Episode Originally Released: September 25th, 2010 ------------------------------------------ Xargon semi-proves that both Apogee and Epic Megagames had similar approaches to shareware: Make the parts of the game you have to pay for just more of the same... maybe with a few colour changes. :P I think Epic may've been a lot more hostile towards Apogee than vice versa though. Not just the moment that happened while I was playing through this game for the show, but another example would be the Apology Mode in Jazz Jackrabbit. Meanwhile, Id chilled in the background, watching the two shareware companies duke it out, then made Quake. ;D ------------------------------------------ Additional Information and Corrections: * Here's a quick link to the Xargon page on the RGB Classic Games website for those of you looking to try the game or get the full version: http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Xargon.html * For those not in the know, "QA" stands for "Quality Assurance", and is the gaming industry term used to describe alpha and beta testing. * One feature I forgot to mention is the "Granny Mode". Yes, it's seriously called that. Basically, it slows the game down so that if your reflexes are terrible you'll have an easier time playing the game. I honestly have no idea why this feature is in here. * Here's something I find perplexing as a programmer. The only real data that this game needs to save to track your progress is which levels you've cleared, which journals and automatic text boxes you've activated, your gate keys, your power objects, and your score. This could be done with under 64 bytes of data if you really had to... yet each save file is roughly 18,000 bytes large! What the heck is being stored in them that they require so much disk space?? For comparison, I only need about 5,000 bytes to store every single detail related to all 160 PixelShips in PixelShips Retro, a game I made way back in 2006. Though, just to drive the irony home, the video file you're watching here is probably closer to 100,000,000 bytes in size. ;D ------------------------------------------ Pixelmusement Website: http://www.pixelships.com ADG on Pixelmusement: http://www.pixelships.com/adg Alphabetical Index of ADG Episodes: http://www.pixelships.com/adg/index2.html