Forums > Game Forums > GET LAMP (included games) > more information needed

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/24/2010 10:57 PM · Permalink · Report

A good start, but I'd like, for instance, the names of the games included? There's a rumour that there's about 30 of them, including at least one exclusive not available elsewhere.

Also you could mention that the movie itself includes one Choose Your Own Adventure juncture, and perhaps mention the "spot the lamp" game. Calling out Infocom and Scott Adams by name would also probably be useful, and possibly mentioning the feelie coin included.

ALSO... how the heck do we file this? It's just a DVD, and will play in any machine with a DVD-ROM, including my PlayStation 2, on which I watched it. I gather it's actually filed according to the platforms' interpreters bundled with the bonus DVD?

user avatar

MZ per X (3017) on 11/25/2010 10:27 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]how the heck do we file this? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Any platform the included games can actually be played on using the DVD? Which excludes PlayStation2 for instance, I guess?

user avatar

vedder (70869) on 11/25/2010 10:58 AM · Permalink · Report

Adding DVD as a platform has been discussed on multiple occasions and it should definitely be added as a platform in the near future. There are a lot of games that can be played on any DVD drive independent from whether it's a TV DVD-player, PS2 or PC's DVD-ROM drive it's being played on.

user avatar

MZ per X (3017) on 11/25/2010 11:34 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start vedder wrote--]There are a lot of games that can be played on any DVD drive independent from whether it's a TV DVD-player, PS2 or PC's DVD-ROM drive it's being played on. [/Q --end vedder wrote--] Never saw this. You mean these games are played using the remote control of the DVD player?

user avatar

vedder (70869) on 11/25/2010 11:45 AM · Permalink · Report

Yes. Due to the limited processor power these types of games are rather limited in genres though. Stuff like quizes and trivia are common (with or without additional physical board game), but stuff like text adventures and or CYOA are bound to exist as well.

user avatar

Indra was here (20754) on 11/25/2010 12:01 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Yep. I can just sniff adding Plasma TV and mobile phone games just around the corner.

user avatar

vedder (70869) on 11/25/2010 12:30 PM · Permalink · Report

Err, you do realize most Mobile phone platforms are already in the database? iPhone, J2ME, Android, BlackBerry, BREW, Doja, Mophun, ExEn, N-Gage, N-Gage (Serivce) and Symbian are all mobile phone platforms already in the database.

user avatar

Indra was here (20754) on 11/25/2010 12:50 PM · Permalink · Report

I knew I've seen those names before. :p

If it isn't Nokia, it's not a mobile phone (brainwashed consumer mode=on).

user avatar

vedder (70869) on 11/25/2010 1:37 PM · Permalink · Report

Games on your Nokia run on either J2ME or Symbian, depending on the phone you have. So start adding those games on your phone already!

user avatar

Indra was here (20754) on 11/25/2010 1:50 PM · Permalink · Report

Always wondered what Symbian was. Lack platform description doesn't help.

user avatar

Indra was here (20754) on 11/25/2010 11:04 AM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]ALSO... How the heck do we file this? It's just a DVD, and will play in any machine with a DVD-ROM, including my PlayStation 2, on which I watched it. [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Yep. I'm officially confused. Did the games work on the PS?

user avatar

Macs Black (80288) on 11/25/2010 12:35 PM · Permalink · Report

It's just a compilation of freeware adventures bundled with interpreters, added as bonus to the documentary. They are stored in a DVD-ROM section that can only be read by computers. I don't have the DVDs, otherwise I would have listed all the games with links to their profiles. I understand that Rowan has them, so he could submit the list as a revision if he wants.

I gathered all the information from Jason Scott's blog. The bonus disc has a menu that mimics the "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" books, but I guess it's more of a gimmick than a real game in any way. I thought that "feelies" like the beautiful engraved coin should be submitted as a trivia item, not described in the main summary. I didn't get in great detail about the feature because it's not what's being documented, it's the bundled games.

user avatar

formercontrib (157508) on 11/25/2010 2:24 PM · Permalink · Report

That would require a working Rowan, hmmm, hmmm, hmmmm, how do english boyz+girlz call this...??? A PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY...?? ;)==

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/25/2010 5:23 PM · Permalink · Report

While I have seen the doc (a friend's borrowed copy), I don't have a working DVD-rom attached to a computer or a copy of the doc anymore, for that matter. If I did, I might have made the entry.

