I wonder if you would consider adding the following games to the site:
Powerslave (a.k.a.
Exhumed) (DOS)
An Egyptian-themed
Doom lookalike that uses an earlier version of the renowned Build engine. The game was re-titled
Exhumed for the European release.
Powerslave Demo: The demo contains a tutorial, the first four levels from the full game, and one multiplayer map. The archive and its filename seem to be unmodified. Contains an installer.
Exhumed Demo: The European demo that contains the tutorial and the first level of the full game (maps of levels 2 and 3 are also found in the game files, but the game quits after level 1). Again, the archive itself and its name seem to be unmodified.
Powerslave Public Beta: This is an officially released two-level beta preview of the game. It has a different title screen, quite a few different sprites, background MIDI music, and a few bugs. Unfortunately, the archive's name had been changed, and the archive has an added comment indicating the FTP that hosted it.
There are a few other games that use the Build engine which are not (yet) on the site, maybe you'd find them of interest too. Here's
a list of them (with downloadable demos).
Eradicator (DOS)
A very nice, although seemingly not widely known sci-fi/futuristic 2.5D shooter with a graphics engine comparable to
Duke Nukem 3D or
Shadow Warrior (sloped floors, mouselook, security cameras etc.). The demo contains three levels and two out of three playable characters. There are two versions of the demo known to me,
this one seemingly more recent that
this. Other demo versions may exist too.
In Pursuit of Greed (DOS)
[Added to the site]
Yet another not well-known futuristic FPS that looks like something in between
Rise of the Triad and
Doom and has five weird characters, each with unique weapons and abilities, and a ton of powerups among other things. The demo is hard to find, one is located at
DOS Museum, while a different one can be found on
a Russian gaming site (not sure if the download there is going to work though).
Marathon 2: Durandal (Win9x)
This game has been released as freeware by the developers, if I'm not mistaken. There's also a three-level demo. The engine is comparable (and, in some aspects, superior) to that of
Doom, but the style of design and game play is very different. AFAIK, it's the only game of the series that was released for the Windows platform.
ZPC (Zero Population Count) (Win9x)
A very unusual game created by a British underground artist
Aidan Hughes using the
Marathon 2 engine. The game explores a dystopian theme and is designed in the style of 20th century propaganda posters. One demo is found on
C|NET, and a seemingly different one at
DOS Museum.
Command & Conquer (DOS)
[Added to the site]
Quite recently, Nyerguds, a C&C enthusiast, has found a different demo of the DOS version of
Command & Conquer. This demo was distributed on CDs and has three Nod missions in addition to the three GDI missions from the regular downloadable demo, plus more videos and music tracks. It is also based on a more recent version of the game. Read more
here.
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars (Win9x)
Heroes of Might and Magic II Demo: The demo contains one "Standard Game" map and allows to play as any of the Hero classes without any limitations. I don't know if a demo of the DOS version is available.
The Settlers and
The Settlers II (DOS)
These seem like worthy additions to the site. The demo of the second game, as well as its Gold edition (with a different level) can be found at the official FTP:
ftp://ftp.bluebyte.com/demos/eng/
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans [Added to the site] and
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (DOS)
[Added to the site]
Those two are definitely classics, especially the second one, which has two unique mini-campaigns, one for each side, and a built-in preview slideshow.
Warlords and
Warlords II (DOS)
Warlords Demo: Allows to play as the Elvallie for 40 turns. The archive appears to be unmodified.
Warlords II Deluxe Edition Demo: The demo has one tutorial and one standard game map (Illuria), which can be played for 40 turns as any side, with modifiable difficulty levels and other map settings. The archive appears to be unmodified.
Also worth mentioning is the
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome demo, which contains a unique (not included in the retail version) three-mission campaign about the First Punic War.
Ohh, and I've almost forgot about
NightHawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 from MicroProse, a 256-colour remake of my old time favourite,
F-19 Stealth Fighter. I've found a demo of
F-117A at
DOS Museum; dunno if the demos for either
F-19 or
F-15 Strike Eagle II (which uses the same, or slightly modified, engine) exist, but if they do, that would be a nice find as well
BTW, I remember reading somewhere that Powerslave was the very first Build engine game to be released, and in any case, the version of Build it uses, even in the final release, is pretty old. Anyway, more stuff: