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Here are some questions I have about INN: 1.) In INN’s LANDS.CFG, it list’s two things not included with the game ‘SCHOOL’ (Bright Star School) and ‘DWSchool’ (Dim Wit School). We’re these ever released, and if so, where can I get them from? 2.) What happened to the watercolour art that was made of the INN Maps, do they still exist? I know of their existence because the ImagiNation Network Mousepad has the map in watercolour form. 3.) What happened to the main severs for INN after shutdown? Does the server software still exist for a low-tech ‘revival’?
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All good questions — Unfortunately, I’m not sure anyone knows the answer — or, at least I don’t.
Towards the end INN was partnered with AT&T.
There were some political issues between AT&T and Sierra and generally the INN staffed sided with AT&T, or at least INN’s leadership did. AT&T wanted INN converted to run “on the internet” which was just getting started, so everything kind of ground to a halt while a rewrite was discussed.
I remember getting AT&T involved thinking INN would be able to grow faster, but it didn’t work out that way.
I wasn’t in Oakhurst for the shut down. I don’t think it was very organized. Some people took home computers, and some were trashed. The same happened with the artwork. To the extent anything exists it would be from someone taking it home. I am fairly certain no official repository exists.
Wish I knew more…
Ken Williams
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Ken, thanks for what you know, I wish I knew more as well… I know how personal TSN / INN was to you, and your reasons for creating the network were too. I found what I believe was a TV Ad for ImagiNation on YouTube recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKHMIKZZjaY), and I have to be honest… For a moment there I cried, and I wasn’t even on the network when it closed, I was 2 then… Didn’t get a computer until I was 4 or 5 for educational purposes in 98. I cried because, it’s not right that what I believe is America’s first online gaming network in the form of a game, was just shut down and subsequently faded into a website that just hosted a few card games… I truly believe that INN would still exist today if AT&T hadn’t sold it to AOL, and that it would have been still as popular. My reason for this belief is that no game since has done this, there’s no game around which has all your games in one game and builds a community based upon that… I believe people still want that, and with some updated graphics, music and content (as in improvements), the game could easily still work. There’s no dial-up charges now, and bandwidth on servers is MASSIVELY cheaper, so instead of $9.95 for 5 hours, it’d be like $9.95 for unlimited hours, or even free-to-play with money coming from the sale of clothes or additional character items which are really just cosmetic.
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