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Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:05 pm
by Garry
I can't believe that there aren't any SUDS games listed in the CASA database.

SUDS was originally written in 1999 by Andy Elliot. This version had a mouse-driven user interface with no text input. It was expanded and re-released in 2007 by Matthew Smith. This time it had a text interface while keeping the point-and-click idea, a skinnable interface for the adventure player and expanded functionality.

It has a very polished user interface, but you don't have to use any of the bells and whistles. I always use the "hardcore" option to remove the icons and play games as a pure text adventures.

The reason for this post is that the SUDS web site (http://www.sudslore.org) has long gone and the games are no longer available. I am trying to find them. There must surely be someone out there who still has copies. I have scoured various sources including the Internet archive and worked out that the following games were released. I have the ones in normal font and am trying to find the ones in bold red font. Full info on all the games will be uploaded to CASA in due course.

Cave Hunt (Andy Elliot)
Cloak of Darkness (Roger Firth)
Colossal Cave (Matthew Smith)
Dojo of Dreams, The (sackface100)
House of Dreams (areg5)
Journey To the Center of the Animal Cell (jessibelle)
Legend of Wailing Dave, The (Matthew Smith)
Lost in a Castle (Nate Bond)
Night in Spooksville, A (Landry Q Walker)
Patman In Billyland (Gwommy)
Pilgrim's Progress, The (Nate Bond)
Quest, The (Nate Bond)
Roman Adventure II (Andy Elliot)
Search for the Ultimate Weapon (Sharon Lynn)
Snow Night (Charles A Smith)
Space Camp (Nate Bond)
Spectrum Adventure (Matthew Smith)
Village, The (sackface100)

If you know where I can download these, please respond here. Otherwise if you've got them in your collection and can send me a copy, please send be a PM.

If you know of any other SUDS adventures, please let everyone know about them in this thread and I'll add them to the list above.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:39 pm
by ahope1
Garry wrote: Legend of Wailing Dave, The (Matthew Smith)
Lost in a Castle (Nate Bond) ...
Patman In Billyland (Gwommy)
Those three games were collected and shared by a former user of a certain interactive fiction forum and of another forum.

Not sure if that helps.

:?

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:25 pm
by Garry
Thanks for the feedback, but no luck I'm afraid. I searched for SUDS and the three games you mentioned on both intfiction.org and intfic.com. I managed to find a link to Peter Piers' gigantic archive, but this is a torrent and I couldn't find any top level folders that would indicate SUDS games. They may be buried in there somewhere, but I've never used torrent and wouldn't know where to start. Peter dropped out of the IF community about a year ago and said he was deleting his collection, so I don't like to pester him.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 2:46 pm
by Garry
Okay, I've downloaded a torrent client (uTorent 3.5.1), downloaded Peter's *.torrent files, searched through them and found Colossal Cave and the three games you mentioned, but how on earth do I download them?

I tried the online help and a couple of "how to use torrent" web pages, but they were no help (unless you want to download pirate movies or something like that). It's all Greek to me. Anyone know how to do this? The torrent files in question can be found at https://mega.nz/#F!ytlERQhb!xcUdY_9oNX9LjGkOdp0bqw

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:28 pm
by ahope1
You can't download files from a torrent unless the torrent has at least one "seeder": i.e. someone who has already downloaded the files in question and can upload them to you. That's the basic premise on which the BitTorrent protocol depends. It depends on other people keeping their computers online and choosing to share their files with anyone who wants to download them. (That's the only place where the files actually exist: on other people's personal computers.)

This particular torrent that you've found is quite old and probably isn't being actively seeded any more.

I guess the only thing I was trying to say was that it looks as if there might be at least one person out there who has (or had) copies of some of the SUDS games you were looking for. But, as I said, I'm not sure I'm being very helpful. I'm sorry for wasting your time.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:28 pm
by Alastair
I've found Colossal Cave and The Quest (plus Spectrum Adventure) at a site called Softpaz - it seems a safe enough site as the downloads are simple zip files.

