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This is spectacular. I really wish more great old game developers would do stuff like this. Not having the source code to the greatest games of our time is like

This is spectacular. I really wish more great old game developers would do stuff like this. Not having the source code to the greatest games of our time is like having only half of the bible, or War and Peace. Or only half of Snowcrash or Neuromancer. Imagine! Bill's also not the only developer who has this stuff in the garage. I think the IP rights are just tricky to deal with, so few developers are comfortable dumping this stuff into github yet.

nja 14y ago
I totally agree! I'd love to see the source code for the original Rollercoaster Tycoon, for example. From what I understand, it's 99% assembly with a few parts in C to handle media. It would be awesome to try to grok that!
- jacobparker 14y ago
  Well, uh, you can view that alleged 99% with a disassembler ;) (missing labels, comments, etc. though.)
  - VonGuard 14y ago
    Well, without the comments, it's almost not worth it. They're like directors commentary.
    - btown 14y ago
      For assembly, comments are more like the audio track for a drama, rather than directors' commentary. Sure, without them, you can see when entities are happy/sad/angry, but you have no idea why those things happen.
      - jacobparker 14y ago
        I don't think I agree with that. Reading foreign assembly isn't that bad unless it is being intentionally obscured. It definitely takes time to decipher things but at the same time you really learn what's going on :)
barbs 14y ago
I agree! I was pretty pleased when Jordan Mechner found and posted the source to Prince of Persia https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II
fuzzix 14y ago
Maz Spork released the Z80 ASM source[0] of Buggy Boy[1] for 128K Spectrum, though it since disappeard from his site. More of this type of thing! [0] http://web.archive.org/web/20030629124143/http://maz.spork.dk/src/buggyboy.asm http://web.archive.org/web/20030629124143/http://maz.spork.d... [1] http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000746 http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000746

nja 14y ago

I totally agree! I'd love to see the source code for the original Rollercoaster Tycoon, for example. From what I understand, it's 99% assembly with a few parts in C to handle media. It would be awesome to try to grok that!

jacobparker 14y ago
Well, uh, you can view that alleged 99% with a disassembler ;) (missing labels, comments, etc. though.)
- VonGuard 14y ago
  Well, without the comments, it's almost not worth it. They're like directors commentary.
  - btown 14y ago
    For assembly, comments are more like the audio track for a drama, rather than directors' commentary. Sure, without them, you can see when entities are happy/sad/angry, but you have no idea why those things happen.
    - jacobparker 14y ago
      I don't think I agree with that. Reading foreign assembly isn't that bad unless it is being intentionally obscured. It definitely takes time to decipher things but at the same time you really learn what's going on :)

barbs 14y ago

I agree! I was pretty pleased when Jordan Mechner found and posted the source to Prince of Persia https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II

fuzzix 14y ago

Maz Spork released the Z80 ASM source[0] of Buggy Boy[1] for 128K Spectrum, though it since disappeard from his site. More of this type of thing! [0] http://web.archive.org/web/20030629124143/http://maz.spork.dk/src/buggyboy.asm http://web.archive.org/web/20030629124143/http://maz.spork.d... [1] http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000746 http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000746