Cave Story PSP (now more free and with less Variant)
Posted by Derek Yu Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:05:00 GMT
Some of you may remember the hullabaloo surrounding the legality and morality surrounding Variant Interactive’s Cave Story PSP port (as well as the fatality of originality). It was never verified whether Variant got Pixel’s permission, or if they did, whether he would see any money, but something definitely stank up in there, and it was Variant that was whistling and looking in the other direction. Case in point:
“Faithful,” “upgrading the graphics and sound,” and “marketing concerns…” which one of these does not belong with the others? So yeah, I find it really hard to believe that Pixel would go for anything like that, and even if he did, I still say fuck ‘em for doing it. “Upgrade the graphics and music?” Eat a shit sandwich, asshole.
Which is why it makes me really happy to announce that there’s a fan-made, homebrew PSP version in the works! Yay fans!
This is the preview version that I sent to Pixel, so it’s mostly guesswork and buggy and certainly feels different from the original. Playable up to the first boss fight. Dual-language English and Japanese :) Tested on 3.10, should work unmodified with most custom firmware.”
Word. You can download a buggy, early version of the port from the link above. And while you’re at it, check out this DS port as well (different author).
(Source: selectbutton.net)
Woo woo! Represent! Or something! Either way, I don’t have a PSP ;).
Fuck yeah. That’s what I call a port. Get the source code and permission. Fuck yeah.
I have the psp but last time i used it was 6 month ago.. it’s full of dust :( I think anyway that Portable console is where games like Cave naturally belongs..
Awesome, I may have to give that another playthrough (How many times is that now? Heh) once they crack the 3.50 firmware. Apparentlty theres a new exploit found to allow homebrew in LUMINES of all things. Forced sales of the only must-have launch title up by 5,900% on Amazon. And Sony complain about homebrew? Weird…
Well, Sony are flippin’ clown shoes. What do you expect?
Am hoping this gets completed sometime in my lifetime: http://cavestory.ravenworks.ca/
Cave Story on DS! :)
equally shady is how there aren’t any pics of this new and fancy graphical ‘upgrade’.
hopefully pixel didn’t get totally screwed over over this
Wait, do I get this right? They try to make money off someone else’s freeware game?
word.
You just have to look at the Variant website to see there’s something dodgy about them
Uh, has ANYONE here even read Variant’s forums (well, they are currently down, but has anyone EVER read them? I have)? I remember reading that Variant has Pixels approval and they got the source code from the guy himself and Pixel did get money out of the deal. And they have said that they WILL include the option to use original graphics etc in the PSP game. So you aren’t forced to use the “improved” graphics or sounds, and Pixel did get money out of the deal.
Diaz:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2071042&postcount=12
finally, a reason to use my PSP. this is GREAT. i cant wait. maybe ill finish the damned game then.
O_O…..
Wow, thanks, Peckerston. That’s pretty much the whole thing, isn’t it?
Ok, I guess I just took this post too much at a face value, before reading the interview.
Imho the problem of the issue is probably not so much the changes to graphics and music but more the ethics behind it. Should a freeware game classic with unique visual and atmospheric style really be converted to something that appeals to the broad mass and drops off as much money possible?
In the end, it’s a matter of ideals, but wanting “the game to reach a wide audience so more people can experience Pixel’s fantastic game” does sound a litte, well, fishy.
However, it seems to be an act of goodwill, but it just doesn’t sound very prospective to me.
Ok, so I don’t really get where Yu got this hostility? Pixel got the money, there’s possibility to play with original graphics & music. Um? what’s the problem Derek? It’s automaticly bad when someone makes money off it? Hey, everything you consume is a product, so you should at least test it before givin’ it a bad name. I don’t see a whole lot objectivity when you don’t even include a link to Variant’s site on your post. I like Tigsource.com but this shit just left me a really bad taste in mouth.
