Peter Berg The DarkDread Scandal Last Update: November, 1998 This was going to be in QB:TM, but I never submitted it. I just came across this file while going through some old floppy disks, and felt like putting it up for people to read. DarkDread has returned to the QBASIC scene, and has released new RPGs like "The Secret of Cooey" and "Eternal Frost". ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The DarkDread "Scandal" If you don't know who DarkDread is, you probably are familiar with his award winning, influential RPGs. He is the programmer of the first Tile-Based QBASIC RPG, and of the first First Person 3D QBASIC Engine, and RPG. He's been called, and truly is the Qbasic RPG Master! The most famous, (and popular) games he wrote under the name "DarkDreams Software" are The Dark Crown, The Legend of Lith 1 and 2, Pong 97, The GraveYard, and Helter Skelter. He was a master at making tiles, programming, and RPGs (Storyline, Dialogue, etc.) - he was the person that started the QBASIC RPG glut! On Sunday (November 8), "DarkDread" Posted this on the Neozones Qboard: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkdread [read] Sun Nov 8 15:26:26 1998 hey guys , just dropping by. It seems you've all been getting along fine without me. but where has apester gone ? I went to his page and it's been taken over by LordQB. i really need to speak to apester. thanks -DarkDread ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Darkdread" didn't leave an email address. Right after his post, lots of posts told about how glad they were to see him, and where he had been. Pretty soon it was assumed that the whole thing was a hoax. Apester (now Analogue) replied, and said that it probably wasn't DarkDread, because: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "well, if indeed you are darkdread, (which I doubt since: a) I never talked to or e-mailed darkdread and b) you didn't leave your email address) you can contact me at analogue2@aol.com" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Darkdread's" post seemed a little fishy. promptly after Analogue's post, Wafn, in my opinion Neozones' most skeptical poster wrote "*Hm. Yeah. Hm. Whatever." Nothing more was said about the matter until Wednesday. On Wednesday, Anto33 (Has never posted there before) posted "Hey everyone, I found DarkDread's website!!!!" In his article, he gave the URL of "DarkDread's new website.", and said "Maybe it is not DarkDread, who knows but worth find out." Some thought "*whoa!!! its tue!", while others said: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wafn Sheesh.... you guys never learn, do you? (more) Thu Nov 12 18:55:24 1998 DarkDread left the scene several months (maybe even years, I fergot) ago. If he comes back, he will do so in a way that will leave no doubt in out minds who he is (I hope :) Anyway, he was one of the most influencial programmers of our time, ergo, everybody wants to be like him. For all we know he could be dead. (I don't even wanna think about it) This RavenNight guy is not DarkDread. Neither is that imposter a few posts back. Ask some of the old skewl programmers (Analogue, class-, etc.), and they will most likely set yer straight :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The site looked pretty convincing to me. It had all of DarkDread's programs, screenshots, and other info. According to the site, DarkDread had changed his name to RavenNight. He started a new programming company called "BubbaSoft". He had made one game called "Pellet Heads" in that company. He created his page on August 20th, 1998, and his latest update was on September 10th. So... is it true? Is DarkDread back? If it is, it's great to have him back, but why didn't he tell anybody about his comeback, site, new name, company, etc., etc.? If it isn't him why would somebody go through so much trouble to make a hoax like that? He (or she) spent hours making a fake website, getting screenshots, finding the programs, (because DarkDread's old page doesn't exist), and, just doing all of that stuff just to fake us out? How? Why? Personally, I believe that it is DarkDread's site. I can't explain why he didn't tell anybody about his comeback, but his site is too convincing. The only way you can decide is if you visit his site. Decide if DarkDread is back, or if some jerk wanted to trick us into believing he was back. It's your choice... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Some notes: The URLS of the following "things" are: The Neozones QBOARD: http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=6684 "DarkDread's Page": http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/index.html RavenNight's email address: raven_night@hotmail.com Program URLs: Pellet Heads: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/ph.zip Dark Crown: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/dc110.zip Legend Of Lith 1: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/lith1.zip Legend Of Lith 2: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/lith2.zip Pong '97: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/pong97.zip The GraveYard: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/grave.zip Helter Skelter: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/hs102a.zip The Old DarkDreams Logo: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RavenHeart/images/ddlogo.gif *All of the posts were posted on the Neozones QBOARD. I copied and pasted them into this article.