ROGUE - Available on Steam

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Spaceman
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The original ROGUE is now available on Steam at a 15% discount.

In the early 1980s, a computer game emerged that changed the world of fantasy gaming forever. Randomly generated rooms meant that each journey into the infamous Dungeons of Doom was unique. The potent combination of random generation with perma-death proved to be intoxicating, and the game was so influential it spawned an entire genre: "Rogue-likes".

Now you too can experience the thrill of dungeon crawling for the fabled Amulet of Yendor in the original ASCII adventure.




  • Battle dozens of unique and powerful enemies.
  • Gather armor, weapons, food and other items to help you on your quest.
  • Scour rooms for secret hidden doors and traps.
  • Discover strange magical spells and potions, which have different wonderous effects every time you play the game.
  • Survive through 26 randomly generated levels, each more tricky and dangerous than the last, to find the Amulet, then escape... if you can!

How long has it been?

How many lifetimes have passed since I began my sojourn through this maze of underground passageways, of damp, dimly lit chambers? How long have I been alone, the only human among a menacing crew of hideous subterranean beasts, stumbling over forlorn reminders that others have passed this way before me... never to return!

Long before I forgot the warmth of the noonday sun or the refreshing coolness of the evening breeze, I forgot my name. Call me what you will. I am the Rogue.


For Rogue aficionados, you may wish to know that this particular version is Epyx Rogue v1.49 for the IBM PC.
More information.
 
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?
Why should you pay for that
How are they able to sell what as far as I know should be freeware
 
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?
Why should you pay for that
How are they able to sell what as far as I know should be freeware

Agreed. On the other hand at least putting this on Steam makes people aware of the games existance which they may not have been.

P.S It is the height of hilarity that I can only describe this game as a roguelike.
 
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Why should you pay for that
How are they able to sell what as far as I know should be freeware
While the post title says this is the "original ROGUE", it's not exactly true. Rogue appeared around 1980 and ran on UNIX and was, at some point, open sourced (BSD license).

This particular version of Rogue that's on Steam was ported to home computer platforms (IBM PC among them) by A.I. Design (one of its founders was one of the original Rogue authors), and published by Epyx. It was sold as a typical full priced game in stores. It was never free…or at least not legally? :lol:

Nowadays, there are free versions of Rogue available for the PC that originated from open source Rogue instead of the A.I. Design / Epyx commercial product. I don't know what the state of free PC Rogue is today, but I do remember back in the late 80s, this Epyx version of Rogue was a lot nicer than the free ones in that it had color, 8-bit ASCII graphics, and other nifty stuff.
 
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I'm kind of curious does the developer/publisher buy/own these old Ip's, or are they just updating/ releasing them despite being abandonware/freeware?
 
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I'm kind of curious does the developer/publisher buy/own these old Ip's, or are they just updating/ releasing them despite being abandonware/freeware?

They are all published by Pixelgames UK. They got a facebook presence over here:
https://www.facebook.com/pixelgamesuk/

Please do check out our Steam publisher page which is now live! We have many many games to add over the coming weeks and months so keep checking it out frequently!

That said, legally there isn't such a state as "abandonware". If the publisher doesn't make it into freeware, the license is always owned by somewhere. They might just not care if it's pirated (or might not even know they own the license).
 
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Yeah thanks I know that but where did they acquire the Ip rights that's what I want to know. As all of their sites are fairly new. That's why I'm asking if they own/bought them.

Don't really care about freeware/abandon-ware and the legally grey area it is. Also I'm not getting into that discussion as I know how you personally feel about this topic.:)

Anyway Google is no help on that Ip question.
 
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Yeah thanks I know that but where did they acquire the Ip rights that's what I want to know. As all of their sites are fairly new. That's why I'm asking if they own/bought them.

