This is a little homebrew project of mine I've been programming off and on since 2010. It's sorta taking shape right now and I thought I'd post it, get some opinions and stuff.
I've also started a few threads here and there to try and get some input. I've had pretty good success. Two Bosses (Plant Woman and Slash Woman) have been enemy requests (not planned). So far they turned out making the game better than what I could have imagined on my own (imho). I think it's because it has forced me expand on what i know as a whole. Well anyway, the download is below. You can use ePSXe to try it, or some other emulator. I also test it on real hardware, a mod-chipped psone, but if i didn't have one, i guess i could resort to the swap trick (i did as a kid...) Anyway, any Comments & criticism would be welcome.
updated 12-29-2015DownloadGame:
http://forum.rockmanpm.com/index.php?topic=6560.0Youtube - Glitches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg0xstPVPGwAny feedback would be nice.
It's cool to see PSX homebrew projects! I'm going to try this on my PAL PSX as soon as I can.
Exactly my thoughts, great to see some action on the PSX game dev scene.
Even homebrew guys call PS1 the wrong name?
Unless this is really for the PS2/DVR combo only released in japan...
That aside, look awesome!
thefox wrote:
It's cool to see PSX homebrew projects! I'm going to try this on my PAL PSX as soon as I can.
Sorry, while programming this game, i've never considered PAL users. I think I'm gonna have to add a PAL/NTSC selector for you, unless you can play NTSC games on you PAL system?
Shiru wrote:
Exactly my thoughts, great to see some action on the PSX game dev scene.
Thanks. Love your Zooming Secretary and Alter Ego BTW. You wouldn't mind if tried porting those for the PSX would you?
3gengames wrote:
Even homebrew guys call PS1 the wrong name?
Unless this is really for the PS2/DVR combo only released in japan...
That aside, look awesome!
Oh pleaz!!!!
isufje wrote:
thefox wrote:
It's cool to see PSX homebrew projects! I'm going to try this on my PAL PSX as soon as I can.
Sorry, while programming this game, i've never considered PAL users. I think I'm gonna have to add a PAL/NTSC selector for you, unless you can play NTSC games on you PAL system?
I've played some NTSC games and they work fine (the console is modded of course), but I don't really know anything about
PSX so maybe it's not that simple... we'll see. My TV supports NTSC signal also.
OK, that's good to know, but tell me if you see anything amiss (like you can't see the health bar or something) But be warned, the loading times are horrendous right now (too many files), so try not to die. Also, don't use the 640x480 resolution settings in config. That's only for emulation, it'll freeze real hardware.
isufje wrote:
Thanks. Love your Zooming Secretary and Alter Ego BTW. You wouldn't mind if tried porting those for the PSX would you?
I don't mind. However, for Alter Ego you would need to get Denis (game in general) and Kulor's (music) permissions.
It's great to see homebrew for the PS1 !!
My first console I had as a kid, it's probably to me what the NES is to most people here (I only got interested in older consoles at a later age when I was 14-15-ish).
I think it's the second homebrew I ever see for that platform, the first one being a very simple puzzle game.
You didn't make the intro movie all by yourself, did you ? I seem to recognise some characters....
I didn't try a lot of the game so I can't comment but it looks clean and even contains 3D.... really complex for a homebrew !
PS : Oh and I agree the PS1 should be called the PS1, or plain PS (after all, the system is called plain "
PlayStation").
I don't get where this X letter comes from. PS1 / PS, PS2, PS3, makes sense. But PSX ???!?
http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-playstation?page=5
PSX was considered as a name for the console for a while, somehow it hung around even though that wasn't the name they used when it finally released.
Quote:
A larger sticking point, however, was PlayStation branding. SCEA hated the name and wanted to change it to PSX, a contraction of the project’s codename. “This was actually a huge internal battle, to the point where there was research done among consumer groups,” says Harrison, who, having seen various youth groups reacting badly to the name PlayStation, had his own fears about it. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, the name is bombing and everyone is going to hate it’. I shared the information with Tokunaka-san, and he said, ‘Oh, that’s nothing, you should have heard what people said about Walkman’. And that pretty much ended the debate.” In Europe, at least: the US nevertheless went ahead with early trade promotion, calling it PSX, and had even come up with its own mascot, Polygon Man.