Colossal Cave - https://www.softpaz.com/games/download- ... e-1584.htm

The Quest - https://www.softpaz.com/games/download- ... e-1585.htm

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:08 pm
by Garry
Thanks for the feedback guys.

To ahope1, I thought it was something like that. Please excuse my ignorance of torrents, but I hadn't used them before. You certainly didn't waste my time, as I learnt a bit about torrents and I now have a "directory" of what Peter Piers had in his collection before he pulled out of the IF scene. If ever I've got the time or the patience, it will be interesting to wade through this directory and see if there's anything of interest, particularly in the classics area.

To Alastair, a great find. I'd never heard of softpaz before. Unfortunately, the two files you found are two of the least interesting, as Colossal Cave is a port of ADVENT (the original 350 point version) and The Quest is a port of a game by Christopher Lampton. I think the remaining games are unique to SUDS. I've edited the original message to indicate that Colossal Cave and The Quest have now been found. With any luck, the others may surface in due course.

Thanks again guys. The CASA crew are the best.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:03 pm
by Alastair
Garry, I've found two more. In both cases click on the text "Download via Brothergames" rather than the download arrow graphic.

The Legend of Wailing Dave - http://www.brothergames.com/pc/the_lege ... nload.html

Lost in a Castle - http://www.brothergames.com/pc/lost_in_ ... nload.html


(The same site also claims to have Space Camp - http://www.brothergames.com/pc/space_ca ... nload.html - but the download contains a different game.)

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 5:14 am
by Garry
11 down, 6 to go. Great detective work Alastair. Pity about Space Camp. Maybe it's on another downloads site somewhere.

The brothergames.com site was flagged as suspicious by my virus scanner due to known malware and at least one of the downloads was flagged as suspicious. After exercising due diligence, the latter seems to have been a false positive. The two unzipped suds files proved to be clean, seem to run fine and, according to a full system scan, did not leave any viruses behind.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:12 pm
by Alastair
Garry wrote:The brothergames.com site was flagged as suspicious by my virus scanner due to known malware and at least one of the downloads was flagged as suspicious. After exercising due diligence, the latter seems to have been a false positive. The two unzipped suds files proved to be clean, seem to run fine and, according to a full system scan, did not leave any viruses behind.
This is always a problem when coming across these download sites which is why I made sure that the downloads were zips containing SUDS files and not an executable file or some other package that may install something malicious on a computer. The site itself did not trigger any warnings on my computer - not even a peep from uBlock Origin - so, as you said, your virus checker is no doubt flagging a false positive (perhaps in the past brothergames.com did have some problems which is no longer the case). Also, I used Google to find the downloads and there was no warning by Google that there may be problems with the site, that said, I don't know if Google still gives such warnings.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:33 am
by Garry
I found a new SUDS game called House of Dreams written by areg5 in around 2005. In the process, I discovered a few new abbreviations, including AP (age progression) and AR (age regression). The author's nick name is probably derived from the latter. As best as I can work out, this is an adult-themed game where at least one of the characters gets younger. A walkthru indicates that it has multiple endings, so it might be more like a CYOA rather than classic text adventure.

The author did an enhanced version in RAGS about 5 years after the original release and a graphic novel of it a couple of years later. I think the RAGS version has graphics done using Blender (an open source 3D modelling tool).

I haven't been able to find a download for the SUDS version that works, but it doesn't sound like something that would appeal to me anyway, as it's not exactly a "classic".

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:23 am
by ahope1
Garry wrote:... In the process ...
Sorry to derail this thread, Garry, but I've been told you might have a copy of the BBC Micro version of Revenge Of The Toothless Vampire..?

Please let me know if you do:

http://www.solutionarchive.com/phpBB3/v ... ?f=3&t=885

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:20 pm
by Garry
No problem. I've sent you a personal message regarding this.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:27 pm
by Garry
You can't use torrent unless someone's seeding it.

Re: Seeking SUDS games

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 10:57 pm
by Alastair
Garry, it would appear that the person mentioning torrents was a spammer. I've deleted that post which is why it now appears that you are answering thin air.