From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character. Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd
recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character. Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using
the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the
memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole
thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that
nowadays :P
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

candycanearter07 wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character.
Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd
recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using
the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that nowadays :P

The only thing remotely like that I've experienced was Might & Magic 4
linking up with Might & Magic 5 making an elaborate connected game that
was greater than either component. You could shift between them at any
time. I fucking solved the Might & Magic 5 part but never thought to
rampage over the Might & Magic 4 like I should have!
--
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War War
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character.
Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd
recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using
the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the >memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole >thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that >nowadays :P

I'm not sure you could actually do that with Steam. I don't think
Steam games can easily cross game-folders. A game can read a user's
Steam library file (and, in fact, it needs to check if you own DLC for
that game) but looking into the memory or storage area of another game
is probably difficult to do.

Well, maybe if you used a user's own user folder (e.g., "My Documents"
on Windows) but less likely if you use the userdata folder in the
Steam hierarchy.

I remember a game from the Win95 days (I can't remember the name)
where the game used data from your own hard-drive (filenames, bitmap
images, the content from word.docs) as textures for its maps. I think
the conceit was you were navigating your own PC in 3D (shades of
Jurassic Park: "It's a Unix system! I know this!") trying to protect
it from hackers who wanted to delete your data. Of course, it was all non-destructive but it felt equal parts risky and creepy letting a
game rummage through your personal files like that.


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:11:19 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 ><candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character.
Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd
recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using >>the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the >>memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole >>thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that >>nowadays :P

I'm not sure you could actually do that with Steam. I don't think
Steam games can easily cross game-folders. A game can read a user's
Steam library file (and, in fact, it needs to check if you own DLC for
that game) but looking into the memory or storage area of another game
is probably difficult to do.

Well, maybe if you used a user's own user folder (e.g., "My Documents"
on Windows) but less likely if you use the userdata folder in the
Steam hierarchy.

I remember a game from the Win95 days (I can't remember the name)
where the game used data from your own hard-drive (filenames, bitmap
images, the content from word.docs) as textures for its maps. I think
the conceit was you were navigating your own PC in 3D (shades of
Jurassic Park: "It's a Unix system! I know this!") trying to protect
it from hackers who wanted to delete your data. Of course, it was all >non-destructive but it felt equal parts risky and creepy letting a
game rummage through your personal files like that.

I remember a game that deleted your entire C: drive when you uninstall
it. Does that count? Do you remember which one it was?

Also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1HVaupDyw
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:48:10 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
said this thing:

I remember a game that deleted your entire C: drive when you uninstall
it. Does that count? Do you remember which one it was?

From what I recall, there have been several games. One I remember
specifically was "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor" from 2001.
The uninstaller didn't delete your entire hard-disk, but it DID delete
various Win95-specific system files, which rendered the computer
unbootable for the average user.

A beta/pre-release version of "Myth II: Soulblighter" (1998) could
delete your entire hard-drive under certain circumstances. If you
installed the game to your root directory , the uninstaller would wipe
the drive. However, if you installed the game to a subdirectory, the
problem wouldn't occur. However, this bug was caught before the game
actually released, so no customers ever encountered the bug (a few
journalists who were doing pre-release reviews encountered the code,
but Bungie got a warning to everyone and nobody had a bad experience
;-)

A brief search also reveals a game called "Deltarune" had a similar
issue. It too would RM * the entire folder hierarchy where the game
was installed (so, if you installed to C:\DELTARUNE, everything on
C:\; if you installed to C:\Program Files\Delta Rune, then everything
in C:\Program Files). I'm not familiar with this game, however.

There were also reports of some games deleting system files --usually
DRM related-- on uninstall. It usually wouldn't render the OS
unbootable, but it broke some functionality (I think the uninstallers
of games that used Starforce DRM was were often at fault, but I really
can't say for certain).

These issues were especially common in the early years of Win9x, when uninstalling was still something of an arcane art (and DLL-hell was a
real problem). It's become less of an issue with Microsoft creating
automatic system back-ups of crucial files (that'll silently reinstall
files from if you try to do something stupid), and locking down key
system folders so you can't wipe C:\Windows or c:\Program Files
without making some effort first ;-)

Also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1HVaupDyw

The closest we've gotten to that is games that control your save-file,
such as Rogue-likes, and delete it automatically if you die.

