We’re delighted to announce that the original King of Dragon Pass game is now available as a digital download, thanks to Good Old Games.
We have long wanted to provide a way for players to download the game. (When it came out in 1999, it was distributed on CD, as the most practical way to distribute 450 MB of data.) Back in 2006, we actually had a signed distribution deal (with another company). However, we were unable to rebuild the game in such a way that it didn’t require a CD, and still worked correctly. The fact that we were using a development system that had been discontinued in 1998 didn’t help.
Good Old Games took a different approach. I don’t know exactly what they did, but I assume it was some sort of patch. They do this sort of thing all the time, so they’re obviously good at it.
So if you can’t play the updated iOS version of the game, or are just interested in the game’s evolution, you can now buy the Windows version from GOG.com.
You should have tried Steam, lots of public to buy it.
ReplyDeleteGOG issent bad either, they made quiet a name for themselfs. Obviusly not as big as steam, but i somehow doubt a many years old game would be frontpage news overthere.
ReplyDeleteI´ll buy this one out of pure suport when i get some money.
It's selling fast on GOG with only a 12 hour release or so. It's already selling faster than games like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones!!
ReplyDeleteMust admit, I'd never heard of it but bought it instantly it was released on GOG. I already love it so much I'm even doing a free giveaway of one copy of the game on my website - Bloodygoodgames.com.
Great job on this game. It's absolutely awesome!!
Oh and if you'd tried to sell it on Steam, I wouldn't have bought it as I can't stand the company.
Steam is brilliant, why the hate?
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to releasing older titles, Steam is nowhere near as good as GOG. Too often they leave out expansions, break mods and rarely do something about compatibility. Yes, all of these things are up to publishers, but they should be the ones to pressure publishers to release their titles in best possible state.
DeleteI buy two games. I have two computers. I install each game on a different computer, and play them. This works with any source of games in the world which isn't Steam.
DeleteYou can play in both machines, just not concurrently unless you set one of the steams into offline mode, hell in many games with steam cloud support it will synchronize savefiles
DeleteFinally! The game was literally impossible to get for a reasonable price, unless you have an iphone (which i can't stand).
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to play this game, but I'm a Linux user.
ReplyDeleteDoes the GOG version runs 100% fine in Wine under Linux ?
Can anyone check to confirm ?
I've been playing the KoDP retail version quite a bit with wine and Crossover Games and that at least works very well.
ReplyDeleteI'm now testing the GOG version with Crossover on Mac. Installs fine and runs but running out-of-the-box, there seems to be a weird problem with music, it playing only concurrently with sfx. Probably fixable.
I'm more interested in Linux (Uubutnu) with Wine...
ReplyDelete(too cool for Mac ;) ).
Probably runs with similar or better success since Crossover runs a somewhat older version of Wine.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest way to find out is, of course, to buy the game and try yourself :) I did, even though I already own the retail version ;)
Is there a full list of big fixes between the final pc version (1.7 I believe?) and the iOS version available to look at anywhere?
ReplyDeleteAs there are no refunds, I don't want to cry after I bought the game that it doesn't run with Wine...I want to be sure before I buy, and even then it's still not a 100% guarantee.
ReplyDeleteIs the PC version the same game as the iOS version? I've read that the iOS version has more contents.
ReplyDeleteThe iOS version has more content, bug fixes, and other improvements. See http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-new.html
ReplyDeleteNo, there is no list of bugs fixed. Here are the latest release notes with bug numbers
ReplyDelete• Scene fixes [7079 7086 7177 7127 7090 7110 7237 7236 7233 7270 7238 7264 7265 7272 7310]
• Fixed typos/phrasing [7080 7106 7130 7115 7125 7126 7114 7169 7088 7198 7202 7230 7258 7257 7309]
• Make sure interactive battle scenes aren’t too big [7166]
• Don’t report on Bowl of Plenty if another clan owns it [7148]
• Apocalypses will happen sooner if deserved, and two more are possible [6897 7085 7190]
• Tapping the map doesn’t show the exploration cross when Explore dialog is not visible
• VoiceOver improvements [7093 7117 7012 7287]
• Correct name in results of tribal raid [7087]
• Include current game info in “New Game” dialog (iPhone) or Controls screen (iPad) [6991]
• Avoid a raid being met by 0 defenders [7135]
• Build dialog advice takes Great Temples into account
• Some temple illustrations were missing [7253]
• New year-end sound effect
• Improved heroquest advice [7074 7254]
• Reset music if you restart a game, but don’t play it if all music is turned off [6927]
• Handle some edge cases when we have tributaries [7271 7154]
• Fix for “ran out of fOffset data” OSL error [6842 6777]
• Use correct background for leader in battle results
• Use iOS 5 Twitter support if available [7273]
• Prefer scrolling in the initial questionnaire, so you don’t accidentally choose a response [7297]
• Fixed validation of Raid dialogs [7321]
but I couldn't tell you which of those are 2.0-specific (the last few obviously are), and which are things like a typo.
