Hi Michael,
I agree that it would be nice to see some classic vidio games be made in
an accessible format, but unfortunately accessible game developers are
confronted with three basic problems.
First, there is the sticky issue of copyright infringement. Whenever a
game company like Activision, nintendo, Capcom, Edos, EA Games, etc
creates a game it is copyrighted and trade marked by the company that
produced it. So any third-party developer who wants to come up with his
own Super Mario Brothers, Final Fantacy, or Legend of Zelda game should
apply for copyright permission from the company that created the game. I
can say from personal experience getting permission from these companies
is very unlikely. Even if they give you permission they wish to charge
you royalties on the game which most small time game developers can't
afford. Failior to apply for written permission could result in a big
fat copyright infringement lawsuit.
There are, however, some ways to work around the copyright laws, but
they aren't absolute protection. Under the fair use provisions in the
U.S. copyright laws if a software product is for free, is released for
educational purposes, open source, etc it can be protected under the
fair use provisions. However, even so, it isn't safe because several
companies, including Microsoft, frequently challenge the fair use
provisions all the time.
So what this means if I or another accessible game developer were to
consider writing a game clone it better be free, open source, and
disclaim any commercial interest in the product. As a result the
developer would have to forget about selling the game for the time and
money spend on developing the game. Since high quality sound effects
costs quite a bit it could get expensive with no way of earning that
money back.
Second, there is the complexity of the game in question. Games like
Final Fantacy and Legend of Zelda aren't simple games to create. I
should know as I've actually thought several times of doing just that.
However, after reviewing the walkthroughs to refresh my memory on the
games I've discovered various problems in converting them to an
accessible format.
The major issue is the time involved to create a game like Legend of
Zelda. Legend of Zelda features several overworld and underworld
locations with several special items, monsters, and so on. All of that
takes a considerable amount of time to program, and I currently don't
have it to give to a project of this size.
Then, you have various items and monsters that don't have sounds.
converting them to an audio format is often tricky. You might just
simply have to depend on Sapi to tell you the item is there and how far
it is away etc. I'm sure there is a work around for this, but i wanted
to point out that vidio games depend so much on vidio that most items
and objects don't require sound. Since we need sound to find things it
is up to the developer to come up with a way to cue the player into that
silent object either by speech or by finding a sound that seams somewhat
realistic.
For example, In a science fiction game like Shades of Doom it is fine
that doors and items beep. It seams quite realistic in that environment.
However, in a fantacy game like Zelda a developer would have to come up
with different sounds like bubbling potion bottles, clattering swords,
rattling keys, etc to make a fantacy sounding scheme. Sometimes that
isn't easy. Especially, if the game is low budget.
Anyway, I am not saying that writing games like Frogger, Legend of
Zelda, etc is impossible but it is problematic. That's wy quite a few
developers stay clear of them. It is sometimes more of a hastle than it
is worth.
---
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