The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone

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The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone
by on (#118364)
The CGA Collection is a collection of public domain DOS games including source-codes (however, some may have trademark or copyright issues so you shouldn't use/sell them commercially; I have put no such restriction on it, though), all of which use the low resolution CGA text and graphics modes.

Download: http://zzo38computer.org/GAMES/CGACOLL.ZIP

You can comment on any of these games (even if you have made additional levels, changes to the codes, or whatever), although the main thing I am discussing here is the "Attribute Zone" game (ATTRZONE.EXE).

It is a game which I eventually may put in NES/Famicom, since that is its intention (although the size of the board will differ). Each 2x2 zone can contain only one non-white color of pieces, and only eight sprites per row are possible (if something tries to move that would violate these conditions, it instead doesn't move). It is limited to 64 sprites like in Famicom, and sprites do not overlap.

This PC version does include a level editor (put /E on command-line; see source-codes for details). I don't know whether or not the Famicom version would have a level editor; if so, probably it will use the keyboard and tape (the main game uses only the standard controller though).

If you want to, as well as comment/question/suggestion/complaint, you can also make up some levels for this game, and they can be put in Famicom game too.

To make up this Famicom game, some things would have to be decided, such as RAM layout, ROM layout, mapper to use, etc. One possibility is using oversize CNROM and storing the level data in CHR ROM, and one of the CHR banks is used for the graphics (or having one for graphics of game play and one for graphics of menu). (Due to the way the PPU advances the address, it may be convenient to load the levels from CHR ROM if rendering is disabled.)
Re: The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone
by on (#118400)
zzo38 wrote:
The CGA Collection is a collection of public domain DOS games including source-codes (however, some may have trademark or copyright issues so you shouldn't use/sell them commercially; I have put no such restriction on it, though)


Just to be clear, these are free-as-in-beer games, not public domain, right? Public domain would mean that they are not subject to any copyright (e.g. copyright has expired).
Re: The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone
by on (#118408)
snarfblam wrote:
zzo38 wrote:
The CGA Collection is a collection of public domain DOS games including source-codes (however, some may have trademark or copyright issues so you shouldn't use/sell them commercially; I have put no such restriction on it, though)


Just to be clear, these are free-as-in-beer games, not public domain, right? Public domain would mean that they are not subject to any copyright (e.g. copyright has expired).
No, they are really public domain (there is no copyright on them at all), although they may involve copyrighted/trademarked likenesses; if you are worried about lawsuits you can easily change them though (since the software itself is public domain, there is no restriction against such uses).

To be specific, there is no restriction on the software to prevent from selling it (or from modifying it, although you will need a compatible compiler), although I would advise against it (although I am not a lawyer).
Re: The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone
by on (#118466)
Are you the author of all these games?
Re: The CGA Collection / Attribute Zone
by on (#118476)
Dwedit wrote:
Are you the author of all these games?
Currently, yes, although I also welcome contributions that follow the same format.