Farewell, pale imitation!

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AuthorTopic: Farewell, pale imitation!
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #0
As of 11/10/05, Fantasoft has vanished from the internet. The maker of Realmz and New Centurions (Realmz with guns. Well, more guns), and the distributor of a number of other games, including the earlier Exiles, seems to have shut its virtual doors, possibly forever.

Farewell, Fantasoft. You brought us bugs, typos, and some rare moments of joy.

—Alorael, who can't explain what urge made him check the Fantasoft website.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 34
Profile Homepage #1
Oh no! They contributed to Monkey Shines too!

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Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

'Spiderweb Software' anagrammmed: 'Word-bereft A**wipe'
Posts: 702 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Shake Before Using
Member # 75
Profile #2
Farewell, Fantasoft! I never loved thee!
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Shaper
Member # 5450
Profile Homepage #3
This calls for a witty phrase like 'see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!'

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I'll put a Spring in your step.
:ph34r:
Posts: 2396 | Registered: Saturday, January 29 2005 08:00
Master
Member # 4614
Profile Homepage #4
And this is obviously the end of life as we know it.

Man, Alo, I never thought you'd post spam topics. :P

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-ben4808
Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #5
It's relevant! Fantasoft is given credit in E1 and E2!

—Alorael, who would like to know if this means that Realmz and all scenarios for it are going to be released for free. If so, the price will make them almost worth playing.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Shake Before Using
Member # 75
Profile #6
Hehe. I tried playing Realmz, but the awful was too much. I just couldn't figure out how to start hacking through it.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #7
I have a lot of nostalgia for Realmz. It probably helps that I discovered it several years before I found E3.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
...b10010b...
Member # 869
Profile Homepage #8
It was better from versions 1 to 4, before it started making too many ludicrous "improvements". The implementation of 3D dungeons was the point at which it all started to go downhill, I think.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 1546
Profile Homepage #9
I remember the really oooold Realmz versions. I think at one stage I had a disk with 0.67 or something.

I agree with Thuryl, it was much better (yet oh so buggy) when it was young and simple. City of Bywater, how I loathe thee.

HOWEVER, Alo also raises a good point; should Realmz become freeware, it may be worth it. After A4 has been most strenuously clawed over in every manageable and unmanageable way possible, that is.

edit: learning how to type.

[ Wednesday, December 07, 2005 16:50: Message edited by: kuc ]

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A Sucaran Child is standing here.
You say, "hello"
The small child looks at Preserver Aldous wide-eyed and awed.
Posts: 269 | Registered: Friday, July 19 2002 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 6482
Profile #10
The website seems to be fine to me, aside from a handful of broken images. Do they have a news page somewhere explaining things?
Posts: 9 | Registered: Thursday, November 17 2005 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #11
You're either looking at the wrong site or a cached version. As far as I can tell, Fantasoft's website is entirely gone. There's no news because there's nowhere for it to be. Just a big notice of expiration to remind us all of our mortality.

—Alorael, who thinks he'll go kill some deamons [sic] in Realmz to cool off.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Apprentice
Member # 6482
Profile #12
Um. Well, if I go to the IP of the page, I get "this domain is registered with powweb", which one of my local syadamins says problayb means they're using virtual hosting. (Evidently multiple domains point at the same IP, and the server sees which domain it's supposedly being and serves the appropriate pages.) But otherwise it's fine, a freind of mine on the other side of the US says it's fine, and I am downlaoding the windows demo of Realmz as we speak.

You could try emailing fantasoft1@aol.com and asking about it, I suppose.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Thursday, November 17 2005 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 1546
Profile Homepage #13
quote:
http://www.fantasoft.com = Network Solutions, with the note:

"This domain name expired on 11/10/2005 and is pending renewal or deletion."
I dont think a company would leave their domain unpaid overdue for 2 months. Fantasoft are pretty gone.

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A Sucaran Child is standing here.
You say, "hello"
The small child looks at Preserver Aldous wide-eyed and awed.
Posts: 269 | Registered: Friday, July 19 2002 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 6482
Profile #14
Record expires on 10-Nov-2008
Record created on 11-Nov-1996
Database last updated on 07-Dec-2005

According to feeding "fantasoft.com" into http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml

Looks to me like they just re-registered it.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Thursday, November 17 2005 08:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #15
Realmz is essentially freeware, considering how easy it is to pirate.

