nesdev.org

DHG Hunter,

It looks like we would like enough space at a table for three people (myself, bigjt, memblers) to demo homebrew games + possible homebrew NES hardware.

I've never attended an event like this before, so I have no idea what to expect, or how to estimate table space requirements. I would guess that we each would need about 1 square yard of flat space. ??

I imagine the games are all from Nintendo systems, specifically the NES in most cases?

I'll bring it up and get back to you.

Later.

Kind of a shame I can't attend this con, but it looks like it would have been fun.

My next con will probably be the Screwattack one, heh.

tepples wrote:Now how do I get up out of northeast Indiana to attend? It'd be my first time ever on Greyhound.

My first trip on a greyhound bus was quite interesting. I went from Indy to Cincinnati with my then girlfriend. There were a couple of kids running away from and even a few Amish people. It's was actually a enlightening and not that bad if you put on some headphones and enjoy the scenery.



At any rate, I know they have expos and conventions but the one thing that has kept me from going is travel and cost. I can't recall them ever having anything like the MGC around here.

MrNickelAss wrote:At any rate, I know they have expos and conventions but the one thing that has kept me from going is travel and cost.

People on Slashdot have occasionally told me that the obvious solution to the lack of conventions and/or the lack of employers is moving.

Just came across this thread and this is the first time I've heard of this show. Sounds cool and it's a pretty short trip from the Chicago suburbs. I'm going to try to attend.

Hello guys and gals,

I've been communicating with Dan Loosen, one of the MGC organizers. He would like the names and email addresses of those of us that plan to attend and would like to be part of the "NES Homebrew exhibit" in a NES specific conference room.

So, if you would like to attend, and show off anything that you've created (hardware or software), please let us know. Dan can be contacted best through his own email: <his last name, in all lower case> <@> <goatstore.com> (edited 2011-02-21 at Dan's request for anti-spam measures), and myself here. If you are sensitive about your real identity, don't worry, I won't share it with anyone not involved in the MGC organizational apparatus.

However, we should all know that MGC asks that we not demo any original commercial games. There will be other vendors there selling commercial games (we won't have a vendor license), and the MGC doesn't condone piracy. Homebrew flash-cart are awesome, but they should only contain homebrew games (not hacks of donkey kong or zelda-outlands or stuff like that).

This should be a kick-ass time for nesdev! It will be fun. Come and show off your cool stuff!

Also, fyi, there are FOUR hotels within walking distance of the MGC. If you are having trouble booking a hotel, use your favorite (*cough* google *cough*) online map and look just south of the Sheratan hotel. You'll see the interstate (I-94), and south of that are three more hotels: One on the left (west) side of Mooreland road, and two on the east side.

Does "not demo any original commercial games" mean don't demo any free "lite" versions of games for which one expects to eventually make a "deluxe" version?

Does "doesn't condone piracy" mean don't demo any free games with the same rules as existing games, albeit with completely original code and graphics? One well-known company thinks games with the same rules are pirated copies.

Tepples, I don't know. Dan asked that we don't load a "commercial" game, like Donkey Kong of Zelda onto a flash-cart and use that to demo the flash cart as a piracy device. Not his exact words, but that's the gist of it. Your teramino games are fine for demo, imho.

I know that Tiato (sp?) attempts to sue anyone making a space-invaders clone. Is that what you are referring to? As you have pointed out repeatedly in the past, a company can't claim a copyright on a play mechanic, just copyrights on sounds, images and names.

tepples wrote:Does "not demo any original commercial games" mean don't demo any free "lite" versions of games for which one expects to eventually make a "deluxe" version?

You can demo anything that you created, even if its for sale somewhere else. For example, it is fine to demo Battle Kid (if Sivak were to attend), but not SMB1 (on a flash cart or a repro).

clueless wrote:I know that Tiato (sp?) attempts to sue anyone making a space-invaders clone. Is that what you are referring to? As you have pointed out repeatedly in the past, a company can't claim a copyright on a play mechanic

Uncopyrightability of methods of play doesn't stop companies like Taito and Tetris from pretending that their copyrights are patents and forcing cloners to hire legal counsel. Had Star Castle developer Cinematronics (now part of Midway) done this back in the day, we wouldn't have Yars' Revenge.

I believe the basic gist is no pirated games on a flash cart like SMB, no sprite rip games or hacks, and no unofficial translated games. Basically, don't break any copyrights or IP's with what you're doing and you'll be fine.

I would personally say that "inspired by..." games are not going to be shunned. Ironic that you mention Star Castle since when I assembled the Dreamcast development group for the 2002 show, one of the games there was a quasi-port of Star Castle for the DC called DCastle.

Even ports & tributes are generally OK so long as they are one-of-a-kind and not for sale. For example, Ben Heck had his Bill Paxton Pinball at the show last year that met this criteria and another person had Donkey Kong running on a CoCo3 classic computer.

If you're unsure about it, ask. Dan would be the final say on the matter and you have his e-mail.

Later.

As long as the person with the cart has a copy, it's legal. vNES/vGBX/vSNES is proof of that. ^_^ Hope this goes well!

3gengames wrote:As long as the person with the cart has a copy, it's legal. vNES/vGBX/vSNES is proof of that. ^_^ Hope this goes well!

Thats not really the law, its just something they say. If you where to say buy a dvd you would also not have the rights to stream it on your website or make a bunch of copys and sell those.

The reason they don't get in trouble is cuz nobody cares enough to shut them down. I am sure they have received some take down notates for some titles and they most likely did when asked.

Hey everyone,

It's Dan from the show here -- I can't always stop by and reply to everything, but I have been reading and I just wanted to kind of clear this up a bit about exactly what we can and cannot allow...

At the end of the day, here's the deal -- we've worked directly with a number of companies that have older properties. Because of those relationships, and to respect everyone's rights, we simply ask the following:

If you're showing off something, it should be your work. If it is a port of a game that did not come out on that console, that's fine. If it is a sprite hack of Super Mario Bros that turns the characters into fish, that would not be.

If you've got a flash cart, please don't load commercial software onto it. Also, if you will eventually have it for sale, please do not promote it as "load all the commercial games onto one cartridge!" If it's being made as an official development tool, that's awesome -- the GOAT Store (the online business Gary and I run that also finances the MGC) is actually working on the production of a flash cart for development purposes on the Atari Jaguar, so we definitely love that sort of thing -- but the point is simply that if we have Nintendo show up at the show, and crazier things have happened, and they go down and see you showing off how you can play Super Mario Bros 3 on a flash cart, that's not good for anyone. On the flip side, if you have a brand new game, they can't say anything negative about it.

After all, the show is all about celebrating the brand new awesome things that you guys and other fans of gaming are coming up with, so that's really all we ask -- let's show off the new stuff! If I want to play Super Mario Bros 3, we'll probably have at least 50 SMB3 carts for sale in the vendor hall... let's introduce the public to some brand new, awesome stuff so those that don't know about the indie development scene for the NES realize they should start paying attention!

I can't wait to see this stuff at the show! I'm a huge indie development supporter (as the GOAT Store hopefully shows... and I own a bunch of other stuff myself), and I'm SUPER excited to see everything!

Thanks, and if you haven't contacted me yet (or got an email back from me - if you did contact me, check spam...) please contact me again so we can work out all the details! Thanks! Also, any questions, contact me and I'll be happy to answer!

Hope to see you all at the show!