Jeff Frohwein of http://www.devrs/gb/ ISN'T really a hacker. As a matter of fact, he's worked on a number of COMMERCIAL GBC games. Spy Hunter is one of them. His Hicolor graphics routines were also used in the recent Tomb Raider GBC game too. Read the credits.
Used to be? THERE STILL IS. It's even bigger than before. Bung carts and writers are still available from MANY sources worldwide. I just purchased some recently. A number of indie developers are using them to make GBC games that'll be published by licensed developers. Some of the indie developed games include Mythri, Rhino Rumble, Knights, & Freakz. Most, if not all of them have already been previewed by major web sites. They're all searching for publishers and will likely find some too. The indie developers often produce games with more technical whiz-bang and depth then the big guys. Indie developers do it out of love for the biz. Most of these bigger indie games DO get published. We just see them being published by bigger names. Vatical and Eidos are just a couple of companies that use indie tools and indie developers for Game Boy Color games. You'd only notice this by actually reading the game credits.
Technically, YOU DON'T need an Nintendo license to produce games for their systems. It's been proven in the past court cases. Nintendo just wants a piece of the pie. Galoob, Codemasters, and several religious game makers DON'T have licenses. They've all produced Nintendo GAMES. Naturally, Nintendo challenged them in court...and lost. They're not using Nintendo tools. They're NOT using privileged Nintendo information. Technically, you don't even need a license to develop. It just helps to have one come publishing time. The GBC indie/unlicensed scene is growing much bigger. A number of games developed WITHOUT A LICENSE are now seeking licensed publishers...Mythri, Knights, Rhino Rumble, & Freakz are all prime examples of games developed Gameboy Color. One of Nintendo's biggest claim is that the re-writeable carts and writers such the Bung 64M and GB Xchanger, respectively, can be used for piracy. In fact, these flashroms and writers are PERFECT for putting together a game in finished format THAT YOU CAN SHOW TO A PROSPECTIVE PUBLISHER. Pubs like finished works. A working game on a real cart goes a long way towards getting a publishing deal. While the developer may not be licensed or even used licensed tools, they can still work with a licensed publisher.
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Jeff Frohwein of http://www.devrs/gb/ ISN'T really a hacker. As a matter of fact, he's worked on a number of COMMERCIAL GBC games. Spy Hunter is one of them. His Hicolor graphics routines were also used in the recent Tomb Raider GBC game too. Read the credits.
Used to be? THERE STILL IS. It's even bigger than before. Bung carts and writers are still available from MANY sources worldwide. I just purchased some recently. A number of indie developers are using them to make GBC games that'll be published by licensed developers. Some of the indie developed games include Mythri, Rhino Rumble, Knights, & Freakz. Most, if not all of them have already been previewed by major web sites. They're all searching for publishers and will likely find some too. The indie developers often produce games with more technical whiz-bang and depth then the big guys. Indie developers do it out of love for the biz. Most of these bigger indie games DO get published. We just see them being published by bigger names. Vatical and Eidos are just a couple of companies that use indie tools and indie developers for Game Boy Color games. You'd only notice this by actually reading the game credits.
Technically, YOU DON'T need an Nintendo license to produce games for their systems. It's been proven in the past court cases. Nintendo just wants a piece of the pie. Galoob, Codemasters, and several religious game makers DON'T have licenses. They've all produced Nintendo GAMES. Naturally, Nintendo challenged them in court...and lost. They're not using Nintendo tools. They're NOT using privileged Nintendo information. Technically, you don't even need a license to develop. It just helps to have one come publishing time. The GBC indie/unlicensed scene is growing much bigger. A number of games developed WITHOUT A LICENSE are now seeking licensed publishers...Mythri, Knights, Rhino Rumble, & Freakz are all prime examples of games developed Gameboy Color. One of Nintendo's biggest claim is that the re-writeable carts and writers such the Bung 64M and GB Xchanger, respectively, can be used for piracy. In fact, these flashroms and writers are PERFECT for putting together a game in finished format THAT YOU CAN SHOW TO A PROSPECTIVE PUBLISHER. Pubs like finished works. A working game on a real cart goes a long way towards getting a publishing deal. While the developer may not be licensed or even used licensed tools, they can still work with a licensed publisher.