Shiru wrote:
I don't mind. However, for Alter Ego you would need to get Denis (game in general) and Kulor's (music) permissions.
Cool. ^_^
Bregalad wrote:
You didn't make the intro movie all by yourself, did you ? I seem to recognise some characters....
NO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMUUtgVZbpU
I seem to remember that at one point, the CD-i add-on for the Super NES was called the PlayStation, and the "plan B" system with no Super NES parts in it was codenamed PSX. Hence "PS-X EXE" in the header.
I'm currently testing some work-a-rounds for the long loading times. I should uploading a better ISO/source soon.
And I use the letters PSX only internet stuff, as I'm pretty sure most people did/do. When I want to play a game with someone, I don't say, "Hey, let's play King of Fighters on the PSX." Just like I don't say, "KOF." I actually say King of Fighters and the Playstation. Just like most people, i suppose, don't go round saying "OMG, look at THAT!" So PSX, to me, is just a quick abbreviation of the word. But apparently it does have some history behind it, as does the abbreviation LAX, i suppose...
OK, the links have been updated with a better loading version
Look cool! It's rare we see PSX homebrew that look so nice. Oh, and about the old and boring PSX/PS1 controversy, I actually came up with a reasoning for the X when I was a curious teenager with too much time on my hand. The name is Playstation (E)ntertainment (S)ystem. E is the 5th letter of the alphabet and S is the 19th. 5 + 19 = 24. And what is the 24th letter of the alphabet? Yes, that's right, X. So PSX
Any chance of seeing this as a PSP version via popstation? Or, is there some legal reason that prevents it?
http://www.consolex.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=102004Looks like somebody already gone and done it.
To my understanding any PS1 game can be converted with Popstation. If i'm wrong, please forgive me. I don't own a PSP, so i don't keep up with it's capabilities and stuff.
That sounds pretty cool! How did you do it?
Added Holly Holm
download iso:
https://goo.gl/RUS2gj
Every time I see your project mentioned somewhere it makes me want to work on some kind of PS1 homebrew. It's a cool project to me because of the Mega Man universe and homebrew on the PS1.
MottZilla wrote:
Every time I see your project mentioned somewhere it makes me want to work on some kind of PS1 homebrew. It's a cool project to me because of the Mega Man universe and homebrew on the PS1.
Me too. It's unfortunate though that there's no way to run homebrew software on unmodded consoles. (Is there? Haven't been keeping up.)
Whenever the PSIO goes to public release, it should be roughly as convenient as a Powerpak.
It's not quite entirely "unmodded", but it's still more convenient than having to burn CDRs in a system with a modchip.
thefox wrote:
Me too. It's unfortunate though that there's no way to run homebrew software on unmodded consoles. (Is there? Haven't been keeping up.)
Well, how can the PS1 tell what's "homebrew" and what's an "official" game? Isn't it just some value somewhere that's common on every officially released game that the system reads? I mean, if you got a PlayStation rom and burned it onto a CD, (would any CD work?) shouldn't it work perfectly?
Espozo wrote:
Well, how can the PS1 tell what's "homebrew" and what's an "official" game?
There's a wobble, or modulation in the exact radial (in and out) laser position, in the lead-in of an authentic PlayStation game disc. It's similar to the
pregroove wobble on recordable CDs and DVDs, and burners can't burn it. Modchips fake the wobble signal while a disc is loading.
That article is actually pretty informative. I had no idea that the data was in a spiral and not circular layers. One thing though, why haven't special burners been made for PlayStation discs? Has the wobble frequency not been figured out yet, or is there just not enough demand to make one?
Also, I'm guessing that games on disc systems don't actually tell the motor to run and everything and instead just ask for data and there's and extra CPU for spinning the disc and moving the laser and whatnot? This is off topic, but I always wondered how they have systems have a fan and how it goes on and off whenever. I'm guessing most systems have a thermometer or something and there's an extra CPU that handles the fan?
Espozo wrote:
That article is actually pretty informative. I had no idea that the data was in a spiral and not circular layers
Just CDs. Subsequent optical media have been circles instead.
