Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

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ade
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Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:03 am

Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by ade »

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some help/advice.
Microdeal were one of the main publishers of games for the Dragon 32 back in the day (many many fond memories of their games and I'll never forget the Christmas flyer I got from their mailing list headed "with tidings of comfort and Joysticks!").

After they stopped producing games for the Dragon and finally closed their doors back in the 90's I understand the licenses for their games were bought up by HiSoft (according the details on the publishers part of the Dragon Archive website).

Does anyone know if this is the same Hisoft as www.hisoft.co.uk ? On their about page they make mention to the 80's and the old computers...

I'm trying to find out about obtaining a license or permission for an old Microdeal game I've rewritten for a new computer called the ZX Spectrum Next. Before anyone starts spitting and cursing me , I am a true Dragon 32 fan at heart (was my first computer) but after the Dragons demise I bowed to peer pressure and my folks bought me a Speccy and the new version of the old machine is a real joy to mess about with (I'm using it in emulation as the actual hardware based on the second kickstarter I backed isn't released until later this year).

During lockdown I found myself like millions of other in the UK with a shed load of time on my hands (I'm a professional equestrian event photographer by trade) and to keep myself busy I went back to being a teenager and retaught myself how to write programs in BASIC.
Even to this day as a 51 year old I still cant get my head around machine code, but the Spectrum Next has an advanced basic language allowing lesser mortals like myself the ability to write arcade games running at speeds that were only ever possible in assembly!

I retaught myself BASIC and recreated my favourite Dragon 32 game as a child - in BASIC for this new machine. I honestly had no idea when I set out on the project whether I'd pull it off as it was just a test to see what I could learn and what the machine could do, however 6 months later I've managed to do it.

The version of the game I've written is a faithful representation of the original Microdeal Game (deliberately so as I have very fond memories of it as a kid). I've added a few extras to make full use of the new machines capabilities. It's still a work in progress but I'm at the stage now where to progress any further in its current format, if I wanted to release it (which based on feedback from a few people in the community I could do) I'd need permission if I wanted to keep the similarities in graphics and name etc.

I could just rename the game and give it new graphics, releasing it in its own right but I wanted to recreate a game that meant a lot to me as a kid and changing it just wouldn't be the same.

I'm not a professional games programmer (this is my first game!) so really don't know how to go about getting permission or what I need to do.

If Anyone can offer any info or has experience in this area please share your experiences and any advice...

I'm not looking to make money from this - far from it. The experience has given me the abilities to learn a "new " language and helped me tick off something from my bucket list. I just want to be able to share the game "legally".

Adrian
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rolfmichelsen
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Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by rolfmichelsen »

Hi Adrian,

The only data point that I can offer is my own agreement with Microdeal for a game that I created and licensed to them back in the 80's. That license agreement was temporary only and expired in 1999. All rights to the software have now returned to me. I didn't negotiate for this, so assuming this was Microdeal's standard terms. Maybe you should focus your efforts on finding the original creator of your game.

Good luck with getting your game released.

-- Rolf
ade
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:03 am

Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by ade »

Hi Rolf,

Thanks for the info - that's really useful to know.

I've got a contact for the original programmer and have drafted an email so I'll send it and see what happens.

Out of curiosity what was the game you made and what would you do if someone approached you with a version of your game for another system?

Genuinely have no clue what to expect on this front. I'm a photographer by trade so understand copyright and have licensed a few images on a small scale to magazines (usually a small flat fee) but software is a whole new ball game...

Adrian
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robcfg
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Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by robcfg »

Out of curiosity what was the game you made
I know that one! :mrgreen:

https://archive.worldofdragon.org/index ... _Raider_II
ade
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Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:03 am

Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by ade »

thats awesome!

I dont know about anyone else but I find it really weird as a "grown up" remembering and playing all these old games and then in some instances s an adult, knowing or chatting to those that coded them or were heavily involved with the industry. When I was a kid those that wrote such games were like gods! :lol:

I'm also on a forum for the new ZX Spectrum Next computer and some of the guys involved in that were like my heros as a kid (the likes of Jim Bagley who did Midnight Resistance and Mike Dailey who invented Grand Theft Auto and went on to set up Rock Star Games). And here they are just chatting away and hosting videos on how to write games in machine code! Which still defeats me to this day!
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rolfmichelsen
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Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by rolfmichelsen »

Hi Adrian,

To answer your second question: I've chosen to open source my game for anybody to fiddle with at their will, which has actually resulted in some really interesting emails from people looking at it and doing things based on this game. You can find everything on github.

-- Rolf
ade
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Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:03 am

Re: Anyone experience on obtaining licenses from old games...

Post by ade »

Brilliant! Thats great that you've done that - really helps folk!
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