Boulder Dash in 4096 bytes

moogie · Post by **moogie** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:46 am

I am participating in the annual java 4k game competition ( www.java4k.com ) and this year i am going to try to fit boulder dash in 4k whilst attempting to be as close as i can to the original.

It is has been a challenge thus far!

The applet version (pack200 compressed) is currently at 4084 bytes but i still need to put in some game logic such as different colour schemes, a time limit, going to the next cave, and more... it is going to be a tight fit!

My goal is to be faithful to the original but with the following exceptions:

-only one level of difficulty
-no sound

i cannot afford the extra bytes needed to put in sound
-non-original fonts... again, the original bitmap fonts would be too expensive to implement.

moogie · Post by **moogie** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:22 pm

I have finished my entry and the game is now up as an applet at

Link removed at First Star's Request.

As i feared i did have to make some deviations from the original

but the core game play is still the same.

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:24 pm

Cool!

The only thing that might be in need of improvement is the controlling. When you hold a direction, Pockford only moves one step and then waits a second before moving on. Is it possible to improve this?

moogie · Post by **moogie** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:04 am

sorry, i have to remove the link to my re-creation due to the fact that apparently i have violated copyright of First Star, i had sought an exemption as it was not for profit and was done as an educational exercise but it was not granted.

Thanks for your feed back tho, it is very much appreciated

Cheers

Moogie.

LogicDeLuxe · Post by **LogicDeLuxe** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:28 am

Did you ask First Star Software for permission? Sure, it makes sense to be on the safe side, but you really should consider some things:

Usually, First Star don't want their original caves or their protected names used in fan games. Especially the names, they will notice, while the other issue might remain unnoticed. AfaIk, they never did anything against clones using similar physics, graphics or music, as long as they don't violate the mentioned issues.

Since yours was more like an Emerald Mine clone, and it didn't use any First Star properties, you really shouldn't call it Boulder Dash (nor Rockford), but something else, which is not protected. You shouldn't have any trouble then. For instance, Rocks'n'Diamonds is another Emerald Mine clone which exists for years, and you can be pretty sure they are aware of that one.
And DX Boulder Dash, which was another Emerald Mine clone, was renamed for the same reason, you should.

moogie · Post by **moogie** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:57 am

Interesting you should mention these clones that are defacto tolerated by first star... I asked for actions i could make to my simple clone which would no longer infringe their copyright but they were unable/unwilling to give me any directives.

But it is of no real matter... i created the game for a technical challenge as an entry into a no-gain competition. It is not worth risking litigation over a fun little project for myself to proceed any further

BadDog73 · Post by **BadDog73** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:08 am

Meh.

I know there is a "legal" threat of litigation in some cases like this, but I'm not impressed by everyone's oversensitivity to the subject.

Would FS sue you over this? Definitely not - no gain there. Besides all the other look-alikes many of which use the same graphics as Boulder Dash the original. Aside from the occasional letter from FS, nothing happens. Lawsuits cost a lot of money.

Boulder Dash as a franchise is an empty shell with little or no capability to be profitable to the copyright holder. Look at the last few games released under the license - underwhelming to say the least. The only people on the planet left with any interest in the game are probably members of this board.

FS has to protect its copyright, blah blah blah and all that, but what some people don't realize is that it just doesn't matter unless an infringer might make some money from the project, in which case you just go negotiate.

Fan made games or fan related activities that generate no income don't represent any danger to the copyright holder. In cases where there is a lot of interest in the subject, say, Harry Potter fan fiction (of which there is just a huge, huge amount) doesn't in the least bit endanger the copyright holder's right to retain the rights to it - and in FS case they could simply grant the license to do it if they really felt the need to and no harm done. Fan activities can also be a great way to get people excited and involved in things, so it's like free advertising.

But they just can't be bothered, so they're jerks. So I say who cares about them? So go ahead and sit on your worthless IP, First Star, while the precious few fans you actually do have get bothered by your unwillingness to let them engage in any fun fan-related activities. Even if you DO release a new game, I'll probably just go play GDash.

So there.

LogicDeLuxe · Post by **LogicDeLuxe** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:45 am

BadDog73 wrote:Aside from the occasional letter from FS, nothing happens.

That's because everyone complied so far.

Lawsuits cost a lot of money.

And chances are good for FSS not being the one paying them, I guess.
They certainly have the means to protect their registered names, and I bet, they would.
They probably have good chances to protect their original caves too, and they would, it seems.
They could probably even insist not using the original Atari graphics, music or text fonts, but they don't seem to care for those.
They would have little chances for defending the physics, though. Eventhough, you could file a patent on those, it would be meaningless in most country's laws.

Boulder Dash as a franchise is an empty shell with little or no capability to be profitable to the copyright holder.

Yet, they not only develop new games under this name, they also keep porting stuff to new systems. I guess, they would have ditched this idea long ago, if they couldn't sell those.

Look at the last few games released under the license - underwhelming to say the least.

They may seem like this to us. But there are younger generations not familiar with classic Boulder Dash, and we really don't know how well the new titles sell, but they probably do good enough to keep coding them.

Fan made games or fan related activities that generate no income don't represent any danger to the copyright holder.

Unless, the fans do a better job then the original. So far, they don't seem to care about Atari or C64 fan games, eventhough, they don't allow their original titles on those systems distributed over the internet.