Gg never came back, did he?

[b1llygo4t]

I gotta say, the fact G never came back to at least give us .50 is probably the biggest let down of my adult video game life. I know bones or someone has an unreleased update and im sure someone has gotta have the source code. Give up the guts, obviously the man has abandoned rtc.

[Ameena]

You mean George Gilbert? He's not been around for ages, I don't think. As far as I'm aware, RTC was just a thing he did in his spare time and decided to share with the rest of us - it's not like we're owed anything and if you want to play some DM clone, there are others out there (CSBWin is actually the most accurate to the original, I believe).

[Gambit37]

It's been over ten years, and another person's hobby isn't your entitlement. Time to move on.

[tavvva]

Well, It's sad people invested so much effort to create dungeons on top of the RTC engine and that effort will die with RTC if George doesn't find a way back to this community. It's a matter of responsibility ... responsibility for own child

[Prince of Elves]

Yes,it is sad, but the final verdict on that matter was spoken a long time ago.

Also, that argument works both ways: there's a lot of custom dungeons that never got updated even to that final version of RTC. Also, to be quite frank, if you want to create a dungeon that lasts "forever" it's quite stupid to build it on the work of a single person that's not open access (always was like that and it's his work, so his decision, even if I don't agree with it personally).
Adamski seems to have found a way and even found a way to hide his own works on top - though his masterpieces aren't accessible anymore either because theose are password protected and he's also not around anymore...

[Prince of Elves]

Also, if I understand it correctly, it's not even about your own work not functioning anymore, but a custom dungeon built on GG's engine. So why not rant against whoever made that one too (RTC's item limit has been known for a while because Adamski needed to rework and shrink most of his first mega dungeon because he ran into it).

I don't think anyone involved ever intended to create something everlasting, they just had fun with it while it lasted and moved on when it didn't anymore for whatever reasons...

[Lord_BoNes]

I know bones or someone has an unreleased update and im sure someone has gotta have the source code.

I was never graced with the source code. I would've loved to get my hands on it (I even asked George about it myself)... but RTC is George's baby and he always wanted to keep the source private.

[Gambit37]

I had a v0.50 somewhere. It fixed a few bugs but didn't increase any limits if I recall. Don't ask me to look for it, if I have it anywhere it's probably on a degraded DVDR somewhere in the attic and therefore unusable.

[cowsmanaut]

It wasn't just that it was his baby. There was proprietary code he used in a different project that he didn't have the rights to share. It was his code, as in he made it, but he no longer owned the rights to share it. This meant that legally he wasn't able to share the code without having to re-write a big chunk of it that he wasn't willing to re-do for something that was essentially a hobby.

This was one area he had apprehension regarding releasing the game in the first place. I was one of the first, if not the first to play RTC before he went public with it. He was very generous with his time as it was and did a lot for the community. From looking behind the scenes, George has visited from time to time, but not posted. I think more expectation was placed on him than was fair. It was a lot of work for no pay... and even to expect someone to give up their source code (hard work and expended time) for free is unreasonable, even if he could.

[cowsmanaut]

Just to clarify, those who have been generous enough to do so of their own accord. Huge respect and appreciation.. but it should be respected for what it is.. an action above and beyond.

There is a little story I like to tell about humanity..
if you see a homeless person on the road, and on a monday you give him a dollar. He will thank you and think you generous.
On the next monday again, give a dollar. You are a wonderful person.
On the next monday, once again, you give a dollar. You are really helping them out.
Then the following monday. You give nothing. You have let them down. They are unreasoably upset that you did not give them what they expected. They had plans for this money, even if you didn't make any agreement. Were they owed this money? no. Was it their right? no.. but they will feel like it is.. that is human nature. You get and you get.. and you stop recognizing the value.

[MasterWuuf]

It wasn't just that it was his baby. There was proprietary code he used in a different project that he didn't have the rights to share. It was his code, as in he made it, but he no longer owned the rights to share it. This meant that legally he wasn't able to share the code without having to re-write a big chunk of it that he wasn't willing to re-do for something that was essentially a hobby.

This was one area he had apprehension regarding releasing the game in the first place. I was one of the first, if not the first to play RTC before he went public with it. He was very generous with his time as it was and did a lot for the community. From looking behind the scenes, George has visited from time to time, but not posted. I think more expectation was placed on him than was fair. It was a lot of work for no pay... and even to expect someone to give up their source code (hard work and expended time) for free is unreasonable, even if he could.

Adding the next comments from Cowsmanaut, since I don't want them lost when I comment.

Just to clarify, those who have been generous enough to do so of their own accord. Huge respect and appreciation.. but it should be respected for what it is.. an action above and beyond.

There is a little story I like to tell about humanity..
if you see a homeless person on the road, and on a monday you give him a dollar. He will thank you and think you generous.
On the next monday again, give a dollar. You are a wonderful person.
On the next monday, once again, you give a dollar. You are really helping them out.
Then the following monday. You give nothing. You have let them down. They are unreasoably upset that you did not give them what they expected. They had plans for this money, even if you didn't make any agreement. Were they owed this money? no. Was it their right? no.. but they will feel like it is.. that is human nature. You get and you get.. and you stop recognizing the value.

Very good comments from Cowsmanaut. We have all been given so many great games (many absolutely free). My appreciation and praise goes out to all of you. I've seen volumes of unfinished writings and game-plans, as well. We need to appreciate the many we were able to 'get lost' in for hours (days?) on end.

I still recall my first time playing through Dungeon Master in one sitting. This was probably in 1988 (is that possible?) and before I had ever heard of speedruns. It took me 14-hours and will always remain a wonderful memory. The completion of Conflux also stands out in my mind with an appreciative smile on my face (thanks again, ZYX).

P.S. So many of you have helped me limp through games in the past. These games have also brought us so many friendships. I find myself missing so many who have seemingly left this board. Cowsmanaut remains a voice of common sense and substance, as shown by his comments above.

[Occams Cat]

Well, I'd just like to thank George Gilbert for his reproduction of DM, DM2 and CSB.

Here I am, now 61 years old, having a blast playing DM, DM2 and CSB on my PC, after first playing DM in 1987, and CSB in 1989, on my Atari STE, at the tender ages of 24 and 26 respectively.

I never would've thought that playing a game, that I first played 36 years ago would still be fun, considering all the advancement in graphics, sound, resolution etc....but here I am.

So, THANK YOU GEORGE, Wherever you are!

[Magica]

Today I´ve finished Chaos Strikes Back on RTC for the first time, after completing Dungeon Master 27 years ago !

What a great game and beautiful memories..

Thank you Gilbert and thanks to all of you

[Kenshiro]

Interestingly, George Gilbert actually had a post here after 15ish years:
viewtopic.php?p=163540#p163540

I'm with everyone saying he doesn't owe anyone anything, though. I'm 33 now, and I played the hell out of RTC when I was in highschool (15-16 years old). I enjoyed the work he did over the years and I appreciate it, but if he doesn't have the time or the will to continue that's completely fine.

EDIT: Actually, maybe that's an anomaly because I just realized there were dozens of other posts in the subforum created on the same date so it might be an archive of some sort. Maybe he has really disappeared

[Ian Clark]

I think that the links in those posts were updated which also caused the dates to change.