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LogicDeLuxe
Member

Posts: 370
Registered: 08-03

leileilol said:
Maybe Romero still has a later Doom beta or so that's before the pre-release.

I wonder, if they used something like CVS. If that is the case, they could actually release the entire tree with everything just before the final DOS ports (Doom II, too), including editors, resources and whatever.
Would be really interesting to see how all those maps got their shapes during development as they have now, how all those midi's sounded through the way of stea.. er composing, etc.. Was there a full game which still had the interactive intermission screen? Was there a full game which actually had Spawning Vats as the starting map, as the Doom Bible (and those card playing marines) suggested? Is there even more which resembles ideas of the Doom Bible? Was there any time during development where E1M1 actually looked like a hangar and E2M8 like a tower etc.? What were those undefined line specials suppose to do which are present in v1.1 of Spawning Vats? How would the full game have looked like when they stripped all maps but 3 of it for the press release? Those sure are interesting question.

I suspect that in those alpha releases and the press beta, we only have seen a very tiny fraction of what's there.

They could release the entire tree as a "downgrade patch", so you would be required to have the game (due to the resources which are not free).

08-27-08 21:17 #

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Necros20
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Posts: 74
Registered: 12-07

LogicDeLuxe said:
The reason they labeled it shareware is probably because one entire episode is more than a usual demo version offers.

Well the idea behind shareware is that the entire first episode of the game can be obtained for free while the remaining episodes must be purchased usually by ordering them directly from the developer. This I think is what distinguishes a shareware from a demo.

08-28-08 02:49 #

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Gez
Member

Posts: 412
Registered: 07-07

Necros20 said:
Well the idea behind shareware is that the entire first episode of the game can be obtained for free while the remaining episodes must be purchased usually by ordering them directly from the developer. This I think is what distinguishes a shareware from a demo.

No, the idea behind a shareware is that you get it for free, share it with everyone you want (hence, shareware), and only pay if you think it deserves it. Some shareware authors decided to use special enticements to incite people to pay, like having a registered version that is more complete, or by putting annoying reminders that you haven't bought it yet in the unregistered version; but this distinction between registered and unregistered is not a defining factor for sharewares.

08-28-08 10:25 #

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leileilol
dork stalker

Posts: 2451
Registered: 06-04

It should be noted back then in 1993, 'demos' often were very non-interactive, or single level 'lets get to the point'. They were often sold in stores, or mail-in order (I know Sierra did), or if you're a lucky soul with a modem, bbs'd. Demos sometime even had a DON'T SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS clause in their usage terms (which of course gave speed to the concept of shareware) They were not the easily accessible "DOWNLOAD THIS FREE!" demos you are familiar with today.

08-28-08 12:21 #

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Gez
Member

Posts: 412
Registered: 07-07

Yeah, back in the day, a "demo" was what is now called a trailer. A "playable demo" was something that game magazines fought over to be the one who would have the exclusivity of it, so that you'd have to buy their magazine to get the demo on a diskette (when they moved on to CDs, the Internet was commonplace enough to make exclusivity irrelevant, though it still was interesting for people with dialup).

08-28-08 12:46 #

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Necros20
Mini-Member

Posts: 74
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Gez said:

No, the idea behind a shareware is that you get it for free, share it with everyone you want (hence, shareware), and only pay if you think it deserves it. Some shareware authors decided to use special enticements to incite people to pay, like having a registered version that is more complete, or by putting annoying reminders that you haven't bought it yet in the unregistered version; but this distinction between registered and unregistered is not a defining factor for sharewares.

Well the idea I suggested seemed to be how they usually applied shareware to games.

08-28-08 15:01 #

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myk
patron mod of ugly ducklings and black sheep

Posts: 10453
Registered: 04-02

Yeah, although the cases I'm aware of came after DOOM (like Hexen). A commercial (retail store) game for which a demo is offered over the Internet. Now developers try to get some of the promotional benefits of shareware while selling the game through stores or such means.

08-28-08 16:53 #

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GreyGhost
Senior Member

Posts: 1079
Registered: 01-08

Gez said:

No, the idea behind a shareware is that you get it for free, share it with everyone you want (hence, shareware), and only pay if you think it deserves it. Some shareware authors decided to use special enticements to incite people to pay, like having a registered version that is more complete, or by putting annoying reminders that you haven't bought it yet in the unregistered version; but this distinction between registered and unregistered is not a defining factor for sharewares.

You're thinking of Freeware/Giftware. The concept behind Shareware is to make use of unconventional modes of distribution for software that can be used on a try before you buy basis - often for a limited duration.
Though you're right about the special enticements, such as -

Nagware - "You've used this program 17,258 times. Don't you feel the slightest twinge of guilt?" or "Hello fool! I'm going to in-your-face every five minutes until you buy a registration key or chainsaw your PC in half!"

