One of the people who helped archive the MS-DOS 4.0 source code, @starfrost, started writing an extensive and interesting story about the history behind 4.0 and the archived Multitasking DOS (MT-DOS) builds: https://starfrost.net/blog/001-mdos4-part-1/index.html
Some landscape renders made with Bryce 3D come by on Mastodon this week and it reminded me of the first landscape renderer I used: VistaPro.
It was was one of many #DOS programs on the "Virtual Reality Madness" compilation disc from 1993. VistaPro also came out on Amiga and Mac OS, and later Windows.
VistaPro (v1.01) didn't give you much control but the results looked stunning then, if you allowed your computer to render the highest quality image for a few hours that is.
@dosnostalgic It would be interesting to watch it again, I totally forgot what happened.
The sequel (Day Watch) stuck with me more but only because it was so weird. I remember a giant ferris wheel rolling through a city and a very important, magical chalk that turned out to be used to write down the soup of the day or something at a restaurant.
Game 138: ALF's Thinking Skills (1988), by Vision Software.
Frustrated with your offspring's lack of thinking skills? Fret no longer as Alf, luminary of knowledge, has used his giant brain to make this software for teaching them vital wisdom.
After playing through the "four" different games (actually more like two) they will have learned... something, like identifying CGA colored shapes or how to read traffic lights so they can get to the culinary cats.
One interesting tidbit: the last track of the album has a robotic voice explaining how to complete one of The Tribes levels. Which level it's talking about is reportedly different on each release format (cassette, vinyl, CD) but I only found a single rip of it so far.
A modernized version of the classic Asteroids with fancy ray-traced images and UFO enemies that, unlike the helpless pieces of space rock, fire back at you.
There's also power-ups that give you extra firepower and to keep you alive a bit longer, if you can to get them in time.
Just as timeless as Asteroids is the program the graphics were made with: POV-Ray, which was last updated 2 years ago, 31 years after its first release!
A turn-based strategy RPG that forces you to finish the quest you started.
You see, the game (and its expansions) consists of individual scenarios. Starting one immediately deletes your character's data from the hard disk and the only way of getting it back is by completing that quest.
Should your Paladin survive then he will improve his stats for the next one. Can't do it? Then it's off to the included quest editor to make a new one.
Game 96: Grave Yardage (1989), by Incredible Technologies.
In the Monster Football League (MFL) it's all fun and games until somebody steps on a land mine. Although that's pretty funny too.
You get to coach and control your very own team of fantasy creatures that needs to run, or fly, the flying eyeball through enemy lines while dodging axes and magic, and do some stabbing themselves.
A light version of that violent sport with plenty of humor and some nice EGA artwork.
Game 27: Destruction Derby (1995), by Reflections.
Good looking car driving game where you're actually rewarded for crashing into your opponents.
Not really a racing game since it only truly shines in arena mode, where the goal is to tactically smash the other cars without damaging yours too much.
The demo gives you a whole 60 seconds to try out the game, just enough to admire the cars' damage models and hear the commentator convey his comments on the carnage.
My goal *was* to share with you random DOS games that The Scriptâ„¢ picks from a pool of about 17000 games and describe them as best I can in about 420 characters.There will be times when I get to play a few terrible games in a row but it's an honest sample of what was available on the most prolific, most open platform at the time. Please share your memories of any games you recognize!