Dink Smallwood Source Release
Christoph Reichenbach wrote in to let us know the following:
Seth Robinson, author of Dink Smallwood (and, as it happens, LORD), hasreleased the full source code to Dink Smallwood under a BSD-ish license.A project trying to clean it up, port it and extend it has only justbeen started at http://dink.sourceforge.net.Dink Smallwood is a rather tongue-in-cheek RPG developed for Win32 in 1997,designed to be Zelda-style in appearance. It has since gathered a hugefollowing, with numerous fan-made quests (D-Mods) being available fromthe Dink Network.
I know a lot of people have been hoping for a port of this game for a long time. The website mentions some code that needs to be replaced, but I hope that someone gets a Linux version up and running soon.
July 28th, 2003 at 12:42 am
I completed this game years ago on win. But it sure where kewl. Thanx for this!!! More people should do this!!
July 28th, 2003 at 4:37 am
You know, this game really cracks me up. It was made so poorly, but in such bad taste as to be personally insulting (ala LORD2 to such an extent that I mistake it for LORD3 even today!) Hey, I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Jus’ lookit’ all thems bad bitty-mappt’d artwerk! (Disclaimer: I can’t do much better and Seth has ALWAYS been a shareware programmer and a gentleman before an artist.)
In short, the source to a game that plays like a beat-em-up with a strange perspective on it isn’t going to be worth much without MORE exploding wizards and ETHNICALLY INSULTING domestic violence. That’s right, it’s useless to me until the game data is stripped and exposed in a *real* level editor. (What? Someone already did that?) Okay, then I want it in Linux, but with baked beans and sour cream on the top (ha! Nobody’s done that yet!)
This game was the only thing my younger brother would play for a year because he liked it better than Baldur’s Gate (with good reason, too!) I’m sure it will be an undying open source gaming classic, if only for the Seth Abl–er, Robinson humor. That guy is the funniest yokel this side of the Tennessee stand-up circuit. Even if he isn’t a yokel. Or funny. Or Able.
Oh, and to unbelievers who think that money is required to insult people, ye low-production-value insult-gaming pantheon hast spoken:
RTSoft > Running With Scissors!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to teach my mother a lesson. Get my lawnmower.
July 28th, 2003 at 5:40 am
I can remember Seth’s door games from when I’d connect my 486 to BBS systems with a 2400 BPS modem. He probably created two of the greatest BBS door games ever; LORD and Planets: TEOS. I can’t really say that I was a fan of LORD 2, but the wit and sick humor in these games has always been a thing that makes a Seth Able game what it is. Dink Smallwod was quite a fun game as well. Though it had a very primitive bitmap graphics engine (even for its time) and the controls were a bit rough, the game was still quite a laugh.
For all of the cool stuff that Seth has done, we can forvive him for his contract deer-hunting games that littered the Wal-Mart shelves (Gotta make money somehow though).
Anyway. Seth, if you are reading this; Thanks!
July 28th, 2003 at 5:44 am
You know… This engine could easily allow us to build a Dink Smallwood MMORPG.
July 28th, 2003 at 8:34 am
With some improvment, this engine has a lot of potential for new adventure / action games!
I completed Dink and thought it was good, and wanted to improve on the game / engine, but its closed source nature prevented this. Now that its open, when the linux port is complete, expect some action. :)
July 28th, 2003 at 11:00 am
I remember emailling Seth a long time ago… I don’t remember what he said about open-sourcing it, but I do know that he said no at the time… This is some of the coolest news I’ve ever heard. I used to love this game, back before it was even released as freeware, and I got my mom hooked on it somehow… Hmm, maybe now she’ll switch to Linux!
July 30th, 2003 at 6:32 am
does someone know if anyone is picking this one up for porting?
September 4th, 2003 at 12:28 am
I’m about 50% done an SDL port. I should be done on or after the weekend.