As it is, the description looks to me akin to "This movie includes bonus games, and as such can be considered a game compilation. The names of these games are unimportant." That indicates to me strikes against both the contributor and the approver. When else would you get away with submitting a compilation and not naming its contents? I think it's great that the bonus DVD has been documented, but -- this submission is still only half-baked, not yet ready for prime time.

user avatar

Patrick Bregger (301114) on 11/25/2010 7:52 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Well, I think there is a huge difference between "lazy contributor" and "we just don't know more about the game". In my opinion the second should never be a reason to reject a game entry, even if it is not ideal.

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/25/2010 8:12 PM · Permalink · Report

The only salient database information there is to know about a compilation is what games are in it!

I don't mean to suggest that Macs is lazy; he did his best with the materials he had. It's just that I could have made this submission myself months ago but I didn't because I didn't figure I knew enough about the compilation to get the submission through the hoops 8) It's rare that I /over/estimate our editorial standards these days.

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/25/2010 8:14 PM · Permalink · Report

It's just that... it seems strange and arbitrary that a lack of a release date would send the submission back while basic information like even the amount of games present is unknown but the submission still goes through.

user avatar

Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 11/26/2010 2:54 AM · Permalink · Report

I'm with Pseudo on this one. At least a partial account of these games should be present. Their number, general gameplay description, selected stories/themes, etc.

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/26/2010 4:06 AM · Permalink · Report

Okay, I've made a call-out on the RGIF newsgroup for one of its numerous owners of the DVD set to send us a listing of Disc 2's bonus content.

user avatar

Macs Black (80288) on 11/26/2010 4:53 AM · Permalink · Report

Rowan's post in the newsgroup:

"Because we must all occasionally appreciate the perverse and pig-headed approach of putting the cart before the horse, some of the big brains over at MobyGames, in a typically well-intentioned but confused gesture, are trying to make a database entry for GET LAMP as a game compilation without any of us actually having a copy of GL to make reference to. This has resulted in an infuriatingly vague entry for the compilation, given that we don't actually know which games or even how many are included.

Neither Jason Scott nor the folks who made the collection's entry over at the ifwiki appear to have ever anticipated that anyone might be interested in knowing which games were included -- as presumably they are mostly re-releases of earlier games already available for free. But some time ago Mark Musante made some noise about A Simple Theft 2 being distributed exclusively on the disc and -- who knows? -- there might be more exclusives contained there. One doesn't want to blindly feel the elephant's trunk and conjecture too far.

We could get to the bottom of this quandary by buying a copy of the film. We might even be able to set it to rest by torrenting it. But easiest and fastest of all, we might, through some vague and indirect appeal, be able to persuade someone here to provide us with a listing of the bonus disc's contents. Might we?"

user avatar

Indra was here (20754) on 11/26/2010 7:31 AM · Permalink · Report

Heh. Lovely.

For some odd reason, while looking at yer avatar...it looks like a pig before a horse. :p

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/26/2010 7:50 AM · Permalink · Report

Don't let joyvalley say that I never get any work done! The call-to-arms was kindly addressed by a newsgroup patron within a few hours. Thank you, Emily Boegheim!

And to relieve the unbearable suspense, the included games are:

Above and Beyond!, version 1.3, by Mike Sousa

Acheton, version 1.005, Z-code translation version 1.100228, by Jon Thackray, David Seal, and Jonathan Partington

Across The Stars: The Ralckor Incident, release 3, by Dark Star and Peter Mattsson

Adventure, by Will Crowther (the two versions recovered by Dennis Jerz)

Ad Verbum, release 11, by Nick Montfort

Annoyotron, release 1, by Ben Parrish

Arrival, or Attack of the B-Movie Clichés, version 2, by Stephen Granade

Bad Machine, release 1.2, by Dan Shiovitz

Book and Volume, release 8, by Nick Montfort

Bronze, release 11, by Emily Short

Child's Play, release 4, by Stephen Granade

Fallacy of Dawn, release 1.05, by Robb Sherwin

The Dreamhold, release 5, by Andrew Plotkin

Earth and Sky Episode 1, release 2, by Paul O'Brian

Earth and Sky Episode 2: Another Earth, Another Sky, release 2, by Paul O'Brian

Earth and Sky Episode 3: Luminous Horizon, release 1, by Paul O'Brian

Escapade!, release 3, by Juhana Leinonen

Everybody Dies, release 2, by Jim Munroe

Colditz Escape, by Frank Fridd (I think? it's published by Fridd, anyway)