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Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #16
quote:
Originally written by Kasumetoru Sai:

Realmz is essentially freeware, considering how easy it is to pirate.
By that criterion, what about Spiderweb's games? <_<

That comment should still be in line with the CoC.

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My BlogPolarisI eat novels for breakfast.
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Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Shaper
Member # 3442
Profile Homepage #17
quote:
Originally written by An array cat:

quote:
Originally written by Kasumetoru Sai:

Realmz is essentially freeware, considering how easy it is to pirate.
By that criterion, what about Spiderweb's games? <_<

That comment should still be in line with the CoC.

By the skin of your teeth Aran. By the skin of your teeth.

I think I have a disk with Realmz on somewhere. I may have to root around to get at it, but I'll try and dig it out... I've never actually plated it!

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And when you want to Live
How do you start?
Where do you go?
Who do you need to know?

Posts: 2864 | Registered: Monday, September 8 2003 07:00
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
Profile Homepage #18
It's back up. It was gone for a little bit, but now Fantasoft is back. I can't get to their "Orders" page, but everything else seems fine.

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Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

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
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #19
Now I'm getting an under construction notice instead of the expiration notice, but there's still no sign of the Fantasoft that we all know and that maybe some of us love in a twisted way.

—Alorael, who would be most saddened if Squish disappeared. How many games can call themselves a clone of Lemming, not Lemmings?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Shake Before Using
Member # 75
Profile #20
Looking at the relatively outrageous cost of Realmz, I wouldn't entirely be surprised that some people resort to piracy of it. >_>
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Master
Member # 5977
Profile Homepage #21
Um, i don't know what happened, but the expiration note I first saw is gone, as Alorael already stated, but now I also don't see the under construction notice. Now I only see a (Maybe new, I don't know because this is the first time I bothered looking at their website) website, a website of Fantasoft.

EDIT: Jesus Bok! Can somebody explain to me if Exile is a game based on realmz or the other way around!? They look almost identical! i even saw Slitherikai in some screenshot (or whatever they call them in Realmz)

[ Thursday, December 08, 2005 10:48: Message edited by: Thralni, chicken god prophet ]

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Play and rate my scenarios:

Where the rivers meet
View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape.

Give us your drek!
Posts: 3029 | Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #22
Fantasoft and Spiderweb use several of the same graphics. I think they paid the freelance artist(s) together and then shared the art they bought. The games use extremely different engines and have very different plots. Specifically, Realmz scenarios don't really have any plot, and Divinity, the Realmz version of Blades, resulted in the production of a large number of decent scenarios that came with required paid registration. Something is very wrong with that.

—Alorael, who also cannot express how much it bothers him in Realmz that his party often ends up co-occupying space with people, tables, trees, and houses. That's not right.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 3513
Profile Homepage #23
Jesus-Bok, eh? We should start a religion, you and I. The central precept will be that Jesus was a Vahnatai with a fondness for chicken.

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Nobody appreciates me. It's all "Igor! Fetch some wine!" "Igor! Clean up this experiment!" or "Igor! Bury this in the garden, we're leaving town in 10 minutes!"

—Alorael, who tried to become a deivore once. The priest gave him a funny look after the third wafer.
Posts: 301 | Registered: Thursday, October 2 2003 07:00
Mongolian Barbeque
Member # 1528
Profile #24
That artist Alorael alluded to is Andrew Hunter, who still does the character graphics for Spiderweb. Here's a slightly-outdated list of most of the games he's done art for:

[quote]ANDREW HUNTER

PROJECT CREDITS
   
Spiderweb Software

* Geneforge
* Avernum
* Avernum2
* Avernum3
* Nethergate
* Exile
* Exile2
* Exile 3
* Blades of Exile
* Subterra
* Ocean Bound

Ambrosia Software

* Ferazel's Wand
* Ragnarok

Fantasoft

* New Centurions
* Realmz
[/quote]

[ Thursday, December 08, 2005 11:42: Message edited by: IRA Witch Herd ]
Posts: 907 | Registered: Monday, July 15 2002 07:00

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