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Prince of Persia Source Code Released On Github
rbarreira writes "The source code for the original Prince of Persia game has been released on github by its author, Jordan Mechner. This release comes three weeks after Jordan announced the find of a box containing old floppy disks that had been forgotten in the back of a closet for 20+ years. A 'digital archeology' effort was launched to recover the contents of the floppy disks, with the help of Jason Scott from textfiles.com. Some photos from the 'copy party' have also been posted."
This is terrific. It is awesome looking through the source; kind of like a time capsule.
The times where you see a ton of really old tech, taking up a whole table, crunching away, and a blackberry sitting on top of one of the computers, which probably has more processing power than all those computers put together, make a really cool pic :)
You want to say, "AlhumdilAllah," for "Praise the lord." "Insha'Allah" means "If God wills (it)."
This would have helped the guy who ported it to the C64. Although, that might have spoiled some of the fun.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
This is unbelievably cool, and everyone involved deserves a beer. If you're in the Boston area, send me a tweet @DavidEBlau and I'll buy you drinks for the night!
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
Why wouldn't he be able to do so when he's the copyright holder?
As the author and copyright holder of this source code, I personally have no problem with anyone studying it, modifying it, attempting to run it, etc.
And, no, I doubt he'll sue himself.
'digital archeology': the act of trying to find a functioning drive to read whatever old storage format was in use.
Easy dig: 3.5" floppy
Hard dig: 5.25" floppy
Very hard dig: proprietary tape backup (any)
Extremely hard dig: LS120 (I can joke about this because I had one, and 5 discs for it)
Prince of Persia
Source Code ... but I can't quite put my finger on it.
[NT]
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Damn, my brother just finally got rid of his Apple ][+ last year, or we could have given this a try. :)
We did this for fun, not profit. As the author and copyright holder of this source code, I personally have no problem with anyone studying it, modifying it, attempting to run it, etc. Please understand that this does NOT constitute a grant of rights of any kind in Prince of Persia, which is an ongoing Ubisoft game franchise. Ubisoft alone has the right to make and distribute Prince of Persia games.
(+1, Disagree)
I don't do this often, but massive props to the slashdot web monkeys - that story icon is just awesome. Actually, your whole last site overhaul is pretty neat.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
jsr setback ;draw on bg plane
Were there snakes on this plane?
Depends on how specifically Brøderbund acquired the original rights to the game back in 1989, and how subsequent holders acquired their rights. I'm not a lawyer, but I would expect that if the agreements included source code, they might have expected transfer of copyright ownership.
Lawyers are really good these days. You never know what they will come up with!
Never thought I'd see an actual game programmed in assembly.
Broderbund was just a publisher, at least for the Apple II version. They marketed and sold the game, and paid royalties to Jordan, who retained the rights.
I could see him running back and fourth from the plaintif chair to the defendant chair as the lawyers argue....made me lol.
Obviously not a programmer. "if god wills it" sounds like me in college negotiating with my compiler.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
That's too much effort. I just put a screwdriver on the case when I was typing. Occasionally you pick it up and give it a twirl.
My programs always compiled.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
His journal is certainly an interesting read as well as the source. Shame it costs money for the whole thing, but I'm interested enough that I think I'll pick it up.
Clearly he's stealing revenue from the big publishers. Every game someone acquires or plays is a potential $80 for them, and by allowing someone to play a game without giving the publishers $80, he is TAKING THEIR MONEY.
Wait... a copy party? So they did copy that floppy? Oh dear...
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Hmm, if I can figure out how to compile the thing for a modern x86, I'd take that darn 60 minute time limit off... or at least increase it to 90 minutes and finally finish the darn game. Twice I got to the second to last level, once looking at the doorway, when time ran out.
Publishers, being the ones that do the duplication, must have at least *some* rights transferred to them. Many essentially require *all* rights signed over, after all, what would have happened if the game took off and he decided to increase profit by self-publishing?
Learn to love Alaska
Took a glance at the code. Boy am I glad the days of assembler are over. Probably was fun to hand craft this super fast code, but I'd be surprised if anyone can be bothered figuring it out now.
I wish the characters in this game could be depicted as Zoroastrian, so that one doesn't have to automatically tie the fair name of Persia with islam. After all, Persia WAS a Zoroastrian country before it Islamized, and what's more, Zoroastrianism is a native Persian religion, whereas Islam (both Shia and Sunni). It wasn't ALWAYS an Islamic country.
No, publishers don't need rights transferred to them, nor do they need ownership of any sort. All the need is to be granted the rights required to publish and that can be for a limited timeframe and/or number of copies even. This is how copyright was originally envisioned to work. Creators retained their copyright, and granted generally via contract to a second party, if necessary, the right to copy the work. Just take a look at how things worked even as recently as the late 1800s. Authors did a lot of self-publishing.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
No, publishers don't need rights transferred to them, [...]All the need is to be granted the rights[...]
So they don't need rights, other than the rights they need. You are agreeing with me in the most disagreeable way possible, but I don't see the distinction.
Learn to love Alaska
Awesome read! At the JANUARY 29, 1987, entry,
;)
"Roland is a hacker of the old school. He’s polite and unprepossessing in his dress and demeanor, careful about money and contracts. He drives a Saab with license plate SNABBIL."
That plate text translates to FAST CAR in Swedish... doubt if he knew... since he didn't comment on it
simple - they don't need to own the copyright. A contractual permission is sufficient.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
I never said they must "own" the copyright. Not only are you contradicting yourself in that they need nothing, other than what they need, you are also lying about what I said.
Learn to love Alaska
Many essentially require *all* rights signed over, after all, what would have happened if the game took off and he decided to increase profit by self-publishing?
Essentially - all publishers "require" effective ownership be transferred unless you have enough pull to become your own publisher (aka Rowling, and maybe someone like Stephen King) My statement is that this entire concept is a sham that completely undermines the original intent of copyright. (same issues in the music industry, movies not as much since movies are generally no longer made by individuals or small groups of principals)
I'm not sure what your issue is. I certainly didn't contradict myself or lie about anything you said, merely stating that the current situation is a travesty, and that all that's required is a contractual limited grant to copy, despite what the publishers desire,
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
I have a collection of 5-1/4" floppies that I've partially archived using an old PC. But I would rally love to use a 5-1/4" USB floppy drive to complete the process. So far I haven't come across anything - not even hints on converting a USB 3-1/2" if it's possible. Any suggestions?