Sound of Him, by Frank Fridd (ditto)

Friendly Foe, release 2, by Mike Sousa

Galatea, release 3, by Emily Short

Great-Great-Grandfather's Gold, by Frank Fridd

Losing Your Grip, version 5, by Stephen Granade

Hunter, in Darkness, release 4, by Andrew Plotkin

The King of Shreds and Patches, release 12, by Jimmy Maher

LASH - Local Asynchronous Satellite Hookup, release 11, by Paul O'Brian

The Lighthouse, release 2, by Marius Müller

Necrotic Drift, release 1.03, by Robb Sherwin

Pantomime, release 1.02, by Robb Sherwin

Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus, version 1.0, by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short

Piracy 2.0, release 1, by Sean Huxter

A Simple Theft, by Mark J. Musante (but it looks like the file is corrupted - I can't get it to run in any interpreter)

A Simple Theft 2: A Simple Theftier, release 1, by Mark J. Musante

The Recruit, release 1.0, by Mike Sousa

Savoir Faire, release 8, by Emily Short

Shade, release 3, by Andrew Plotkin

Smuggler, by Frank Fridd

Spider and Web, release 4, by Andrew Plotkin

No Time To Squeal, release 1.3, by Mike Sousa and Robb Sherwin

Till Death Makes a Monk-Fish Out of Me, release 1.1, by Mike Sousa and Jon Ingold

Violet, release 3, by Jeremy Freese

Winchester's Nightmare, release 5, by Nick Montfort

At Wit's End, version 1.4, by Mike Sousa

Raising the Flag on Mount Yo Momma, release 2, by Juhana Leinonen

There's also the complete set of Eamon adventure games, as of the time of Get Lamp's publication. (I don't know if any more have been released since then.)

Most of these aren't in the database because most of them haven't seen release with bundled interpreters, but there are in-Mobygames-exceptions such as Shade, Galatea, Necrotic Drift, Everybody Dies, Bad Machine, Ad Verbum, ADVENTURE, Acheton. Most of these games are shovelware, however there is at least one exception, Simple Theft 2 as noted above, that is exclusively released for the first time here. Maybe more? Does Macs want to do the item-by-item analysis here or should I?

I should ask her a follow-up question about bundled interpreters.

Also note, the post is a treasure trove of credits!

user avatar

formercontrib (157508) on 11/26/2010 10:51 AM · edited · Permalink · Report

Wonders never cease!

Don't ask - do it!

I wonder should Macs really have a problem, if you revise and receive the points for the major update/replacement of his discription, after the research you did.

Another thread not needed, can be closed afterwards :)

Good to know that i'm the beast, spares me a final conclusion like: Amen or Hallelujah here!! :) instead - pragmatic solutions rule the World!

user avatar

Macs Black (80288) on 11/26/2010 2:19 PM · Permalink · Report

Do the revision, and add the missing games. I'm quite sure that for some of these titles you waited an official release to submit for many years. :)

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/26/2010 7:02 PM · Permalink · Report

More information about the emulators included:

> Thank you, Emily, for the prompt reply! Everybody back at our insular

forum has been waiting on tenterhooks. I hate to pay back a favor with asking another favor, but would it be possible for you to tell us anything about interpreters bundled there too?

Gargoyle 2009-08-25 for Windows and Linux, and Spatterlight 0.5.0 for Mac.

Apart from that, some of the older games are bundled with emulators. Colditz Escape and Sound of Him come with the Amstrad emulator WinAPE32, version 2.0 alpha 17.

The Eamon games come with several Apple II emulators: A2, Apple Oasis 2.4, ApplePC 2.52b, AppleWin 1.10.4, and Catakig 1.16, plus a bunch of utilities that I don't know what they are. But the Eamon bundle is just a copy of the Eamon CD, which is a free download, so you can check it out yourself if you want to: http://www.eamonag.org/programs/EAG_90F.rar

user avatar

Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 11/26/2010 7:03 PM · Permalink · Report

(Will be bringing this entry to 100% at my earliest convenience, which may not be until next week.)