5 ms·

Play Sierra On-Line games in your browser (with added multiplayer)

46 points by jeff18 17y ago

jmtame 17y ago
Ultima would be a good game to multiplay. Black Gate in particular.
cedsav 17y ago
I still remember having to look into a French-English dictionary to find the right word for 'spacesuit'... Old games are like legos, less sophistication = more imagination.
- modoc 17y ago
  I HATE how hard it is to find Legos that aren't just part of a kit that builds ONE thing and has step by step instructions. My nephew has several of these, but I think they're such a waste compared to the old days where you had a bucket of blocks, and you built whatever you wanted. I also have fond memories of Capsela, Constructs, and old Erector Sets.
  - jswinghammer 17y ago
    I have the same reaction whenever I go to the Lego store. I think the stuff looks great but I wonder if I'll be able to find sets that can do anything for my daughter when she's old enough to not eat them.
  - rkowalick 17y ago
    The buckets of basic blocks can still be found in quite a lot of places. Sam's Club, Walmart, etc. around where I live still stock pretty sizable buckets.
    - modoc 17y ago
      Good to know. Mostly I've just been hitting Toys R Us and similar places and haven't found any basic blocks available there. I'll look harder:)
  - wmf 17y ago
    Counterpoint from a few days ago: http://www.quietbabylon.com/2009/there-is-no-single-use-lego/ http://www.quietbabylon.com/2009/there-is-no-single-use-lego...
- pavlov 17y ago
  I still remember having to look into a French-English dictionary to find the right word for 'spacesuit'... I had the same experience playing Space Quest I as an 8-year-old kid with my friend. Except that it didn't occur to us to look up words in a dictionary; instead we kept calling an older friend who actually knew English and could tell us the magic incantations we needed to type to get somewhere in the game. I'll never forget that you need to "fasten seatbelt" before launching the escape pod.
  - bd 17y ago
    Oh memories. It was not just about English - even if you knew what to do, you had to use the exact phrase game creators intended. It could become very frustrating, especially as in those days you couldn't just go to web and find the walkthrough. I remember being stuck on the top of volcano in Larry 2, trying to create a bomb to get inside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QQRuRiPp6I#t=50s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QQRuRiPp6I#t=50s Sometimes, the only option was to search through the game resource files, looking for strings that could be used.
- gurraman 17y ago
  That's exactly how i feel about EverQuest. I have yet to find a game that I like even half as much. The unrealistic graphics really lets your imagination fill in the gaps. This becomes increasingly hard with more realistic physics/models/movement as you start concerning yourself with flaws only in the details.
  - jcw 17y ago
    I feel the same way. Too bad no company in their right mind would release a game with intentionally outdated graphics and physics. Imagine the public outcry. Maybe the current game-playing mainstream is so devoid of imagination that they're unable to play games that leave things to it.
- enki 17y ago
  ha, i remember learning english with SQ1 and a dictionary :p
javery 17y ago
No Quest for Glory (aka Hero's Quest) :(
- percept 17y ago
  Do you guys already know about this? http://www.infamous-adventures.com/index.php?page=projects http://www.infamous-adventures.com/index.php?page=projects Still not QFG, I know, just an FYI.
  - gamerates 17y ago
    If you are looking for a great QFG remake: http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html The KQII remake (new animation/storyboard, new story, voice over pack) is probably one of my favorite games of all time.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  I was a huge fan of that entire series (though 4 was kind of buggy). It is hard to find games in that same vein anymore. Planescape:Torment and KOTOR came close, but even those are several years old now.
  - Gormo 17y ago
    Torment is definitely in my top 5 games of all time. Hard to believe it's been out for ten years. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura", developed by Troika and published by Sierra in 2001. It's very similar in depth and mechanics to Torment, Fallout, and the other Black Isle RPGs.
    - timwiseman 17y ago
      Thanks. I'll look around for it. Anything more recent in that vein?
- Gormo 17y ago
  This site only offers games released under Sierra's older game interpreter (AGI). The games from about 1989 onward, including QfG, used a different interpreter (SCI, which was very advanced for its time: an object-oriented VM platform with a complete GUI toolkit, running on top of vanilla DOS, years before Windows 3.0). The SCI games can be played under ScummVM or DosBox, if you have the original binaries.
rikthevik 17y ago
A noble effort, but I had huge stability problems. Saving and loading are really cumbersome and in those games you'll be doing both of those a lot. :(
- _phred 17y ago
  Heck yeah, this reminds me why Space Quest's subtitle should be, "you're gonna die." There are so many horrible ways to die in the SQ games... Unfortunately, it appears that inventory disappears on restore from saved game, and there's also a lot that can be learned from the interpreter's command completion menu. A galaxy away from playing SQ1 on 5 1/4" floppies, but still: bravo! A noble effort, and I'm looking forward to playing with this some more.
pierrefar 17y ago
From the about page: "I sincerely hope that Activision Blizzard can appreciate this tribute to these game franchises (as their original creators such as Al Lowe do), and not ask me to close down the site due to copyright issues." I hope so too, but somehow I think his wish is not going to be granted...
- patio11 17y ago
  All of these games are being actively sold by the people who, you know, actually purchased the right to sell them. http://www.amazon.com/VIVENDI-JEUX-PC-72465-Collection/dp/B000AYFPKG http://www.amazon.com/VIVENDI-JEUX-PC-72465-Collection/dp/B0... There is no "I really liked this when I was younger!" exception to copyright.
  - rms 17y ago
    It's not a legal exception, but one of the problems with copyright is that the illegal solution is often much more convenient. And in this case outright superior with the addition of multiplayer.
    - ars 17y ago
      There should be a mandatory licensing rule in copyright. (Like there is for covering music.) Pay a fee and you have the right to distribute the [modified] games. And they can't say no. It will break some models that rely on sales areas, but instead of take-down notices when someone violates copyright, you simply send a bill, with reasonable, non-punitive rates. It needs some details to be worked out - in particular the rates, plus how to determine how many times the work was distributed. But those are solvable, and I think it would transform piracy from a problem, to a revenue source. It would also help avoid all those messy areas where copyright rules cause real problems for people who just want to do something.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - btilly 17y ago
Gormo 17y ago
For those interested in indulging in some Sierra nostalgia: SierraGamers (http://www.sierragamers.com http://www.sierragamers.com) is a lively forum maintained by Ken Williams, original founder of Sierra. Quest Studios (http://www.queststudios.com http://www.queststudios.com) is a great site dedicated to the music of classic Sierra games, and also has a pretty good forum. ImagiNation Revival (http://innrevival.googlepages.com http://innrevival.googlepages.com) is a reimplementation of the ImagiNation service, which can be used with the original INN client (under DosBox with the serial port mapped to telnet). And since this is Hacker News, The Ultimate AGI & SCI Web Site (http://agisci.classicgaming.gamespy.com http://agisci.classicgaming.gamespy.com) is a site dedicated to reverse engineering the old Sierra game engines. It's relatively old, but contains, among other things, IDEs for developing games that run under Sierra's AGI and SCI interpreters.
bravura 17y ago
Every time I type "inventory", I end up at the home screen in Leisure Suit Larry.