Whoa, thanks Fost & Derek - I got a DS Flash card just last week and I didn’t know about the DS port project. It’s unbelievable how far he’s gotten with it - it looks like he’s about two builds away from having a complete “playable” version of the game.
Besides, when it comes to ethics trying to make money with a GOOD GAME is less wrong than that nerd-rage-badmouthin’. Seriously, I think Variant didn’t hold pixel to a gunpoint while forcing him to sign a deal. When you “fuck off” Variant, you could as well “Fuck off”, Pixel! And what comes to supporting the original, if you’re afraid that it would change to non-free/extinct, you can always download it now, save it and spread it illegally over the internet - Actually gets more done, than 14yrs-old-like-bedroomdoorslamming-angst based on bias and inaccuracy. Also, when you think about these points here, how are those “fan-made” guys any different? Only difference is that money’s not involved. Those guys are doing that for fame and glory of the UG-gaming community, and if they succeed, eventually for money. Doesn’t change a f*ckin’ thing. At least - I’m going to check out the game before i draw my judgement.
so, do you work a variant?
Coo cant wait for that to come out!
I dont see why everyone is so upset about changing the graphics and such, I know it is blasphemous to say so but cave story graphics do belong on a NES. I am actually looking forward to seeing the updated pixels meself.
How does one improve Cave Story’s graphics and music?
Mr Peckerston, yes, I can see that Variant has had a fair share of problems, and I can see that they happened when Variant was pretty much just started. But how is this related to their Cave Story project? As far as I can see they’re doing this whole thing on their own, they’re not funding Pixel to do the job, they made a deal with him, got the source code from him, and Pixel gets money out of the deal, and Variant’s own workers are doing the actual dirty job.
And please, try to spell my nickname correctly.
And I find that whole hate against Variant a bit weird, too. Variant is making a PSP version of Cave Story, Pixel gets money out of the deal, Cave Story can get even a wider audience with the whole thing, you can play the game with original graphics and music, the PC &Mac versions (and others) will stay completely free. I don’t see any problems here.
Actually, Dan, it would be SNES. Cave story is miles above the NES limitations (See U-Head on the forums).
I’ve a friend who has a project with Variant. I don’t think he’s heard from them recently, either.
Another question: Are they using the AGTP translation, and if so did they get permission for that?
U-Head is a bit above NES limits as well ‘3’
not Diaz:
My point is that Variant’s history is worrying to say the least, even ignoring everything surrounding the Cave Story port, and they seem to have a habit of not paying their devs. They don’t seem to have any actual development experience either.
DrDerekDoctors:
You mean that Push Push Penguin isn’t going to make it to Xbox 360 by July 2006?!
“I don’t see any problems here.”
It’s simply a shame, games that are released being free shouldn’t be released on a different platform for money. I don’t care if the developers make money out of it, but at least they should make up their minds about it being free or not. Free is free and should stay free. It’s like giving people candy and after they ate it ask for a 5 dollar bill, it’s simply awkward.
Well, I gathered that the PC and Mac ones will stay free, as will the DS one prolly and that other PSP one. So I do not see the problem. If anyone owning a PSP will buy this, their fault.
They are shady as all heck, and extremely unprofessional in how they handle their business. And just think about it: if Pixel is supporting this homebrew port, then either 1. there’s no deal with Variant, or 2. Pixel just doesn’t give a fluck about it. Either way, having this company shill a beautiful freeware game with promises of upgrading the graphics for marketing purposes just puts a nasty taste in my mouth. ‘Cause you know what upgrading the graphics means to people like that, right?
http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy-advance/manic-miner/screenshots
Ah, good old Jester - I’d ask whatever happened to them, but as long as they’re quiet who gives a toss ;)
Back in the day Demonstar released a shareware game called Train Tracking that was a direct clone of a mini-game by Sensible for the Amiga.
A former project manager for Sensible was was so miffed at this that he pirated the new shareware Train Tracking and offered it as a free download from his site. He wasn’t in the right and he wasn’t totally wrong either. But he was being a complete twat.