Quote:
One thing though, why haven't special burners been made for PlayStation discs? Has the wobble frequency not been figured out yet, or is there just not enough demand to make one?
It's not burnable. To make a CDR they actually mold that information into the polycarbonate, not burn it into the dye in the factory.
lidnariq wrote:
Just CDs. Subsequent optical media have been circles instead.
That seems to make more sense. It seems really difficult to have the data packed really tight when you're using a wavy spiral.
lidnariq wrote:
It's not burnable. To make a CDR they actually mold that information into the polycarbonate, not burn it into the dye in the factory.
I thought pits (is that what you'd call it?) and burned spots were interchangeable, because they both don't reflect back the laser?
But wobble is neither pit nor land. It's the physical shape of the channel where the pits and lands are stored.
Espozo wrote:
why haven't special burners been made for PlayStation discs?
Pick one of A. patents, B. anti-circumvention laws, and C. low demand compared to the engineering complexity of moving the recording beam radially instead of just turning it on and off in straight spirals.
lidnariq wrote:
Espozo wrote:
That article is actually pretty informative. I had no idea that the data was in a spiral and not circular layers
Just CDs. Subsequent optical media have been circles instead.
What makes you think that? DVD-RAM is a circle, but that never got wide use as far as I can tell. It got supplanted by DVD-RW and DVD+RW, which are spirals just like DVD-ROM.
Wait, I you mean there's a slight indentation as to where the long line of data is, and in that "channel", there are even deeper holes? What's even the point of the channel? It's not like it's a record that's stopping a needle from sliding over.
Quote:
Pick one of A. patents, B. anti-circumvention laws
That hasn't seemed to stop us.
I didn't think they'd care about anti-circumvention laws for a 20 year old console, especially when it's to make homebrew games instead of creating copies which they probably already don't really care about, seeing how many sites have PS1 roms for download.
Quote:
C. low demand compared to the engineering complexity of moving the recording beam radially instead of just turning it on and off in straight spirals.
That's probably more like it.
tepples wrote:
What makes you think that? DVD-RAM is a circle, but that never got wide use as far as I can tell. It got supplanted by DVD-RW and DVD+RW, which are spirals just like DVD-ROM.
What about Blu-ray, or even HD DVD? I never knew something like a disk that has ram even existed, unless we're talking about a hard drive or something.
Apparently misremembering this infographic:
wikipedia:File:Comparison_disk_storage.svg.
thefox wrote:
MottZilla wrote:
Every time I see your project mentioned somewhere it makes me want to work on some kind of PS1 homebrew. It's a cool project to me because of the Mega Man universe and homebrew on the PS1.
Me too. It's unfortunate though that there's no way to run homebrew software on unmodded consoles. (Is there? Haven't been keeping up.)
Actually yes there is. You'll need a GameShark or similar cheat cartridge and you can Flash/reprogram it with something called UniROM which has an implementation of the backdoor discovered awhile ago that allows reading unlicensed CD-ROMs on NTSC/U and PAL consoles. It's often called either the "Secret Unlock" or "Nocash unlock" because he was the first to actually implement it and test it I believe.
Alternatively you can use a Swap trick to boot CD-Rs. My recommendation would be to test primarily on an emulator like No$PSX or something else decent but at important points burn CD-Rs and test it on a real console.
It is worth noting that with the right Cartridge plugged in you can actually run programs uploaded from your PC. You are limited since your program must fit into RAM but you could probably break things down and manage to test parts of a bigger program. However, if you implemented the unlock commands in your program you could read resources off a CD-R after uploading your program. So if your artwork and level data were still the same and you just had code changes you could get away without reburning a CDR.
thefox wrote:
It's unfortunate though that there's no way to run homebrew software on unmodded consoles. (Is there? Haven't been keeping up.)
I have this neat disc called a Breaker Pro. It works pretty well for booting CD-Rs on unmodded consoles.
Joe wrote:
Not exactly unmodeed since you need to lock the door detector closed, but not as much modeed as adding a new chip in.
Yes, it's great, except that often a couple of tries are required before a CD boots proprely, probably because the CDs are not exactly the same thickness, and thus, the lens would have to adapt itself, except that it only adapt itself when it knowns the door was opened and that the CD was changed, which is of course not possible here.
