Just bringing this back to the front page as we have just been given a Shmup (Sat 1st sept 2018. :)

:)

Thank you, WhiteRabbit.

Here's more Shmups and similar games to find on Steam. most are decently priced. With the changes made to the giveaway site, to get to the correct Steam page you will need to copy paste the links I've provided. Hyperlinks no longer work properly. some security measure I think.

Gal-x-e http://store.steampowered.com/app/473510/ £1.59

Lew Pulsipher's Doomstar
http://store.steampowered.com/app/504750/ £6.99

............................................................................................................[/size]
Zenodyne R http://store.steampowered.com/app/466820/ £6.99
[center]

RX Squad http://store.steampowered.com/app/494120 £1.59

Galactic Fighters http://store.steampowered.com/app/513960/ £0.79

Bitmaster (itch.io) https://comigo.itch.io/bitmaster $0.99

Solar Shifter EX - http://store.steampowered.com/app/363940/ - £5.99

Starship Command (Itch.io) - https://evglabs.itch.io/starshipcommand $5 or more

Starship Corporation - http://store.steampowered.com/app/292330/ - £14.99

Star Drifter - http://store.steampowered.com/app/485330/ - £0.79

Super Space Pug - http://store.steampowered.com/app/466840/ - £0.79

Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax - http://store.steampowered.com/app/389650/ - £6.99

Space Codex - http://store.steampowered.com/app/469890/ - £079 (£0.39 till Oct 3rd 16)

Star Chronicles: Delta Quadrant - http://store.steampowered.com/app/383330/ - £0.79

Space Pirates and Zombies 2 has just gone on sale for the next 48hrs on steam. You can find the deal HERE.

The game is still in early access, so what you see in the following videos HERE, HERE and HERE, is not the final game. I have not checked through all of the content of each video so cannot guarantee any inappropriate language that I may have missed.

In SPAZ 2 you must survive in an evolving post apocalyptic Galaxy. The zombie threat is defeated, infrastructure has collapsed, fuel is scarce, and scavenging means survival.

Initially the Galaxy contains hundreds of fleets, each trying to survive. AI captains do everything the player can. The player is not special and is not the center of the Galaxy.

As resource scarcity becomes critical, ships come into conflict just to survive. Factions may form for protection or split due to starvation. Old friends must become fodder.

Stronger factions establish and defend territories, set up resource hubs, and establish star bases. Weaker factions may resort to banditry. Each captain is unique, persistent, and shapes the Galaxy.

When factions meet, combat is usually the result. While the strategic side of SPAZ 2 is about exploration, territorial control, and faction building, the action side of SPAZ 2 is about ship construction, tactics, and salvage.

Combat creates damaged ships and dead crew, but it also provides new salvaged parts. All the parts in SPAZ 2 are modular and randomly generated. If you see something you like, break it off an enemy, grab it with your tractor beam, and connect it to your ship. Ship construction can be done live during battles, though sometimes beating an enemy to death with their broken wing is also fun.

Back on the star map, battles will attract other captains looking for salvage. Take your new parts and run. Upgrade, repair, and prepare to fight another day, for darker threats are about to emerge.

Key Features:

1) ... Two hundred persistent Captains that are able to do everything the player can, including forming dynamic factions, building structures, controlling territory, and going to War.
2) ... A true living galaxy that is not player centric. It will develop differently each game through the interactions of the agents.
3) ... Build your own faction from nothing.
4) ... Randomly generated modular parts. Build the mothership that suits your play style, on the fly, in seconds. Every part has its own unique stats that contribute to the mothership. Every part has its own hull integrity and damage states. Every part is a real, working, ship component.
5) ... Strategic ship building. The mass, location and shape of parts all matter. If a part blocks a turret, it will not fire. If a ship is too long, it will turn slowly. Too many engines will mean too little power for weapons. Every design choice counts.
6) ... A fully physics based 3d environment where everything is destructible, takes damage from impacts, can be grabbed and even thrown at enemies with the tractor beam.
7) ... Natural movement and controls. Movement is on a 2d plane and screen relative, much like an FPS. The combat feels like huge pirate ships battling on an ocean. Focus on tactical positioning and manage system power to unleash hell at the right moment.
8) ... Epic ship to ship battles. Tear the enemy apart piece by piece over minutes, instead of seconds.

You can actually get The Renegades of Orion 2.0 via the Otakumaker Bundle 17 at the moment, which is available HERE till 26th October next month. Also included in the bundle are five other games:

Pills4Skills
The Grandfather
The Lady
Volstead
Alien Run

The total cost of the bundle is less than the cost of The Renegades of Orion 2.0 at only $1.49 whereas on Steam the game is $1.99 pl;us you get the other games. If you are into giving games as presents to friends and family, Otakumaker have some very generous offers. You can get two keys for each game for an additional $0.50 and 5 keys for an additional $1.50 and 10 keys for each game for an additional $3.50.

I'll be giving away a lot of games once the review site that Whizzy (giveaway name) Mavadelo (Steam name) has created for me is ready. So such deals are perfect for me. I've already been purchasing bundles from this site, but only recently started to get 5 or 10 bundles. I have over 10 000 spare Steam keys, so it's going to take a long time to give them away. :)

Renegades of Orion 2.0

You can check out Renegades of Orion 2.0 via the Steam store by copy and pasting the following link into your browser. Clicking on hyperlinks now only take you to the home page even though the address is correct for the games page:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/434780/

A long time ago in another dimension called the astral plane, began a great battle. The battle was between Forces of Light against Renegades of Orion.

The Black Magicians and Reptile Creatures. They fight to be the kingdom of Earth. During this battle there was a transfer of consciousness of a fighter who had the most power of cosmic light. He's called Shen!

With intention to join the troops of Orion and to fight the renegades. Take the divine crystal to raise its power. If you falter the devil catches you!

In the new version The Renegades of Orion 2.0, Now there is a crystal (Divine crystal) which guarantees more power. He appears randomly.

There are more demons, some totally take your power. Other makes you go back to the beginning of the stage or even before that.

The dynamics to remain free of these demons and gain power through the crystal to make sure you skip the level.

"Another good detail of the game! Enemies and obstacles (except bosses) always arise from random and unpredictable in every time you play."

Here are some more Shmups and other related shooters that are on sale over on Steam until the 3rd October. I'll be leaving these up even when the sales end as they are related to this post. I may consolidate the whole thread once I've added the shmups released over the last several years. At least those available on PC.

For some reason, linking directly to the Steam page from these forums no longer works, so I've had to remove the codes that allowed you to click on the name of the game. instead I've had to post the direct links, but clicking on these will only take you to the sales page and not the actual game. To do that you will have to copy and paste each link into your browser to see the Steam page. The giveaway site have added something to the forums that won't allow direct links, but only to the home page.

I will see if I can find an alternative method when I have time.

Shmup Love Boom - 70% off £0.59
http://store.steampowered.com/app/387110/

Renegades of Orion 2.0 - £1.59
http://store.steampowered.com/app/434780/

Void - £3.99
http://store.steampowered.com/app/503710/

1917 - The Alien Invasion - £3.99
http://store.steampowered.com/app/470060/

War Birds: WW2 Air strike 1942 - £1.39 (50% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/451670

Bladestar - £2.44 (65% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/424760/

Infinity Wings - Scout & Grunt - £0.99 (50% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/448790/

Freespace 2 - £3.49 (50% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620

Uriel's Chasm 2: את - £0.99 (75% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/414580

Zotrix - £2.49 (75% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/343280/

Zotrix - Solar Division - £6.99 (Tower Defense in space)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/351720/

CDF Starfighter VR - £8.49 (15% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/433190/

Naval War: Arctic Circle - £3.74 (75% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/200050/

Fair Strike - £0.69 (75% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/352120/

Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War - £3.35 (30% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/

Space Codex - £0.39 (51% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/469890/

LUFTRAUSERS - £1.74 (75% off till 3rd Oct)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/233150/

Hi Delenn, yeah, sadly Scubaguy passed away some years ago (not sure if you knew), though I don't know what happened to Lockett or Webmaster?