Also also, the game I was trying to remember in the earlier post?
Virus: The Game, published by Sir-tech Software in 1997. There's some
info about it here:
https://collectionchamber.blogspot.com/p/virus-game.html


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/30/2026 4:56 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:48:10 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
said this thing:

I remember a game that deleted your entire C: drive when you uninstall
it. Does that count? Do you remember which one it was?

<snip>

There were also reports of some games deleting system files --usually
DRM related-- on uninstall. It usually wouldn't render the OS
unbootable, but it broke some functionality (I think the uninstallers
of games that used Starforce DRM was were often at fault, but I really
can't say for certain).

I have dim memories that Starforce was responsible for EVERY issue on
EVERY computer on the planet at some point....
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:48:10 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
said this thing:

I remember a game that deleted your entire C: drive when you uninstall
it. Does that count? Do you remember which one it was?

From what I recall, there have been several games. One I remember >specifically was "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor" from 2001.
The uninstaller didn't delete your entire hard-disk, but it DID delete >various Win95-specific system files, which rendered the computer
unbootable for the average user.

Yeah, Horrible game, and when you gave up in disgust and wanted it gone
it hosed your system too.

Thankfully back in those days I rarely bothered uninstalling games, I
just deleted the directory, so this kind of nonsense never affected me.

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

A trapped chest to defuse, the whole party MUST gather around so they
can all be hit by the trap, no send in the thief to do it while we stand
over there stuff, nope you have to cluster.
Like to see these devs at a bomb defusing.

Oh look you triggered combat and suddenly everything within 28 miles is
part of combat and you have to wait for all those zombies to move every
turn.

Zombie: Oh it's my turn, oh, what shall I do? Maybe I'll shuffle over
there, maybe I'll just stand here, maybe I'll... repeated a thousand
times every turn.


And the click to move, but you could only click on the same screen your character(s) was/were on so it took a dozen clicks to move one screen
over.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I literally don't remember any of the actual game, just all the idiotic
choices the devs made as they set out to make a D&D game that would kill
any D&D players enjoyment of D&D in perpetuity.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

There was another really bad one that used the D&D license called
"Descent to Undermountain". No idea if it is actually worse than Ruins
of Myth Drannor but I don't think it ever deleted your hard drive at
least. Maybe that makes it better by default. :)
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

Ok, after my last post I decided to look into this just a bit. It
looks like the worst D&D game ever made is either -->

Descent to Undermountain
D&D Daggerdale
Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft

Ruins of Myth Drannor does not even make the cut. The lesson learned
here is this. No matter how bad you personally think a video game is,
the video game industry will be more than happy to serve you up
something worse!
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 5/1/2026 6:58 AM, Mike S. wrote:

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

Ok, after my last post I decided to look into this just a bit. It
looks like the worst D&D game ever made is either -->

Descent to Undermountain
D&D Daggerdale
Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft

Ruins of Myth Drannor does not even make the cut. The lesson learned
here is this. No matter how bad you personally think a video game is,
the video game industry will be more than happy to serve you up
something worse!

Temple of Elemental Evil. The damn thing wouldn't even RUN if you could somehow install it.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 1 May 2026 07:03:30 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 5/1/2026 6:58 AM, Mike S. wrote:

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

Ok, after my last post I decided to look into this just a bit. It
looks like the worst D&D game ever made is either -->

Descent to Undermountain
D&D Daggerdale
Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft

Ruins of Myth Drannor does not even make the cut. The lesson learned
here is this. No matter how bad you personally think a video game is,
the video game industry will be more than happy to serve you up
something worse!

Temple of Elemental Evil. The damn thing wouldn't even RUN if you could >somehow install it.

What does it say about me that I've played all those games? ;-)

Me, I'd only rate "Iron & Blood" as 'absolutely terrible'. Then again,
it was a brawler, and that's not exactly the genre that comes to mind
when I see the D&D license. It wasn't, from everything I've read, a
good brawler but I'm not sure I'm really in a position to judge it
myself. But I really didn't like it.

Which isn't to say that the other games on the list were good... just
that they didn't offend me quite the same way. I actually have
something of a soft spot for "Descent to Undermountain"; I'd never
rank it highly and it was obvious its development was rushed, but it
was a full-screen RPG that was trying (poorly) to ape "Ultima
Underworld".

