The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: rebelwrest on September 28, 2024, 03:59:44 PM

Title: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: rebelwrest on September 28, 2024, 03:59:44 PM
I think my first download was Curt King's Press Your Luck, and I played that for hours and hours and hours.  Even though his website is long gone, you can go to the Wayback Machine and still download the game.  I did and it still works.

We all have been downloading these programs for over 25 years, so what have been some of your favorites?

By the way, here is the link to download Curt King's PYL: https://web.archive.org/web/20040325010319/http://crossbearer.com/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20040325010319/http://crossbearer.com/)

\Any of you remember Net Poker
\\The Joker's Wild that can only be accessed through the command center
\\\That text based Wheel of Fortune
\\\\Blockbusters that was played on 5X5 grid
\\\\\The many, many, many versions of Lingo
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: jcs290 on September 28, 2024, 04:05:54 PM
Curt’s PYL remains the GOAT to me. It’s pretty amazing that his version was faithful to the original, included sound effects and sound bites from the show, and it was better than any commercial release to date.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: TimK2003 on September 28, 2024, 04:19:17 PM
I forget who put it together, but there was a computer version of Super Password that was pretty good, complete with sound bites from the show.  Even the puzzles were about as tough as the ones on the show. 

I also believe there was a way you could add your own puzzles to the mix as well.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on September 28, 2024, 04:27:30 PM
Jay Lewis made a text-based version of TPiR that I spent a lot of time playing.

I agree that Curt’s game is the gold standard.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: SamJ93 on September 28, 2024, 05:14:41 PM
Most of the FLASHgames recreations, especially Tic Tac Dough, Scrabble and Caesars Challenge were top-notch and highly addictive. They were still playable on archive.org for a while, but sadly no longer seem to be.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Kevin Prather on September 28, 2024, 05:24:42 PM
One of the best things about Curt King's game was that it was easily customizable. You could switch out the sounds and (I think) board graphics with your own.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on September 28, 2024, 06:18:30 PM
I forget who put it together, but there was a computer version of Super Password that was pretty good, complete with sound bites from the show.  Even the puzzles were about as tough as the ones on the show. 

I also believe there was a way you could add your own puzzles to the mix as well.
Yep, he was the same person who released Classic Concentration and Blockbusters, among others. IIRC he received a C&D pretty early on, which was a shame because those were strong efforts he put out.

Honestly, Bigjon was another big deal for me. The games he released were pre-Ludia, and that was a pretty barren time for official home versions of games. There were times where i wished he would have put more effort behind 2 or 3 games rather than releasing 20, but i appreciated the effort.

There was also a really good Scrabble Sprint game executed in DOS years ago. It had show-faithful graphics and was probably released somewhere around 2000.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Kevin Prather on September 28, 2024, 06:26:14 PM
I forget who put it together, but there was a computer version of Super Password that was pretty good, complete with sound bites from the show.  Even the puzzles were about as tough as the ones on the show. 

I also believe there was a way you could add your own puzzles to the mix as well.
Yep, he was the same person who released Classic Concentration and Blockbusters, among others. IIRC he received a C&D pretty early on, which was a shame because those were strong efforts he put out.

As I recall, his response to the C&D was to tattle on a bunch of other similar game creators, which cost him quite a bit of favor.

Quote
Honestly, Bigjon was another big deal for me. The games he released were pre-Ludia, and that was a pretty barren time for official home versions of games. There were times where i wished he would have put more effort behind 2 or 3 games rather than releasing 20, but i appreciated the effort.

I too was a loyal player of BigJon's games, maybe at the expense of a computer. His Price is Right game in particular was very impressive.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: tpirfan28 on September 28, 2024, 06:57:55 PM
There was also a really good Scrabble Sprint game executed in DOS years ago. It had show-faithful graphics and was probably released somewhere around 2000.