I so miss Lockett, webmaster and, especially, Scubaguy. ;(

P.S. See, StrayCat, it worked. Thanks!

It's about time I started to update this thread; especially considering Shmups are still one of my favorite arcade genres.

Just found the following bundle called Fall Gamebundle, that includes 3 space based games two of them shmups and one strategy game. They are Battlestorm, The Fleets of Sol and Astrokill. You can pick all three up for a little over $3.50. I've added a few more space oriented games to the Shmups thread, all from bundles that are live at this time.I've only checked the indie Gala and Game Bundle sites so far. There are at least 60 bundles live at the moment. most bundles retails for much less than $5, so you may find some excellent shmups if you check through the indie bundles that I've linked to in the Weekly round up of games thread over in the Game discussion sticky section. The three space games are worth more than that the cost of the whole bundle alone, in fact, the cheapest of those three games Battlestorm costs more if you buy it directly from Steam. All games come with Steam keys. You can find the deal HERE.

The following are several other space oriented games you'll find in one of the several Indie Gala bundles that are available at this time. You'll find Indie Gala
Idie Gala Prime Bundle includes Nightork Adventures - Beyond the Moons of Shadalee - Pilot your spaceship through procedurally generated dungeons Fight against evil demons, to save the galaxy in 30 missions, or IACTURA - It is your job to save the planet from its decay. Only you can prevent an extraterrestrial species from taking over all of humankind. G Prime - a gravity gripping steampunk slingshot simulator. Space Ranger ASK - a classic arcade shoot'em up game, featuring asteroid blasting, spacemen rescues, UFO destruction, asteroid mining and Boss fights! Two excellent real time space battles waged with waves of fighters and massive battleships are available in the form of Haegemonia: Legions of Iron and it's stand-alone expansion Haegemonia: The Solon Heritage are available via the Anuman Interactive bundle and you'll find even more space oriented games in the The Indie Gala Mogul bundle for example RX Squad a side scrolling smup (ground based). You can find the Indie Gala bundles HERE

There's another bundle on the Game bundle site that is soon to end called The LaborDay Bundle that also has a decent Shmup called Nordenfelt, which you can find HERE and see on Steam HERE. The usual cost of that game is £5.99/$8.99 but you can get it and nine other games for $3.73 (approx £2.88)

AStrokill

Battlestorm

Fleets of Sol

Haegemonia: Legions of Iron

Haegemonia: The Solon Heritage

Please read my advice on your first post: Failed to Connect

graylox

Looks like I commented on this a few years ago. ... My computer crashed in Feb last year and I lost EVERY one of my giveaways - games and other programs.

My problem started with leaving Netzero and getting a wireless DSL.

But after achieving success for a while, I was back struggling to activate again. I finally gave up.

Today, I decided to tackle it again.

I've not downloaded anything in over 18 months form GGOTD or GOTD.

I've been using FreeDownload Manager for over 3 years, and until we left netzero, never had a problem connecting or activating the giveaways. Downloaded the program using Chrome and then IE without success.

Followed all of the advice that I found ... finally reset the IE to autodetect settings ... but still nothing was working.

So I downloaded the program a third time without using FDM - just using the built in IE downloader .... and it worked.

Kind of shocked.

Hi,
I have this problem of not succeeding in connecting for activation. I've discovered that is a problem with my firewall. To activate I have to diasble my Sunbelt firewall to pass the activation. Then I can reconnect it and the rest works good.
What I did NOT discovered is WHY the firewall is blocking the connection, for the only programs that are blocked for connection have nothing to do with it (not systems programs, just applications that want to check upgrades). The other are set to ask for permission, but the question is never made for GAOTD.
Cheers from Rio.

Hi, had a similar problem all day long, uninstall, reinstall , clean reg etc. finally found it was my firewall (Bullguard), told BG to check and allow, all cleared, hope this helps.

Thanks, MountainLamb. A lot of times we float solutions and never hear whether we gave good advice or not. I forgot about that setting, glad pcbn2u mentioned it. We'll probably have to remember next time someone gets stuck, as that's probably the safest setting in all versions of IE.