Of note on that list are a couple that were introduced a week or two before release of 1.0 and not detected until last year.
Why not "port" the iOS version to other platforms ? people who buy the old gog version feel kinda cheated that there is a newer version which only available for iOS.
ReplyDeleteI do not have an iPad and does not plan to get one. I wonder if the PC version of King of Dragon Pass (which, I know, is a very old game) can get an update (an expansion or DLC) and receive all the extra contents in the iOS version, or if there is a sequel planned for the PC version. I suggest a paid expansion or DLC that updates the PC version and adds the extra contents.
ReplyDeleteI suppose if the market is there, anything can happen. Apparently KoDP is skyrocketing through GoG sales chart right now - I don't know what that means in absolute numbers, but A-Sharp will know for sure, and if it looks good, why not tap that?
ReplyDeletePeople aren't "cheated" because A-Sharp hasn't released KoDP 2.0 on a platform they own, that's just a ludicrous concept. Amazes me how aggressive some people get regarding releasing the game on platforms they want it on
ReplyDeleteIs the soundtrack extra actually of better quality than the original retail version's in-game soundtrack?
ReplyDeleteRipped from the retail version data files, the soundtrack was something like 8bit 22kHz; the soundtrack extra claims to be encoded from 44kHz source.
How do you see the skyrocket? I don't know GOG.com well enough to be able to find that. (Unlike the App Store, there’s no way for us to see daily sales.)
ReplyDeleteBy other platforms I assume you mean Mac and Android, since those are the only platforms the game isn’t available on.
ReplyDeleteThe internals of the game are such that it would need to be rebuilt to update: http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/01/back-patching.html
I don't know where GOG.com got the soundtrack, quite possibly from Stan LePard's site.
David, if you go to GOG's main page, you'll see a list of games with a Top Sellers button above them. Go to the bottom of that list and click on Browse All Games and then wait for that list to load. As far as we've been told it's the "Sales of all Time" list.
ReplyDeleteGo to the bottom of that and start moving upwards. King of Dragon Pass has already beaten 63 other GOG games, some of which have been on the site for a couple of years. You've sold more copies than Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Arma 2, Lands of Lore 3, Gothic 3, all the Sam and Max games, Pirates! Gold, Thief 3 and Heroes of Might and Magic 6 -- all quite popular games on GOG.
I'm not sure how accurate the list is, but I've been watching KoDP since it was released and you've been moving up the charts a couple of places every hour. Not bad for a game that's only been on the site for 48 hours. But also not surprising, as it's fabulous.
And, no, those of us who bought the game on GOG don't feel "cheated" that we don't have the updates - not one person on GOG's forums has said that. Some people on here obviously just expect too much. It's 6 bucks for chrissake.
A little hard to calibrate that. Unfortunately, GOG reports sales to developers quarterly, so it’s not easy to know how it’s really doing. I will ask them.
DeleteDavid, can you think of the more serious bug fixes that are in the iOS version and not the pc version, in the absence of a bug fix list between the two versions?
ReplyDelete1.7 is certainly playable, otherwise we wouldn’t make it available. And many bugs were rare or depended on players doing specific things, so they might be serious for you and not another player.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the choice of versions, I unhesitatingly recommend you play the more recent build. Consider it the Director’s Cut, the game we would have made had iPhones existed in 1997.
One of the best strategy/Rpg games i have played.. reminds me of Koei games like Romance of the three kingdoms or more along the setting.. Celtic Tales .. without troop movement etc. great storyline, because you make the story really. really enjoy trying to "thrall" the other clans lol..
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget that your overall goal is to convince clans to let you lead them, not to enthrall them all…
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