MrFlibble
12-02-2013, 09:49 AM
Recently I've found an archived copy of Webfoot Technologies' website (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog.htm), which seems to have been one of the early Internet-based shareware publishers (the company is still active today BTW). These guys published Inner Worlds (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015212006/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/innerw.htm) among other things (and their site has some rare Inner Worlds artwork, just scroll down the catalogue page).
Anyway, there are quite a few very nice games in their catalogue, with such items as 4th Generation (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015212526/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/4gen.htm), B.A.D. (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015212801/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/bad.htm) and Interpose (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015213000/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/interpos.htm) being particularly interesting. You can view assorted screenshots from each game by clicking on the "Screen Shots" option on respective pages - most pages have all screenshots archived.
The problem here is that it's not that easy to track down the shareware distributives of these games at all. For example, dosgames.com has a download of Interpose (available on this page (http://dosgames.com/g_spa.php)), however judging by the file size it's just the "lite" version (ip_tiny.exe), whereas there's also a regular shareware version which is 11 Mb in size (interpos.exe), and a special "Christmas Edition" (ipxmas.exe).
There's also a plain files version of Interpose shareware at cd.textfiles.com:
http://cd.textfiles.com/101bg7/SHOOTEM/WTIPDT/
So far I've located only one file that seems like the original distributive, of the game Delta Hydra (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/delta.htm). The download is available here:
http://volftp.tiscali.it/pub/pc/windows/win95/games/strategy/deltahyd.exe
cd.textfiles.com also have archives of Yendorian Tales II (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015213154/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/yendor2.htm) and Yendorian Tales III (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211934/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/yendor3.htm), mostly in zipped form, but the EXE installer inside also seems original (e.g. this file (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv4nv08/DOS/GAMES/YENDOR2.ZIP)).
[Edit] Found a demo of 4th Generation: 4THGEN.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv6nv03/DOS/GAMES/4THGEN.ZIP)
[Edit2] Okay, a quick search through the Public Shareware Library CDs at cd.textfiles.com gave the following games:
Bubble Pop (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/bubble.htm): BUBBLEPP.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv6nv03/DOS/GAMES/BUBBLEPP.ZIP)
H2O (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/h2o.htm): H2OGAME.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv5nv05/GAMES/DOS/PUZZLES/H2OGAME.ZIP)
TwinBlok (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/twinblok.htm): TWINBLOK.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv5nv05/GAMES/DOS/ARCADE/TWINBLOK.ZIP)
Anyway, there are quite a few very nice games in their catalogue, with such items as 4th Generation (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015212526/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/4gen.htm), B.A.D. (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015212801/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/bad.htm) and Interpose (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015213000/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/interpos.htm) being particularly interesting. You can view assorted screenshots from each game by clicking on the "Screen Shots" option on respective pages - most pages have all screenshots archived.
The problem here is that it's not that easy to track down the shareware distributives of these games at all. For example, dosgames.com has a download of Interpose (available on this page (http://dosgames.com/g_spa.php)), however judging by the file size it's just the "lite" version (ip_tiny.exe), whereas there's also a regular shareware version which is 11 Mb in size (interpos.exe), and a special "Christmas Edition" (ipxmas.exe).
There's also a plain files version of Interpose shareware at cd.textfiles.com:
http://cd.textfiles.com/101bg7/SHOOTEM/WTIPDT/
So far I've located only one file that seems like the original distributive, of the game Delta Hydra (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/delta.htm). The download is available here:
http://volftp.tiscali.it/pub/pc/windows/win95/games/strategy/deltahyd.exe
cd.textfiles.com also have archives of Yendorian Tales II (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015213154/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/yendor2.htm) and Yendorian Tales III (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211934/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/yendor3.htm), mostly in zipped form, but the EXE installer inside also seems original (e.g. this file (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv4nv08/DOS/GAMES/YENDOR2.ZIP)).
[Edit] Found a demo of 4th Generation: 4THGEN.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv6nv03/DOS/GAMES/4THGEN.ZIP)
[Edit2] Okay, a quick search through the Public Shareware Library CDs at cd.textfiles.com gave the following games:
Bubble Pop (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/bubble.htm): BUBBLEPP.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv6nv03/DOS/GAMES/BUBBLEPP.ZIP)
H2O (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/h2o.htm): H2OGAME.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv5nv05/GAMES/DOS/PUZZLES/H2OGAME.ZIP)
TwinBlok (http://web.archive.org/web/19971015211004/http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/twinblok.htm): TWINBLOK.ZIP (http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv5nv05/GAMES/DOS/ARCADE/TWINBLOK.ZIP)