Yep, they run nicely in DOSBox, though the default control scheme is a bit cumbersome imo, and I don't think they can be changed. I don't think MBF can use the actual beta IWAD, it uses beta resource PWAD's with the Doom 1 IWAD, though please correct me if I'm wrong. (Win)MBF and ZDoom has partial support for the beta, not enough to run the IWAD without modification though. You can use SLADE to convert the alpha/beta graphics to the Doom format that source ports can read and Yadex to convert the alpha levels.

It was Kosta ;)

Kosta made a separate place. Some people decided it back then to be a better place than Abandonia to be.
Now, I would be also happy to see Frodo and Nick being active here again. Problem is, there's not that much activity here on the forum these days in the first place. That is, games identifications and regular troubleshooting aside.

AB and ABR are not in the same kind of business. That's what really made the final argument I guess.

I did try to go to ABR and blend in just like I did with AB... But I had to face up the fact that freeware simply, 98% of the time, is bad quality and poor games.

Yeah, sure... Those games are free. But that's not the kind of games I wanted to play and have people be reminded of when you think of "the good old days". There is some few gems in ABR but overall at least 9 out of 10 games are not even worth looking at. Clones of originals, games which are plain bad, etc.

Some people like it, other don't. I never questioned the reason why AB and ABR splitted: it always been very obvious to me.

Actually there are quite a few great freeware titles, it's rather the poor selection of games on Reloaded that makes them an inferior collection. C'mon, Beneath the Steel Sky? A lot of things happened since that, games like Black Mesa were released among dozens of titles.
They still could be a great site dedicated to collecting links to all the worthwhile freewares on Steam, GoG, and other sites.
So far they only excelled in writing fanfiction roleplay stories.

(I also took the liberty to correct the grammar in your post, if you don't mind. Yeah, I'm a sworn grammarionalspellcheckialist. Sorry.)

Unfortunately the "feature a game only when some user writes a review" policy didn't work out quite well for Reloaded, and the community wasn't very active either.

Anyway, considering liberated games (i.e. formerly commercial), there are several neat sources like Remain in Play, Liberated Games and that Spanish blog I mentioned a while ago in another thread.

My philosophy here is that generally, there aren't too many good games, regardless of the type of commercial basis and distribution. Sure, a fully commercial game that operates on a solid budget can afford better graphics, professionally done music etc., but that doesn't always coincide with a great story or excellent playing mechanics. ON the other hand, there are lots of poor quality games that aren't at all free (most of them are of the shareware variety), and they also have little to offer in terms either game design or artistic merit.

In short, a game doesn't have to be commercial to be good, and vice versa, it doesn't have to be free to be bad. It's just that many commercial titles can wrap up a mediocre product in shiny graphics, and run a promo campaign to advertise it so that it surely sells.

Hello AB. And hello Tracker, what a pleasure to see that you are still making snide comments. Good to know some things (or people) never change. :max:

I actually like the idea of collecting links to Steam, and other services with freeware. But at this point, there isn't much "inspiration" to actually do it. Unlike the staff at Abandonia, we do not have server access. So making any big changes to the site always requires help from people who don't really want to bother. On top of that, the forum has been going down lately with server issues.

I've done my best to improve the site. If it wasn't for me, the site would still be called Abandonia Reloaded (as if we still needed Abandonia attached to the name), and the forum would have never been fixed up or improved. I also tried to help the site branch out, by adding freeware software reviews.

Meanwhile, if it wasn't for Frodo, the site would have been dead before I got there. She's the only staff member who gave a damn, and tried to keep the site running all this time. She single-handedly updated the site, added reviews, and kept it running. She's also tried to hold contests, and other events, to draw traffic to Reloaded. But it falls on deaf ears.

Oh, and let's not forget when management changed all the news links on our homepage to advertisement links! That was an epic moment, showing how much they care about Reloaded.

I also tried to do something nice for both sites, by making a video advertising Reloaded & Abandonia. I got trashed by negative comments here.. so now I don't even bother.

As for the roleplaying, you can knock us all you want Tracker. But at least it adds some life to the forum. I also recall you being apart of it, until you attempted to destroy it. So don't knock something, when you were a willingly participant just a couple of years ago.

