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[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

I'm not trusting my memory much anymore, but it looks almost the same as the other demo (not 100% sure if the level therein is the same or not)

Here's what DOSGuy of RGB Classic Games told me about the A1 demo:

Originally Posted by DOSGuy

Gee Whiz! Entertainment released a demo based on a beta version of Zombie Wars, called the "Zombie Wars Internet Demo" (zwdemo1.zip). It was a Win16 game that required WinG, but was clearly a DOS game (probably based on the Alien Carnage engine) that had been ported to Win16. From Gee Whiz! Entertainment's website:

According to the readme file, the demo is from 29 July 1996, but someone packed it into a Win9x installer on 10 July 1998 (the file you linked to). Since the original demo was based on a beta version of the game that Gee Whiz! probably had no interest in distributing any more, and the copyright notice wasn't updated to "1996-1998", and the installer calls the game "Halloween Harry 2 - Zombie Wars", it looks like this installer was created by an anonymous third party! But since I can't find the original zwdemo1.zip, I'll put it on the site anyway while I contact John Passfield about it.


Once the game was done, it looks like it required Windows 95. Gee Whiz! created downloads of the complete game (split into two zip files, plus two optional movie packs), that would only let you play a (different) special demo level until you unlock the rest by registering the game.

Files:

zwgame1.zip (4,297,152 bytes) [Have]
zwgame2.zip (4,707,765 bytes)
zwavi1.zip (6,261,359 bytes)
zwavi2.zip (4,350,169 bytes)

The registration price was $24.95. By November 1998, Gee Whiz! reduced the registration price to $9.95 and linked to a company called RegNow that handled registration for shareware authors. According to Gee Whiz's website, the download that accompanied registration was 8,106,539 bytes. (Perhaps zwgame1.zip and zwgame2.zip were combined into a single file, but you still had to download the movie packs separately?)

From the Gee Whiz! website:

[MrFlibble]

Here's a couple of pre-release demo versions:

A pre-release demo of Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard called the "Wizard MegaDisk demo" dated January 5th, 1994 (Wizard was the working title of the game):
http://cd.textfiles.com/sprintos6/GA.../LZ/WIZARD.ZIP

Early Zone Raiders WIP demo dated August 19th, 1994:
http://www.ftp.funet.fi/index/msdos/...demos/raid.zip

[MrFlibble]

Age of Empires II CD Demo (CGW)
The Computer Gaming World February 2000 issue cover disk contains a release of the Age of Empires II demo with different custom scenario and mutiplayer maps compared to the Internet download version. The custom map is called Trial Baltic Map.scn and allows to play as the Celts against two computer opponents. By contrast, the Trial Coastal Map.scn in the Internet release allows to play as the Britons, and the map itself is also different. The multiplayer map in the CD demo is called Trial Multiplayer Team Islands Map.scn (in the Internet demo, the multiplayer version of the same Coastal Map is used instead). Apart from that, the demo is identical to the Internet release.

The installer is called a2cddemo.exe (49 091 848 bytes) and its date is November 2, 1999.

[MrFlibble]

Jason Storm in Space Chase Shareware Demo
According to the supplied documentation, the demo "includes one unique level, demonstrating the incredible features of Safari's upcoming SPACE CHASE series".
Download: STORM0.ZIP

A shareware episode of Jason Storm is also available, with different levels (obviously):
Download v2.00d: STORM1.ZIP
Download v2.02d: STORM1A.ZIP

[MrFlibble]

In the dosgames.com forum, a user asked about a role-playing game called Infinite Worlds, allegedly developed by Interplay, which that user has a beta of but could not find a full version. Some quick searching provided information that the game in question ended up as Demise: Ruse of the Ku'tan, but during development is was called Infinite Worlds and Mordor II: Darkness Awakening (the game is related to Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol).

What's interesting is that the beta versions of both Infinite Worlds and Mordor II are publicly available, and show the different stages of the game's development (among other things, it underwent a transition from 2D to 3D in the final game).

Infinite Worlds beta v0.993 is available from FilePlanet or StrategyInformer.

The beta versions of Mordor II are available from the official site:
Mordor II beta v0.991
Mordor II beta v0.992

Apparently, Mordor II, albeit at a beta stage, is quite playable, even though it's unstable at times.

A playable demo of the final product, Demise, is also available:
Demise demo v1.00 r2

The contents of the official Mordor & Demise demo disk also mention the demo of Demise with which is marked as 0.992 version r2, but I haven't been able to locate its download yet (if at all available).

[MrFlibble]

Hallfiry at betaarchive.com forums has found some other beta versions of the game:

Originally Posted by Hallfiry

And as always, Firy delivers:
(Mordor II)

http://www54.zippyshare.com/v/67594954/file.html

EDIT:
Infinite Worlds 9935beta patch
http://www37.zippyshare.com/v/25929457/file.html

Infinite Worlds 9935beta full setup
http://www37.zippyshare.com/v/61708874/file.html

EDIT2:
Seemingly a version .994 was planned, but never finished. so there should be no versions between 0.9935b and Demise.

