Updating old games

[spacedrh]

Is there anyway to update any of the old games without rewriting or creating a new game with the same type of script even if it's password protected. If you know what the answers are, all you need to do is ask the question, (who, what, where, when, and why, with sometimes asking how) and you can recreate the same game. Just takes time.

ADD AS A CLAUSE IN THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM:

All games that are submitted to Adrift are to be protected and have access by Adrift. The owners that made these games that haven't made updates or accessed their games due to the fact that they left because they just quit and moved on, died or for any other reasons not listed here (make it time based) also gives Adrift permission to allow others to access these games to make bug fixes or to just make updates to keep these old games current so that others can still play them.

Credit is still given to the maker of the game (if wanted) but add any credit to the person that helped keep the game current too.

[David Whyld]

If the game's password protected, you won't be able to update it full stop - unless you're a dab hand at programming and know how to hack the password, or the author gives out the password. I see a few problems with obtaining the password:

1) The author might not want someone else updating their game. If bugs showed up in one of my games, I'd prefer to fix them myself rather than trusting someone else to do it.
2) The author might have moved on and there's no guarantee you'll be able to get hold of them. Most of the people who have written ADRIFT games in the past no longer visit the forum so you'd have your work cut out tracking them down to get the password. (Assuming they even remember the password to a game they wrote years ago. I used to keep a list of my passwords but then I lost the list.)

If you're hacking the password, or the game isn't password protected, I'm not sure how well people would react knowing that someone is editing their games to change things in them. If it's just to fix bugs then I doubt anyone would really object to that, but if you're changing things, adding features, etc, that might be an issue.

[Lumin]

Probably simpler to just remake it from scratch, honestly. I can't think of many situations where trying to get a handle on someone else's tasks, variables etc would be faster than just making your own.

[David Whyld]

Good point. I've made a real effort in later games to keep things organised, but in my early games I just used to throw everything in and leave the question of whether I could find it again for another day. Someone trying to fix a bug in one of my early games would really have their work cut out trying to locate the specific task they needed. Heck, I'd probably struggle to find it myself.

[Lumin]

Good point. I've made a real effort in later games to keep things organised, but in my early games I just used to throw everything in and leave the question of whether I could find it again for another day. Someone trying to fix a bug in one of my early games would really have their work cut out trying to locate the specific task they needed. Heck, I'd probably struggle to find it myself.

I tried to go back and do an updated version of Aegis not too long ago and hahahaha.

Haha.

Hah.

...I think I'd have to rewrite it from scratch at this point, for so many reasons.

[rotter]

I do sometimes pick old games from the library to have a play (yes, I actually play IF!). It is very annoying when you come across a bug in a game that stops any further progress. I've never used passwords on my games, I would be worried about losing them. So, mine can all be opened in the Developer (as far as I can remember!). I had a good think about this and came to the conclusion that if it was one of my humble efforts I wouldn't mind too much - as long as it was clear that any new version was based on my original game. But others might have a different view.

[ralphmerridew]

Passwords can be recovered if necessary. Campbell can do so. I have a password extractor (which I will use but won't redistribute). Saabie's probably gotten enough information from me to create one.