I was less forgiving with "Ruins of Myth Drannor", just because it
felt such a confused mess; from what I recall, it was trying to be a
mix of traditional CRPG and Diablo-style action/RPG, and did neither
genre justice. Plus, it used 3E rules and --as a diehard 2nd Edition
AD&D player-- that made me grumpy.

"Daggerdale" was a deeply flawed game (when I reviewed it, I ended
with "avoid at all costs") but it felt like at its core it MIGHT have
been good had it been graced with a better development team. Sure, its
story, level design, AI, loot, progression visuals, and programming
were terrible but the combat wasn't too bad (for an action-RPG) but
there were moments when the game approached almost being sort of fun.

"Elemental Evil" is --bugs aside-- a good game. It's just not one I
really enjoyed. It's fairly unapproachable, but so is the source
material it's based upon. If you don't bounce off its starter levels,
you'll probably love the game... but most people installed the game,
didn't have fun in the first hour or two, and left for greener
pastures.


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On Fri, 01 May 2026 11:10:35 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

"Elemental Evil" is --bugs aside-- a good game. It's just not one I
really enjoyed. It's fairly unapproachable, but so is the source
material it's based upon. If you don't bounce off its starter levels,
you'll probably love the game... but most people installed the game,
didn't have fun in the first hour or two, and left for greener
pastures.

I absolutely loved that game as one of the best 3.5e implementations at
the time, but bow fighter options sucked, and I got into situations where
the only way I could beat DR was to have my rogue sneak attack. My bow
fighter couldn't do enough damage on each attack to beat DR, and the DR material breaks for bows in the Temple were just not obtainable afaik.
It's like they forgot to give out silver/cold iron arrows and good
aligned bows.

But great game. True. If you bought it at launch it wouldn't run. That'll
teach you to buy something 0-day. It got fixed. Co8 can even restore the
town of Nulb, and it has great options for alignment behaviors.

I would suggest anyone revisit that game with the full Co8 restoration if
you enjoy 3.5e D&D and classic Gygax harsh*.
--
Zag

I thought I could organize freedom, how very
Scandinavian of me. ...Björk

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
* Just don't quit after the giant frogs swallow your entire party whole.
Or surprise spider! That ogre is tricky too. Just hang in there. It's
hard core 3.5e. The Village of Hommlet was a murder machine in 1e too.
(At least you can't get hopelessly lost chasing the trail of gold pieces
in the twisting caves. Great way to TPW.)
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Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever
made.

There was another really bad one that used the D&D license called
"Descent to Undermountain". No idea if it is actually worse than Ruins
of Myth Drannor but I don't think it ever deleted your hard drive at
least. Maybe that makes it better by default. :)

A friend of mine had Descent to Undermountain.

It wouldn't run at all, so it's frustration level was lower.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 02 May 2026 21:01:35 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> said this
thing:

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

On Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

I still remember that game as quite possibly the worst D&D game ever >>>made.

There was another really bad one that used the D&D license called
"Descent to Undermountain". No idea if it is actually worse than Ruins
of Myth Drannor but I don't think it ever deleted your hard drive at
least. Maybe that makes it better by default. :)

A friend of mine had Descent to Undermountain.

It wouldn't run at all, so it's frustration level was lower.

I didn't have quite that experience. The game ran for me (poorly, but
it ran), although I do recall it did crash sporadically in the
dungeon, and that there were other bugs. But it just felt so
unpolished. It had this weird control scheme that never felt natural;
some poor visuals (it did this weird inverse-color filter whenever you
engaged in conversation), and floaty movement and combat. And the
missions were just dull repetitive slogs through an uninteresting
dungeon.

It really felt like a half-baked game; there was potential there that
just hadn't been given the time to develop. Its 3D dungeon design was
pretty good and it was fun to play in the Undermountain setting. But
at the same time it felt --even on release-- like it was already
slightly behind the curve both technologically and in terms of
game-play.

Like I said, it was clearly aping "Ultima Underworld"... but that was
a game from 1991. "Quake" --with its fully 3D-rendered worlds-- had
come out a year earlier (and "Quake II" released only a little after "Undermountain"). So had "Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall". Even
"Terminator: Future Shock" -released in 1995- had better 3D level
design. "Descent to Undermountain" felt both like it was released too
early and too late.