This situation strikes me as being quite similar.
Not really, I don’t think the two are comparable at all.
For one thing, I don’t think Variant are denying that its in anyway related to Cave Story or at the least, not acknowledging what it is unlike Demonstar and their publishers did with Train Tracking.
I have a great deal of sympathy for the situation Demonstar got themselves in, the lack of support from the publishers for one was shameful - but it was a bloody silly thing not to acknowledge the debt to Sensible Train Spotting the game owed.
I gather Demonstar weren’t actually allowed to comment on it though once it all kicked off.
shrugs
Just in case it wasn’t clear - I’m not defending that bunch of chancers at Variant , I think Derek is bang on the nail with this one.
Well, at either rate, it says on their website, Variant Interactive’s, that Cave Story, for all platforms, will be sold for 30 bucks. O_O
30 bucks. Huh. For a game that will almost certainly feel better to play in the original, fully free version? And it isn’t even an unknown obscure game, it’s a massive internet phenomenom. Practically everybody into freeware or indie games in general knows Cave Story. Unless the majority of its fans are stupid to pay 30 bucks for “updated graphics and sound” (and God knows how much of the game’s personality they will remove with that), this should be a huge flop.
Well, guess we’ll see.
Mr Peckerston: I never said it was PPP! Gah! GAAAH! runs
Derek: Haha, that version of Manic Miner is classic. A chum programmed it and wasn’t too pleased when they slapped them backgrounds in. Luckily Jester is as good as dead, now.
ZombiePixel: When Stuart Campbell did that thing with Train Tracking, it pretty much drove the author out of the shareware scene. :P
Oddbob: Spill! Why weren’t they allowed to comment? Were lawyers involved? SPILL!
Push Push Penguin on the XBox? Sweet. Tell your mate to get a move on Graham - I’ve been waiting for Pen Pen Olympics and Kitty Hawk for ages…
‘Updated’ graphics & sound = puke.
Graham, as far as I remember (and this comes with the disclaimer that I was incredibly inebriated whilst having the tale recounted to me so my memory is a little hazy) it was “suggested” that Demonstar don’t comment on the issue and leave it in the hands of the lawyers.
As far as I’m aware, no action was actually ever taken. (Probably lucky as whilst they’d have a case to get the download removed, the issue of it being a clone of Sensible Traintracking would be hard to dispute)
Far be it from me with my amateur psychology to suggest that it wasn’t Stu who nailed the coffin shut in Demonstars shareware career, mind…but…
Whilst I know Stu hosting the download was certainly a downer, I gather there were a lot of other circumstances around the handling of the game (and changes in location/lifestyle also) that I’d guess were more likely for Demonstar leaving the scene.
Certainly, if I’d signed a contract with the publishers of Train Tracking, I’d probably be wondering why I bother - but maybe thats just me reflecting how I’d deal with it?
‘Course, this is the internet, so it all had to be Stu’s fault really ;)
Anyway, enough of that - its probably boring everyone else so I call 5 hours before the CEO of Variant turns up with the usual spiel trotted out every time the company gets a mention ;)
I’d still wait before I judge it. A consumer is stupid if he/she doesn’t test something before he buys, and if he gets shit - well I guess it was really his bad to buy it just like that. And about that whining: “WHYWHYWHY make commercial port for a freeware-game..” Seems out the original will stay free so.. What’s the problem? Just as I thought, it’s a personal issue. And then it gets projected and spread. And I also agree on a comment that MM is beside the point. I say Derek missed the nail badly.
Pixel wouldn’t get any money out of this deal btw. And don’t you find it suspicious that Variant’s forum has been “moving to another server” since it all kicked off and people started taking them up on stealing this game.
Variant are stealing Cave Story for their own ends, without permission and they’re clearly raping it in the process. It’s pathetic, and judging them by their history, it’s just more of the same freeloading assholery that they’ve been up to for years. Fuck heads.
