Am I the only one who doesn't care about "homebrew"

[Cmosfm]

I see that lots of people seem to be interested in these. I just don't feel that having a game that someone or somepeople made adds to a collection at all. It's, in my opinion, like having a gallery of picasso masterpieces and right in the middle hanging up a picture that your little brother colored.

I dunno, I just don't seem to care about having any homebrew games...maybe I'm missing the point here?

[Cmosfm]

the topic title was supposed to be "homebrew games" but it looks like it got cut off...oh well

[Raccoon Lad]

While not essential to a collection, I don't agree with the kid drawing thing.

Many homebrews are better than the quality of released games, and are fun pieces to have in a collection.

[Sanriostar]

I see that lots of people seem to be interested in these. I just don't feel that having a game that someone or somepeople made adds to a collection at all. It's, in my opinion, like having a gallery of picasso masterpieces and right in the middle hanging up a picture that your little brother colored.

I dunno, I just don't seem to care about having any homebrew games...maybe I'm missing the point here?

aw 'cmon! Many of the homebrews are better than some of the dreck made during the 2600's heyday. Which would you rather play? Space Treat and Skeleton, or Ssssssssnnnnnake and Mythicon?

[Cmosfm]

No no no, I said that wrong. I didn't mean that the quality of the games were terrible like a kid drawing. Let me try this again...

Its like having a collection of baseball cards, And then having a photograph of your cousin dressed up like a baseball player with his stats written on the back.

Better...I didn't mean it like that, but I can see how it was taken wrong.

[Sniderman]

To me, it's a"play" vs. "collect" thing. You collect the old stuff - and there are some good things to play in there, no doubt. But that appears to be your primary concern. Homebrews (with few exceptions) have no "collectability" value at this point.

However, if I want to PLAY something fun, I'll pick up a homebrew everytime. these are new games made by gamers like me (and not by some committee from back-in-the-day). These games also are improved by the many years of experience garned in programming since the early days. For example, compare 2600 homebrews Marble Craze or Thrust+ with Warlords or Adventure. All four are GREAT fun. But the graphics and music/sound on the newer games is better. Why? Because over the last 25 years, programmers have mapped out and learned about every little nuance they can exploit to create amazing looking/sounding/playing games. Programmers "back then" were still learning daily just what the hardware was capable of.

So, collect the old stuff. PLAY the new stuff.

[Atari7800]

I'm all for homebrews if they are done well, and many are. I'll bet many of the old games were done by programmers with little enthusiam for what they were doing, and on a very tight time schedule to boot.

Nowadays we have LOADS of support documentation for the old systems, and anyone hardcore enough to program a game isn't doing it for profit... it's PASSION for the system and the game. Scheduling doesn't seem to be an issue... it's released when it's finished.

Koffi for the Atari 5200 is a great example... a great homebrew that surpasses many of the original 5200 games.

I thought Klax for the 5200 could have been better though.

Speaking of old 5200 games... Congo Bongo sucks. If the Bounty Bob games could have so many (albiet simplistic) boards, why couldn't Sega have included all four boards from the arcade game instead of screwing us with only two? Seems that happened a lot in the "old" days.

[Cmosfm]

While I collect and play, I actually do more collecting of older games and playing of newer games (ps2, gcn, etc).

I checked some of the prices of homebrew games...and there going at 20.00 and up. I just can't see paying 20.00 for an atari game. But then again, I'm a collector spoiled by flea market prices.

Anyways, while I have to say that some older games can be fun, I'd much rather spend 20.00 on a GH PS2 title with tons of more play time on it.

[christianscott27]

depends on the platform and the programmer of course. the 2600 for example has some great homebrews but a lot of "my first program" type stuff. granted coding in assembly looks pretty hard, beyond me at any rate.

the vectrex homebrew scene on the other hand is amazing, its doubled the number of games available and with few exceptions they are some of the BEST games for the system.

what i really admire about the homebrew scene is that it allows for one man efforts. back in the classic era most games from start to finish were the work of one programmer and i think thats important for creative reasons.

[Ed Oscuro]

Coding in ASM (assembly) isn't as hard as people make it out to be, especially on the older systems. The problem is finding time and the resources to learn ASM for an ancient system, no easy deal there (especially if it's your first system to learn assembly on...'nuff said!). The good thing about ASM for an older system is that you don't have to deal with all the extra opcodes on, say, new Intel processors, no OS stuff, no Windows API calls...you'll miss the extra processing power given by those instructions, sure, but at the end of the day we're still talking about good old fashioned Atari games.