46 points by jeff18 17y ago

Ultima would be a good game to multiplay. Black Gate in particular.

I still remember having to look into a French-English dictionary to find the right word for 'spacesuit'... Old games are like legos, less sophistication = more imagination.

modoc 17y ago
I HATE how hard it is to find Legos that aren't just part of a kit that builds ONE thing and has step by step instructions. My nephew has several of these, but I think they're such a waste compared to the old days where you had a bucket of blocks, and you built whatever you wanted. I also have fond memories of Capsela, Constructs, and old Erector Sets.
- jswinghammer 17y ago
  I have the same reaction whenever I go to the Lego store. I think the stuff looks great but I wonder if I'll be able to find sets that can do anything for my daughter when she's old enough to not eat them.
- rkowalick 17y ago
  The buckets of basic blocks can still be found in quite a lot of places. Sam's Club, Walmart, etc. around where I live still stock pretty sizable buckets.
  - modoc 17y ago
    Good to know. Mostly I've just been hitting Toys R Us and similar places and haven't found any basic blocks available there. I'll look harder:)
- wmf 17y ago
  Counterpoint from a few days ago: http://www.quietbabylon.com/2009/there-is-no-single-use-lego/ http://www.quietbabylon.com/2009/there-is-no-single-use-lego...
pavlov 17y ago
I still remember having to look into a French-English dictionary to find the right word for 'spacesuit'... I had the same experience playing Space Quest I as an 8-year-old kid with my friend. Except that it didn't occur to us to look up words in a dictionary; instead we kept calling an older friend who actually knew English and could tell us the magic incantations we needed to type to get somewhere in the game. I'll never forget that you need to "fasten seatbelt" before launching the escape pod.
- bd 17y ago
  Oh memories. It was not just about English - even if you knew what to do, you had to use the exact phrase game creators intended. It could become very frustrating, especially as in those days you couldn't just go to web and find the walkthrough. I remember being stuck on the top of volcano in Larry 2, trying to create a bomb to get inside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QQRuRiPp6I#t=50s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QQRuRiPp6I#t=50s Sometimes, the only option was to search through the game resource files, looking for strings that could be used.
gurraman 17y ago
That's exactly how i feel about EverQuest. I have yet to find a game that I like even half as much. The unrealistic graphics really lets your imagination fill in the gaps. This becomes increasingly hard with more realistic physics/models/movement as you start concerning yourself with flaws only in the details.
- jcw 17y ago
  I feel the same way. Too bad no company in their right mind would release a game with intentionally outdated graphics and physics. Imagine the public outcry. Maybe the current game-playing mainstream is so devoid of imagination that they're unable to play games that leave things to it.
enki 17y ago
ha, i remember learning english with SQ1 and a dictionary :p

