TaskMaker
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Apprentice
Member # 5267
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 09:04
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Anyone here ever heard of Storm Impact, a now defunct Mac software company? Anyway, they under the leadership of David Cook created the shareware games TaskMaker and its sequel, The Tomb of the TaskMaker. (I'm sure you must have at least heard of them.) Being Ultima-style RPGs, they are very similar to Exile and Avernum. A summary of my opinion, Avernum is better than the TaskMaker games in regards to features, yet TaskMaker has a certain charm which inspires me to design an eidolon (mostly based on the hope of a source code release) which happened to be aptly named "Eidolon"... but that's another story. Now that I think about it, the two TaskMaker games and Avernum are actually my only experience with Ultima-style RPGs. [ Wednesday, December 15, 2004 19:00: Message edited by: Can-ned Food ] Posts: 10 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 12:22
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I liked Taskmaker and Tomb of the Taskmaker a lot. I was disappointed when I discovered that StormImpact had died. Avernum and Exile are different from Taskmaker in that they have much more complex combat, dialogue, and spell systems and are much, MUCH bigger. They're like Taskmaker, only more of everything. But, er, what's your point? -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5267
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 12:39
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quote:You hit it on the head, but I should've been more clear: I was only wondering how many other TaskMaker players were on this message board/forum. That and their opinion of the TaskMaker games. [ Wednesday, December 08, 2004 12:41: Message edited by: Can-ned Food ] Posts: 10 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 2238
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 13:05
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I've heard of it, but I've been away from Macs for too long to know. But from what I understand, they were pretty good. -------------------- The critics agree! Demonslayer is "a five star hit!" raves TIMES Weekly! "I've never heard such thoughtful comments. This man is a genious!" says two-time Nobel Prize winning physicist Erwin Rasputin! Posts: 1582 | Registered: Wednesday, November 13 2002 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 16:08
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I rather enjoyed the TaskMaker games too. Of course, it was possible to horribly abuse ethereal potions to skip many of the (obscenely elaborate) puzzles, but maybe that was the point. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 4900
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written Wednesday, December 8 2004 18:21
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Man, I just made a post on this and then I saw yours (Except I got the game wrong...heh...I put Task of the TombRaider) Anyways, on Topic: I LOVED THAT GAME Posts: 28 | Registered: Thursday, August 26 2004 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 4414
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written Thursday, December 9 2004 04:42
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I was wondering if anyone else had ever played TaskMaker. I thought it was a lot of fun, though I never played the sequel. StormImpact is dead? Does that mean the games are freeware now? What happens if someone wants to register? :confused: -------------------- AIM/Yahoo IM: Cavanoskus Scary artwork and Bad Poetry The Wildlife Research Team SnakeNetMetalRadio "We, who are about to die, salute you." Posts: 86 | Registered: Friday, May 21 2004 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Thursday, December 9 2004 04:53
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Registration codes were eventually released on the web. Might take a bit of looking to find them, though. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5267
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written Thursday, December 9 2004 08:21
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Of course, one could get into the whole abandonware controversy, and we might as well discuss copyright and "copyleft" while we are at it. However, I will say that although all of Storm Impact's games could be considered abandonware, the company -- or at least David Cook -- still holds legal rights to the games. Let's see, I spoke with Tom Zehner about this over email, and he gave the reason as being that David might want to do something with the games later and does not want them public domain. Although the swell Home of the Underdogs does in fact provide downloads and serial numbers for the TaskMaker games, those serial numbers as offered were not intended to be distributed. I believe I even heard the Macintosh Garden, another abandonware source, report that Cook threatened to sue HotU if they continued to host the TaskMaker games. Thought some of you might be interested to know all this. Posts: 10 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5091
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written Thursday, December 9 2004 11:38
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I suppose there's nothing inherently unethical about fighting abandonwarization of your old software. However, when it comes to shareware, to suddenly stop taking new registrations and go after people distributing keys makes you a class A jerkwad. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if copyright terms weren't so insanely broad. I firmly believe that 10 years is an ideal period for software copyright; after 10 years, your program is probably either obsolete or has been improved. Either way, Windows 95 being free wouldn't exactly damage Microsoft's bottom line. It's my experience that a lot of game programmers would for love their old stuff to be free, but many don't own the rights to do that. It's a damn shame. Legal abandonware results in awesome stuff like xu4. Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 1092
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written Monday, January 10 2005 15:01
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I got codes for them somewhere and I didn't exaclty pay for them -------------------- When you think you can't get any lower in life and hit rock bottom, God hands you a shovel. Following the rights movements You clamped on with your iron fists drugs being conviently available for all the kids Minor drug offenders fill your prisons You don't even flinch All our takes paying For your wars against the new non rich Posts: 615 | Registered: Friday, May 3 2002 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Monday, January 10 2005 15:12
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And you seriously revived a month-dead topic just to brag about your illegal activities? -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Shake Before Using
Member # 75
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written Monday, January 10 2005 21:48
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...yeah. Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |