XenForo Door Games

[Sal Collaziano]

I'm old enough to remember playing Door Games on a Commodore 64 in the mid 80s, but still young enough to want to re-create this experience for my forums in 2026. And I'm doing exactly that...

Is anyone interested in this as well? Or have the rest of my ole BBSers died off?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Come on, now, I'm not the only old fart here who played DOOR games, am I?

 

[lazy llama]

Yay - an XF-compatible PimpWars!
Or have things moved on since then?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Yay - an XF-compatible PimpWars!
Or have things moved on since then?

I think PimpWars was before my time.

 

[lazy llama]

I think PimpWars was before my time.

Ha, yeah, I'm old. I ran a RemoteAccess BBS from 1989 until 1996, by which point Internet access was starting to become a relatively consumer-friendly thing.

I remember there were some BBS Door games which you could play across multiple boards - with the state being synced between boards overnight. I had one game which was played on my UK-based system and one in the US. Sophisticated stuff!

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Ha, yeah, I'm old. I ran a RemoteAccess BBS from 1989 until 1996, by which point Internet access was starting to become a relatively consumer-friendly thing.

I remember there were some BBS Door games which you could play across multiple boards - with the state being synced between boards overnight. I had one game which was played on my UK-based system and one in the US. Sophisticated stuff!

Wait, I'm doing too many things. I'm older than you. PimpWars was actually AFTER my time... I stopped BBS'ing around 1989 when I met a girl that - you know - had me spending most of my free time doing other things...

I only VERY briefly saw that networking going on when I came back to the online/internet thing in 1995 or 1996. But by then, the internet was becoming "what you do" online.

What I find really interesting is the games I'm making - which are like the ones I used to play - are the type where the system would ask what you want to do next - and then you'd respond. The system would reply with one of many different pre-programmed responses.

But now with AI being able to literally story-tell, and basically remember you, it's a whole different ballgame...

 

[lazy llama]

Wait, I'm doing too many things. I'm older than you.

Only in online-years (like dog-years but with added modem sounds)
My early online years involved playing relatively simple MUD/MUG/MUAs - I'd imagine those would be amazing with AI-storytelling, but no one seems to have the imagination for text-based adventure games now, they want to see the maze of twisty passages all alike.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Only in online-years (like dog-years but with added modem sounds)
My early online years involved playing relatively simple MUD/MUG/MUAs - I'd imagine those would be amazing with AI-storytelling, but no one seems to have the imagination for text-based adventure games now, they want to see the maze of twisty passages all alike.

I know what you mean... I'm testing things out in my forums and will see if it picks up enough to offer it here...

 

[Kevin]

Is anyone interested in this as well? Or have the rest of my ole BBSers died off?

My wish list for the longest time was a modern supported rewrite of Legend of the Red Dragon integrated with XF (for at least the users at a minimum). There was Legend of the Green Dragon in PHP but that project seemed to have died years ago.

Add in a Trade Wars port and I'll be the first in line to donate.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

My wish list for the longest time was a modern supported rewrite of Legend of the Red Dragon integrated with XF (for at least the users at a minimum). There was Legend of the Green Dragon in PHP but that project seemed to have died years ago.

Add in a Trade Wars port and I'll be the first in line to donate.

Those are the types of games I used to play - and similar to what I'm building now... I have it running on a few of my forums - but you'd need to be a registered member to play...

 

[Kevin]

Those are the types of games I used to play - and similar to what I'm building now... I have it running on a few of my forums - but you'd need to be a registered member to play...

Feel free to send me a PM with links to check out.

 

[Alvin63]

Google AI says this:

"Running Door Games on XenForo
Modern BBS systems use "Door Servers" (like DoorParty) or local emulation (DOSBox/NetFoss) to bring these games online. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• Integration: You can integrate these games into a modern forum (like XenForo) by having a dedicated BBS component on your server (like Synchronet or ENiGMA½) running in the background, and connecting the forum users to that system, for example, via a web-based terminal.
• Web Terminals: Players use a terminal client in their web browser (like fTelnet) to log in to the BBS through the XenForo site, providing a seamless experience.
• Current Projects: As of 2026, some users are actively reviving classic door games specifically on the XenForo community platforms.
• Server Requirements: You generally need a VPS or dedicated server where you can install DOSBox/wine to host the game files. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

For a modern approach, platforms like BBSlink are often used to bridge older DOS games to modern internet-facing BBS systems. [1]"

 

[Alvin63]

I don't quite understand how it can run via Xenforo, but I installed dosbox to run old C64 games on linux netbook for our son a number of years ago - it was more of a fix for me though!

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Feel free to send me a PM with links to check out.

It's not a secret - but you need to register to see and play.

https://lincolnforums.com/forums/lunar-colony/

Google AI says this:

"Running Door Games on XenForo
Modern BBS systems use "Door Servers" (like DoorParty) or local emulation (DOSBox/NetFoss) to bring these games online. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• Integration: You can integrate these games into a modern forum (like XenForo) by having a dedicated BBS component on your server (like Synchronet or ENiGMA½) running in the background, and connecting the forum users to that system, for example, via a web-based terminal.
• Web Terminals: Players use a terminal client in their web browser (like fTelnet) to log in to the BBS through the XenForo site, providing a seamless experience.
• Current Projects: As of 2026, some users are actively reviving classic door games specifically on the XenForo community platforms.
• Server Requirements: You generally need a VPS or dedicated server where you can install DOSBox/wine to host the game files. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

For a modern approach, platforms like BBSlink are often used to bridge older DOS games to modern internet-facing BBS systems. [1]"

I don't quite understand how it can run via Xenforo, but I installed dosbox to run old C64 games on linux netbook for our son a number of years ago - it was more of a fix for me though!

It's pretty easy, really. I like the idea of the old games, but I'm bringing the technology of 2026 to them... If you feel like signing up to see what I'm working on, you can do that here: https://lincolnforums.com/forums/lunar-colony/