By the way, I checked your profile to see if you were new or a vet checking in after awhile. Did you ever finish JewelCraft? I assume you did.

I've not been able to activate ANYTHING for around 2 months - today I found this thread and used the advice of pcbn2u - it worked. I have XP, not sure which SP, and use IE8.

Well, that sounds like a good thing. I just got the Street Racer and Audio Editor, and only Street Racer lets me activate. It's an odd thing.

Actually, it seems that the activation server can't be down if the main site isn't down because the activation system is on the same www subdomain as the main site. The file server might be different because it is files.giveaway.... , so that could be down. If the site admins would let me post a link to the activation key (not useful by itself), I could describe a way to see if people can connect to the activation system.

I've been having this problem almost constantly the last three weeks or so, enough that it finally drove me to register and make this post.

I have no issues with the activating the games on the weekend. Works like a charm.

But get home from work, jump on the GAOTD, download the latest, and can't get past activation. I do see activity out, I get nothing back, and then it times out.

I see that over the years, different things have happened. If the activation server is down, isn't there a way to indicate it on the site?

Minor technical info: The Giveaway wrapper uses Internet Explorer settings to connect to GAOTD's server. If the settings under your Connection tab under Internet Options isn't correct, you'll have trouble activating. Also, as always, check your firewall. It may be set to block the Giveaway wrapper.

w8tif's question: Why not just give us the serials? Well, it's mostly a matter of choice for the developers. They may want to keep everyone in the dark so that they can't upgrade to the next version (although the conditions of GAOTD are no free upgrades, some developers don't create a special GAOTD version of their software with a special key to prevent upgrades). Also, it may be because that they don't want to overload their activation servers, if applicable. However, mainly the reason is that they don't want people to know their serial numbers.

I don't use IE in any version (nor will I!) and "Opera" has worked perfectly well in the past, but today's GOTD (Wondershare Video Converter) will not activate! After installation, and SEVERAL attempts to use the "Register" application, I keep getting "Unable to Connect" -- which is hogwash!

Why not just provide a serial number and be done with it? Right now, in my opinion, GOTD really sucks!

I have had the same problem for a few days, I tried a few tips but they didn't work. I installed (or reinstalled? can't remember) Internet Explorer 8 and it now seems to work perfectly. Obviously the link is through IE somhow and if it is corrupted it don't go.

Many thanks for a wonderful site

I was getting the same error on my XP SP2 system. Terribyte's solution also worked for me.

However...

After installation, when I ran the game, Zone Alarm Pro told me that Egyptoid wanted access to privileged resources, and could be tracking or logging keystrokes, etc. I clicked "Deny" and my system became unstable, then terminal. After shutting down and rebooting, I ran the program again, got the same message but clicked "Allow" and everything seems fine.

Any clue what this is all about? Did I just install malware?

Terribyte wrote: I found a solution that works for me :-)
I`ve open the Internet Options box under the Tools menu, and then click on lan settings in connections tab. In the lan settings box, I clicked on the top box to let IE automatically detect the correct settings.
I now can activate programs

I am on XP sp3 and Terribyte's solution worked for me. Thanks

Both well said, Whiterabbit and BuBBy. I will apologize if what I said was taken as an insult, that was not my intent.

I do remember one shooter when Win 95 was considered the best and that was Terminal Velocity; though I spent more time shooting trees and was usually beat by the "Boss" at the end of each level. Another more recent was LoTR but could not get past the Balrog. Ended up giving the game to a friend.

Edit: Whiterabbit, I think I did send a PM, not sure if I did it correctly.

I could never have put it better myself BuBBy......:)

I will instruct WhiteRabbit to not express any enjoyment in seeing blood and gore as you feel it is inappropriate.

Do games sway younger people to behave in a particular way, or do younger people already have an inclination to behave in such a way - and are also attracted to games depicting violence? Considering I have been playing games since the early 1980s and am now almost 40 years of age - and have never been violent - perhaps I am the exception that breaks the rule.

I hear that people who are arrested for illegal street racing also have 'need for speed' on their computers and '2 Fast 2 Furious' in their DVD collections. Obviously that is what pushed them over the edge. Or maybe they were always going to be real life street racers - and the games and movies just 'fit in' with their behaviour and interests. There are many many more people who have the game, and seen the movie on street racing, but prefer to ride a pushbike or walk or use public transport.

It was the use of training films that the Twin Towers were destroyed... we should ban training films too - because seeing something on film makes you go out and do it.

I've been watching Bruce Willis in Die Hard - so I know how to crash an Office Christmas Party, when it gets taken over by Terrorists. Yippee-ki-yay...

If you went to ask 1000 gamers who play the most violent games possible - you would most likely find fairly normal people from all backgrounds with no intentions or history of committing violence against other people.

Walk into a psychiatric ward or police lockup and speak to someone who has just committed the most atrocious violent crimes - and you might just find they own a violent movie (one of their favorites) or a computer or console game with violence in it (because computer games are so rare that only a sick killer would play one). They might even admit it was the game that made them 'do it' - or perhaps it was the man who lives in their fridge.

Violent games don't make people violent - but lots of people enjoy playing games that have violence (including violent people).

Thank you SixtyPlus, btw, I worked as an intensive care nurse for awhile (until the deaths upset me too much). I chose to work as a male nurse (despite the hostility towards male nurses at the time) because I cared and thought I could make a difference because of my own experiences with pain. I believe a primary goal of a nurse apart from ensuring they get adequate care is empathy. And the only way to really empathize with people is to have been there yourself. Having been near death, had several accidents and been hospitalized countless times from the age of 18 months onwards, I was idealy placed to empathize with patients; something I was actually very good at, and because of it was able to ease the suffering of many people I cared for.

On a number of occassions I've had patients say to me after only a few days of care that they felt they'd known me all their lives.

You're entitled to your opinion, and no apology is necessary as this is a public forum and we're all entitled to an opinion, no matter how different it is to others; however what is unacceaptable is insulting others, even if it's in an apparently innocuous way as you did in your first post.

Regards

Whiterabbit

p.s.

If you wish to reply to what I've said above, please PM me rather than use this thread, which is meant for space shooters. Thank you.

WhiteRabbit is excellent on his threads and his description of games but when it comes to obvious enjoyment(said with emphasis) in seeing blood and gore whether human or animal then it becomes inappropriate.

FYI: I am a female, served during the Vietnam War, and became a psychiatric nurse. I cared about people and always will and yes games do sway the way younger people behave though it's obvious your in denial.
Training films are one thing, FPS's are another. And lest you already forgot it was per the use of training films that the Twin Towers were destroyed.
It was not my intent to "push buttons" but I will not apologize for expressing my opinion.
I have appreciated the gamegiveaway and a few other games posted per this forum and I thank you for the effort put forth to provide that.

I think this makes as much sense as -

Car driving games make people drive dangerously in real life.
Playing Windows Solitaire leads to a gambling addiction in casinos.
Sim City led to people becoming irresponsible city planners.
And games involving firing weapons lead to killing sprees on space stations behind Uranus.

I've played FPS (First Person Shooter) games for years - both offline against the computer, and online against other human players. To say it doesn't take intelligence to play such a game - I would say applies to any game.

To play such a game well involves careful visual observation, prediction, listening for audible cues (footsteps, falling objects, weapons reloading), team communication (spoken or otherwise), teamwork and coordination, resource management, tactics and strategy, accurate hand eye coordination, and good 3dimensional spatial skills. And all in real-time (none of this turn based rubbish). ;P

Yes, sixtyplus - a little boys domain. pew pew your dead, I shot you. No puzzles, ingenuity or plans. Even the military use such games as simulators as a type of training and to practice scenarios. A commando strike force or SWAT team locating and eliminating a terrorist force that is holding hostages. A commander taking his team of specialist soldiers into the jungle to eliminate a druglords hidden camp.

It is fine that you don't like or cannot manage such games - and cannot distinguish between the movie making death or that depicted by computer pixels and real life. But they are different to real death and killing. But just as you are welcome to your choice of game you play or tv you watch or books you read - so are others.

Seeing death in real life has never been a prerequisite to seeing death in a game, movie or book.