Downfall (2009) - now FREE

[Cogliostro]

Hello!I'm a Chinese player.I just finish this game and have many questions.My English is not good....
In the end,I haven't use the fish and toast
A friend above says "The fish and toast are the ammo for the second shotgun."
I don't have a fit save file.My gun has been loaded.I try to use the fish and toast  to reload my shotgun.The system shows nothing,but using other things,it shows wrong.
Maybe  "The fish and toast are the ammo for the second shotgun."That's right!!!

Finally someone has worked it out!

EDIT: This Subzero guy has sent me a pm saying he got an illegal version of the game and it's okay to do that in China. I feel like if someone did a shit on my doormat and then knocked on my door to ask for a toilet roll....

Grim,

I just realized the absolute easiest way to prevent it from being okay to illegally download a game in China: use China's extensive internet censorship.  Add a few files to the game folder like:

Tiananmen_Square_protests_of 1989.txt
Tibetan_independence.pdf
Taiwan_independence.doc
Uyghur_Independence.rtf

These file can be empty or not, but any file with a name like that going through a Chinese router will be killed instantly.

That only thing that can stop China from violating copyright laws... is China.

Not going to help you this go around, but for the next commercial game, it just might help.  And besides, it costs nothing to do.

- Cogliostro

[Crimson Wizard]

Cogliostro, with all due respect, but... few days after doing this you'll see the game on torrents with these files removed.

[Calin Leafshade]

That is an excellent idea

you just need to make the game check for the existence of the files. 

[Crimson Wizard]

you just need to make the game check for the existence of the files. 

Hmm..... you have a point there
But... there's yet a workaround. Delete files from the archive and recreate them after installing the game )

[Dualnames]

Mr. Michalski will agree that he lost more money from the legal deal he had with Akella than pirated versions of the game. Plus its hard to keep track of pirated versions of your game/s. Look at Spore (they said it had the best protection system), it won most pirated game of the year award.

[Cogliostro]

Don't get me wrong, there's no such thing as a game that cannot be pirated.  Technical and legal solutions fail immediately or just quickly. 

However, this is not a technical/software solution.  If American/Candian/British/etc hackers encounter no protection on the game, they'll assume there  is none.  In some sense they'll be blind to the censorship problem.  A technical obstacle would be defeated inside of a week, but take a look at the what's going on in China, and tell me how many hackers will be able to figure out what files need to be renamed:
Censorship in China
Press Freedom Index

So, you name the actual game file FREE_TIBET.EXE  and VIOLA the game simply doesn't exist for China's hackers.  The rest of the planet obviously won't be effected, but the idea of using China's censorship to stop piracy amuses me, and honestly, for that reason alone I'm presenting this idea.

No, it's not foolproof, but there cannot be an easier or cheaper way to subvert some hackers.

- Cogliostro

[Big GC]

How do the paying customers in china get a copy if it has the "banned content" in it.

If you ship a "clean" version for the paying customer, it will end up pirated aswell....

But clever idea and I did like the cleverness of using china to do the work of keeping your own stuff of the pirate boards 

[Grim]

Thanks for an idea Coligostro, but I think I'm gonna let it go- if the bigger guys can't manage to prevent the problem I don't believe I could. Piracy has always been a problem and... I guess this is something developers have to accept.

But- on the bright side- here's Downfall again, out on Impulse this time!

          Check it out: H E R E

[Grim]

Just found something...hmm... interesting I think you should see:):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_zTXeK0Uec&feature=related

And then I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2G5O-bgco

...and I started laughing too, but I'm not sure why....

[therantingrob]

I should not let the kids get their hands on this one.
It defenitely looks promising.
I may give it a try.

Just found something...hmm... interesting I think you should see:):

Ehhh... yes that was quite a funny experience.
Does that eradicate my question about the game having full voice-over?

So, you name the actual game file FREE_TIBET.EXE  and VIOLA the game simply doesn't exist for China's hackers.  The rest of the planet obviously won't be effected, but the idea of using China's censorship to stop piracy amuses me, and honestly, for that reason alone I'm presenting this idea.

Wow, your suggestion is above frightening.
Chinese prisons are not comparable to ours.

