HOZER Stealing Again PLEASE READ

[neotokeo2001]

spudsatarigames (Hozer) has listed a copy of Wolfenstein on EBAY. After they were selling Santas Helper last year I contacted them and was told that they didn't know it was my game they were making copies of. I was told that if they wanted to make copies of any of my games in the future that I would be contacted first. Well, I wasn't contacted and since they mention Robert and I in the listing then they obviously know it is our work. I have never asked for royalties from anyone for selling my hacks/games and I don't think an e-mail is too much to ask. They even used an old label that I made.



Auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wolfenstein-An-Atari-2...1QQcmdZViewItem

Most everyone here knows the history of Hozer/Randy so I won't go into that.
Please report this item to EBAY to get this auction pulled.

If things like this continue to happen I will never release another BIN. I don't profit off of these games/hacks and I refuse to allow other people to do so without at least contacting me first.

Thanks for reading.

Scott

[neotokeo2001]

Just for the record here is an e-mail from spudsatarigames that I received December 16 in relation to Santas Helper:

Hello Steve,

Its Kieran here from spudsatarigames. I took Santa's Helper off eBay after receiving your note in order to see if I can work it out with to sell your game with your permission.

First of all I am not some hardcore business, but I sell Atari 2600 games for fun and to earn some extra cash from time to time. I asked Randy (Hozer) to make the carts knowing that no one was actively selling them. As you know the ROM is freely available from multiple places on the web and so I did not think there would be any problem. Obviously, in this case, I was wrong and I apologize.

I purchase the carts from Hozer at cost of parts, and so he is not making any profits from our deal. I would like to know if there is a way I can sell this cart with your permission on eBay? What would it take to work out a deal with you? Of course, if you don't wish for me to sell your hack I will honor your request.

I look forward to hearing from you about this matter

Kieran

He states my name in the auction but I have never received a message concerning Wolfenstein. As anyone who has ever sold my games knows, I have a very steep price for selling my hacks.
1. Ask me first
2. Send me a copy
Thats it. I know it is a steep price to pay but I'm not budging! As I stated before, I offer these games at cost, Not For Profit and then most only in Limited runs of 20-30 cartridges.

In the case of Wolfenstein and a few other games I have made agreements with specific websites that they be sold only through that website. I know that the majority of my games are hacks and that I have no legal recourse in protecting those hacks, But he also does this with legitimate homebrews. My recourse is that I can stop offering the BIN files of my games to play on emulators. I would prefer not to do that but I will if need be.

[neotokeo2001]

Just to prove that he is also using my old label art as well.



I post small versions of all of my labels and from the quality it looks like he just blew up the small image and added that Hozer face to it. I know for a fact that it is my label. If you look closely under the Wolfenstein logo you will see some areas of black that are a different shade. You will see some squiggles and splotches. My old monitor had trouble displaying different shades of black so I wasn't aware that those areas were visible. Of course the label on EBAY has the same marks.

[neotokeo2001]

Just for the record:

spudsatarigames (Kieran) has pulled the auction and sent me a message through EBAY apologizing for the listing.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

[gepeto]

Can you provide a brief recap of the history of wolfenstien for the 2600. I have never seen one for the 2600 did you once sell them?.

[neotokeo2001]

Can you provide a brief recap of the history of wolfenstien for the 2600. I have never seen one for the 2600 did you once sell them?.

Wolfenstein started out as a basic graphic hack of Venture for the Atari 2600. All graphics were changed to reflect a World War II German castle with mostly human enemies. All of the treasures in the rooms were changed to mundane things like a radio, first aid kit, ID, etc.
Nothing really mind blowing, Just Venture with a face-lift.

Robert M, A very talented programmer liked the look of the game and offered to help make some changes to the game. Originally this was going to be just some new floor plans and rooms for the game. But Robert was actually able to change the basic weapon to a knife and then you had to find the gun in one of the first floor rooms to be able to use it. So now those treasures that use to just give you points now actually did something. The gun pickup lets you have a long distance weapon with a limited bullet supply. But don't worry, You can find more bullets in other rooms. The first aid kit replenished your health. There were plans to use the map, radio and nazi war plans to do other things but it never worked out.