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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 20:11 this Thursday (GMT):

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

"Game Quest" is not a good game. There's nothing about it that makes
me want to play it. Visually, it looks like a run-of-the-mill
asset-flip with little effort put into giving the world any character.
Mechanically, it appears as fairly dull third-person shooter with poor
enemy AI.

Still, I can't help but chuckle at the game's core concept.

Because the enemies in "Game Quest" (subtitled: "The Backlog Battler"
are all the games in your Steam library that you've never played. All
those freebies you've added to your library over the years but never
touched after that? They're pissed and gunning for you now.
Represented by floating floppy disks, their shots do the same amount
of damage as how much you paid for them (so that AAA title you paid
$60 for? It's going to cause you a lot of pain!). Meanwhile, the
grandstands are filled with floppy-disk representatives of games you
HAVE played, some of which may jump into the arena to help you out.

All of which sounds rather clever... if not fun. It's not a game I'd
recommend anyone play --it's a joke game, made more to poke fun at all
of our increasingly bloated video-game libraries-- but I can admire
the humor. Although they really should have announced it on April 1st.

Heck, when it finally comes out (it's not yet released, although there
is a demo on Steam) I may even add it to my library and not play it.
;-)

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using >>the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the >>memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole >>thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that >>nowadays :P

I'm not sure you could actually do that with Steam. I don't think
Steam games can easily cross game-folders. A game can read a user's
Steam library file (and, in fact, it needs to check if you own DLC for
that game) but looking into the memory or storage area of another game
is probably difficult to do.

Right, I was saying just knowing a user HAS a game can be used for
trickery like that, and some cross save stuff could be implemented if
you made both games

Well, maybe if you used a user's own user folder (e.g., "My Documents"
on Windows) but less likely if you use the userdata folder in the
Steam hierarchy.

I remember a game from the Win95 days (I can't remember the name)
where the game used data from your own hard-drive (filenames, bitmap
images, the content from word.docs) as textures for its maps. I think
the conceit was you were navigating your own PC in 3D (shades of
Jurassic Park: "It's a Unix system! I know this!") trying to protect
it from hackers who wanted to delete your data. Of course, it was all non-destructive but it felt equal parts risky and creepy letting a
game rummage through your personal files like that.

There are so many indie horror games nowadays that use the filesystem
lol, off the top of my head DDLC and Inscryption
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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 23:56 this Thursday (GMT):

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:48:10 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
said this thing:

I remember a game that deleted your entire C: drive when you uninstall
it. Does that count? Do you remember which one it was?

From what I recall, there have been several games. One I remember specifically was "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor" from 2001.
The uninstaller didn't delete your entire hard-disk, but it DID delete various Win95-specific system files, which rendered the computer
unbootable for the average user.

A beta/pre-release version of "Myth II: Soulblighter" (1998) could
delete your entire hard-drive under certain circumstances. If you
installed the game to your root directory , the uninstaller would wipe
the drive. However, if you installed the game to a subdirectory, the
problem wouldn't occur. However, this bug was caught before the game
actually released, so no customers ever encountered the bug (a few journalists who were doing pre-release reviews encountered the code,
but Bungie got a warning to everyone and nobody had a bad experience
;-)

A brief search also reveals a game called "Deltarune" had a similar
issue. It too would RM * the entire folder hierarchy where the game
was installed (so, if you installed to C:\DELTARUNE, everything on
C:\; if you installed to C:\Program Files\Delta Rune, then everything
in C:\Program Files). I'm not familiar with this game, however.

i assume that was back in the SURVEY_PROGRAM days :)) in a sense it
furthers the meta aspect of that whole game

also, another fun fact but Undertale (the prequel) had the opposite
issue where it tries multiple times to delete its own binary once the
geno ending is completed

There were also reports of some games deleting system files --usually
DRM related-- on uninstall. It usually wouldn't render the OS
unbootable, but it broke some functionality (I think the uninstallers
of games that used Starforce DRM was were often at fault, but I really
can't say for certain).

