The Story So Far...

While it may seem that the project's been dormant for the past two years, it has not. I accepted a new position in my company in late May 2006, and ever since then, have been busier than I could have imagined. That said, I've still worked on the usual things – contacting former ISVs, talking to sysops, working with some people to resurrect WorldLink, trying to find a way to map out a future for the platform, finding more information and history, etc. – just with a lot of time in between. One of the priorities was to replace the 'static' project web page with a wiki, so that people can come and contribute. It will work much better if people can stop by and contribute what they can - be it files, scanned documentation and/or marketing materials, tidbits, history, photos, chat captures, screen shots, etc. The main barrier to this was finding a platform that would provide the features we needed and the appropriate controls to prevent vandalism, spam, etc. Fortunately, the folks at Atlassian support projects like this, and provided us with a Community License to their industry-leading enterprise wiki called Confluence. We're thrilled to have it, as it's the perfect platform for this project (and for any small business, medium business, or enterprise wiki – seriously, check them out!) and we thank them very much for it.

So, take a look around, send feedback with what you like, don't like, want to see added, need help with, etc. Collaborate - it will make the project better to have everyone working together and putting it all in one place.

WorldLink is in "beta". The new community WorldLink server is up and working. Randy will be setting up a dedicated server for it so that we can extend it to the rest of the community. Check the forum for status!

An answer to a question I've been asked a few times - we aren't taking Donations, yet. The project itself is a loss leader. For now.

A few updates from previous project status entries:

  • The acquisition of Datasafe by Elwynor did not take place yet. We sent a check, but that was the end of it. Dean Kerl seems to have fallen off the planet. We're still trying, but it will take some time. Apologies to those of you hoping for that.
  • The acquisition of HVS by Elwynor is nearly complete. This one had a wrinkle relating to TradeWars 2002 – it will not be included in the transfer. EIS, the Tradewars IP owner, will negotiate separately with HVS on that one, and there is no guarantee that that module will ever be updated again.
  • Excalibur, the ISV, was acquired by Elwynor. Their product, Excalibur!, will be resurrected! There was a minor issue where the most recent version's source code was lost by the author. It's pretty close, however.
  • Scott Perry of Computerized Horizons sent me a ton of catalogs and old product disks. Unfortunately, he sold his rights to various people and I've had zero luck getting in touch with those folks. Some of what he owned from CheerSoft was never delivered and none of the few employees of that company that I've found have had anything so far (did you work for them and still have backups? Get in touch!). Thanks much, Scott!!!
  • Yes, Infinity Complex is available for the DOS systems. No, it's not ready for the Win32 systems... yet.

Instead of putting the 'old' content back in here separately, I thought it best to post the previous project status entries on this posting, so, here they are:

Previous Project Status Blog Entries

April 17, 2006

Hope everyone had a happy Easter. On the Major BBS front, still waiting to finalize the purchase of Datasafe (which includes Farwest Trivia and Magicomm rights), High Velocity, and Excalibur.

Cool News: I was put in touch with Doug Rhea, who is running a similar restoration project focused on "traditional" BBS door games. Check out the work he's doing at bbsfiles.com! He has purchased over a dozen door game lines, contacted many more authors and got them registering doors again, and continues to track down Door authors. Since many of you put up large door game servers, this is definitely the place to go to find out what happened to those products. Even better, there will hopefully be time and energy for a collaboration or three in the future to port some previously traditional-only BBS doors to Major BBS.

April 1, 2006

Still going. I've had a really busy period at work, so the output is slow - I've actually converted a handful (5-6) more modules that I need to get packaged up. I also need to test the compilation structure so we can compile the WG1/WG2 DOS version from the same code. MBBS6 doesn't work that way, though. I'll get them packaged ASAP.

I found Mike Baker of Rifster, and bought Rifster which included ISD, Wildsoft, and some HighWaterMark if not all of it. I also finalized the acquisition of CovyWare, Jeff Reeder's TPD, before he invented the RIP Protocol.

We now have Forums here! I'll have more small updates there. It also will help advance discussions that were formerly limited to private e-mail or the sysops mailing list. Be sure to read and understand the Code of Conduct which governs the forums.

One of the forums deals with the ISV Search - which is the part of the project where we are trying to locate all the former TPDs and ISVs and resurrect the old add-ons. This is one of the places where we REALLY could use your help, so check it out.

March 1, 2006

Since the last update, most of the focus has been on getting the modules I have managed to acquire online and working. High Society has been the test bed. The primary focus is the Win32 platform (v3.2+) because that is the platform that most people can run easily. The DOS versions require emulation under Win32, and also the excellent ndis3nt driver from Dan Lanciani to work.

There are about 33 modules on High Society in the ELWYNOR library for download. Most of them are absolutely free of charge. Some have a cost. Again: The only reason there's a charge for anything is to try to offset my personal costs - this project is totally out of pocket for me. But the free modules still require an activation code. Why? Because I want to know who you are and keep you in the community!

I know quite a few of you have been itching to upgrade from the DOS versions but lack NT versions of a few modules - mostly from HVS or DSafe. Please be patient - I'm in touch with both and hope to finish acquiring those soon. There are other folks that I'm still waiting to hear back from that might have their code. I haven't given up, so sit tight and I'll get back to you ASAP.

