ShiftOS: Difference between revisions

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[[ShiftOS]] was a game developed by Philip Adams and other developers. The ~~original~~ goal was to go from a bare terminal to a graphical user interface with full desktop features.

[[File:ShiftOS Artwork.jpg|thumb|ShiftOS Artwork]]

[[ShiftOS]] was a game developed in [[Wikipedia:Visual Basic (.NET)|Visual Basic .NET]] by Philip Adams and other developers. The goal for the game was to go from a bare terminal to a graphical user interface with full desktop features.

Development started in November 2013, and ended on May 2015.

== History ==

[[File:ShiftOS Arch.png|thumb|Logo used when ShiftOS was a Arch Linux distro]]

Back around 2013, [https://osfirsttimer.wiki/wiki/OSFirstTimer OSFirstTimer] was doing his series on Arch Linux Adventures, which was supposed to be a journey from just a terminal to a fully graphical user interface with desktop features; he once had the idea to make that journey integrated as a real Linux distribution.

The idea was that ShiftOS was able to change the computing experience on every boot like the desktop environment, window manager, software, and the theme. A lot of software would be pre-installed, but it will randomly be selected every time when the person turns on their computer or when it is live when revealing it to the user.

He explained this on the [https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=169391 Arch Linux forum], but most people were pretty critical of this. They thought it was too bloated as it would need to download a lot of packages every time it reboots the system, and they also have figured that he was too inexperienced with Linux distros as his ideas were too ambitious. So he decided to make his own game after realizing his distro idea alone won’t work.

== Plot ==

The game starts off with the player's computer getting hijacked by [[DevX]]. The player is then informed that he was "involuntarily selected" to be an alpha tester for ShiftOS. The in-game computer's hard disk is then formatted with the fictional file system [[ShiftFS]] and ShiftOS is installed. After installation, DevX contacts the player with some basic information on how to use ShiftOS' [[Terminal|command line]].

== Gameplay ==

After the opening sequence, the player gains the ability to use the in-game operating system's command line to open a basic set of programs, which show basic black and white graphics (aside from the [[Video Player]] and [[Web Browser]]). ShiftOS' virtual currency, [[Code Points]], can be used in the [[Shiftorium]] to upgrade the operating system with new features (such as colors and the [[App Launcher]]) and additional software (such as [[TextPad]] and [[ArtPad]]). Code Points can be earned by playing minigames such as [[Pong]], [[Knowledge Input]] or by customizing the operating system using the [[Shifter]].

== Version Changelog ==

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0.0.3 (Nov 30 2013): Knowledge Input, Terminal, Codepoints

0.0.4 (Dec 5 2013): Shiftorium, Clock, Panel, Windows, Close, Program menu

0.0.4 (Dec 21 2013): Shiftorium, Clock, Panel, Windows, Close, Program menu

0.0.5 (Feb 14 2014): Shifter, Roll-up, Colour picker

0.0.6 (Apr 9 2014): Program menu icons, Pong, TextPad, File Skimmer

0.0.6 (Apr 10 2014): Program menu icons, Pong, TextPad, File Skimmer

0.0.7 (Aug 22 2014): Image skinning, Artpad, Unity mode, Minimize, Panel buttons