javery 17y ago

No Quest for Glory (aka Hero's Quest) :(

percept 17y ago
Do you guys already know about this? http://www.infamous-adventures.com/index.php?page=projects http://www.infamous-adventures.com/index.php?page=projects Still not QFG, I know, just an FYI.
- gamerates 17y ago
  If you are looking for a great QFG remake: http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html The KQII remake (new animation/storyboard, new story, voice over pack) is probably one of my favorite games of all time.
timwiseman 17y ago
I was a huge fan of that entire series (though 4 was kind of buggy). It is hard to find games in that same vein anymore. Planescape:Torment and KOTOR came close, but even those are several years old now.
- Gormo 17y ago
  Torment is definitely in my top 5 games of all time. Hard to believe it's been out for ten years. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura", developed by Troika and published by Sierra in 2001. It's very similar in depth and mechanics to Torment, Fallout, and the other Black Isle RPGs.
  - timwiseman 17y ago
    Thanks. I'll look around for it. Anything more recent in that vein?
Gormo 17y ago
This site only offers games released under Sierra's older game interpreter (AGI). The games from about 1989 onward, including QfG, used a different interpreter (SCI, which was very advanced for its time: an object-oriented VM platform with a complete GUI toolkit, running on top of vanilla DOS, years before Windows 3.0). The SCI games can be played under ScummVM or DosBox, if you have the original binaries.

rikthevik 17y ago

A noble effort, but I had huge stability problems. Saving and loading are really cumbersome and in those games you'll be doing both of those a lot. :(

_phred 17y ago
Heck yeah, this reminds me why Space Quest's subtitle should be, "you're gonna die." There are so many horrible ways to die in the SQ games... Unfortunately, it appears that inventory disappears on restore from saved game, and there's also a lot that can be learned from the interpreter's command completion menu. A galaxy away from playing SQ1 on 5 1/4" floppies, but still: bravo! A noble effort, and I'm looking forward to playing with this some more.

pierrefar 17y ago

From the about page: "I sincerely hope that Activision Blizzard can appreciate this tribute to these game franchises (as their original creators such as Al Lowe do), and not ask me to close down the site due to copyright issues." I hope so too, but somehow I think his wish is not going to be granted...

patio11 17y ago
All of these games are being actively sold by the people who, you know, actually purchased the right to sell them. http://www.amazon.com/VIVENDI-JEUX-PC-72465-Collection/dp/B000AYFPKG http://www.amazon.com/VIVENDI-JEUX-PC-72465-Collection/dp/B0... There is no "I really liked this when I was younger!" exception to copyright.
- rms 17y ago
  It's not a legal exception, but one of the problems with copyright is that the illegal solution is often much more convenient. And in this case outright superior with the addition of multiplayer.
  - ars 17y ago
    There should be a mandatory licensing rule in copyright. (Like there is for covering music.) Pay a fee and you have the right to distribute the [modified] games. And they can't say no. It will break some models that rely on sales areas, but instead of take-down notices when someone violates copyright, you simply send a bill, with reasonable, non-punitive rates. It needs some details to be worked out - in particular the rates, plus how to determine how many times the work was distributed. But those are solvable, and I think it would transform piracy from a problem, to a revenue source. It would also help avoid all those messy areas where copyright rules cause real problems for people who just want to do something.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- btilly 17y ago

Gormo 17y ago

For those interested in indulging in some Sierra nostalgia: SierraGamers (http://www.sierragamers.com http://www.sierragamers.com) is a lively forum maintained by Ken Williams, original founder of Sierra. Quest Studios (http://www.queststudios.com http://www.queststudios.com) is a great site dedicated to the music of classic Sierra games, and also has a pretty good forum. ImagiNation Revival (http://innrevival.googlepages.com http://innrevival.googlepages.com) is a reimplementation of the ImagiNation service, which can be used with the original INN client (under DosBox with the serial port mapped to telnet). And since this is Hacker News, The Ultimate AGI & SCI Web Site (http://agisci.classicgaming.gamespy.com http://agisci.classicgaming.gamespy.com) is a site dedicated to reverse engineering the old Sierra game engines. It's relatively old, but contains, among other things, IDEs for developing games that run under Sierra's AGI and SCI interpreters.

bravura 17y ago

Every time I type "inventory", I end up at the home screen in Leisure Suit Larry.