Just Sell Me the Homebrew ROM with PDF Manual

[VectorGamer]

Release the ROM first so additional testing can be done by gamers. Then x amount of months later release the game on cartridge.

[Mr SQL]

I just released StarBlitz Dream Machine and will never release the ROM, or another ROM for the VCS because my games push the Atari far beyond emulation and I'd like people to be able to experience them the way they were intended.

 

StarBlitz is the only super-smooth scroller of the modern homebews, and the only Atari 2600 game ever to sport dynamically changing full screen interactive footage in a loop like Television.

 

Other homebrewers are another reason I will never release a demo ROM or ship a game immediately; both KC and StarBlitz immediately received drive-by reviews from competing homebrewers who are very good programmers with excellent games of their own.

 

Programming is individual. It's been a long time

[Andromeda Stardust]

I just released StarBlitz Dream Machine and will never release the ROM, or another ROM for the VCS because my games push the Atari far beyond emulation and I'd like people to be able to experience them the way they were intended.

Not even for Harmony cart?

[Andromeda Stardust]

I am still paying attention to this thread, and still plan on exploring this once I move the store to new software (which, trust me, is a very high priority for me right now). So I very much appreciate the continued feedback on this issue.

 

..Al

I would be down for buying the ROM if it meant we can get a further discount/credit on the cart release.

[David Alexander]

I think the ROM buying option would be great.

Not every game I want has to be on a Cartridge.

Also I remember when I bought a few Intellivison game ROMS like DK/DK2 & Ms PacMac my name was hard coded in the ROM so as to be traceable.

Buy selling the ROM people could try out the games and get the cart version if they really like it.

Just my 5 cents, I cant give you my 2 cents because Canada got rid of the penny.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Protestari

[NinjaWarrior]

Some people will refuse to put out the ROM for free or even selling the ROM for $15

 

They want to gouge the price for a Game

[Andromeda Stardust]

I think the ROM buying option would be great.

Not every game I want has to be on a Cartridge.

Also I remember when I bought a few Intellivison game ROMS like DK/DK2 & Ms PacMac my name was hard coded in the ROM so as to be traceable.

Buy selling the ROM people could try out the games and get the cart version if they really like it.

Just my 5 cents, I cant give you my 2 cents because Canada got rid of the penny.

Pretty good antipiracy measure if you ask me. Public shaming and ban from future sales if the user leaks the ROM.

 

Does the game still boot correctly if you scrub your name out in a hex editor or does it run a checksum on itself to prevent tampering?

[wolfy62]

The box and manual are usually pretty nice works of art and look great on my shelves.

 

A ROM or PDF will disappear much more quickly, as you won't remember to look at them and soon forget they exist.

 

Boxes do take up space, so when I realize I will never play that game again, I do sell them off!

[Omega-TI]

Pretty good antipiracy measure if you ask me. Public shaming and ban from future sales if the user leaks the ROM.

 

Does the game still boot correctly if you scrub your name out in a hex editor or does it run a checksum on itself to prevent tampering?

 

Yeah you would have to do a little bit more than just hard code the name, you would at least need to encrypt it to make it difficult to impossible for the average user to find, because anyone reading the ROM with a burner would just take a HEX editor and remove it before re-saving the file. Running a checksum on itself? Interesting, I wonder how much of a delay (if any) that would add to the program at startup? I also wonder how much code it would take. Some of these programs now days pretty much max out any available memory in on these classic systems.

 

Back in the 80's some people hid a four digit number somewhere in the program, the number corresponded to the person who purchased the program. If copies started turning up with that number... of course is some A-hole found the number they might just change it.

[David Alexander]

Pretty good antipiracy measure if you ask me. Public shaming and ban from future sales if the user leaks the ROM.

 

Does the game still boot correctly if you scrub your name out in a hex editor or does it run a checksum on itself to prevent tampering?

 

Hi Kosmic,You would have to ask Carl Mueller the creator of the games DK/DK2 & Ms Pac Man. I bought the games directly from him.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Hi Kosmic,You would have to ask Carl Mueller the creator of the games DK/DK2 & Ms Pac Man. I bought the games directly from him.

It's okay. I have no desire to redistribute any copyrighted file. I'm just curious as to what means the author used, but it is perfectly understandable if he doesn't show his cards. For instance you could try to change the spelling of your username in the hex editor, save a copy, and see if the ROM still plays. Ideally, a visible username would exist in the ROM for ID and to alert potential thieves the game is traceable back to them, then a hidden ID somewhere, like a hex coded or encrypted version of the order ID, buried somewhere else in the ROM amid data tables or some such.

 

This second ID would be much harder to detect. Further using a checksum would require highly sophisticated hacking to scrub both the name, the encrypted or well hidden ID, and also disable or fix the checksum so that the ROM passes integrity check. Worst case, a user would need to obtain multiple copies of game and dump several times to detect the address[es] where the changes occur. There is also the issue of first sale doctrine, for instance an original owner resells his or her cart (perfectly acceptable to resell stuff obtained through legit channels), and the buyer dumps it online, then fingers point back to the original owner. Of course if the purchase is a digital ROM, there should not be any resale of data.

[VectorGamer]

The box and manual are usually pretty nice works of art and look great on my shelves.

 

A ROM or PDF will disappear much more quickly, as you won't remember to look at them and soon forget they exist.

 

Boxes do take up space, so when I realize I will never play that game again, I do sell them off!

 

First of all, I never said that home brewers should stop producing carts. I'm saying give us the options of buying a ROM or a cart. Having said that, maybe buying the ROM isn't for you and you should keep buying the carts.

 

I have no attachment to carts. I replaced the majority of my collection last year with multicarts and don't miss them one bit. If I'm buying carts it's to play the games and collecting is secondary.

[7800fan]

Pretty good antipiracy measure if you ask me. Public shaming and ban from future sales if the user leaks the ROM.

 

Does the game still boot correctly if you scrub your name out in a hex editor or does it run a checksum on itself to prevent tampering?

 

Obfuscated checksum that is tied to original name would work. The person would need to know programming to figure where the checksum is hiding and disable or change the value to match name changes.

 

Maybe one that doesn't run at the start but is checked after oh say 10 minutes or at certain stage of the game if the checksum doesn't match the owner's name it'd stop the game and put up "This game was illegally hacked" screen. Or you can troll them, back in the day illegally copied disk that failed checksum would trigger insane difficulity mode and it would only look like it's supposed to be impossibly hard while on legit copy it remains easily playable.

Edited May 25, 2016 by 7800fan

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Obfuscated checksum that is tied to original name would work. The person would need to know programming to figure where the checksum is hiding and disable or change the value to match name changes.

 

Maybe one that doesn't run at the start but is checked after oh say 10 minutes or at certain stage of the game if the checksum doesn't match the owner's name it'd stop the game and put up "This game was illegally hacked" screen. Or you can troll them, back in the day illegally copied disk that failed checksum would trigger insane difficulity mode and it would only look like it's supposed to be impossibly hard while on legit copy it remains easily playable.

insane difficulty mode... Like earthbound???