I guess this makes me a packrat. (http://kellerbmk.com/sprint.zip) (Run the shortcut - I bundled in DOSBox)
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: SuperMatch93 on September 28, 2024, 10:04:25 PM
Will Schmarder (I think) made a text-based WoF years ago with shopping that was very fun.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: PYLdude on September 30, 2024, 06:59:55 PM
If I remember, Curt also did a version of the Money Cards from Card Sharks that was pretty nice.

I’ve said BigJon had plenty of issues with his games, and it wasn’t just the bugginess; to me there were far too many games that should’ve had a player against CPU option (Blockbusters and Bullseye especially), and he left in some errors that oughta have been caught before launch (“walwus” is not a word).
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: aaron sica on September 30, 2024, 09:15:58 PM
I’ve said BigJon had plenty of issues with his games, and it wasn’t just the bugginess; to me there were far too many games that should’ve had a player against CPU option (Blockbusters and Bullseye especially), and he left in some errors that oughta have been caught before launch (“walwus” is not a word).

He didn't earn the nickname "BugJon" for nothing.

That said, though, echoing what others said, his Price is Right game was better than any computer game sold commercially.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on September 30, 2024, 09:17:49 PM
Will Schmarder (I think) made a text-based WoF years ago with shopping that was very fun.
\\\That text based Wheel of Fortune

Guess I'm a packrat too.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11AjwEO_XPM5crVPInTcK8xSOzSbmUW_u/view?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: SuperMatch93 on September 30, 2024, 10:53:14 PM
Does anyone remember the unlicensed WoF ripoff called Spin 2 Win or something like that? It was shareware and supposedly the full version had loads of features that made even BigJon's versions pale in comparison.

I remember trying to run the demo in DOSBox, but it never worked properly.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: BrandonFG on September 30, 2024, 11:05:21 PM
Does anyone remember the unlicensed WoF ripoff called Spin 2 Win or something like that? It was shareware and supposedly the full version had loads of features that made even BigJon's versions pale in comparison.

I remember trying to run the demo in DOSBox, but it never worked properly.
Was that Joytube (https://joytube.newgrounds.com/)?
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: rebelwrest on September 30, 2024, 11:05:54 PM
He didn't earn the nickname "BugJon" for nothing.

That said, though, echoing what others said, his Price is Right game was better than any computer game sold commercially.

BigJon's Wheel of Fortune was also fantastic.  Yes, I was one of those who used custom wheels to create the daytime wheel layouts.

\I did love all the options including turning off the toss-ups
\\But not that IKing feature
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: SuperMatch93 on September 30, 2024, 11:34:52 PM
Was that Joytube (https://joytube.newgrounds.com/)?

No, I remember it being a DOS game. I'll see if I can find a link to its website on the Wayback Machine.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on October 01, 2024, 08:48:10 AM
There was also a really good Scrabble Sprint game executed in DOS years ago. It had show-faithful graphics and was probably released somewhere around 2000.

I guess this makes me a packrat. (http://kellerbmk.com/sprint.zip) (Run the shortcut - I bundled in DOSBox)
THANK YOU. Honestly, playing it again, I'm doubly impressed by how smooth and bug-free it was.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: TLEberle on October 01, 2024, 10:39:17 AM
Jeremy:

Would you be so kind to share a couple of screen shots?

Smooth and bug free, huh? Squad goals, those.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: TLEberle on October 01, 2024, 10:41:31 AM
\I did love all the options including turning off the toss-ups
\\But not that IKing feature
I remember his Whammy! game had a pile of bonus or wacky squares, but no documentation I could look up to see what "Greed" or "Beat the IRS" meant.

/I was rather put off when I made it to the end of Russian Roulette and one of the Killer Questions and one of the answers was "Circumfrence."
//and the one time that I managed to win on the final spin and the $100,000 incremented on screen $50 at a time.
///I almost really did go make a sandwich.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: cliffhanger285 on October 01, 2024, 11:44:01 AM
Was that Joytube (https://joytube.newgrounds.com/)?

No, I remember it being a DOS game. I'll see if I can find a link to its website on the Wayback Machine.