Guiltware - "Please register this program so my children don't go to bed hungry."

Crippleware - "We hope you enjoyed your 15 minute trial of our groundbreaking CAD program. Don't bother trying to save/export your work."

Vaporware - "Registered users will benefit from the many powerful new features in the full program - if we ever get around to finishing it."

There are other variants, they just don't spring to mind right now.

08-29-08 09:23 #

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myk
patron mod of ugly ducklings and black sheep

Posts: 10453
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Still, a lot of early traditional BBS shareware was like freeware but with a notice that you could send the author $5 or something if you were feeling generous and appreciated his or her work. That's very similar to freeware when the author accepts donations. But how shareware was used evidently changed, as my point above is that by that freer idea of shareware DOOM isn't really shareware. Their message "this isn't shareware" refers to that early sort of informal shareware. By the mid-'90s, however, what was called shareware was generally more traditionally commercial. You still got something for free, but there was usually something missing in comparison to what you could get if you paid.

I think it's fine to distinguish between variations of what was called shareware, but finding one exacting model for it is fallacious.

08-29-08 14:48 #

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Necros20
Mini-Member

Posts: 74
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So The Ultimate Doom was released as a retail edition of Doom 1 with episode 4 added in as a bonus. Owners of the original game could download it as a patch. They did the same thing for Heretic with Shadow of the Serpent Riders. Am I correct?

08-29-08 22:19 #

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myk
patron mod of ugly ducklings and black sheep

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Yep.

08-29-08 22:56 #

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Necros20
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Is there still anyway to obtain the registered version of Doom pre-Ultimate like through a downgrade patch or something?

08-30-08 02:25 #

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Gez
Member

Posts: 412
Registered: 07-07

Necros20 said:
Is there still anyway to obtain the registered version of Doom pre-Ultimate like through a downgrade patch or something?

Yes.

Google for "ladopato", the "lazy doom patcher tool", it can upgrade and downgrade all Doom iwads to all versions.

08-30-08 03:03 #

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MikeRS
Doomworld is so about bullshit excuses

Posts: 467
Registered: 06-05

Yes, Doomworld has broken hyperlinks to them.

All the files are in /idgames, actually. Screw my last post with atomicgamer. Look around /historic/ and /idstuff/doom/, you should be able to find downgrades and upgrades so you can get every version.

Gez: ladopato doesn't have all the files on the website anymore... the old downgrade methods are once again the only real way to do it.

08-30-08 03:03 #

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myk
patron mod of ugly ducklings and black sheep

Posts: 10453
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http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/in...utils/exe_edit/
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/in...p?dir=historic/
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff

08-30-08 07:25 #

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GreyGhost
Senior Member

Posts: 1079
Registered: 01-08

myk said:
Still, a lot of early traditional BBS shareware was like freeware but with a notice that you could send the author $5 or something if you were feeling generous and appreciated his or her work. That's very similar to freeware when the author accepts donations.

I think it's fine to distinguish between variations of what was called shareware, but finding one exacting model for it is fallacious.

The Amiga shareware scene used to work that way - those were the good old days. My current interpretation of what constitutes shareware has probably been influenced more than a little by ASP propaganda.

08-30-08 17:21 #

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Nes
Green Marine

Posts: 45
Registered: 06-07

I'm not sure if this helps anyone, but on shareware versions 1.2 and up, the TITLEPIC has a bar on the bottom with "Suggested Retail Price $9.00" on the middle. So technically you could have bought E1 for $9.00.

08-31-08 01:17 #

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myk
patron mod of ugly ducklings and black sheep

Posts: 10453
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Most versions also include VENDOR.DOC telling people to get a license from id Software (by snail mail) to become eligible sellers (of DOOM: Knee-Deep in the Dead).

I wish I could find one of the retail floppies I had. I'm pretty sure they had a blue DOOM logo on the sticker.

08-31-08 01:44 #

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GreyGhost
Senior Member

Posts: 1079
Registered: 01-08

Found my floppies - looks like it's Blue for shareware, Red for retail.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/a8fd748607359cc9177b12a4b12748572g.jpg

EDIT - The shareware disk is from Softkey International.

Last edited by GreyGhost on 08-31-08 at 14:25

08-31-08 08:07 #

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Enjay
ASK ME ABOUT FOOTBALL / STEAM / DEAD CELEBRITIES / THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

Posts: 3931
Registered: 12-00

I'd never even seen one of those blue ones before. The only disk based shareware versions I'd seen came from magazine cover disks listing what ever programs or articles were in the magazine that month. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any of them any more. I'm sure I kept my first v0.99 disks. :/ It would have been interesting to see what else was on there. I *think* there were some other programs squeezed on to disk 2.

08-31-08 12:30 #