October: Shard of Spring

[rusty_shackleford]

How will this work? I'm going to assign one game to myself per month, and try to finish it. Then I'll do a small writeup on it.
Other people can choose to join in and play the game as well. Or not. If you choose to join in, you can suggest the next game.

July's game will be SHARD OF SPRING by Strategic Simulations, Inc.

I will be playing the DOS version.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1247/shard-of-spring/

You can acquire a copy on GOG
https://www.gog.com/en/game/shard_of_spring
or... alternative means.

[edit]
Seeing some people saying the DOS version is inferior, I'll try out the DOS and C64 versions to compare and continue from then on with the one that seems superior.

[Watser]

Solid initiative, I'll try to join in later this year if time allows it.
Depending on the size of the game, a one-month window might be stretching it. Sticking to an estimated completion time of ~20 hours to accomodate everyone (depending on who is joining) might be preferable. Alternatively, we can also do special longer sessions for suggestions such as M&M 1 and games of similar scope.

[rusty_shackleford]

Solid initiative, I'll try to join in later this year if time allows it.
Depending on the size of the game, a one-month window might be stretching it. Sticking to an estimated completion time of ~20 hours to accomodate everyone (depending on who is joining) might be preferable. Alternatively, we can also do special longer sessions for suggestions such as M&M 1 and games of similar scope.

I have no idea what an ideal length of time might be, I just picked one month because it seemed like a decent amount of time.
Anyone have any feedback on hours of play to length of real life time?

[rusty_shackleford]

If anyone else plans on playing through this with me, you may find a copy of the original manual HERE:
https://www.mocagh.org/ssi/shardspring-manual.pdf

It is for the Apple ][ and Commodore 64 version.
C64 differences HERE:
https://www.mocagh.org/ssi/shardspring-refcard.jpg

I will likely be playing through on the C64 version, which I acquired HERE. If you don't have experience using a real C64 or VICE, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're willing to learn.

Here's how our story unfolds:

[rusty_shackleford]

I have run into a roadblock.
When attempting to create my party, I go to create a character and this happens when I try to roll stats(I press the # to roll):

Any advice?

I have my character disk in the first disk slot.

[Tweed]

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=211583 download a non-broken version of the game.

[rusty_shackleford]

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=211583 download a non-broken version of the game.

Tweed the Dwarf.

[SpellSword]

I really miss the box art we used to get on games like that.

If anyone else plans on playing through this with me, you may find a copy of the original manual HERE:
https://www.mocagh.org/ssi/shardspring-manual.pdf

It is for the Apple ][ and Commodore 64 version.
C64 differences HERE:
https://www.mocagh.org/ssi/shardspring-refcard.jpg

Thank you for posting that link, manuals can be a pain to track down so another resource is always welcome.

The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History seems like a cool site.

Anyone have any feedback on hours of play to length of real life time?

This site may help you, the numbers aren't always accurate but it may give a good estimate on the total completion time of a game.
https://howlongtobeat.com/

For example here is the entry for 'Shard of Spring':
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/27431

[rusty_shackleford]

This site may help you, the numbers aren't always accurate but it may give a good estimate on the total completion time of a game.
https://howlongtobeat.com/

I should probably track my playtime length because I suspect many of these games will be lacking data. Going to go through my logs to reconstruct how much time I've played so far.

[Tweed]

So, how was the game?

[maidenhaver]

GOG review says Shard of Spring is a demo version of Demon's Winter, so I'm going to play Demon's Winter.

I guess I won't, since gg and goguploader don't have it.

[Tweed]

You can get Shard of Spring and Demon's Winter from most abandonware sites.

[Tweed]

Maybe the real Shard of Spring were the RPGs we didn't finish along the way.

[rusty_shackleford]

So, how was the game?

Not done yet, I have a busy schedule. Hoping to fit it inbetween BG3 and Starfield.

[maidenhaver]

You can get Shard of Spring and Demon's Winter from most abandonware sites.

Then I'll start Demon's Winter tonight. Probably beat it before op beats sharts of spring.

[Watser]

Time to bring this back from its early and not completely unexpected demise.
Who wants to play Shard of Spring with me?

[Atlantico]

I was never good at these game, they tend to be very straightforward and very unfair. However. I'm curious about this game, so I'll give it a shot. How hard can it be?

[maidenhaver]

You can get Shard of Spring and Demon's Winter from most abandonware sites.

Then I'll start Demon's Winter tonight. Probably beat it before op beats sharts of spring.

myabandonware wanted me to buy it, so I never bothered.

[Watser]

Then instead of playing the sequel you can play Shard of Spring.

[maidenhaver]

shart of spring is the demo of demon's shitter

[Watser]

Demo in the sense that it's a shorter and more basic game. It set the groundworks for Demon's Winter but they are both distinct games in the same series, it's not a literal demo.
Demon's Winter is set 200 years after the events in Shard of Spring from what I understand.

[Watser]

Alright got VICE up and running and loaded the default save from the crack @Tweed posted. Time to read the manual!

[rusty_shackleford]

Now that we actually have some people and definitely not because I put it off we'll begin in October.
Everyone get VICE setup: https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
And get the game ready: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=211583

[rusty_shackleford]

I should make little forum badges for people participating.

[Atlantico]

Now that we actually have some people and definitely not because I put it off we'll begin in October.
Everyone get VICE setup: https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
And get the game ready: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=211583

I'm running it on "Micro64" a project by some autistic German, abandoned 5 years ago. I'm sure it will do just fine

(it has disk-drive sounds and requires zero setup)

So far I've managed to read the manual and create a party.

[Tweed]

VICE makes disks noises too if you want them.

[Atlantico]

VICE makes disks noises too if you want them.

If this one fails me, I'll try VICE but I think even the jankiest of emulators should manage to run this game. It's not super complex programming

[Tweed]

So, how was the game?

[rusty_shackleford]

So, how was the game?

It just started today, get playing.

[rusty_shackleford]

Remember to accurately track how much time it takes you to beat.