The Obscure & Elusive Homebrew ROMs Hunt Thread (ENDED)

[50tbrd]

The original Vectrex games are not Public Domain. They are for Free Personal Use and Non-profit reproduction. The term Public Domain has been erroneously attached to the reproduction of original software.

[Mayhem]

Nov 17, 2015 1:30:30 GMT -5 japjac said:

I read somewhere that in the case of the retail games for the Vectrex, the license holders made them available for the public domain, for free, a long time ago.

Therefore, I find it somewhat unjustly hypocritical that some makers of homebrew games (physical) for the Vectrex seem a little precious about their games being distributed for free.   Although I am so grateful for their efforts and admire their creative talents, to be crude, they are at the end of the day producing unlicensed counterfeit products for profit, regardless of how old the hardware is.  Are they profit sharing with said license holders of the Vectrex today?  I doubt it.  

Nintendo was the first to introduce software licensing I believe. Prior to that point, during the Atari era with Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex and the rest, you didn't need to get the permission of the hardware manufacturer to release a game for its hardware. Nintendo introduced the lock out chip and licensing in an attempt to avoid the same glut of poor quality released deluging the NES in the US. We still had poor quality games hah hah, but they were more limited in quantity compared to the 2600. Hell, unknown 2600 games from back in the (pre crash) days are STILL coming out of the woodwork even today!

The difference with the Vectrex I guess is that no third party made any games for it back in the day, so GCE/MB didn't have to worry about such matters. All the original Vectrex games were published by them. Yes, all the Vectrex homebrew is unlicensed, but given there's no precedent, I suspect it wouldn't needed to have been back in the day because no other company was going that route.

[cNp]

Nov 17, 2015 1:30:30 GMT -5 japjac said:

Therefore, I find it somewhat unjustly hypocritical that some makers of homebrew games (physical) for the Vectrex seem a little precious about their games being distributed for free.   Although I am so grateful for their efforts and admire their creative talents, to be crude, they are at the end of the day producing unlicensed counterfeit products for profit, regardless of how old the hardware is.  Are they profit sharing with said license holders of the Vectrex today?  I doubt it.  

It's not possible to license a homebrew game for the Vectrex so not sure of how this is a problem or that it is counterfeit?

I don't see how anyone makes a profit on selling a physical homebrew game if you take even a fraction of the time involved into account... I don't think anyone's in it for the money!

Are you planning a flash cart for personal use or to distribute? The roms being available for various homebrews does not usually imply permission to distribute.

cNp

[VectorX]

Nov 17, 2015 6:52:53 GMT -5 cNp said:

I don't see how anyone makes a profit on selling a physical homebrew game if you take even a fraction of the time involved into account... I don't think anyone's in it for the money!

Right, there isn't much money to be made in general. Maybe George/FURY made some money due to selling limited edition games on ebay for up to several hundred dollars each for a few years but I'm sure he's lost money on the monstrous amount of delays and having to make tweaks on Warrior/having the overlay on that redone. Producing an overlay for Protector LE supposedly cost Alex Herbert more money than it cost to produce those cartridges.

It's also an individual's right on what they want to do in regards to a limited production run of a game. Maybe we're not always happy with those but as an author they can do whatever they choose.

[christophertumber]

I doubt anyone has made anything resembling a living off creating homebrew games for 8-bit systems. However people have certainly made some money off them especially for the Atari 2600. More practically, not many hobbies are nearly as potentially self-sufficient.

CDs filled with ROMs used to be commonplace on eBay. I used to have to file VERO complaints every couple weeks. For that matter the various ROM download sites are all making money. It doesn't help that the ROM list compilers routinely mislabel homebrew games (and Vectrex games) in general as PD. And of course everyone who decides to put out a multi-cart makes the same assumption.

It's a big part of why my cartridges always had extras (that and it's fun to do) and why I'll almost certainly never make final production binaries available publicly.

[japjac]

Thanks for all the input people. As a Vectrex newbie and ROM (homebrew and retail) amateur in general I was misguided in my original thinking. I now understand the situation much better. I for one are not out to profit from the ROM believe you me but I am just out to 'share my toys with everyone' so we can all enjoy the Vectrex as much as possible fairly. I apologise for any naive thinking I might have had.

Cheers.

[japjac]

As advised on this very thread I have PMed 'Der Luchs' and kindly asked for his/her (?) games as ROMs. I am awaiting a reply.

The Internet has told me that historically they were 'all' available for free from their site (they are not now). Furthermore, YouTube after YouTube video shows me that people are enjoying these games on their flashcarts for free.

I hope I too can sample their work soon as it looks in another league homebrew wise. Fingers crossed.

Cheers.