Bregalad wrote:
Not exactly unmodeed since you need to lock the door detector closed, but not as much modeed as adding a new chip in.
I have this weird recollection that some games worked even if you didn't jam the switch closed, but the details escape me at the moment... (Maybe it was only import games and not CD-Rs?)
In any case, it's pretty simple to jam something in the lid switch and run the console with the lid open, and it can be done without taking the console apart.
Yeah I actually have modded my PSX. I was more lamenting the fact that if one were to make and release a homebrew production for PSX, it would not be playable without tricks (unlike e.g. all of the NES homebrew).
Then I guess figuring out how to make a burner produce the SCEA wobble code would be the equivalent of the CIClone.
thefox wrote:
Yeah I actually have modded my PSX. I was more lamenting the fact that if one were to make and release a homebrew production for PSX, it would not be playable without tricks (unlike e.g. all of the NES homebrew).
You also would not be able to use the official SDK if you were to sell your game. You could bundle it however with a GameShark type cartridge that uses the program I mentioned so that you could boot it without modding your console. But again you would have to use an open source/freeware SDK.
MottZilla wrote:
You also would not be able to use the official SDK if you were to sell your game. You could bundle it however with a GameShark type cartridge that uses the program I mentioned so that you could boot it without modding your console. But again you would have to use an open source/freeware SDK.
That's total bullshit. Does anyone remember those final fantasy silver bottoms from China!?
I have a question for you guys... if i could make this game into a self bootable disc, would you buy it even though it was readily available to download for free... and if so, what price would work for you?
Personally, i would like to own a playstation 1 homebrew game that was self bootable, even if i didn't program it, just because of what it represents. It has never been done before, at least that i know of, and it would be a great item to own.
Do you guys remember when Last Hope came out for the Dreamcast? I was so going to buy it but ended up not only because i didn't like it. I downloaded the iso when it became available and test played it and i hated it. It was nothing like r-type and it wasn't even fun... but people still bought it...why? Because of what it was... the first production style homebrew game for the Dreamcast... but in the end i should have bought it because now it's worth $250+ on eBay
isufje wrote:
I have a question for you guys... if i could make this game into a self bootable disc, would you buy it
Someone who works for Capcom might buy a copy...
and sue you.
They can already sue for what's available now, I don't see why putting it on a disc would make much difference.
Some companies have a written or unwritten policy of tolerating fan works that stay non-commercial. Once you're selling discs, on the other hand, you leave this gray area.
Megaman x Street Fighter was a fan game that capcom published as a free download for Megaman and Street Fighter's 25th anniversary... Capcom seems to be very Fan game friendly... at least that's what it appears to be
Alright, let me rephrase the question to you guys then... Would you purchase an original concept self bootable ps1 homebrew game that was fun and already free for download without purchase. And if so, what price would be fair?
isufje wrote:
Would you purchase an original concept self bootable ps1 homebrew game that was fun and already free for download without purchase.
Yes. I bought a copy of the first Action 53 volume, even before the compo started handing out carts for free to entrants who win, place, or show. There are probably people who would buy a copy of 240p test suite if that ever gets ported to the PlayStation.
Quote:
And if so, what price would be fair?
I guess it depends on what it costs to manufacture self-booting PlayStation discs, and whether it's been tested on both the "green" and "blue" variants of the GPU.
This forum is probably not the best place to gauge general interest (very development oriented, as opposed to gaming/collecting forums).
The more I'm looking into this, it looks like it should be possible to make a PS1 game that just used the parallel I/O port without needing to defeat the disc wobble signature.
Looks like you should be able to address 8MiB of data (on an 8-bit wide bus...) this way.
Even if there's just 8 KiB on an 8 bit wide bus plus a microSD interface, that's still probably enough. But it won't run on SCPH-9000 series or PSOne.
isufje wrote:
I have a question for you guys... if i could make this game into a self bootable disc, would you buy it even though it was readily available to download for free... and if so, what price would work for you?
Personally, i would like to own a playstation 1 homebrew game that was self bootable, even if i didn't program it, just because of what it represents. It has never been done before, at least that i know of, and it would be a great item to own.
