cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/66797464

I’ve been thinking about lost media recently, and I’ve suddenly remembered a bunch of old memories about tv shows, movies, YouTube videos, etc. that I want to go searching for again.

Today though, I want to focus on a game memory I have.

Around the early 2010’s, there was this game I encountered on the Google play store. I never played it, but I remember clicking on it to see what it was about. It was a fan-made game based on long-running sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ called Ballpit Bazinga with the slogan “Find Sheldon”.

Interestingly enough, I went searching for it on the internet and to my surprise, though it is (obviously) no longer available, I did find the ‘official’ website of the game, possibly one of the last traces of it on the internet. Though the game is no longer available (at least, it doesn’t seem to be, unless anyone can get it working from the link above?) the website does give some more details about this game that confirm what I remembered reading about it.

• First of all, this game appears to have been created by someone named Samuel Reid.

• Second of all, the website is timestamped 30 September 2011 (though I only found this via the googling of this game, see below).

• Thirdly, the website gives a publisher description that matches what I remember as the description of the game I saw on the App Store (or I believe I did, anyway). The description reads:

Help! Sheldon Cooper is running amok in a child s ball pit! You must help Leonard catch Sheldon by tapping him whenever he appears. But don’t hit Leonard, you’re trying to help him remember.

Beware of the Bazinga! If you hear that fabled phrase, you know you ve missed him this time…

Requires iOS 3.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Unfortunately, this is about as much as the website says about this game. And there doesn’t appear to have been any play through videos of the game itself on YouTube, etc. However, I am glad that my recollection of the existence of this game could be confirmed by the surviving traces of it. Too often is media lost via the method of all traces disappearing from existence, so to even have small traces of this game to remember it is a win for me. However, I do also find it notable that, if my recollection is correct at least, that a game of this nature made it to the app store in the first place.

Thanks for reading.

  • jqubed@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    This reminds me of a lost game—two, actually—that I’ve been searching for off-and-on over the years. I can find no trace of them online, but still have hope that I might pull them off an old hard drive at some point. It was a little free multiplayer LAN game written in Java called Tank Killen, and the sequel Tank Killen 2. I think it was written by a couple Swedish guys and the website seemed to be just one of the guy’s web hosting shares from his ISP.

    It was a top-down game where you would drive around a map with your tank and shoot at the other players’ tanks. There were various power-ups scattered around the board. Both games were similar but the sequel was visually better and had some improved power-ups like a guided missile you could fly around the map.

    I actually got the sequel early because with the first game somewhere there was a note offering to send a level editor to anyone who was interested. I asked but they offered to send me the sequel they were working on instead because the level editor for the first game was very difficult to use. On the sequel it was fairly straightforward and I actually added a level into the copies I had and shared.

    My brother and I played a little at home but it wasn’t as fun with just two people. It was much better at school with up to 8 players; that’s where I played the first version. There were computers networked all over the school (unusual around the year 2000), and for a while playing games was allowed after school in a designated classroom. I don’t know who introduced the first version, but I introduced the sequel. I think by that point games weren’t allowed anymore but IT never removed the files or blocked the network traffic. The game and the subsequent detentions might be my legacy at the school, probably even for a few years after graduating.