Back to the topic,
no you can not do a thing against piracy,
it's tilting at windmills.
If there is enough demand (which a developer surely likes to have for his project)
then there is an equal amount of demand for piracy.
Take the so-called "unpiratable" STEAM system for instance.
You have to validate the authenticity of even the single-player games online (which is quite embarassing...) before you can play them.
It took less than half a year or so for the first pirate version of the STEAM system to appear and since then various groups have made their own "Underground STEAM" including the most recent titles.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not issueing a call for piracy,
but the fact is that even the most sophisticated anti-piracy mechanisms are overcome as time goes by.
So the advantage of having such a system in place lasts only a few months,
if at all.
For indie developers this means they should evaluate the cost-benefit equation of developing such a system in the first place.

I think if the price is ok, people will prefer a legit copy over a pirated one anytime.

Grim,

I just realized the absolute easiest way to prevent it from being okay to illegally download a game in China: use China's extensive internet censorship.  Add a few files to the game folder like:

Tiananmen_Square_protests_of 1989.txt
Tibetan_independence.pdf
Taiwan_independence.doc
Uyghur_Independence.rtf

These file can be empty or not, but any file with a name like that going through a Chinese router will be killed instantly.

That only thing that can stop China from violating copyright laws... is China.

Not going to help you this go around, but for the next commercial game, it just might help.  And besides, it costs nothing to do.

- Cogliostro

Do you really think that would do the trick?
The "pirating" scene is internationally organized,
if these files are not needed by the game, even the most stupid group out there will get rid of them.
(In fact i would assume that any group which leaves these zombie files in their release would be sneered at by the scene...)

[soldat555]

Grim, this is actually the 1st game I've downloaded created with AGS and quite simply, I'm impressed. The artwork style of the game, all the hand drawn environments with their sketchy kinda look, adds a more psychological-horror look to the game which pulled off this feeling of fear and horror. Awesome work.

I'll say I've only played a small bit of the demo and wasn't expecting the game to be this fearful and awesome. In fact I made a pretty good horror game out of modding Wolf3d but this, I really wasn't expecting that kind of fear being able to be done with AGS (Still playng around with i and figuring it out). Well done!

If I had the money, rest assured I'd buy this... But I don't, though I'm not gonna pirate it either.

[therantingrob]

Yes the visual style of the game is something special!  8)

[Ozzie]

Just played the demo a bit and was put off. The writing seems so broken, like someone wrote it who doesn't have the best grasp of the English language, it didn't appear correct or natural to me.
Hrm, I seem to be the only person so far who has this reaction, so I wonder if I'm just imagining things. Maybe it's because English isn't my mother tongue anyway.

[m0ds]

Downfall is now free, you can get the "5-cup" game DRM-free from the game database page. Download includes the OST.

Thank you of course to Rem for allowing this. As there is a remake in development at much higher quality, and we hope you'll buy it when it's ready we agreed that the original may as well be freeware to entice you to try the new version (early-ish next year).

Hope you enjoy, thanks all those who bought it from me in particular (Screen 7) you will be given a discount on the new version. As for other distributors, not so sure yet - but am negotiating with them Can't say for sure if they'll stop selling it at this point either. But at least you can get it for free from the AGS site for now

It'll appear as free at the official website, which will be updated with info about the remake very soon:
www.quiethavenhotel.co.uk

PS. It's a stable version, it can be completed, but you may still run into a bug or two - so don't forget to save! We're not offering tech assistance for this game anymore, please don't ask!! Our answer is: Wait for the new version (which will have technical assistance ) - another big reason we made this freeware. Downfall 2009 can't be fixed and the answer to most questions about it can probably be found using a quick google search Thanks for understanding!

[Mandle]

This looks awesome...I'll grab it now and play it next month around Halloween!

[Adeel]

You don't say no to a free game. Downloading...!

[Frodo]

Such an excellent game! 

Thankyou for making it freeware.  And I'm looking forward to the remake next year. 

[Myshkin]

Awesome, thanks! I played the demo years ago but never got the full game. Bought The Cat Lady recently and loved it, so looking forward to playing this one

[Kitty Trouble]

This is perfect timing. I recently played the cat lady and have been wanting to try this. Thanks

[Grim]

I hope you have fun with it;)

The NEW Downfall is evolving into a very different game - all dialogues are being re-written from scratch, all puzzles re-designed etc. This is the only way I could make it work with (upgraded) TCL interface. A proper GIP thread will appear at some point too ( I want it to have a video trailer and that takes time to do).

So since the remake will be more of a reboot, there should still be plenty to see there for those who played the old Downfall. It's not just HD version It's more like a completely new game loosely based on the original. Does that make any sense? Anyway, you'll know when you see it;)

Thanks

-Rem