Do you guys remember when Last Hope came out for the Dreamcast? I was so going to buy it but ended up not only because i didn't like it. I downloaded the iso when it became available and test played it and i hated it. It was nothing like r-type and it wasn't even fun... but people still bought it...why? Because of what it was... the first production style homebrew game for the Dreamcast... but in the end i should have bought it because now it's worth $250+ on eBay
I'd probably lay out $30 or so for something for this. I'm not much of a collector anymore, but I do find unique homebrew stuff hard to resist. I'm sure people who collect for PS would be very interested.
My little advice.. even if you find a way to produce these for $1.50 each (not likely), there's no shame in charging $50 or whatever else you feel it's worth for the game. I released Garage Cart for NES back in 2005 for $35 for those who got on the reserve list, then $40 for the few left-overs at the end and I felt like I was practically price gouging at that cost because they only cost me about $3 each to make (not counting labor), and it's only games that can be downloaded for free, just with a menu. Now it shows up on price lists as valued at $1500, and I've met people who have paid more than that for it.
Of course the high price is because I only made like 24 of them, and it was relatively long ago, but a lot of collectors tell me they want one not as much for the rarity but because it's considered to be the first homebrew NES release.
isufje wrote:
MottZilla wrote:
You also would not be able to use the official SDK if you were to sell your game. You could bundle it however with a GameShark type cartridge that uses the program I mentioned so that you could boot it without modding your console. But again you would have to use an open source/freeware SDK.
That's total bullshit. Does anyone remember those final fantasy silver bottoms from China!?
No, it's not. If you want to "legally" sell your game in territories such as North America or Japan you cannot be violating copyrights. Well you could but there are hefty penalties if you get caught.
lidnariq, as I said before you can get around the copy protection with a GameShark or any other ROM memory connected to the Parallel Port if you store a program on it that can send the unlock commands to enable Read commands on unlicensed discs. Sure you could store your whole homebrew game on a cartridge device if you wanted to do so, but why do that when you can still use a CD-ROM in conjunction with any number of methods to play unlicensed discs?
It's a single thing to buy/sell/manufacture, and it doesn't require serving double duty as a DMCA circumvention device (sigh).
You could just decide that you're going to make something that could only be used by people with modchip-modded consoles. Is that a bigger or smaller proportion than the number of people who still have a parallel-port PS1? (I have no idea)
Or you could decide to have two separate parts: a parallel-port modchip and a game disc. You could even include an SD interface, since flash is so much bigger than CDROMs now.
lidnariq wrote:
You could even include an SD interface, since flash is so much bigger than CDROMs now.
Kind of begs the question as to why you wouldn't just use the serial port exclusively...
Considering that the port seemed to be removed from models made in 1999 and newer, I think it's safe that there aren't enough of these PlayStations vs. ones with serial ports to really matter that bad.
Wait a minute, the PlayStaion has two expansion ports? What's even the point? (I don't actually own one, so I've never paid that close attention)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_models
All PlayStation 2 consoles are without the parallel port, despite their ability to run authentic game discs for the original PlayStation. I think that qualifies as "enough of these PlayStations".
The serial port was used for 2-player games, much like Game Link on a Game Boy. The parallel port was never used for a licensed peripheral, but several cheating tools used it.
Wow, I'm an idiot. I said "serial" instead of "parallel", as I never really knew there was a difference before looking up an info graphic on Google...
Is there really an advantage one has over the other that would warrant there to be both on the system?
tepples wrote:
All PlayStation 2 consoles are without the parallel port, despite their ability to run authentic game discs for the original PlayStation. I think that qualifies as "enough of these PlayStations".
Oh... Yeah...
Just a random tidbit, but apparently there was a PlayStation console version that could play video CDs. I just found that interesting.
You can boot from the parallel port, you cannot from the serial
If it was possible, would a self bootable imbnes cd with a custom set of roms of nes games that the purchaser already owned be legal? Imbnes was programmed with spasm. As far as i know, it seems legal. Am i right?