Don't really care about freeware/abandon-ware and the legally grey area it is. Also I'm not getting into that discussion as I know how you personally feel about this topic.:)

Seems like it. Searched a bit on ther facebook page and found this (not specific to this game):

https://www.facebook.com/pixelgamesuk/posts/2987463604672857
Well it's finally here! The first (of many!!!) retro games we have access to the licenses of to be remastered for mobile apps.

https://www.facebook.com/pixelgamesuk/posts/3317313551687859
Pixel Games UK even thinks about a new third version, now that they hold the license of the Mystic Midway franchise. "Fancy doing a follow up? Number 3? We might also if your up for it? Socially distanced / recorded and all that but are you willing to consider it for the fans?"
Randy Polk: "Sure… I’d be willing! I’m an old ham and up for most anything, but I doubt there would be much interest in revisiting this whole milieu these days!"
 
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They are all published by Pixelgames UK. They got a facebook presence over here:
https://www.facebook.com/pixelgamesuk/
Steam lists the developer as "Epyx, Inc". Epyx sold off all their assets to Bridgestone Media Group in 1993 and shut down. The US Patent Office shows Bridgestone as still the owner of the Epyx trademark, so if they're using that name as the developer, that would seem to most likely mean Bridgestone still owns the rights to Rogue and they're licensing them to Pixelgames for sale on Steam.

As far as who Bridgestone actually is, basically a Christian media company it appears: https://www.gobmg.com/

"Your trusted partner for family-friendly entertainment. DVD, Digital, Broadcast, Global, Feature films, Documentaries and Educational films, Children's Videos! Family-friendly and faith-based entertainment for every screen in the world."

"BMG-Global is a distributor of family-friendly, faith-based films that encourage, inspire and spread a message of hope"

Fascinating stuff :lol:
 
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Steam lists the developer as "Epyx, Inc". Epyx sold off all their assets to Bridgestone Media Group in 1993 and shut down. The US Patent Office shows Bridgestone as still the owner of the Epyx trademark, so if they're using that name as the developer, that would seem to most likely mean Bridgestone still owns the rights to Rogue and they're licensing them to Pixelgames for sale on Steam.

As far as who Bridgestone actually is, basically a Christian media company it appears: https://www.gobmg.com/

"Your trusted partner for family-friendly entertainment. DVD, Digital, Broadcast, Global, Feature films, Documentaries and Educational films, Children's Videos! Family-friendly and faith-based entertainment for every screen in the world."

"BMG-Global is a distributor of family-friendly, faith-based films that encourage, inspire and spread a message of hope"

Fascinating stuff
Thank you that's all I wanted to know. As these old Ip's are hard to track down who owns them after getting lost, or bought by various other people over the years.:thanks:
 
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There seems to be a split though.

German wiki lists System 3 as owner of most games (in english wiki they are mentioned to be time limited) and German wiki also mentions that Magnussoft is owning the rights in Europe. Which is a German company (of which I have never heared) which is active in retro stuff for a while:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnussoft
 
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Looks like a clever money grab: buying old IPs, refurbishing them if at all and selling them on Steam, games that nobody would have played before Steam and the Retro Pixel Revolution, 15 years ago during the age of 3D.
 
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Looks like a clever money grab: buying old IPs, refurbishing them if at all and selling them on Steam, games that nobody would have played before Steam and the Retro Pixel Revolution, 15 years ago during the age of 3D.

Well...isn't that kinda of what GOG started with, back when they called themselves Good Old Games?
 
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I thought that Rogue is still available widely on abandonware web sites with many developers and enthusiasts improvements.

But that's what I mentioned before. "Abandonware" isn't a legal status.

You could put a pirated copy of Wasteland 3 on your page and call it "abandonware".
Legally it shouldn't make any difference.
But you likely wont face any consequences if you do that for old games where the publisher doesnt exist anymore.
 
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Legal is irrelevant if it isn't enforceable. Anyone can make a law, but if there isn't an active governing body, such laws are just vapor. Maybe we could call those products vaporware ;)
 
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Legal is irrelevant if it isn't enforceable. Anyone can make a law, but if there isn't an active governing body, such laws are just vapor. Maybe we could call those products vaporware ;)

Well, it is enforcable. Most obvious with Nintendo taking down pages which offer some old nintendo games.

Question is more whether or not there is a plaintiff.
Once there is, you are pretty much toast as even if you might have chances to win a legal battle, you probably wouldnt want to pay the upfront costs.
 
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