WHOA!!! SHERLOCK!!! AMAZING!!! ALL TIS’ FROM “moving to another server”-MESSAGE!?!
..uh.. nice thing mr. private dick - um.. but, you’re wrong: Pixel DID get money. Also, you’re fortunetelling abilities doesn’t seem to stop amazing me - without slightest information on what the complete game will be it’s now “raped”. Ok, since I’m only on the human level with my abilities, maybe i should just leave this conversation. “CONGRATS - JOO HAS NOW REECHED A NU LEVEL ON TELEKINESIS, FORESEEING AND PERCEPTION”
Why do you care so much?
Actually, I remember quite clearly that when this first hit, Variant locked all threads on their forums that were discussing this specfic subject, claiming that they were trying to protect their “reputation”.
Oh, and if Shih Tzu is reading, t’would be nice to get his say on it.
I only heard about this from Pixel a couple of days ago. (ufo_z, who also translated Shine Shine Galaxy, contacted him independently.) Pixel is cool with it, apparently, so it sounds good to me.
“this comment was flagged etc.” ha-ha.. yeah! Sure - afraid when someone just doesn’t buy everything he reads from you Derek?
Now I could get all sceptical - you got something to hide? Can’t let me talk out huh? It’s somehow different now, than when there’s not a bunch of FANATICS flipping over hear-say on some forums?! Now this is OK?!
Mr Hooker, sir, you are quite clearly nuts. Nobody is trying to silence you, but when you call people (for example), “mr. private dick”, you shouldn’t be surprised when you’re not taken seriously. And when you use the handle “Hooker with a penis”, you shouldn’t be surprised that an automated spam catcher is holding your comments for moderation.
Shih Tzu: Well, nice to have that confirmed. :)
possibly, but why are my other comments here already, but the one where i answered “why I care” (quite some time ago) is not? I called a person “mr. private-weewee ” who himself called someone fuckhead. If you care so much about the usage of bad-words I can hold the language for now. Just don’t tell mama, ok?
:(
can i skip out on the immediate b-&-f flame war for a moment?
i’m more alarmed at the proposed concept that cave story’s utterly charming and perfectly executed visuals are not already “updated”. the game was completed in ‘05 or ‘06, right? wow, the dark ages, huh? ;P
anyhow, it is a shame - but of course a truth - that lower resolutions = outdated. wouldn’t it be slick if there was a greater appreciation and understanding of the talent and craftsmanship required to rock visuals like those in cave story. ditto for the audio.
apologies for preaching to the choir…
Go fuck yourself, shill.
So I take it there isn’t an answer to why you care so much?
I’m just curious what motivates you.
Hooker, I have a bunch of naughty words flagged for the blacklist, so just relax, no one is trying to silence you. Not that I won’t silence you in the future, because you are an annoying prick. :)
Also, why don’t YOU tell US how you know that Pixel got the money? Hah?
yep. the only statement from pixel on the matter was that he didn’t support the variant version of the game. so maybe do a bit of your own detective work HWAP before shouting out :)
Seconded, show me where (Besides Variant talking out of their ass) Pixel got ANYTHING from these people. And while we’re talking about people talking out of their ass, why don’t you stop doing the same HwaP
Sorry for the flaming all, sorry Derek! Ok, I did some research - and ta-duh. Yep, was WRONG. Didn’t get proof he got the money. Fine. However, doesn’t change the fact that pixel was ok with it so. I don’t just see any point in that. MY QUESTION NOW, after this horrendous amount of humilation I’ve brought upon myself is: “why the fuck didn’t pixel ask anything?” I can now agree on that freeloader part on Variant, but um.. When a guy makes this amazing game and spends years on it - he just gives it away like that, we are only pointing to the firm that gets it? Isn’t that way of “not standing for your own” what encourages the bad sort of commercialism, then? To be honest I thought this smelled fishy, and I based a lot of that shouting on to something that wasn’t affirmed - On assumption. A MAJOR MAJOR STUPID MISTAKE FROM ME. Maybe I’ve fallen lower than you, yeah. Still, I think your not being entirely honest about the subject here. Ok, since I’ve fucked up myself quite a lot, lemme still remind you that it’s as stupid as I was to say “Updated graphics & music = poop” without seeing it. How about: “I already thought the original had superb..”. Anyway, now I understand why all that fuzz.