There was also a case of Steam Linux accidentily wiping an entire drive
because an internal script forgot to verify a variable

These issues were especially common in the early years of Win9x, when uninstalling was still something of an arcane art (and DLL-hell was a
real problem). It's become less of an issue with Microsoft creating
automatic system back-ups of crucial files (that'll silently reinstall
files from if you try to do something stupid), and locking down key
system folders so you can't wipe C:\Windows or c:\Program Files
without making some effort first ;-)

Also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1HVaupDyw

The closest we've gotten to that is games that control your save-file,
such as Rogue-likes, and delete it automatically if you die.

The "deleting the save file" thing is also a pretty common joke pulled
on the player, but yea I don't know if any games outside of rougelikes
ACTUALLY do it

Also also, the game I was trying to remember in the earlier post?
Virus: The Game, published by Sir-tech Software in 1997. There's some
info about it here:
https://collectionchamber.blogspot.com/p/virus-game.html

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On Mon, 4 May 2026 15:00:04 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 20:11 this Thursday (GMT):

On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 >><candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using >>>the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the >>>memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole >>>thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out >>>for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that >>>nowadays :P

I'm not sure you could actually do that with Steam. I don't think
Steam games can easily cross game-folders. A game can read a user's
Steam library file (and, in fact, it needs to check if you own DLC for
that game) but looking into the memory or storage area of another game
is probably difficult to do.

Right, I was saying just knowing a user HAS a game can be used for
trickery like that, and some cross save stuff could be implemented if
you made both games

It's not QUITE the same, but "Mass Effect 2" and "3" would read the
save games of earlier files. And occassionally some games will give
you bonuses and cosmetics if you own other titles (I know Ubisoft used
to do stuff like that).

Even the famous "Metal Gear Solid" really was the same sort of
cross-promotion. It only checked for other Konami games. Psycho Mantis
couldn't care if you enjoyed "G-Police" or "Street Fighter Alpha"; he
only cared about stuff like "Vandal Hearts", "Silent Hill", and "Azure
Dreams" (all Konami games)



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On Mon, 4 May 2026 15:10:03 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, candycanearter07 wrote:

The "deleting the save file" thing is also a pretty common joke pulled
on the player, but yea I don't know if any games outside of rougelikes >ACTUALLY do it

Well, then there's Doki Doki Literature Club, where *you* deleting game installed files, like exit the game and go to Explorer or a shell and
delete stuff, is an essential part of the end game.

A little controlled interaction with the real world is a nice thing.

If you want to play Ironman or Roguelike, I find file deletion to be
perfectly acceptable. Many Roguelikes have an "explore" mode where you
turn it off anyway, including Nethack.

I prefer the halfway point of some kind of permadeth mechanic, like in
X-Com. You can recover from your vet sniper dying, but you have to watch
unit attrition because you can't win with a squad of rooks. Darker
Dungeon does similar. It raises the stakes without harshly ending a game.

GAME OVER screens are so 80's.
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
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On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

This makes me realize that there is so much untapped potential for using
the Steam library for in game mechanics, even in a non-impacting way.
You know how older games could sort of tell what you played through the >memory card data, and unlock stuff automatically and stuff? Or the whole >thing with Psycho Mantis being all spooky and meta and calling you out
for what games you liked? I think it'd be cool if more games did that >nowadays :P

On a related note:

* Don't Touch the Snail https://store.steampowered.com/app/4149320/Dont_Touch_the_Snail/
A game where, if you lose, you never can play the game again.
Yes, it's a joke game. Yes, the mechanics are stupid. Yes, there's no
real point to playing except to say you've played and managed to keep
moving your mouse for xxx seconds. But you get real consequences if
you lose this game... namely, the inability to ever play the game
again.


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On a related note:
* Don't Touch the Snail >https://store.steampowered.com/app/4149320/Dont_Touch_the_Snail/

ONo! I wishlisted so fast :)

rms
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On Sat, 9 May 2026 07:37:09 -0600, "rms" <rmsmoo@moomoo.net> said this
thing:

On a related note:
* Don't Touch the Snail >>https://store.steampowered.com/app/4149320/Dont_Touch_the_Snail/

ONo! I wishlisted so fast :)

Soon to come: DLC to reactivate the game when you die (each purchase
buys one more try).

(Not really... but I wouldn't be surprised)


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