Jump to content
IGNORED

Lynx Prototypes Found: Rolling Thunder, GeoDuel, Vindicators, MORE


MacRorie

Recommended Posts

40 minutes ago, Nop90 said:

Some of the code could also be reused. This could be a nice project, if you start it I'm in (and for free ?).

I'd be willing to do the same.  The only problem is, I could only contribute to graphics which you already have.  A musician and programmer, I am not! Lol

 

Perhaps I could work on level design and/or sound fx.  Hmmm...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 4ever2600 said:

One cool thing I noticed playing the game is, on the very first level, one of the back ground posters appears to say,  time travel.  The levels of the game seems to support that as they look like you are moving through different time eras.

 

Anyone else catch that?

I saw that as well.  I did not put it together with the scenery change, but makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LordKraken said:

An idea that I'm sure many of my fellow Lynx programmers will find really interesting, would be to take one of this advanced prototype and, reusing the assets, recreate the full game from scratch (with some personal interpretation of what the game would have been).

 

Ninja nerd sounds like a good pick (name would need to change because ninja, he is not :D)

Probably easier to start something from scratch ;-) Some graphic assets are there, but possibly far from finished. 

Looking at the slow and sluggish frame rate, the code would need some major improvements?

Edited by agradeneu
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you know how much I like nice art, but in the case of these prototypes, I feel like their visual should remain unchanged since the idea is just to bring them back from the dead, in the most vintage possible form :)

 

anyway, main problem is that while those companies are long gone, they might still be some copyright owners around... Or at least we would need to reach out to the original artist to ask for permission.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 4ever2600 said:

Maybe someone should start with the current copyright holder... MacRorie.  Credit where credit is due.

Afaik, MacRorie simply bought copies of prototypes (please correct me if I'm wrong), and in that case, this doesn't give him any rights to those games, other than playing them. If you want to stick to the law, he can probably not even make reproductions. Note that on a personal level, I think it's great he does it, otherwise those games would be lost forever. But technically the law is not ok with that.

 

Now, to my understanding, most if not all companies behind those games are long dead. So the current owners of the copyrights are the companies or people who bought the company off. It's not uncommon that rights actually end in the hands of a bank who doesn't know what to do with it. In any case, owners can be really difficult to track.

 

So my suggestion was to try to reach out to the original artists. He cannot sell the rights of something he has never owned but at least he could give his ok to continue his past work. Just for the ethic, nothing more :)

 

Then we would just bring back from the dead a game that never existed, was never released, is not tight to any existing licence, and where copyright owners probably doesnt even know they own it.

 

Would love to hear from @Albert or @MacRorie, they probably know better :)

Edited by LordKraken
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, LordKraken said:

Afaik, MacRorie simply bought copies of prototypes (please correct me if I'm wrong), and in that case, this doesn't give him any rights to those games, other than playing them.

 

Would love to hear from @MacRorie, they probably know better :)

They were given to me as part of a deal to do with what I would. Now, did the person who gave them to me have the ability to do that? Dunno. I think so, but could be wrong. 
 

However, I figured I would put them out there so people could play them. Release them to the wild in a year and everybody is, hopefully, copacetic! ;-)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, LordKraken said:

We have the source?

The main code seems to be almost identical in a few of the Lynx games. I have actually re-crated the sources to an usable level on a few games. And created sensible names to the routines and variables. Plus extracted the sprites back to images automatically. Even Hot Dog uses the same engine.

 

So one path would be to fix the annoying parts of the game and continue development.

 

But as the real rights for doing this is missing - I pass.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I figured that most of the side scrollers that looked similar to this one must of shared some kind of similar engine as they look and play very similar. Even the movement seems the same.  Not a complaint mind you,  just an observation that turned out to be somewhat correct.

 

Thanks for shining a little light on that Karri.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Hello Mr Macrorie,

 

          Just wondering when you are going to release the original 8 or so prototype roms that you originally purchased and said you would release one you made your money back or one year went by.  It's been a little over that time and can't wait to tear into them and see whats doing.  

 

Wasn't sure if you already did so and I missed it or if it's on your website etc.

 

Still enjoying the physical copies!!  Thank you again for all you've done with these so far.

 

Patiently awaiting.  ;)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, 4ever2600 said:

Hello Mr Macrorie,

That's "Doctor" MacRorie.  I did not go to evil communication school for six years to be called "Mister" thank you very much!

 

(I'm kidding)

 

(Not really)

 

11 hours ago, 4ever2600 said:

          Just wondering when you are going to release the original 8 or so prototype roms that you originally purchased and said you would release one you made your money back or one year went by.  It's been a little over that time and can't wait to tear into them and see whats doing.  

 

Wasn't sure if you already did so and I missed it or if it's on your website etc.

Well, huh, I suppose it has been a year.  I suppose I better figure out how to do that.

 

11 hours ago, 4ever2600 said:

Still enjoying the physical copies!!  Thank you again for all you've done with these so far.

 

Patiently awaiting.  ;)

 

Will let you know.

 

-M

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/7/2021 at 11:57 AM, MacRorie said:

That's "Doctor" MacRorie.  I did not go to evil communication school for six years to be called "Mister" thank you very much!

 

(I'm kidding)

 

(Not really)

 

Well, huh, I suppose it has been a year.  I suppose I better figure out how to do that.

 

Will let you know.

 

-M

Any updates to this?

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/19/2020 at 5:01 PM, davidcalgary29 said:

"Yes, Hello? I'd like to report nudity in a thirty year-old game at 160x102 resolution!"

 

Maybe GadgetUK will be inspired to port the C64 Samantha Fox poker game over to the Lynx. I mean, he already ported that C64 Alien game...  Anyway...

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/30/2020 at 5:56 PM, 4ever2600 said:

I'm talking about courtesy... nothing more.  No need to lawyer up.  I would like to see it happen to.  

 

Well, Namco owns Rolling Thunder but they've been uber cool with Bob "Pac-Man Plus" DeCrescenzo's various Pac-Man editions for the 7800. And also Tep392's Pac-Man Arcade enhancement for A8/5200. They've been as cool as Ninjaendo has been the complete opposite of cool when it comes to fans' homebrew re-creations. Or just to their fans in general.

 

Vindicators is Atari Games' IP which is owned by WB Games. And they're too busy being worried about who AT&T is going to sell them to [assuming they weren't already rolled up into the "WarnerMedia" merger with Discovery Networks].

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...