Vintage gaming community.
Rules:
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I don't know why it isn't more common to open source really old games.
You don't have to give away the assets. ID gave away the source to Doom and Quake and people can still play them now. Yet here we are, 20 years later, and they're about the only studio that ever bothered.
Because doing so incurres a cost but no revenue.
It may require a review of the code, there's a risk of something being exposed that shouldn't have been (e.g. misuse of intellectualproperty).
There really aren't any benefits for the studio.
That's assuming they're even in business decade later, or even still have ownership.
EA recently open sourced several Command and Conquer games.
Yeah but if they make some really cool game with that open source code they'll be playing that instead of our multi billion dollar AI slop!
Some mid and higher executive managers at gaming companies. Hell, at nearly all large companies
to clarify: the decompilation is done. so we have the source code, one way or another.
(well, it’s not completely done since it doesn’t compile to the exact same binary, but it’s very close - just go watch the video OP linked, it’s good)
Decomp isn't the original source code, though. It's just code written in a way that's going to produce similar to exact same results as the original.
yea, for historical preservation purposes, having the original source code will always be better
but in practice, what we have now is good enough to do basically anything you’d want the source code for
"The full source code of Lego Island? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your archives?"
"Yes"
"... Can I see it?"
"No"
So the decompilation project created a bunch of interest and now Lego will capitalize on their tremendous effort because they own the IP and can shit out a port? awesome, super fair
No. The code was discovered by a person who used to work on it back in the day. They don't give it out, unless the decompilers have the permission to get it from the original rights owner. It's however unclear who owns the rights. They tried to get the permission but all three companies that might own it, didn't even answer.
or, hear me out, if we had more reasonable copyright and IP laws the permission wouldn’t be necessary for a completely dead 28 year old game that fans spent a great deal of effort reviving with no help or financing from the original rights owner
If the person who holds the code refuses to give it out because they are a jerk then so be it I guess but the law should not stop them from doing so in this scenario. It is absurd
If it were up to me, copyright would only last 20 years after publication for non-commercial use and author's life + 4 years for commercial use.
Fun fact: the vast majority (like 95+%) of creative works, be they made by individuals or corporations, earn the majority of what they will earn cross their existence in the first 5 years
If it were up to me copyright would be nonexistent for non commercial use. Who gives a shit if someone makes a fan project of your precious idea
Commercial use I don’t know but far less than lifetime. Disney has fucked our brains with propaganda here. Creative processes flourish by remixing and making derivative works. That’s literally how Disney got to where they are. Realistically if you can’t make money in the first 10-20 years of release how likely is it that you will ever make money? Should we really stifle artistic freedom for the 0.0001% of creators that make something and take 30 years for it to catch on?
Not to mention that this doesn’t mean your gravy train is cut off. If people buy your book or cd or whatever after 21 years you still make money. We could even make a compromised law that derivative works are okay but as long as you’re alive commercial use of the original work is protected, eg if someone wants to just sell a copy of your book or use your song in an ad you can demand payment or stop them? Although this is stupid because then you get into the pissing match of what defines the boundary of a derivative work
And eternal life of copyright is what has led to us having our current culture in decline media landscape of endless sequels, remakes, milking licenses, and reboots. Why risk a new IP when you own 3000000 “safe bets” you can endlessly recycle bullshit
Like what’s at my local theater right now:
Thunderbolts: milking the marvel IP still
The accountant 2: never heard of the first one but it deserved a sequel, apparently
Minecraft: not a sequel or remake, at least, but cash in license nonsense to print money from kids and nostalgia bait the older zoomers that grew up attached to ipads
Final destination: bloodlines: good thing there’s not already like 8 final destination movies that are progressively shittier
Lilo and stitch: not the original, a live action remake. Fun fact: the writers guild doesn’t cover animated films so when Disney remakes these classic animated movies as live action they can reuse the same story and screw the original writers
Mission impossible: the final reckoning: I bet this isn’t the final reckoning
How to train your dragon: live action remake, probably using the same Disney loophole to fuck over writers
Interestingly they’re also showing a mystery horror movie Plus some others that to be fair seem like original IP: sinners, shadow force, the last rodeo, ballerina
Then a bunch of classics like one flew over the cuckoos nest and raiders of the lost ark
7:4 garbage to original. 64% “we’re out of ideas”.
And eternal life of copyright is what has led to us having our current culture in decline media landscape of endless sequels, remakes, milking licenses, and reboots. Why risk a new IP when you own 3000000 “safe bets” you can endlessly recycle bullshit
That doesn't really track. You think that allowing everyone to use existing characters would incentivize them to create new characters?
A lot of the original works we do get are because not everyone has access to the "safe bets".
And yet, if they ever did release it, you can bet all three companies would C&D it.
Lego is actually one of the very few companies that isn't batshit crazy over video game IP. (Real life Lego clones are probably different though).
They even gave a shout out to Manic Miners (a rock raiders fan remake) on the official podcast and haven't done anything to take it down. I can't remember if they officially said they won't do anything also
Let's give The LEGO Group some credit, They allow fan-made projects all the time. They even allowed a fan-made BIONICLE game onto Steam. They also allow the hosting of out of print LEGO video games.
They actually also hired the guy who made Manic Miners.
Interestingly LEGO was patented, and that patent has recently expired.
If the company used a Trademark to protect the system they used, it would still be protected.
Well they did shut down the Lego Universe reboot. Also Lego most certainly is batshit crazy when it comes to fighting other brick manufacturers and sellers. Just like any capitalist company they are afraid of losing ANY marketshare.
Solution: wait a few months and release it anonymously, while claiming it was found elsewhere.
Just archive it on archive.org without an announcement. And keep the metadata sparse so it’s very hard to find.
Yeah the original Mindscape is long gone and liquidated. The Dutch subsidiary that continued under the Mindscape name probably doesn’t own the code.
We’ll get there eventually, brick by brick.
I remember this game! It was pretty cool for it's time, graphics were awesome. I don't know how the gameplay would hold up compared to modern games. This was back when things like UI/UX was in general not very polished to the standards we expect now.
It has very little gameplay. It's a few mini games spread across a janky early-3D scene.
Lego Island 2 is much more game.
This was one of my favorite games at the time. So unlike most other games. It definitely doesn't hold up anywhere near modern games, but it holds a special place unlike most other games.
I watch playthroughs of this for background noise sometimes. It’s just cozy nostalgia for me.