MSXdev22 #08 Randoom

I'm really becoming a fan of Robosoft's entries for the MSXDev compo. At first they seem a bit simple, but everything plays so smooth and well.
Thanks for another great entry!

The standard PSG is used.

Fun game and properly realized. Thanks!

Thanx Torihino for another nice game!

Very nice game. I managed to play through to stage 22, but there it ends.
The last enemy (color) can't be put to jail, because it is not spawned at level start.

Hello everyone, I am part of the original development team that make Randoom for C64.

This MSX version was done without permission, the coder did not asked us to make the MSX version.

Dozznar know nothing and he is wondering why the guy did this MSX version without asking.

The owner of the rights is Dozznar, he will do it.

Torihino, I can understand you've done the conversion because you really like the game. But you can't do it like this. Getting inspiration is fine, playing copycat is not. Please settle the situation with Dozznar. We don't want to be taken back to the Commodore-MSX wars in the eighties.

Maybe the rules are contradicting themselves. Games cannot be copyrighted AND remakes are accepted at the same time?

Not taking sides here, but can’t all options to solve this in private be exhausted before taking it public?

Thank you for clearing that up, ToriHino. Great to hear both parties are in contact and great to hear collaboration going on. The MSXdev team is proud to have you on board, now and in the future.

"I don't know why Toni suddenly started the public discussion again here, we were already in contact. In fact he even offered to convert the title screen from the original to this version as well. I'm already in contact with Dozznar to sort things out, the result will follow. After that I will drop development activities for new games for an uknown period (also including the improvements on RoboPlay and RoboSID), the fun is out of it for now."

I did not started again, this was in the beginning, but when I offered my help to add my picture to your project I was convinced that you already talked with Dozznar and you got the agreement to make the game.

I am not really mad at you, so, do not think that I am in a battle against you or something like that, I simply let Dozznar manage this situation.

I like your games and I think, if you stop making games, maybe you will make a mistake, you got to do wherever you like meanwhile you do not mess with somebody.

Please, be happy and keep doing good games.

Sorry for disturb you.

I feel like I should revise my opinion on this rule here. In the end, we are trying to get many games made for the MSX, but not in a way that creators need to guess how the rules should be adhere to. I feel like we should make the rules better so that we don't create a situation like this in the future. For example, in this case, an extra line like, "ask the organisers if you are unsure whether your game is fine within this rule" would be easier for everyone.

My guess is that the rule change was designed to make it easier for the organisers to deal with less correspondences between them and the participants, and if they feel they don't like this burden, it could perhaps be changed it into "ask msx.org forums if you are unsure whether your game is fine within this rule". This also implies that I hope that the forums can give a good answer to the question: "Is it okay for me to submit a game released a few months ago on the C64, by active members of this forum, using the same name as the original?"

For example, remember last year's incident where someone from the SMS forums were converting the MSXDev entries, and how that ended. I feel that the participants deserve better rules and clarifications; it shouldn't be a burden for participants to interpret the rules.

I hope this period will not be to long though. You've given the MSX community a few excellent games with an original & smooth gameplay. I hope you will find your fun back soon.

I hope you all resolve it peacefully. Always remember that this is a hobby and we do this for fun. We all have day jobs already that give us enough drama. Please assume that the other party did what they did without any bad intention. A couple of emails are usually enough to resolve things

I just submitted a small modified version of the game, which also fixes the level 22 bug.

Quote from Dozznar (the author of the original):

So all resolved

I'm happy to hear it. Great!

Niiice!. Big thanks to Dozznar and team for being so cooperative!

Thanks for this happy news.

I'm equally quite surprised (by your interventions).