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ScummVM 0.13.0 Delivers New Adventure Games

Posted by Soulskill on from the ever-expanding-selection dept.

KingofGnG writes "The classics, by definition, never go out of fashion, let alone if they are the graphic adventures of past decades. The preferred tool of true adventurers is ScummVM, software that works as an interpreter between data files of such adventures and modern operating systems. 6 months after the release of version 0.12.0, developers have now delivered a new main release of the virtual machine, which includes novelties both for the interface and supported games."

20 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Ahhh, 7th Guest by FlyveHest · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Man, first game I ever owned on CD, real video, amazing graphics.

    What a great addition to a great piece of software, and, goodbye weekend :)

  2. Re:SCI by 0xygen · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is always DOSBox - but I know what you mean.
    It would be nice to have them in ScummVM, as it runs a lot of places where DOSBox does not run as well.

    I would love to have LSL on my PSP at a decent speed!

  3. Re:SCI by DrMcCoy · · Score: 5, Informative

    ScummVM has recently merged with FreeSCI, so this is going to happen eventually. Right now, there's still a lot of clean-up and restructuring going on, general development will continue then.

    Of course, help is always appreciated, so if /you/ perhaps would like to provide said help, there's for example #scummvm on FreeNode.

  4. Re:New Adventure Games? With ScummVM? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    New to scummvm. Us non-autistic people appreciate this thing called "context".

  5. That's all good but... by Ksempac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Every time i see headlines like "ScummVM add new games" or something similar, i'm disappointed. It only adds support for theses games.
    You still need to have an old working version of the game or find it in the grey realm of abandonware.
    I wish companies would release theses old games for free (so that they can join "Flight of the Amazon Queen" or "Beneath a Steel Sky"), or sell them all as a single compilation.
    But it doesn't seem to be going that way. Instead companies now offer each of their hit as overpriced DLC (1200 MS Points for R-Type 1&2 ?! WTF ??). The sad thing is that people seem to be stupid enough to buy them... :/

    1. Re:That's all good but... by montyzooooma · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://abandonia.com/en/game/Adventure
      Though I suppose that technically comes under the heading of grey realms of abandonware. At least it's a well known site.

    2. Re:That's all good but... by vux984 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      er... seriously? Your upset that companies have finally found a way to profitably re-release classic titles? Titles that would still comfortably be under copy right even if copyright terms were sane?

    3. Re:That's all good but... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sane copyright would be 14 years, and I'm being generous here; most studies conducted over the past few years have suggested even shorter terms, including one conducted by MIT and one commissioned by the British government (and then promptly ignored). With 14-year copyright, pretty much all DOS games would now be in the public domain.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    4. Re:That's all good but... by Ksempac · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was waiting for the argument saying that movie are still expensive 10 years later. The main difference is the evolution of the medium.
      Video Game is a new industry, which is getting bigger every year. Moreover the technology behind it is booming. 10 years old games looks like crap by today's standards (even though they are still very good). 10 years old games were done by smallers teams (credits get longer and longer...i just saw the endless credits of Gears of war 2 last month).
      On the other hand, movie still have a lot to tell but technology and budgets doesn't evolve as fast as the ones for video games (except maybe for the ones using a lot of special effects). So a 10 years old movie doesn't seem as old as a 10 years old video game (The "Tekken" series is a great example for that). But still, very old movies tends to have lower prices.
      That's why i think the price of games should decrease faster than the price for movies.
      Last thing that maybe wasn't clear from my earlier posts : I'm all in favor of copyrights law and i believe that companies should make money from their older games. But I still think their pricing scheme for retro-gaming are often (but not always, see above my mention of the Sega pack) ridiculous.

  6. Re:It is pitch black. by kvezach · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, that's IF. For that, you're going to need Gargoyle or Frotz.

  7. Thanks! by bhunachchicken · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ScummVM is excellent, I have to say. I remember a number of years ago I was in a independent game store in London and, there on the shelf, I spotted a copy of The Dig... for £2. £2!! Wow.

    It was a DOS game and being a Linux user, I felt a little bit dismayed that I wouldn't be able to play it, unless I booted into Windows or wrestled with DOS Box. My brother then pointed out that it was supported by ScummVM, so I thought, what the hell, it's only £2... So I bought it, give it a go and it worked like a charm. First try too. No issues at all.

    So, thanks to the ScummVM team, who without I would not have been able to play The Dig, Beneath a Steel Sky, and Flight of the Amazon Queen. All legally too!

    --
    THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
    1. Re:Thanks! by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My SO has been tearing her way through my collection of adventure games recently. It took her about 5 days to complete The Longest Journey (oh, irony), so I introduced her to my LucasArts collection.

      We found that ScummVM is awesome for playing those games in, even the ones that you can manage to run natively in XP. The launching interface is nice, you don't have to keep the CDs on the drive (so, back in the vault they go!), and the options to upgrade graphics for larger displays are very much appreciated.

      ScummVM developers, we 3 you!

  8. Re:SCI by Per+Wigren · · Score: 2, Informative

    SCI-support not high on their "to do" list?

    Pardon me, I present to you new evidence!

    --
    My other account has a 3-digit UID.
  9. Re:New Adventure Games? With ScummVM? by bandini · · Score: 3, Funny

    Welcome to Slashdot. The context of this thread is: you're too lazy to type 'scummvm' into Google.

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  10. Re:Grim Fandango by DrMcCoy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, just to be clear: The thing with residual is not some abstract status, but a lack of interested devs with enough free time.

    Anybody here who qualifies for that is free to check in #scummvm on FreeNode and offer their help. :P

  11. Re:SCI by Hatta · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What I'd like to see are some tools to help people develop their own adventure games for ScummVM. As it is, most new adventure games are written with AGS, which is not free, and no up to date version is available on Linux.

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  12. Could have a place in the office? by whereiswaldo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Has anyone here ever considered using an adventure game as a software tool in the office? I was thinking something around workflow management.

    Basically, people, departments and documents could be depicted in the game. Decisions you make would have a bearing on reality and could trigger actions such as an email notification being sent, etc.

    A decision requiring multiple parties could be materialized as you gathering all the people together to defeat a boss that depends on all your skills.

    Of if you need an override to make a decision that person with that capability could wear a wizard outfit.

    Could be a lot of fun. Anyone have thoughts on this?

    1. Re:Could have a place in the office? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      This has already been done.

      They called it Microsoft Bob.

    2. Re:Could have a place in the office? by CannonballHead · · Score: 3, Funny

      Let's see... office + "defeat a boss." Sounds good. ;)

    3. Re:Could have a place in the office? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Jeff Raskin had some thoughts on this. He likened a bad user interface to a computer game - an apt analogy that still has me cringe whenever I'm in an HCI seminar and the speaker proudly announces that 'it's just like a game'. Adventure games are the perfect example of how not to design a user interface. They intentionally make things difficult, requiring you to walk around a lot and solve puzzles. An adventure game with a good (business) user interface would tell you all of the story, only require input at key points that affected the narrative, and be over in about half an hour. The things that make adventure games fun are exactly the same things that make the terrible as a model for designing human-computer interaction.

      By the way, I'd thoroughly recommend The Human Interface. Jef had some strange ideas and was far too focussed on text, but most of what he said makes a lot of sense.

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News