedantry, look away now.)
1. What is the current copyright status of these games? They're in the
Archive and marked as "Former Commercial" by Baf, but what's the
position when it comes to e.g. redistributing them? (If I get the set
together, I'd like to make it available somehow, either by uploading
it to the Archive or putting it on my own website; would it be best
to contact one of the Austins first? If so, does anybody know how I
can track them down?)
2. Apart from the significant expansion of the text that happened when
e.g. Lords of Time got a facelift for inclusion in the Time and Magik
trilogy, is the text in all the versions the same, or have some been
"trimmed to fit"?
3. Following on from (2), are the line graphics the same on all
platforms, or are there differences to account e.g. for the number of
available colours? For example, the PC version of Silicon Dreams
alone comes with two versions, for CGA and Hercules displays, but I
can't see any obvious difference between them when I run them through
the Level9 interpreter. What's the story here?
At the moment, I'm trying to dig out the Amiga versions of all the games
with bitmap graphics (since they're generally a little better than the
other versions) but I've only managed to track down the Time and Magik
trilogy, Scapeghost and Lancelot. That leaves Knight Orc, Gnome Ranger
and Gnome Ranger II: Ingrid's Back!; does anyone have copies of these
that they could send me? (Just take the magic word out of my email address.)
What I'd like to finish up with is a set of games, together with nicely
typeset versions of the novellas that came with some of them (the ones
I've found on the 'net leave a bit to be desired), and aesthetically
pleasing interpreters for as many platforms as possible. (Gargoyle has
been a revelation, and Cugel looks like it'll do the same for OSX.) The
end result, I reckon, will be a fitting tribute to the company that
first ignited my interest in IF.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi all,
I was a big fan of Level 9 back in the 80s, and had virtually all of
their games for my trusty Amstrad CPC. Sadly, when the time came to sell
it the games had to go too. Between that, going off to university and
all the rest of it, it's taken until now to pick one up again. Happily,
for once they're just as good as I remembered.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'd like to put together a sort of
"definitive" set of their games, including the best version of each
game. I seem to remember that Level 9 might have tailored their games to
fit within the confines of each platform, adjusting the amount of text
and number of graphics if necessary; the idea is to root out the
versions that have the best of each. The IF Archive mostly has Spectrum
and BBC versions, which don't always include the bitmap graphics that
the later games had on some platforms, for example.
Since there are people here who know a lot more about this than I do, it
would be good if I could pick a few brains... (All those who are annoyed
by pedantry, look away now.)
1. What is the current copyright status of these games? They're in the
Archive and marked as "Former Commercial" by Baf, but what's the
position when it comes to e.g. redistributing them? (If I get the set
together, I'd like to make it available somehow, either by uploading
it to the Archive or putting it on my own website; would it be best
to contact one of the Austins first? If so, does anybody know how I
can track them down?)
2. Apart from the significant expansion of the text that happened when
e.g. Lords of Time got a facelift for inclusion in the Time and Magik
trilogy, is the text in all the versions the same, or have some been
"trimmed to fit"?
3. Following on from (2), are the line graphics the same on all
platforms, or are there differences to account e.g. for the number of
available colours? For example, the PC version of Silicon Dreams
alone comes with two versions, for CGA and Hercules displays, but I
can't see any obvious difference between them when I run them through
the Level9 interpreter. What's the story here?
At the moment, I'm trying to dig out the Amiga versions of all the games
with bitmap graphics (since they're generally a little better than the
other versions) but I've only managed to track down the Time and Magik
trilogy, Scapeghost and Lancelot. That leaves Knight Orc, Gnome Ranger
and Gnome Ranger II: Ingrid's Back!; does anyone have copies of these
that they could send me? (Just take the magic word out of my email address.)
What I'd like to finish up with is a set of games, together with nicely
typeset versions of the novellas that came with some of them (the ones
I've found on the 'net leave a bit to be desired), and aesthetically
pleasing interpreters for as many platforms as possible. (Gargoyle has
been a revelation, and Cugel looks like it'll do the same for OSX.) The
end result, I reckon, will be a fitting tribute to the company that
first ignited my interest in IF.
Cheers,
Peter
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