[japjac]

Latest statuses:

1. Bad Apple (Demo)-AWOL
2. Big Blue-To Be Released
3. Bombenhagel (Madtronix Multicart Exclusive)-AWOL
4. Connect 4-To Be Released
5. Cube Quest-AWOL
6. Deathchase (Voice)-To Be Released
7. Death Race-AWOL
8. Frog 'N Flies-AWOL
9. Paratroopers (From Gravitrex Plus)-AWOL
10. Patriots III (From Gravitrex Plus)-AWOL
11. Hangman (72 Game Multicart)-AWOL
12. Joust Evolution-To Be Released
13. Logo (Tool) (Vectorzoa Cart)-AWOL
14. MonStorm-AWOL
15. Nox (Voice)-To Be Released
16. Omega Chase Deluxe (Omega Chase+Zap)-AWOL
17. Stramash Zone-AWOL
18. Solar Wars-To Be Released
19. Space Frenzy (Includes Super Spike World Demo) (Voice)-AWOL
20. Spike's Circus (Voice)-AWOL
21. Spike Goes Down (From Protector LE Version Only-Scoring 20k Unlocks)-AWOL
22. Spinnerama (Atari 2600 Driving Controller Multicart)-AWOL
23. VeCaves/Spike's Spree-AWOL
24. Vectrexagon-To Be Released
25. Vector Patrol-AWOL
26. Vector Pilot-AWOL

Advised By Vector Forums To Contact Author 'Der Luchs' VIA PM (PMed 16/11/15):

www.luchs-soft.de/

27. .--. .- -. --.. . .-. (The Actual Title)-AWOL
28. Ave Maria!-AWOL
29. Brecher (Voice)-AWOL
30. Der Schlund-Unreleased
31. Flak-AWOL
32. Freigeist-Unreleased
33. Fresssakk-AWOL
34. Inkubationszeit-AWOL
35. Irrelevant-AWOL
36. Kolonie-AWOL
37. Lichtbringer-AWOL
38. Menshenjagd-AWOL
39. N.B.Z.-AWOL
40. N.E.L.S.-AWOL
41. Obsolet-AWOL
42. Schiffe Versenken-AWOL
43. Sternenkrieger-AWOL
44. Untot-AWOL
45. Vectrex Roli-Das Spiel-AWOL
46. Volgelfutter-AWOL
47. VecFahren (Voice)-AWOL
48. VecFahren 2000-AWOL
49. Z4HL3N R473N-AWOL
50. Zufallstreffer-AWOL

Advised By Vector Forums To Contact 'Revival Studios':

www.revival-studios.com/

51. 3D Scape Cart (Demo)-AWOL
52. Colorclash (Voice) & Xudoku (Colorclash Slim)-AWOL
53. Debris Revisted (Voice)-AWOL
54. Shifted (Voice)-AWOL
55. Vectoblox (Voice)-AWOL
56. Vectrex Hockey (Voice)-AWOL

Advised By Vector Forums Produced By 'FURY':

furyunlimited.com/_sgg/m1m3_1.htm

57. I, Cyborg-AWOL
58. Sectis (Sector-X II) (3D Imager?)-AWOL
59. Sector-X (3D Imager?)-AWOL
60. Sector-X IV (3D Imager?)-To Be Released
61. Sundance-AWOL
62. Warrior-To Be Released
63. War Of The Worlds-Time Rift-AWOL
64. Zantis-99 Ways To Die-AWOL

[cNp]

I released a very simple Xmas game last year as rom only... "Present Drop" ... you should find it in a thread on here to download... there's 2 versions so make sure to get the second version which has some bug fixes in. I might add more to it this Xmas if I get time. the idea was for the game to be easy for people's kids to play! Music supplied by Der Luchs.

vectorgaming.proboards.com/thread/1246/free-xmas-bin

Big Blue will be physical release only, hopefully Q1 2016

cNp

[japjac]

Brilliant!  My Family and I shall enjoy that this Yuletide.  Thank you!

Brings back memories of Segata Sanshiro Shinkenyugi for the Sega Saturn.

Cheers.

[binarystar]

Here's the two Xmas games I did last year. 'Xmas cart 2015' coming soon.

www.binarystarsoftware.com/?p=97

[Mayhem]

Nov 17, 2015 22:14:34 GMT -5 japjac said:

As advised on this very thread I have PMed 'Der Luchs' and kindly asked for his/her (?) games as ROMs. I am awaiting a reply. The Internet has told me that historically they were 'all' available for free from their site (they are not now). Furthermore, YouTube after YouTube video shows me that people are enjoying these games on their flashcarts for free.

Yes, many of his games were available to download, and some WIPs, albeit I don't think any of his six physical releases to date were available in ROM form. You should still be able to purchase four of them from the website (the other two were limited releases he made for his birthday).

[50tbrd]

Ave Maria, NBZ, Scheiffe Versenken, and VecFahren 2000 are all unreleased. Only videos exist to the public.

[Rapetou33]

what does AWOL stand for ?

[50tbrd]

In the military, it stands for Absent WithOut Leave but has come to take on the meaning of no found, unknown whereabouts in everyday usage.