-Nick

Long time no see, Nick. What a surprise. Well, it's not only a nice idea to begin writing about quality freeware, it seems to be the only way to make use of Reloaded. It has a lot of potential that should be used to the site's advantages. On the other hand, I don't imagine it requires server access or big changes. Just begin posting reviews and news about the best freeware one can download - that is, if you have the time and resources. We could even ask people if they wanted to write reviews about quality freeware for Reloaded on these boards.

See? I don't know what was wrong with being called "Abandonia Reloaded", but that must have been the beginning of the parting. It reads as if you don't believe you need the Abandonia name and Abandonia itself either (except for when you want to advertise your retro social networks).

About the host, they care about us just the same.

Video advertisements... well... I couldn't find the thread (it was probably deleted), but I think that an advertisement represents what is being advertised, and why would we want to be represented by something we don't honestly enjoy. Some of us didn't like it, some of us did. I don't think you couldn't have made compromises to your "artistic vision" to satisfy a larger userbase.

Last, but not least, your roleplay adds only to your personal life, and not the site's. While the two have common parts they are not the same. You tend not to recall that.

That's all I've got to say on the topic, frankly.

Good luck with Reloaded.org.

We need to have more than just two people adding reviews. Why bother?

Server access would be required so we could actually host the games ourselves, like we were able to do in the past. I also have a vision for what Reloaded could be, in terms of updating the site's design, and adding new sections. But I have no control over that.

Uh.. no. We don't need Abandonia stuck to Reloaded's name. It never made any sense. It's not like anyone from Abandonia really gives a rat's ass about Reloaded anymore, or actually comes to the forum. The only time we will get AB users, is when someone is looking for an old game that is considered freeware (like Grand Theft Auto).

Advertise my social networks? That was once. So don't exaggerate. You don't see me come here anymore. And this is exactly why.

OH PLEASE! Above caring about Abandonia and Reloaded the same.. is a complete JOKE.

1. Abandonia has server access, can host games.
2. Abandonia has less advertisements.
3. Abovo staff actually visit the AB forums.

Need I go on? Reloaded is just a profit page for Abovo. If they could remove all the games, and just make it an advertisement page: they would. They have no interest in the site. Instead, we're supposed to work on a broken site like volunteers.

As for roleplaying, if we didn't post there.. the forum would be dead. What else is there to post about, on a site with two active members? The roleplay keeps Reloaded alive.

Wow, I haven't updated the list in quite a while. Added the following games:

OpenGGS
An open source remake of The Great Giana Sisters (a Super Mario Bros. clone). The author has permission to use original graphics from the Commodore 64 version, but there's also a free tile set as well.

Annex: Conquer the World
A free, open source real-time strategy game based on the MegaGlest engine, which is apparently inspired by the Command & Conquer series of games, as well as Earth 2140 and sequels, Warzone 2100 and StarCraft. There are four playable factions, several terrain tilesets, customizable tech trees, campaign scenarios, skirmish and mutliplayer modes.

The same developer is working on another RTS with a space sci-fi setting, called Terra Centauri: Last Stand. A beta is available here.

Wyrmsun
A free, open source real-time strategy game that runs on the Stratagus engine (an engine recreation of Warcraft II). Its art style is remarkable close to that of Blizzard's famous game, however Wyrmsun is an original title with its own unique features like individual unit names, traits and experience points, a turn-based grand strategy mode, and a setting that blends fantasy and mythology with real historical background.

Wyrmsun is free and open source, but those who would like to support its development can buy copies from Steam and Desura.

There are also some other interesting titles but not yet added to the list:

openKB is an engine recreation project for New World Computing's King's Bounty, with planned support for the original game's files as well as a free open source data set. The development is in its early stages, so no downloads yet.

Free Mars is a free, open source turn-based strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization, Colonization and Alpha Centauri.

Rescue! Max is a remake of Rescue!, a Mac shareware game.

CATharsis is a project to create an open source clone of Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project in Blender. It's not an engine recreation, but rather a stand-alone game similar to DNMP but with its own protagonist, art, levels etc. Rather early stages of development.

In other news, recently a Windows binary executable was made available for LordsAWar!, a free open source clone of SSG's Warlords II. The version is 0.3.0, which features a two single-player scenarios, random map mode, and network multiplayer.