System Shock 1 prototype and level editor discovered

[67455108ae15dfascinate4]

I am lazy to write preview information, you just need to see this: https://mobile.twitter.com/Borman18/status/997512945528659968

[67455108ae355voodoo47]

the original editor would no doubt be an interesting find.

[67455108ae43ffascinate4]

It's not just about editor, it seems that disk is a prototype

[67455108ae578icemann]

Hmm

[67455108ae653voodoo47]

slightly beta levels are not that interesting - but tools (and a cd source) would be.

[67455108ae880JDoran]

If that's the same person as the poster 'Borman' on the Assembler Games forum then he is genuine, and he won't be making this up (as trolls do) or making a mistake, as he's really well up on prototypes - he spends a *lot* of money and time on finding and buying prototypes for various systems.

I don't know if he'll choose to release the code to the public, but it would be nice to try the editor, and maybe the levels themselves contain some interesting details or ideas that didn't make it into the final game.

[67455108ae977fascinate4]

Well, someone asked that guy about to release this stuff, but he said that something like "Not in these days, sorry"

[67455108aea46voodoo47]

why even bother showing off then.

[67455108aeba1Gawain]

Exactly. These days it is easy to ask permission on twitter. I bet nightdive would be willing to share those.

[67455108aec8evoodoo47]

wouldn't a random dude trolling part of their ip be a textbook example of a lawyer assault target?

[67455108aee07fox]

Maybe somone (with a Twitter-account) should ask him WHY he's not making it public. Maybe there are legitimate reasons and maybe people can help sort those out somehow. Quite possibly he's not even aware of the recent devlopments regarding the System Shock source-releases and the Nightdive situation.

[67455108af0f3icemann]

Well, someone asked that guy about to release this stuff, but he said that something like "Not in these days, sorry"

I call bullshit then. If hes not willing to provide the files then hes just bragging. I'd tell him to bugger off.

You could tell him that Night Dive would never go after him. So either put up or shut up.

[67455108af256fox]

Well, to get it straight, on Twitter, his exact words were just this:

"Cant do that currently, sorry." -> https://mobile.twitter.com/Borman18/status/1001617837847392256?p=v

This doesn't have any passive aggresive ring to it and "currently" doesn't rule out any future release.

[67455108af371voodoo47]

well, lets hope that means he is giving the (contents of the) cd to NDS (not as good as just releasing it to the public, but still way better than keeping it in his drawer).

[67455108af4bffox]

Since I am not interested in doing anything with it personally, I'm not going to be the guy who's actively pursuing the release of this editor but to me it sounds like this disc he found by chance during a visit at the "National Museum Of Play, would be actually museum property, not his. If that's the case, it's clear why he's not feeling able to release it to the public just like that (although it's a bit of a an ironic situation, given that this is what museums usually are for). However, asking the museum directly would be the next logical step then.

[67455108af6b9icemann]

Well in all technicality what he found belongs to Night Dive. Them first and foremost, as they own ALL legal rights to anything System Shock related.

To use an example from something completely unrelated to video games:

Much of the old black and white episodes of Doctor Who (filmed in the 1960s) were lost for a long time because the BBC in their shortsighted "wisdom" assumed that the show would not go on for long and so destroyed around 75% of the original masters for those episodes (1st and 2nd Doctors only). Over time around 60-ish percent of those episodes were recovered via the copies sent to various TV stations in other countries. The search continues on right up to present day for copies of the remaining missing episodes.

Episodes have been recovered as recent as a few years ago when the BBC (as part of a worldwide search for the missing episodes) sent a guy over to Nigeria in Africa who recovered them there. Reason being since the property belongs to the BBC. Much like if you bought a DVD, in that even though you bought it, it belongs to the movie company that produced it.

So with the guy on twitter, what he has belongs to Night Dive. So he should return it to them. Then they can release it publicly for all us to enjoy.

I'll note also that Doctor Who suffers from "collectors" who have the only remaining film for a few of the missing episodes, and who refuse to release them. As that would decrease their value. My bet is that this guy on twitter is doing the same with the SS1 files. If Night Dive sent their lawyers his way though, he'd not have a legal leg to stand on.

[67455108af809voodoo47]

morons that destroy culture (or make it not available, which is almost the same thing) are my least favorite group of people.

[67455108af9c6fox]

Apparently he works for this museum as a curator:

http://www.museumofplay.org/about/icheg/staff

"Andrew Borman, Digital Games Curator

As digital games curator at The Strong, Andrew coordinates the museum’s efforts related to digital preservation of electronic games. He holds both an undergraduate and master's degree in Information Science, with a concentration in school media, and he has taught library classes for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. He has long taken an active role in game preservation, focusing on the preservation of unreleased game prototypes and development material. Follow Andrew on Twitter @borman18."

Some Twitter user named Cuddigan asked him directly, if he will give these files to NightdiveStudios. No answer yet.

[67455108afac0voodoo47]

so.. it's like a library but you only get to read the labels? if so, it's not preservation, it's gravekeeping.

[67455108afb8cicemann]

/ graverobbing

[67455108afec8icemann]

Some Twitter user named Cuddigan asked him directly, if he will give these files to NightdiveStudios. No answer yet.

Someone may want to advise him that if he doesn't pass his files over to ND that he may get himself into some legal trouble. Should do the trick.

[67455108affe5voodoo47]

wouldn't go that far, but if his goal is preservation of games and related software, then acquiring something and locking it up is a pretty bad way of doing it.

also yeah, now that he has publicly admitted that he has something that belongs to NDS, he pretty much has to give the files up, or risk legal trouble.

[67455108b02cefox]

wouldn't go that far, but if his goal is preservation of games and related software, then acquiring something and locking it up is a pretty bad way of doing it.

I certainly agree with that.

[67455108b05c43RDplayer]

I was the guy asking him if he would release it, because at the time of his tweet I was working on my fanmission and it wouldve been benefitial for the community to have access to the editor to make even greater modding tools with the informations that could've been gathered from it. The thing is, it is his CD-rom, that he aquired over certain means. He owns the CD-Rom but not the rights, but he still owns the CD-Rom. So it's up to him if he wants to release it and to whom. And thats widely accepted and - even if some people don't like it - we have to accept that.