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Sorry, I didn't mean to mix you up with Revolution. I just wanted to write that we don't need modern games polish to have fun. It's both true for you as well as for the other Revolution folks.

Take a look at Gobliiins5 by Pierre Gilhodes or The Castle by Point and Pixel Adventures; to some degree you could consider small inexpensive games both Lamplight City by Grundislav Games and Whispers of a Machine by Clifftop Games and Faravid Interactive as well, even if they had more budget than the first two examples. I think you could and you should make a true retro adventure game both in form and mechanics: meaning less polish but more heart. Or maybe go back to text adventures, to tell an interesting and unique story. I like Avventura nel castello a lot (https://www.erix.it/retro/storia_cast.html)! I would pay to play a game like that, maybe with source code released too. ;)

Again, to me playing Lure of the Temptress is more interesting than playing the new Beyond a Steel Sky, because Lure design may not be better than BASS2, but it's daring and experimental, that makes it compelling, even if it's a rough game to play (especially on ScummVM). Obviously the original Sky is a masterpiece compared to the sequel, which isn't bad and it has its moments, nonetheless overall it's unnecessary and boring. I would rather have a small interesting (and not good looking) game than a long uninspired one. Your idea of mini adventure games could work well. I liked your pitch about the two detectives solving mysteries in modern day Stockholm.

I'll take a look at UrbX fundraising and I'll consider subscribing to the mailing list. I love mailing lists, especially those where everyone can write to. Discord is a big no for me, because it's the most far away from Free Software platform there is. I've a bit of an issue giving my email address to Substack servers, but my address is public on various Free Software related lists anyway. It would be very lovely if you were to publish UrbX source code down the line, to make it truly live forever. I'll be waiting for the GNU/Linux version for now. Feel free to write me, if you need some help with Linux or with the website. Thank you for this wonderful chat.

Thank YOU, Tony, for making such great games!

Don't be in a hurry for Wormhole Dungeon: I have all the time in the world, and so I believe the many fans of your works. We can wait. Take your time, have fun with UrbX Warriors.

I would love to read your development diary in a freedom friendlier space than Substack, maybe via RSS feed. If you are interested I can help you build a simple static website. Substack might be good for getting people that don't know you yet attention, but in the end you should own at least a bit of your primary communication means on the Internet. Having a website is empowering, because it allows you to decide how to present yourself on the Internet, without having to fear the platform you chose changes.

I would surely take part in a Wormhole Dungeon fundraising campaign, just to let you know. I'm also available to help you out with GNU/Linux testing and development. Moreover if you would like to develop an adventure game one day, I'm ready to go back and play a 640x480 only title to cut costs. I don't need 4K, but I need great games and I'm sure as hell that you, Charles and the rest of Revolution are capable of making many more incredible video games!

A friend gifted me this book. I've read it in less than a month, even if English isn't my native language. Then I purchased another copy to support Tony's marvellous effort in writing such a honest, detailed, yet never verbose recollection of events. Besides I wanted to tip him for the very promising game he's working on, titled Wormhole Dungeon.

I'm from the Free Software (GNU) philosophy, therefore I think that all source code should be free, but I make an exception to play games that I find interesting and that respect my software freedom more than commercial ones. Old adventure games played with ScummVM are a good examples of these exceptions, or native DRM-free GNU/Linux games, even if they are proprietary.

Broken Sword, Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress are some of my favourite adventure games. Despite its rough edges, I find Lure design immersive and quite innovative. It's a shame that its source code got lost. I would have loved reading it, like we are able to with Sky, thanks to Tony's and Revolution foresight. I played these games around 2006, when they were already "old". I liked them so much that years later I decided to join the Broken Sword 5 fundraising. Thanks to the Broken Sword 5 fundraising, I found out another Revolution gem in the form of In Cold Blood, which is underrated and it's the most unofficially Bondian video game. I liked In Cold Blood combat system as well! Revolution would be a good choice for a 007 game. I wish In Cold Blood Italian version (A sangue freddo) were available on GOG.com.

Revolution: The Quest for Game Development Greatness is as good as Masters of Doom, or Derek Yu's Spelunky published by Boss Fight Books. Actually it's probably better than Masters of Doom, because Tony and the other main characters come out as decent humble human beings, whereas the Doom authors seemed full of themselves and they sometimes acted like jerks. It's an insightful read that could help many independent developers, since this book is not an ego trip down Revolution history, but it's about the sad facts of commercial video game production.

It probably runs with ScummVM, since it supports AGS games. However a native downloadable version would be super rad. I know this might not be your top priority right now. Please, think about it. I'd love to help.

I'd love to buy your game, but I use GNU/Linux on my computer.
Would you be interested in making a GNU/Linux version of The Crimson Diamond? I'm a programmer. I'd love to do it, for free.

My understanding is that your game is based on the free software AGS engine, which runs on GNU/Linux as well. I've got previous experiences with AGS. Your game should be very easy and fast to port to. Please, it would be a dream to work on such a charming game like this.

I would gladly help you for free!

A Mac version is indeed possible, since the game was made with the AGS engine, which does run on Mac. Moreover, I was able to make the demo run on GNU/Linux with the vanilla AGS binary, so a Mac port should be straightforward.

I would love an Italian version! And I would like to help you with that as well.

Nice demo, it's great to see GOBLiiiNS back!
Would you be interested in a GNU/Linux version of your game? I was able to run the demo with the AGS engine for Linux.

Please, I would love to help you to bring GOBLiiiNS to GNU/Linux.

I was able to make a GNU/Linux version of this game since it runs on the cross platform and open source AGS engine. Would you be interested in it? I'll send the Linux version to you for free.

Thank YOU for making great games for free! By the way congratulations on your bigger project. Would you be interested in releasing Nightmare Frames for GNU/Linux too? I would love to help you out.

How about a Linux version of this wonderful game?

Right! The name's Matteo Bini.

Thank YOU! I'd rather be credited with my real name. No worries for the Linux version, it was a pleasure. FYI it wasn't your fault, it's an issue of AGS: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/issues/693

It doesn't start. It's linked to an old libpng. I've fixed it for you.

Actually both versions don't seem to be working right now. The Linux one seems to be corrupted or maybe it has a permission issue. Whereas the Windows one is just the Linux one: there are no EXEs! Perhaps for Linux it's better to make a .tar.gz or .tar.xz file. See 7zip: https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Very good. Next proposal then. I was able to play Billy Masters Was Right on Linux, with a native build of the AGS engine. Would you be interested if I'd send you the Linux version of your wonderful game?

I really enjoyed your game. Congratulations, it's great! Would you be interested in translating it in Italian? I would do it very happily for free.