Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Goober5000 on January 10, 2019, 12:40:17 pm
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Missed the actual day by that much...
HLP was founded 18 years ago by Setekh and Thunder. What started out as a small board on UltimateBB hosted by 3DActionPlanet has grown into an enormous self-sustaining community with thousands of remarkable achievements. I bet none of the original members had any inkling the site would be around this long. :)
It is pretty incredible to look through some of the threads over the years and see how FreeSpace, HLP, and even the Internet in general evolved over time. Consider that in 2001, we didn't have YouTube, Facebook, or even the source code. We had mailing lists, such as the FreeSpace Developer List -- sadly defunct when Warpcore lost its backups. And we also had web-rings, with some prominent sites -- such as VolitionWatch and Descent Network -- and many personal sites of varying quality. (RIP GeoCities, though I'm pleased to say that Angelfire (http://www.angelfire.com/games2/fsarchive/index.html) is still hanging in there.)
Modding has come a long way. The original Descent: FreeSpace encoded its table and mission files with a "top-secret Canadian encryption program" to discourage players from hacking the game. Later VPView32 was created with the ability to decrypt files, and in any case the encryption was removed in FreeSpace 2. FRED has been around ever since the original release, and now we have the source code -- it's hard to say which of the two has contributed more to the longevity of the game. Now we have Knossos, which makes installing and running mods stupid-easy, especially to someone who remembers juggling mission and table files when changing campaigns.
I'm not sure what the next few years will bring. HLP and FreeSpace are still going strong, but Internet activity these days seems to be geared more toward video and social media than text and forums. That's why we've enlisted the talents of Iain Baker to improve our social media presence and community engagement. Once we solve some of the problems with the main page, we'll have more featured content there as well.
I would encourage people to post a comment or two to mod creators to show your support for their hard work. Most of us create art for art's sake, but it is also tremendously rewarding to see feedback and comments from players who have enjoyed it. And consider checking out something you haven't played before, such as one of the hosted projects or even one of the short missions or campaigns in the Releases (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=124.0) board. There are a lot of up and coming FREDders producing great stuff.
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I'll just chime in with my "I wouldn't have my job without this site"
I learned how to texture, then model on projects here, and (more importantly) that taught me a whole lot about what makes a game a game.
You changed my life!
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freespace is kool
celbrate freepsace
yaya :D
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BTW Thunder goes as Fineus nowadays... when he comes here.
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Sooooooo HLP, I hear you're 18 now?....</quagmire>
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(https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgx25j7qqfsklet/superintendentkeepitclean.png?raw=1)
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(https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgx25j7qqfsklet/superintendentkeepitclean.png?raw=1)
No need for that anymore. :p
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(https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgx25j7qqfsklet/superintendentkeepitclean.png?raw=1)
You read my custom title right? :lol:
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(http://halo.bungie.net/images/games/wallpapers/1idopskeykd.jpg)
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lol guys this topic is for a commemoration of HLP, not getting bogged down in... less than quality posts. :nod:
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Isn't that what being 18 is all about tho
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lol guys this topic is for a commemoration of HLP, not getting bogged down in... less than quality posts. :nod:
You started it!
Besides that, I have safed whatever has been archived of defunct HLP projects on the webarchive, maybe I release it someday as somekind of HLP history...
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BTW Thunder goes as Fineus nowadays... when he comes here.
He went as Kalfireth for some time between those two. Even though at one point he said his alias "always will be Thunder" (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=5797.msg90228#msg90228).
Besides that, I have safed whatever has been archived of defunct HLP projects on the webarchive, maybe I release it someday as somekind of HLP history...
I would love to have an archive of the FreeSpace Developer List, if anyone still has one. A small fraction of posts are archived by the Wayback Machine, and every so often you run across interesting messages like this one (https://web.archive.org/web/20020601062741/http://ml.warpcore.org:80/fdl/199809/msg00855.html)...
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(https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ychgw6hdd4bmqh/flat%2C750x1000%2C075%2Ct.jpg?raw=1)
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I'll just chime in with my "I wouldn't have my job without this site"
I learned how to texture, then model on projects here, and (more importantly) that taught me a whole lot about what makes a game a game.
You changed my life!
Story of my life too. Freespace gave birth to my passion, community and modding - to occupation. Half of my friends are people associated with FS somehow. I even was with a gf that I first met at party of one of my FS friends.
This game and community aren't changing lifes. They sets their direction :yes:
For this, and many other reasons... Long life FS! Long live the king! And long live HLP...
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Happy Birthday HLP,
you can finally stop pretending to have never drunk hard alcohol.... Okay, that was way funnier when I turned 18; also for context to all you dry people: where I life the legal drinking age for beer and wine is 16, with regards spirits is 18 - which is pretty low compared internationally and ever so slightly unreasonable considering the effects of alcohol consumption during adolescense
But in all seriousness, this milestone is one to celebrate. And to feel nostalgic about, even if like me you have only been around since 2006'ish.
A lof of my life would have turned out quite differently without HLP and its people, even if don't engage the with community too much. Thanks for that, and I hope the content I actually release over years suffices.
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18 years already?...good lord Happy birthday HLP
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Happy Birthday HLP! :)
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Glad to be here.
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Happy birthday to one of my big reasons for doing what I'm doing now!
And on that note, happy early 20th birthday to the big reason we're all still here!
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Happy Birthday, HLP! Now you are allowed to drink alcohol, to drive a car and finally to party even past 12am.
Unfortunately, you have new responsibilities as a full citizen of our community now. I hope, that you are prepared for your tax declaration :D
And yes, i am still wish you a happy birthday, even i had very hard times in the mid-2000s with you :blah:.
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Oh god I got here 18 years ago?
I remember moving here from the VBB to here on Sept 10th, 2001 (really).
It's probably been a decade since I've played FS2 but I remember it all. The big fights on the VBB, them being bought out by THQ and canning the site. The Squad War fights and fights about the fights. The beginnings of the FSO project. Derek Smart coming to see about buying rights. Carl. 3Dap and the rights issues we had. Lots of things happened in 18 years.
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I actually had mod space back when we at 3dap. RIP gamespy.
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Truly spectacular how long this community has kept itself going strong.
(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*xrx4PIQvza23h7SorC4MnA.gif)