IMBNES from what I remember does not require any Sony owned libraries or software. I remember assembling it once. From Sony's point of view they could not do anything about someone pressing discs with IMBNES on them. I'm not sure if you understood my point earlier that what I've been talking about is the official Psy-Q SDK for PS1. When you compile programs using it, the libraries you are linking to are protected under copyright and thus you could be found guilty of copyright infringement if you then sold your compiled program in some form.
However if you used open source libraries or programmed your own you would not have to worry about this. Nothing is stopping anyone from doing that and pressing their own discs for a homebrew/unlicensed PS1 game. It would require a method to run an unlicensed disc unless the security signature was duplicated. I don't think this would be a significant problem as common PIC chips can be programmed into modchips, or one of many swap methods or parallel port devices could be used to boot the disc.
I see... Can Sony do anything about what I'm currently doing?
It's unlikely for them to do anything. There is nothing for them to gain spending money to stop someone from using their ancient SDK to make freeware. But technically if they wanted to stop you from distributing the game they could be an annoyance. Very unlikely though. It's entirely possible you could get away with selling a game using the official SDK so long as no one noticed or Sony didn't choose to take any action.
But moving from freeware to a commercial product is a big difference since money starts changing hands.
I don't like to feel like I'm getting away with something. I like to feel like I'm doing something good for the PlayStation community.
You are doing something good. As long as you aren't selling the game you don't have to worry about anything.
isufje wrote:
I like to feel like I'm doing something good for the PlayStation community.
I don't think good for the gaming community and good for the gaming company are always the same thing. I'd say SNES emulators are good for the community, but Nintendo would probably disagree, as long as it isn't theirs anyway. (Virtual Console)
A Super NES emulator that isn't copylefted is probably a good thing for some companies, namely third-party publishers of Super NES games wanting to release their classic games on Steam or Android. Consider what Atlus, Jaleco, and Konami did with PocketNES on GBA and DS. Or does Virtual Console have an exclusivity agreement?
tepples wrote:
Or does Virtual Console have an exclusivity agreement?
You mean like you can't release the game on steam if you also want to release it in Virtual Console? You know, if other companies have used emulators people have made (or at least that's what I think you're saying) does anyone know if the Virtual Console emulators are even made by Nintendo or just hijacked? That would be ironic...
What I want to know is if Nintendo is all anti emulators and maybe homebrew or whatever, has anyone actually gone to Nintendo to try to release a homebrew game on virtual console? Then again, if there is some sort of exclusivity agreement thing, I wouldn't want to.
New games go in the WiiWare section or whatever else they call native games on Wii U. Well-known examples include
Mega Man 9 and
Mega Man 10. There was also supposed to be
Retro City Rampage, and Brian Provinciano essentially had to go into stealth mode for years in order to get Nintendo to become willing to offer a devkit. But Nintendo is historically
not a big fan of amateurs going professional for the first time on its platforms.
tepples wrote:
Well-known examples include Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10.
These aren't Virtual Console games, and the NES version of Retro City Rampage was only a tech demo, never something that was planned for sale on VC.
Also, they let plenty of "amateur" games on the Nintendo Store these days, e.g.
Meme Run, or
Plenty of Fishies.
isufje wrote:
I don't like to feel like I'm getting away with something. I like to feel like I'm doing something good for the PlayStation community.
It's a legal liability to work with intellectual property you don't own. That's just a simple fact. I don't think you're doing anything immoral, but it really isn't legal, and this should not be a surprise to you.
Making a fan game probably is good for the community. I don't see why it can't be that at the same time as being a copyright risk.
If you don't want to feel like you're "
getting away with something" you could keep everything you made and replace everything that was borrowed from Mega Man, of course.
tepples wrote:
Brian Provinciano essentially had to go into stealth mode for years in order to get Nintendo to become willing to offer a devkit.
I can't seem to find any posts from him on this topic. I can find one about why
the Wii U port isn't viable, but there he even says that Nintendo was actually the first of the platforms he could announce the port for.
Have I asked you about this before? I feel like you've mentioned it a bunch of times, but I can remember seeing anything to suggest that it's true.
BriPro used to have pages about hardware hacking on his site, such as a circuit to upscale Nintendo DS video output to 1024x768 for use with a bigger commercial touch screen.
rainwarrior wrote:
I don't see why it can't be that at the same time as being a copyright risk.