..But Jesus, still? Has Pixel lil’ problems with decisions? (ah the irony don’t start please =D)
“haowan said 1 day later:
yep. the only statement from pixel on the matter was that he didn’t support the variant version of the game. so maybe do a bit of your own detective work HWAP before shouting out :)”
okay.. based mine on assumption, my bad - but why the hell guy would give the game away without a fight and legal actions? I just don’t get it..
..Ok, Now after we’ve had a reasonable amount of crossfire after I went bill Hicks on your ass, can we put this aside.. maybe over time? ..pretty-please?
Sure thing buddy. The guy probably can’t afford international lawyers or something, I don’t know how these things work. He’d probably have to prove he was out of pocket… which is impossible I guess as it’s a free game. IANAL, wish I did have the answers to these questions but I don’t. Simple answer is, what would YOU do? Probably, it it were me, fire off a few angry emails, maybe a letter, look in to lawyer costs, give up hope and post around on message boards about it.
Wait, where and when did Pixel say he WASN’T okay with the Variant version?
It was on his site. He has a small guestbook there which serves as a kind of BBS.
James: Kitty Hawk’ll happen! Once Wizball is done it’s priority number 1.
I think it’s pretty difficult for a Japanese company, let alone a Japanese individual, to sue a U.S. company for infringing their copyright.
Similarly, I believe in Japan there was a game called Guitar Freaks that came out long before Guitar Hero. If Guitar Freaks had been an American game, you think Guitar Hero would have gone anywhere?
hmm.. interesting, I must check if this guestbook in english. me wants to read it myself! About Guitar-games though, was it from an entirely different company and without involvement of any contracts? Sorry to ask so much questions - since i’m not that familiar with the subject. So, on with the thing - Seems pretty grim for the independent developer. How do you think then, these kind of things could be avoided in the future? The problem I see is: where to draw the line. Of course it’s not entirely a same thing but for example in music bussiness there are (or more evidently were) bands who play something that has a new vibe and it makes big - you can take led zeppelin/black sabbath ( biggest around 70’s) and wolfmother (all guys born in 80’s) as an example. It’s a fact that Zep did the thing first and it was their thing - still people who’ve never heard of zep can fall in love with wolfmother and it will stick with them as the first band that opened their ears for that stuff. Now I can’t blame them.
Uh.. so It’s quite shitty - now lying and stealing is definetly wrong. And boy would I loose it if someone would steal my art/entertainment from me, especially if I would still be on bussiness. It’s also very understandable that if you’ll love making games/music/art/movies you’ll want to do bussiness with it, who wants to spent 8hrs a day in a work he/she dislikes? I guess it’s just too easy these days to grab someone elses idea and get it published as own. Now on Freeware there’s no such problem since all payment will be cheers, and no money. There similatirities can easily be spotted as paid respect and tribute. Very fine indeed I don’t know - It’s really such a grey area that you’ll have to have a lot of inside knowledge before anyone can make up their mind. I guess we’rea all plagiarists, but the biggest scum are those who steal, work less and get most money.
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I suppose I should get kanji-support. =)
I suppose I should get kanji-support. =)
Just to fire him up again:
http://community.livejournal.com/doukutsu/92540.html?thread=879996#t879996
Be a seriousness! You think of that you comment in this blog here where really pixel it comes? The time when the fact that celebration false comment is translated is tried was made wasteful:)
Eh eh that was me.. i tried a joke.. haha
Kinda thought, but hey, couldn’t read a thing on it - unless you just hammered on “?” =D Ok, you made good one, master splinter!