Community

SCI Programming => Mega Tokyo SCI Archive => Topic started by: Grover on September 06, 2002, 04:25:50 PM

Title: Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Grover on September 06, 2002, 04:25:50 PM
Or i think that's what his name was...Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist.  

I didn't look to long or hard, but this seems to be a forgotten game among the SCI community.  Personally, I loved it probably more than any other SCI series I've played, but the only thing I really remember is he only had one ear and there was a good theme song.  That and he's a pharmacist.

Does anyone except me remember this game, and if so, do you know where i can get a copy?

Oh, and also, I can't get any old SCI games to work on my computer because they don't recognize my sound card...anyone know a solution to this?

Thank you,
Grover
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Brian Provinciano on September 06, 2002, 05:50:05 PM
You can get a copy from eBay (http://www.ebay.com).

You can run the windows version to get sound, or download one of Ravi's sound drivers.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: juncmodule on September 06, 2002, 09:44:18 PM
http://www.allowe.com/fp-main.htm

Another Al Lowe creation. Just for some more info.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Cosmic R on September 07, 2002, 02:33:50 AM
No, we haven't forgotten it.  It was a great game.  Other less 'talked-about' games were some of the dynamix ones: Rise of the Dragon and Heart of China.  They used SCI and were great games also.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: OmerMor on September 07, 2002, 02:57:22 AM
Of course we know old Freddy.
About Heart of China and Rise of the Dragon - I'm pretty sure they're not SCI.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: lskovlun on September 07, 2002, 03:57:41 AM

They used SCI and were great games also.


Don't judge them by the file names... yes, there are RESOURCE.00? files in there, but
they are in an entirely different format, and the executable is definitely not SCI.
I'm not even sure if they are script-based, like SCI.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Grover on September 07, 2002, 02:35:54 PM
Ah cool...Glad to see I'm not the only SCI fan who remembers good ol' freddy.

I actually snooped around a bit on the net, found the al lowe website, and from his site I found a link to this  ftp site: ftp.freddypharkas.com where Freddy Pharkas can be downloaded, with Al Lowe's blessings, in winRAR format.  Unfortunately, it takes about 15 hours, but the guy says he'll burn you a copy of it through the mail for two dollars. (to cover shipping)

Al Lowe has the manual, which is needed to play the game, printed on his website.

Thanks guys :)

Grover
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Cosmic R on September 08, 2002, 12:49:49 AM


They used SCI and were great games also.


Don't judge them by the file names... yes, there are RESOURCE.00? files in there, but
they are in an entirely different format, and the executable is definitely not SCI.
I'm not even sure if they are script-based, like SCI.


Are you sure??? I always thought they used the same format as sq5, qfg3, lb2 and a couple others...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: HWM on September 08, 2002, 08:25:27 AM
The games you were talking about (Heart of China, Rise of the Dragon & Willy Beamish) are not SCI, but use the Dynamix interpreter. These games also do not use RESOURCE files, but VOLUME files... The Incredible Machine series et al, do use RESOURCE files, but are in no way related to the Sierra interpreter, just like some Sierra action games (which also use RESOURCE files, but aren't SCI). However Dynamix did develop SQ5, some SQ5DEMO uses the Dynamix interpreter.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Allen on September 09, 2002, 09:08:11 AM
Freddy Pharkas? That was a cool game, I remember Larry Laffer in the outhouse making some 'rude' sounds.

BTW you can get the MP3 intro with vocals by Al Lowe. Get it at www.allowe.com (http://www.allowe.com)
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Allen on September 10, 2002, 09:20:32 AM
That game rocks! I got it from www.freddypharkas.com (http://www.freddypharkas.com) The rights for the game belong to Al Lowe, and he has personally said that he would rather people download it for free than have the game be forgotten, so it technically isnt pirating!
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Nick Sonneveld on September 10, 2002, 07:15:43 PM
hey, I would rather it be free too but it doesn't mean it's legal.  If Al Lowe really didn't mind he would have it on his site.. as far as I know he's only got games like Donald Duck's playground.

- Nick
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: MusicallyInspired on September 10, 2002, 08:36:09 PM
well, Black Cauldron and whatever else was on there were small games too. FPFP is like 9 megs. and then theres the CD version. if Al wanted to release it on his site he probly would have wanted to the latest version for download (which would be the CD version) but that would be too big maybe.....i dno tho. maybe i have no idea what im talkn about (which would be quite possible)
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: juncmodule on September 10, 2002, 10:11:48 PM
Hey guys:

"Although I don't tend to support piracy, especially when it comes to great games like this, there comes a time in every game's life when it becomes harder and harder to find"

-quote from www.freddypharkas.com

Downloading the game from this site (according to the sites owner) IS software piracy.

Not trying to be a party pooper....just letting everyone know what your doing before you do it... ;D
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Te Rangi on September 10, 2002, 11:00:04 PM
Who cares about piracy? (from big companies, anyway)
What I mean is, I would have no qualms "obtaining" maybe one of the new Sierra games or something (they really suck now.) but I would feel quite bad stealing from Croteam (the developers of Serious Sam) as they are a small company who piracy would hurt.

As a member of a famous band once said (regarding bootlegs) : "They hurt us when we were small, but now I really don't care."
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Nick Sonneveld on September 10, 2002, 11:26:45 PM
we care because the big companies have more money to spend on legal people.  legal people shut down websites who post pirated software.