I myself have an interest in homebrew games, not so much for collecting but seeing what can be done on older systems. As people don't make homebrew PC stuff like they used to in the 90s, the older systems are pretty much the only place you'll find that sort of simple platformer game being made anymore (nevermind the abominations from various Games Creator packages out there...ugh)

[MarioAllStar2600]

I buy homebrews for playing not collecting. The only Homebrew I don't play is Venture 2 (CGE Edition) which I payed 20 bucks for so it dont bother me that I dont play. But It looks crazy cool.

[Cmosfm]

Marioallstar...I've been meaning to ask you how old you are? I seen a picture of you on the pics page and you look quite young but your always talking about this expensive shit you buy all the time!

How in the world do you get money for it all! But then again, maybe you aren't young...just young looking!

[MarioAllStar2600]

14. Im pretty young, but I meet legal workign age.
Summer Money is easy I work in a cabinet shop making 8 bucks an hour. Thats how I went to CGE with so much money. I save up B-day and holiday money for games. i invested in stocks 2 years ago and that just paid for my Burgertime machine.

Its all about not having to pay taxes or anything. I just manage my money from tehre I guess. My parents buy me stuff, but my Video Game collection is one thing that I have paid for all by myself.

[oesiii]

If you don't like getting the homebrew games to play then that's cool. But your Picasso and art analogy only holds if people were only collectors and wanted a complete set of Atari games from 1977-1990 and that's it, who cares what the new generation of programmers are doing.

But I see it as an extension of the art, so Picasso did some masterpieces, now no other artists are allowed to come up with new and innovative works that may become masterpieces in their own time?

The old games are there and they are pretty much set in stone, so if you look at it like a collector you may not get into the homebrew scene. But if you love to play the games especially the active 2600 and Vectrex scenes, there's really no good reason not to try out some of the awesome games coming out for them. $20+ is a reasonable price for the materials and the programmer's art. But reasonable is different for everyone :)

[Sniderman]

I work in a cabinet shop making 8 bucks an hour. Thats how I went to CGE with so much money. I save up B-day and holiday money for games. i invested in stocks 2 years ago and that just paid for my Burgertime machine.

:eek 2: When I was 14, I was pulling down $15 a week with a paper route. At least we now know how you can raise/spent the kind of loot we've seen each CGE. The Mystery of "Moneybags" Marty is solved! LOL

Investing in stocks too? You are quite the savvy dude. I may have you tweak my 401K!

[Jive3D]

I would have had a shitload more money when I was 14 (10 years ago) if I didnt blow all of it on CDs all the time.

Honestly, If I could have been DLing music my whole life, I would have had so much extra cash for games. dam.

power to ya MarioAllStar

[maxlords]

Personally, since I don't collect anything pre-NES, there are almost NO homebrews for me to pick up. The few that there are for Duo and Sega CD don't interest me, so I never bother with the things.

[Cmosfm]

I believe marioallstar is destined for greatness...either he will become a millionaire or will die lonely living with his parents.

One extreme or the other...only time will tell. I think he will become rich in the stock market and marry a fine women who will satisfy his every freaky desire....one diamond ring at a time. :D

[RoboticParanoia]

Something tells me it's the millionaire extreme...I mean if he's 14 and invested in stocks...

On topic though,

I would like to play and make homebrew games, but I don't know any ASM. So, the best I can do is ROM hacks. And I'm slowly untangling the hexadecimel tangle, so that's good as well.

[GamecubeFreek]

Back on topic....I dont really care about homebrews, but that might just be because Ive never played one. I never buy stuff of the internet, and I have yet to go to an expo, so I dont think there are anyways for me to get them. Oh well, Ill stick to my professional stuff...Just got a complete Streets of Rage :D I know thats not really impressive, but I have to live in my own world if Im gonna be happy. I cant let a bunch of people with money and the resources to get to expos get me down, right??!!?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I love homebrews, unreleased/unfinished pro titles given the dolled-up treatment, the works, you name it. I love 'em. I couldn't code 2600 ASM to save my mortal soul, so I support the homebrewers however I can: providing label/manual artwork, giving them plugs on my site, and BUYING THEIR GAMES whenever finances allow. They've tapped into the "game that doesn't take 14 months to finish" thing that I love so much, of course I'm going to support them.

I just wish there were more Odyssey2 homebrewers, or that I knew enough about programming the not-so-mighty Intel 8048 chip to make up for that perceived gap. :)