This is now a list of all known versions:

0.90    - Mordor 2 - First release
0.991   - Mordor 2
0.992   - Mordor 2
0.992r2 - Demise - Unsure if legit
0.993   - Infinite Worlds
0.9935  - Infinite Worlds (Patch)
0.9935  - Infinite Worlds (Full)
1.00r1  - Demise
1.00r2  - Demise

I removed the b from the version numbers, since it only meant "beta".

[MrFlibble]

As with many other shareware games of the time, the initial shareware releases of Shadow Warrior (v1.0 and v1.1) have been made before the registered version was completed (v1.2) and as such reflect a pre-release state of the game.

While the general content of the early shareware versions is the same - there are four levels, and available weapons, items and monsters are similar to the final release - there are quite a few noticeable differences worth mention:

• First off, versions 1.0 and 1.1 have self-running demos, similar to other FPS games of the time, including Build games in general and the direct predecessor of Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D. Both early versions feature demo records of two levels, Zilla Construction and Master Leep's Temple. The self-running demos can be turned off with the -nodemo command line parameter.
  
• Further on, the early versions use the rotating shuriken selection marker, as opposed to v1.2 that uses the Yin Yang symbol as the selection marker. Here's a screenshot from v1.1, with a similar screenshots from v1.2 for comparison:
  
• Versions 1.0 and 1.1 also do not have episode titles yet. On the episode selection screen, the episodes are simply called "Shareware levels" and "Registered levels":
  
• In both versions 1.0 and 1.1, it is impossible to switch between single UZI and dual-wielded UZIs after the second UZI had been picked up. It is not clear whether this was an oversight in the earlier versions, or the intended effect which was changed in v1.2.
• Versions 1.0 and 1.1 do not yet have the air meter that shows the amount of remaining air while underwater, or the boss health meter. Those were added in v1.2, along with a command line parameter that allows to disable the meters.
  
• Compared to v1.0, most of Lo Wang's voice clips have been edited to increase their volume in v1.1. These new versions remain unchanged in v1.2.
• Throughout the levels, there are many minor differences concerning placement of certain item caches, switches and the like, which do not, however, affect the general layout of the levels.
• One of the notable graphical differences between v1.0/1.1 and v1.2 is the appearance of Lara Croft in the secret area on level four. Early versions use the same graphics as the beta version, with a more anime look. Version 1.2 replaced this with an appearance that is much closer to the original character:
  
  Interestingly enough, the walkthrough for level 4 featured at the 3D Realms' website shows a screenshot of the Lara Croft area with the beta graphics.
• The built-in command line help in v1.0 mentions two command line parameters, -commbat# and -coop#, which turn on fake multiplayer and fake co-op modes in single-player game:
  
  Version 1.1 removed the description of these parameters from the built-in help, but they are still listed in the electronic manual (SWHELP.EXE). Version 1.2 removes all mention of these from its electronic manual as well. Nevertheless, the -commbat# and -coop# parameters work in all three versions, although no parameter that would actually turn on bots in "fake multiplayer" single-player games is mentioned in any of these versions.
• There is a Win95 compatibility mode for MIDI music in early versions which can be activated with the -win95 or -win95awe32 command line parameters. Version 1.2 also makes no mention of this whatsoever.

You can get the old versions of Shadow Warrior shareware at RGB Classic Games. One thing though, they seem not to run in DOSBox at all.

[zirkoni]

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

You can get the old versions of Shadow Warrior shareware at RGB Classic Games. One thing though, they seem not to run in DOSBox at all.

Yep, doesn't seem to work with the official builds but I tested v1.0 and it can be run at least on DOSBox-X and DOSBox SVN Daum.

[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by zirkoni

Yep, doesn't seem to work with the official builds but I tested v1.0 and it can be run at least on DOSBox-X and DOSBox SVN Daum.

Thanks a lot for the valuable info! Which version of Taewoong's build did you use so that it worked with SW v1.0? I have an old v0.71 from 2007 and a v0.74 from 2011, and it doesn't work with v0.71 for sure (can't remember if it's the same with Taewoong's v0.74).

Anyway, here's some more stuff that I've noticed (shots on the left are from v1.0, on the right from v1.2):

• Once a heat seeker card is picked in v1.0, the missile launcher automatically switches into heat-seeking mode. In v1.2, you still need to manually switch it to heat seeking mode after picking the card. This turned out to depend on whether the missile launcher is the currently selected weapon when the card is picked, and is unrelated to the version number.
• Version 1.2 added sprites for broken neon lamps, which are used in the first level of the shareware version:
  
  Another example is the seats at the train platform (v1.0/1.1 only has flickering lights):
  
  Interestingly enough, v1.2 does not seem to have any neon lamps that can actually be destroyed by the player, even though this feature was already present in Duke Nukem 3D. Some lamps were made destructible in v1.2 but others remains as they are in v1.0.
• A much more noticeable change in the level layout can be found in level 3, where a niche that contains sticky bombs was moved from one side of the pool to the other:
  
• The same level has a secret underwater area with a switch, which was moved from one wall to another:
  
  This change actually occurred in v1.1 already.

[zirkoni]

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

Which version of Taewoong's build did you use so that it worked with SW v1.0?

Dec. 6. 2012 version, Seems to work also with the newest version (Jan. 24. 2013). You still get error messages in the status window but the game runs fine.