munnra - Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula
 

Hi,

I saw that you have Starflight (and that it is currently the 4th highest-rated game in Abandonia's entire collection), but that you don't seem to have Starflight 2 for download.

I bought Starflight 2 about fifteen years ago when I found it in the bargain box at CompUSA. Seven or eight years ago when I realized many of my old floppies were going bad, I made a disk image of my original Starflight 2 floppy, and I still have that 720K disk image around. I can send it to you if you need it.

Starflight 2's copy protection relied on the map provided in-game: at some point, you would be asked a question like "how many orange stars are there in sector 040x120?" The sector and the color of stars would change each time, and if you got the answer wrong, you would be attacked by the Interstellar Police for piracy. :) I can no longer find my original map and/or game box, but I do have a couple scans that I downloaded ages ago from somewhere on the Internet, which I can provide if needed.

I don't have box-cover art, but I do remember that http://www.mobygames.com/game/starfl...ameCoverId,29/ is exactly what my game box looked like, so you could probably use those images if you needed to.

This is the first time I've uploaded anything to Abandonia; please let me know what I should do next. Thanks for a great site!

@munnra we cant take Stuff from other Sites. Only Stuff you yourself scanned or created.

We will send you later a PM with FTP-Info where you can uploads the Game to.

I can do the box, maps and manuals if someone reviews it. I can create an archive also if you have any trouble.

All right, I've uploaded 3 files to the incoming FTP site, all of which I created myself.

sf2.img - 720K disk image of my original Starflight 2 disk
sf2.zip - All files from the disk image, extracted and put in a ZIP for more convenient handling (since many people wouldn't necessarily know what to do with a floppy disk image)
sf2.md5 - MD5sum for all files in the .ZIP archive, to help verify that the files were undamaged

I have not included box scans or the all-important map, since I can't find my originals -- but if JMB can do those, sounds like it's all good.

What would be involved in doing a review?

Several things, I try to summarize them:

First of all, you need to know the game quite well, that means you have to play it or have played it for some time. You do not need to know every last bit, but should be able to describe its main features, what you can do in the game, what is good and bad and how it "feels" to play.

It will be a good idea to spend some time playing it before writing, even if you have lots of memories from the past. While doing so, you can also take screenshots from the most impressive scenes, the title screen, general overview, etc. Try to cover the important parts. We will need around 6 to 8 screens + title screen for the review.
(Btw: in DOSBox, screenshots are taken by pressing CTRL+F5. You find them in the CAPTURE folder of the DOSBox directory afterwards.)

Find out who developed the game and who published it, also the year it was made is needed. You can take a look at any review on site to see what information we give with each game.

Find out about technical aspects. How good are the grafics and sounds, compared to other games of that age.

If you don't know how to structurize your review, take a look at Frodos work on the Questprobe games. She has a clear and nice style in writing.

Test if the game runs in DOSBox, VDMSound, or even in Windows. This part can also be done by an updater, but these guys have to do lots of other tasks and will be happy, if you help them with this.

Give suggestions for other games, which someone who likes this game would also love to play.


Sounds like lots of work, eh? It isn't too bad after all, and it's worth the effort when you have your game and review on site.

Starflight II was a true gem, I think we all would love to see it on Abandonia. Your help would be highly appreciated!

If you need more info take a look at this thread, it's a very good guide on how to write reviews:
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=2620

I'll be short on time for the next 2-3 weeks, but I'll have a bit more time on my hands after Easter. If nobody's reviewed it yet by that time I should be able to put together a review. Where should I post it -- here? In the Community Reviews section? Or somewhere else?

I know that's probably a Frequently Asked Question, but I didn't find the answer in any of the obvious places... If I may offer a suggestion, you might want to update the "How do I upload a game?" instructions to include more details like this. Unless it's already there and I somehow missed it, of course.

Put your stuff together, zip it into an archive and put this into your folder on the ftp (like a game submission). Remember to announce your contribution here in this thread.

Where can i get the manual? I have the game (original from my dad who used to play) but the manual got lost :wall:. Can someone send me a link to where could i get it? thanks! ^_^