The original title screen was just the word Wolfenstein, But later a Castle was added to the title screen. I contacted Id software in the hopes of getting permission to use actual Wolfenstein art for the label but was greeted by a reply that was somewhat confused that anyone actually cared about the Atari 2600. It was decided to abandon the direct Castle Wolfenstein tie-in and go with an original story and label art in the spirit of that game.

Here are all of the changes made to Venture in the original Wolfenstein VCS:

Wolfenstein VCS Changes:

1. Added a title screen
2. All graphics changed for monsters, maps, items, and rooms.
3. All sound FX altered.
4. The scoring system was changed.
5. Touching a corpse no longer hurts the player.
6. The monster corpses are animated to fade away.
7. In the big rooms, the SS guards now patrol in predictable patterns.
8. The game ends after completing 8 levels of play, and shows a victory screen.
9. The movement pattern of the large hall monsters (SS guards entering a room) was changed so that the player can get past the SS guard to the exit.
10. The moving wall room was altered so that the player MUST cross the path of at least 2 walls (or one wall twice).
11. Random moving walls sped up in later levels.
12. For the first 2 levels all room layouts, monsters and items are the same every time you play. For the remaining 3 pairs of levels, however, the room position, room mirroring/non-mirroring, monsters, and monster starting positions are randomized, making 224 possible room/monster configurations.
13. The unlimited arrows weapon for the player was replaced by a long-range gun with limited ammo, and a knife with short range but unlimited use.
14. The score display was altered. The 2 permanent trailing zeros were removed from the score display and recycled as an active weapon icon and ammo indicator bar.
15. The player starts with 4 extra lives not 3.
16. Some items do more than award points. The gun and ammo give the player the gun weapon. The player starts with only the knife. The medkit restores one life up to a maximum of 4 in reserve.
17. There is an additional hidden/secret level to be found

Wolfenstein VCS was released in a Limited Edition of 125 Boxed copies by Packrat Videogames. You would have to check at the Packrat Website to see if any are still available.

After the original release Robert and I revisted the original Wolfenstein primarily to add animation to the enemy sprites. I had also heard complaints that the original version used too many dark graphics. Those items were addressed and much more to boot. Here are the changes made to the original Wolfenstein VCS in it's sequel Wolfenstein: The Next Mission.

1. There are 4 level layouts that repeat twice to make 8 levels rather than 2 layouts repeated 4 times.
2. Updated some colors to make them brighter.
3. The patrolling guards have 4 starting positions now. In the original they had only two starting positions.
4. Picking up the gun or ammo gives you exactly 8 bullets total. So the player can never have more than 8 bullets on hand. This ups the difficulty a pinch. 8 bullets is also the number of bullets in a German Luger pistol, and the max number shown by the ammo bar, so I think it works well.
5. Fixed a bug in the original for randomizing room contents that made ammo show up either too often or not enough.
6. The secret level is easier to find.
7. Updated two zoomed room layouts. One has a minor change, the other has a complete overhaul.
8. All enemies are animated with 2-frames.
9. Changed some of the enemies to creatures so it's not just room after room of guards.

Wolfenstein: The Next Mission is the definitive version of the game and is still available at www.AtariAge.com

The artist (Dave Dries) who did the label artwork has also designed an all new color Instruction Manual with many more original pieces of art. Everyone involved in making Wolfenstein: The Next Mission has waived any royalties to keep the price low. It is only $20 and that price pays for the supplies and labor to produce the Wolfenstein package. It can get more info, reviews, screenshots and purchase the game here:
http://www.atariage.com/store/index....roducts_id=824

[gepeto]

WOW the talant that is out there is amazing thanks for the update and the links.