Petition Team17 to release old Amiga games source code

[Conundrum]

Hey everyone. When I was playing WormsDC the other day, I came up with this idea regarding the current status of old Team17 Amiga games. Now Team17 is a really cool bunch when it comes to their old games, as they made all of 'em available for free at their official site. However, given that it's still a bit of a pain to play 'em online with friends via emulation, I was wondering if we could try to petition them to release the source code so we could port the games to modern systems. Do you think it would be worth the effort?

[Djay]

I think for the very reason you stated they would not release the source, why let others make money from porting your old games to modern systems?

I guess anything they would release would come with clause stating you can not make a profit from their original work?

I love the idea, new levels for alien breed on the Amiga would be awesome, I think they would rather protect their history to be honest!

[Sektor 83]

Yeah, I don't believe it's very likely that they'd ever release the source code for those games sadly.

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by Conundrum

However, given that it's still a bit of a pain to play 'em online with friends via emulation

To be honest, thanks to Frode's FS-UAE this has now become an easier reality

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by Djay

I think for the very reason you stated they would not release the source, why let others make money from porting your old games to modern systems?

I guess anything they would release would come with clause stating you can not make a profit from their original work?

I love the idea, new levels for alien breed on the Amiga would be awesome, I think they would rather protect their history to be honest!

Keep in mind the source code is not the artwork or the IP. If, for instance, one wanted to create an engine port of the game, the original game files would still be required. This makes it perfectly possible to release the source of the original game under a permissive license without having others using the IP illegally.

[S0ulA55a551n]

Given Team17 are currently releasing games an andorid/ios etc that are based on these games engines, I would see this as highly unlikely

[Jonathan Drain]

I bet some old Amiga developers read EAB or know someone who does, and would release the source code to their old games.

Actually, the game I want to see the source code to is K240.

K240 had so many mysterious game mechanics, like alien missiles that made a blue flash but didn't seem to damage any buildings. Even the amount of damage your own ship weapons did was classified. At least with Worms everyone knows the damage values off by heart: bazooka 50, shotgun 2x25, dynamite 75...

We actually found two of K240's creators on Facebook: Graeme Ing and Pete Daniels. It was cool, there used to be a K240 group on Facebook and we got to talk to them a little about the game's development. I don't know if they want to release the source code, though. (I WANT IT SO MUCH)

[Conundrum]

Personally I would love to get in touch with someone of the Bitmap Bros to see if they would release the source code for Chaos Engine and GODS. I would particularly love to see a proper reverse engineer of Chaos Engine, as I feel it's a game with a huge potential for online coop and map-making.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Conundrum

...and map-making.

You should have a look here then: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=53449