Looks like it was eventually released for free:
 https://web.archive.org/web/20070310053320/http://home.earthlink.net/~vrflyer/spin2win.htm (https://web.archive.org/web/20070310053320/http://home.earthlink.net/~vrflyer/spin2win.htm)
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: SuperMatch93 on October 01, 2024, 01:19:25 PM
Is Palace still active? I remember being amazed at the screenshots of the versions of SOTC and other games that people ran on there, but I never signed up for it myself.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: JasonA1 on October 01, 2024, 01:54:37 PM
Is Palace still active?

Yes it is! Send me a PM.

-Jason
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on October 01, 2024, 10:18:29 PM
Jeremy:

Would you be so kind to share a couple of screen shots?

Smooth and bug free, huh? Squad goals, those.
Folder below!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12A-2K4xmEDjt2TDxpBgvDn15djSKbIXi?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: TLEberle on October 01, 2024, 10:22:04 PM
Oh that’s a beauty. Thank you sir,
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: PYLdude on October 01, 2024, 10:26:55 PM
I’ve said BigJon had plenty of issues with his games, and it wasn’t just the bugginess; to me there were far too many games that should’ve had a player against CPU option (Blockbusters and Bullseye especially), and he left in some errors that oughta have been caught before launch (“walwus” is not a word).

He didn't earn the nickname "BugJon" for nothing.

That said, though, echoing what others said, his Price is Right game was better than any computer game sold commercially.


I didn’t download it, but I was more partial to his Wheel of Fortune. Even if the wheel mechanism was vertical.

The games that he at least looked to have made an effort with came off pretty good. His Wheel was good, his Whammy and PYL games were decent, and I also enjoyed the Scrabble game.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: nowhammies10 on October 02, 2024, 08:58:46 AM
I remember his Whammy! game had a pile of bonus or wacky squares, but no documentation I could look up to see what "Greed" or "Beat the IRS" meant.

As I recall, the "Greed" space stole everyone's score and combined it into your own, e.g. if the scores are 5000|7500|12500 and Player 1 hits "Greed", the scores become 25000|0|0. I think "Beat The IRS" shaved off a percentage of your score, but I can't remember that for sure.

ObThread: I've got most, if not all, of the games that folks have created over the years. Happy to share if anyone's looking for something in particular.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on October 03, 2024, 10:00:37 AM
\\But not that IKing feature
That was the virtual host ala Vanna in Wheel CD Rom games, right? If so, it was a nice portfolio concept.
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: rebelwrest on October 06, 2024, 11:47:05 AM
I remember his Whammy! game had a pile of bonus or wacky squares, but no documentation I could look up to see what "Greed" or "Beat the IRS" meant.

As I recall, the "Greed" space stole everyone's score and combined it into your own, e.g. if the scores are 5000|7500|12500 and Player 1 hits "Greed", the scores become 25000|0|0. I think "Beat The IRS" shaved off a percentage of your score, but I can't remember that for sure.

ObThread: I've got most, if not all, of the games that folks have created over the years. Happy to share if anyone's looking for something in particular.

I'll take you up on that offer.  What do you have in your inventory?
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: That Don Guy on October 06, 2024, 04:14:19 PM
I made one that's about as "old school" as you can get - a self-programmed version of Celebrity Sweepstakes playable on pretty much any "big iron" computer that had a Fortran compiler; this would have been back around 1975. Each position, except for #4 (always Carol Wayne, of course), had one of two random celebrities; the game was played normally, but odds were set more or less randomly and there were no actual "questions" - instead, a number from 1 to 100 was randomly chosen, and if it was greater than the celebrity's odds, they answered it correctly. (That was a serious flaw, in that the favorite would always have the correct answer if the question wasn't scratched.)
Title: Re: Favorite Homemade Game Show Softwares
Post by: nowhammies10 on October 06, 2024, 05:57:30 PM
I'll take you up on that offer.  What do you have in your inventory?

Almost any software that was released for free over the years. Among others:

[/list]
Basically, if it was ever released for free somewhere, I grabbed it and saved it. DM me with what you're specifically looking for and I'd be happy to package it up and send it over.