But for now - check out the modules that are released, and please give me feedback at questman(at)themajorbbs(dot)com.

PEOPLE WE NEED TO GET IN CONTACT WITH:

If you're a Sysop, please sign-up for the mailing list sysops@themajorbbs.com.

Thanks for reading!

August 1, 2005

It's been a long time since I updated this page. I'm still here, and I've made a lot of progress. I've purchased the ISV rights to Wilderlands, Wizard, TJ Enterprises, GraphicWares, EzSoft, AdventureComm, The Sourceror's Guild, Annex/ActiveMatrix, and quite a few other catalogs. These modules are all being integrated into the project and will be available in some way or another shortly. In addition, I have contracts ready with two others, and am waiting for answers from another. I am still waiting for a few guys here and there to dig through old closets and boxes, and hopefully, they will come through so I can feature those products as well.

It's basically a lot of waiting. Patience is a virtue; I realize that this is FAR from a priority for anyone.

On another front, I've been talking to a few of the main people behind Galacticomm, etc, including Scott Brinker, and I'll be putting up a few profile articles for the history portion of this project.

I've acquired a lot of Galacticomm's data tapes. This will help us build information files, installation files, etc.

I realize that this site has been somewhat neglected - a few helpful people have sent us copies of ISV catalogs and MajorNews, etc. I will be scanning all of that. My scanner is not the easiest one to work with, so it will take some time. And finally, I've been in touch with a few VERY helpful folks who will be uploading a LOT of add-ons that they downloaded and archived over the years. I definitely would like to feature a full archive, so that is going smoothly. Thanks to Larry E. and Brian.

July 10, 2004

I added a TON of FLASH games and information, and created a separate page for it. I haven't started trying to contact those authors yet, but I'd like to get in touch and get the full registered/registrable copies so all of them are fully playable.

There's much more coming. I'm trying to get in touch with some other ISVs, and I'm still waiting for some others to find their old modules. Stay tuned.

July 7, 2004

I've been contacting many ISVs.. I've gotten in touch with Codesmiths, a top developer at Moonshae, Parallax (a huge thank you to Jes Simon!), and Muinet, just to name a few. I've been trying to get in touch with more, too, so if you know any former Major BBS / Worldgroup ISVs, do let me know.

Otherwise, the Beta-Test continues on the BBS. Login and play some of the games and let me know if anything doesn't work as it should.

June 27, 2004

A lot has been accomplished, but still a lot to do. I can't find my copy of Btrieve, so that means I have to find it or beg it of someone. I never thought I'd need that again. That is holding up Quest of the Alchemists and Galactiwars. I received my copy of Think A Little by Tim Stryker, finally. Oh, and I started working on Card Sharks, too. I got in touch with a former Sysop and developer that I used to talk to all the time 15 years ago, and hopefully he will contribute to the project as he has a lot of what I need! A couple of ISV authors are searching their drives for old code, too!! So watch this space.

June 24, 2004

Still awaiting the discovery of old code by a few developers; hopefully something will turn up. On the conversion front, all four of my mini-games have been converted and are working well. Quest of the Alchemists is almost done, and NEW: Galactiwars! I have it working nicely and compiling flawlessly. I just have to resolve one minor issue - the same as Alchemists - BTRIEVE!!! The Data files need polishing and I'm hand-hacking the DAT files. This isn't the best idea, but my old Btrieve 5.0 dev kit is long gone, and I'm searching for one. Once I get it, I will make the DAT files appropriately, and we'll have two more big games to play. The project's coming along. We'll see how it goes once we get to the "converting to Worldgroup 3.x" stage. If that goes smoothly, maybe we'll help Galacticomm out and do some development on Worldgroup for them. I'm being overly ambitious as I sit here, though.

June 17, 2004

Same old, same old. I've gotten in touch with some former Galacticomm contractors and employees, and hopefully, they will find some things that will help the cause! So that's new. Also, there are a couple of former Major BBS Sysops that are looking through their storage to see what they have left.. hopefully it'll turn up something. Otherwise, the project continues.

June 14, 2004

Still working on getting the web site setup, contacting people, and trying to find as many of the v5.x-based modules as I can. It's slow going. I have a few, and they're being worked on, but the best bet would be to buy the rights to one of the very large old systems. If any of the Sysops still have their stuff... sigh.

On the code front, Quest of the Alchemists is running on v6.25. After I'm sure it works, I may try to add a Sysop Player Editor a la Kyrandia. I don't know if its worth it - but I notice that the newer games seem to like using LCS files and have Player Editors. I'm slowly adding the v6+ bells and whistles. Players need to bang away at Quest.. and let me know how it goes. Hopefully it won't GP when you level up, or solve the game, or what. I don't have a walkthrough. This is unfortunate; so play!

My old modules - most of the non-game ones are useless now (Banker, Stat Center, etc), so I won't bother. But ThinkDice! is small, stupid, and still fun, and Craps! works.. both were converted and are ready to go to WorldGroup 1.0. I'll post the code soon. Instant Lotto needs to be finished; I did Quest of the Alchemists first.

Currently, I'm working on Galactiwars.

June 1, 2004

The Major BBS Restoration Project begins.

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