Does producing an NES cart come with the same legal risks? If so how does a game like Battle Kid Fortress Peril get produced and not have any legal risks?
If i used an open source sdk like PSXSDK, didn't use copyrighted material and was able to make it self bootable, would i have any legal risks then?
isufje wrote:
Does producing an NES cart come with the same legal risks? If so how does a game like Battle Kid Fortress Peril get produced and not have any legal risks?
1. The game code is original. (The NES did not really have any kind of official SDK, there wasn't a need.)
2. All characters, art, music, etc. is original and not derivative of someone else's intellectual property.
2. As far as the hardware, anything to do with the NES that was patented has already expired. Not sure about the PSX, thought it might be old enough too now?
Note that patent expiration applies mainly to hardware devices. Software (including SDKs) is usually covered under copyright, not patent, so it doesn't expire nearly so quickly.
Would releasing an original game using the Yaroze dev kit be legal?
First off, how would they know you're using it if you were, and second, what exactly is a dev kit?
It was a special PlayStation package consumers could buy for making games.
As far as how would they know... i believe in honesty so you would know what I'm using.
Besides, they'd know by the libraries that get linked in.
The safest route is to use zero Sony code.
isufje wrote:
Would releasing an original game using the Yaroze dev kit be legal?
The Net Yaroze would have come with a licensing agreement for its software. If you own a Net Yaroze and are covered by that agreement, then yes, if not, then technically no (unless it has some kind of permissive public licensing).
Practically speaking I doubt anyone would come after you for Net Yaroze or even using pirated official SDKs. I don't think you really have much to worry about, even if you were illegally using their code. This is mostly an academic discussion, IMO.
I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character, if anything, but I doubt even that would come up.
Espozo wrote:
First off, how would they know you're using it if you were
Compiled libraries like an SDK provides are relatively easy to search for in the executable binary. Even if it's not a library, figuring out if someone is using your code is not really that difficult a problem if you have access to the executable.
The difficult problem is really just knowing which software to look at. It's probably not worth anybody's time to be checking PSX homebrew binaries and analyzing them to see if they're using your code. Usually when it's found, it's because of some external tip-off. Maybe somebody who knows tells you, or maybe you find an old forum post discussing it, or maybe you're just really familiar with how your code worked and you see some quirk of behaviour when you're playing the game and you know your code must be in there.
rainwarrior wrote:
I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character
Unless you make like Vic Tokai and replace
Roll with something like
Francesca, an "original character" (
DO NOT STEAL :p ).
Quote:
or maybe you're just really familiar with how your code worked and you see some quirk of behaviour when you're playing the game and you know your code must be in there.
Which is how it was discovered that the Wii version of
Pajama Sam was using ScummVM. And
that's illegal because Nintendo forbids use of copylefted software such as ScummVM on its platforms.
rainwarrior wrote:
I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character, if anything
tepples wrote:
Unless you make like Vic Tokai and replace Roll with something like Francesca, an "original character" (DO NOT STEAL :p ).
I'm not asking on behalf of Roll Boss Rush but rather an original game i have yet to program... i was just wondering on the legality of buying and selling a game programmed with the Yaroze libraries and the issues related to such.
You could get in trouble for copyright infringement if you use the Yaroze libraries. If you want to be totally safe legally you would need to use open source libraries or ones developed by yourself. Using the official SDK and libraries could get you in trouble. However it's entirely possible you could get away with it.
But when you talk about a freeware game as you have now with Roll Boss Rush, it's very different. Using the official SDK isn't likely to get you in trouble. There are lots of freeware/homebrew things out there that either use copyrighted SDKs or characters/artwork that belong to someone else. The worst that might happen is a cease and desist letter.
Does anyone here have a PlayStation 1 game dream sequel that they wish existed? Just asking because I have a few:
1. Vagrant Story [probably a prequel]
2. Azure Dreams [sequel]
3. Megaman Legends [next gen sequel unfairly canned by capcom
]
4. Cotton [the playstation never had an exclusive cotton game]
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix 2 (U) using the 5th Mix (J) engine rather than the 4th Mix engine that Konamix used.
That'll become doable sometime in July 2018, which is 20 years after the priority date of US Patent 6,410,835.