- Nick
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Brian Provinciano on September 10, 2002, 11:53:32 PM
Exactly. Small guys like us don't stand a chance against large companies. People go against large compaines all the time in legal battles, who could win and still lose everything, including our savings, house, etc. The only people who really win are lawyers. The companies milk the small people for all they're worth. I don't want to get involved in that.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Grover on September 11, 2002, 01:30:40 AM
If Al Lowe really didn't mind he would have it on his site

The way I got to www.freddypharkas.com was a link from Al Lowe's website, which only had good things to say about it.  He was also kind enough to put on his site the Modern Day Book of Health and Hygene--required for beating the game.   I'm sure after 10 years Sierra doesn't give a damn about who does what with FPFP...It would probably cost them more to do anything about it than let it slide.  

Grover

Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Kon-Tiki on September 11, 2002, 05:52:52 AM
If you're really that scared of what's said about piracy here, join Blue Ribbon.

-Kon-Tiki-
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: CapTAmerik@ on September 11, 2002, 06:33:17 AM
Most important of all:

LET'S JUST DROP THE WHOLE PIRACY-ISSUE!

Are we here to promote AGI and SCI or are we here to kill it off? Piracy is illegal, accept it!

Thank you for your time,
This is CaptAin AmeriK@ signing off...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: juncmodule on September 11, 2002, 10:02:03 AM
Sierra is a IDSA member. Therefore, ANYTHING they have released is still owned by, and more importantly actively protected, by them. For the next 75 years all of their software is protected under international copyright laws. There is no such thing as abandonware. Only if a company "releases" software to the public domain does it become "abandonware" or more accurately "public domain software". The IDSA monitors websites for piracy activity and shuts them down. They work in conjunction with the FBI. So, PLEASE! PLEASE! Regardless of your personal opinions on software piracy, do NOT voice them on this message board. I am not a moderator nor do I have any "official" say on what is posted here, but, I do have a personal interest in keeping this site and Brian's work alive and well. So PLEASE, take the pro-piracy stuff elsewhere.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Te Rangi on September 11, 2002, 10:53:33 PM
The ISDA is evil. My dad bought a legal copy of Manhunter II. 10 or so years later, I lose the disks. I go to http://www.the-underdogs.org, expecting them to have it for download. They do, but it is blocked by the ISDA.

I go to Sierra, send them an e-mail regarding availability of the game, and they politely tell me to fuck off.

I wouldn't pirate if companies gave a crap about their customers.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: juncmodule on September 12, 2002, 07:27:30 AM
ummm....yeah....anyway...

the topic back on topic...So, is Freddy sort of like Jones in the fast lane as far as what it was made with? Isn't Jones in the fast lane just SCI0 with a different exe(which supports 256 colors?)

I've never played Freddy. What's all the hub bub about? I guess being made by Al Lowe that's a pretty stupid question ;D. There is this big slot of Sierra games that I never played. It's weird because most of the ones I didn't play are SCI games. Yet, I like the engine more than any other.

later,
-junc
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: OmerMor on September 12, 2002, 10:39:53 AM
Freddy is a funny adventure game by Al Lowe about a pharmacist in the wild west. It was done in SCI1 and it's as good as any other adventure game by sierra.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: MusicallyInspired on September 12, 2002, 12:33:22 PM
its not just SCI1 but whatever the next step was cuz it has colored cursors and its unviewable with SCI Decoder (like SQ5, SQ4CD, KQ6, PQ1VGA).
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: HWM on September 12, 2002, 01:29:58 PM
Well... Actually it's SCI11... SCI11 interpreters mostly have a version number like 1.001.xxx (instead SCI1 has 1.000.xxx)...

However, SCI1 version numbers are really a mess, lots of interpreters have strange/faulty version numbers... The interpreter included with FPFP for example has version number 1.cfs.081...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: OmerMor on September 13, 2002, 01:38:17 AM
I know it's not realy an SCI1, but I didn't want to confuse him. after all from SCI1 up until SCI32 it's all pretty much the same from the player's point of view.
Much like SCI01 is almost the same as SCI0 from that point of view.
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: MusicallyInspired on September 13, 2002, 01:23:35 PM
ive been wondering. how come there was never a decoder for the SCI11 games? is it too difficult/impossible to make?
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: HWM on September 13, 2002, 01:51:39 PM
Actually, there is one... It's called SCIRESDUMP... It's compatible with SCI11 and SCI32...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: MusicallyInspired on September 13, 2002, 09:18:51 PM
really...where can i find this! does it also compile? or probly not eh?
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: HWM on September 14, 2002, 07:14:37 AM

http://www.student.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~creichen/SCIResDump12.zip (http://www.student.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~creichen/SCIResDump12.zip)

It doesn't compile and has some bugs (for example, it can't extract Police Quest 1 VGA, although that might be solved when using the manual options), but apart from that it works pretty well...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: Te Rangi on September 14, 2002, 08:28:25 AM
Nice...
Title: Re:Freddy Pharkas
Post by: MusicallyInspired on September 14, 2002, 01:21:17 PM
kolnis! (my shortened version of 'coolness' if anyones wondering btw) thank you very much...i shall attempt to put this to good use.