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I'll shake my fist :D Id software pioneered the shareware model in 1990 with Commander Keen, six years before they used it in Quake. In fact, Keen, Keen 4, W
by swivelmaster 10y ago
I'll shake my fist :D
Id software pioneered the shareware model in 1990 with Commander Keen, six years before they used it in Quake.
In fact, Keen, Keen 4, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom all used a three-episode shareware structure where the first episode was free and the rest were considered the "full version."
Doom 2 did not use this structure because Doom itself was a good enough advertisement for it. id then used it again in Quake, but fully broke from it with Quake 2, which just had a demo with a few levels.
- flukus 10y agoThis is the oldest I can think of, 1989 - Hugos House of Horrors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo's_House_of_Horrors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo's_House_of_Horrors
- fsloth 10y agoID most certainly did not pioneer the shareware model. Shareware as a model is nearly as old as the personal computer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware
- PhasmaFelis 10y agoTechnically correct, but the specific Apogee model of shareware (one free episode, two or more commercial episodes) was much more successful than the original model of distributing everything for free and politely asking people to pay for it; it was pioneered by Id's publisher Apogee.
- fsloth 10y agoAh, good point. I stand semi-corrected :)
- j2kun 10y agoCommander Keen games were a staple of my early video game experience.
- godzillabrennus 10y agoNo reason to stop now: http://store.steampowered.com/app/9180/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/9180/ They are available through steam.
- wapz 10y agoWow! I have to go back and play through these games. I really do wonder how hard the games will feel now that I'm a grown adult..
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoAs a new player who tried these games... they don't hold up. I'm sorry, but without the nostalgia, it just isn't fun. Technically impressive? Yes. But not fun. Personally, I don't think any of id's pre-DOOM games hold up well. But that could just be me...
- PhasmaFelis 10y agoNot Id, but Apogee, pioneered "the Apogee model" of shareware with the Kroz trilogy in 1987. Apogee published Id's Commander Keen and Wolfenstein games.
- sien 10y agoWhich is playable on the internet archive at https://archive.org/details/1990SuperKrozTrilogy https://archive.org/details/1990SuperKrozTrilogy
- npongratz 10y agoI thought of Kroz immediately when I saw yesterday's Unscii submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13185932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13185932 http://pelulamu.net/unscii/ http://pelulamu.net/unscii/
- swivelmaster 10y agoAh, yes, I forgot about this! Thanks for the correction!