WANTED - SNES developer

Hello Guys, I was sent here by a friend,

I am currently working in opening a video game publishing/developing company, and also releasing the firs SNES game. I have a partner/relationship with a clone console Company in the US and they are very excited about seeing SNES games being released.

I currently work with Developers that do homebrew as a Hobby, and they do not have much time for future or current project.

I am looking for someone that has experience in working with the SNES SDK, is a good sprite designer, and is willing to work either by contract or revenue share.

I have about 2-3 games that I would like to get done, at least 1 this year.

Please let me know if you think you can be that person, you can pm for more info.

Thanks!

 

SNES SDK? Homebrew as a Hobby? Leaving their current Project? New SNES games in 2013?
It sounds all very fishy to me.
People with an official SNES SDK can't work on any Homebrew Project, especially as a Hobby.
They can't leave their current Wii (U), X360, or PS3 Project for later, they have work to do and deadlines to make.
SNES games won't be released officially in 2013, and any further development without letting Nintendo know about is strictly illegal.
Besides, clones are illegal as well.

Long story short: Nobody that actually works in the Games Industry will help you, sorry.

 

What?

People could easily do this in their spare time - people who arent even programmers by day. Also, homebrew gets released for these type of consoles (look at the dreamcast) without approval from the people who made the console. You dont need it.

How about someone out of work? job market isnt brilliant and someone might have a lot of free tim.

In short, you are talking nonsense.

 

Does your 'you are talking nonsense' nonsense change, if I tell you I'm a student Game Programmer?
Real Game Developers hardly have any spare time, and breaking the rules will get them out of the industry.
Homebrewers could indeed help, but do you think someone will?
I always fail at getting Homebrewers to even make a simple 3D Model for me, or even figure out how a function works.
They all keep saying like, "Sorry, I didn't start.".

 

No, it doesnt change my opinion of how much nonsense you are talking. If anything, it just increases it. Students dont know anything, you learn theory and not the real world. The number of graduates that I have had come into my work places thinking they know everything, to just find out the hard way they know nothing.

Nothing personal, but its just my experience of students. See HEX1GON's sig for my previous comments on the matter: http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/member.php?63303-HEX1GON&tab=aboutme#aboutme

 

That is why he posted this forum. The people he has now aren't helping. He is making SNES games that a 3rd party company is making onto game carts that work on the SNES. Your correct in everything you say about modern game programing, but for programming retro things, even in the time when the console was modern, many people made and continue to mace games withoout the developers approval.

 

I presume you're talking about Nesdev, so if they won't help you you're pretty much SOL. Might want to try ROM hacking circles... but the talent there is slim (but probably better than here, to be honest). Besides I think you're significantly underestimating the talent and effort required to pull off a profitable homebrew. Anyone serious about signing onto a project will need to know exactly what assets you have to offer, how they can hold you and other team members accountable, and what you actually bring to the table besides being a director/manager/kid with a dream. Even if I was actively into SNESdev and looking to join a team I would immediately pass on this since my skepticism is through the roof.

 

Bad_Ad84, seriously, I only get lessons from Industry professionals (with experience of 10 years or more).
But still, Student, Developer, or none, you should at least admit you're incorrect.

 

Speaking for the US, clones are NOT illegal. Pirate clones that try to pass for the real thing are illegal. Don't assume that everything is patented either. Sometimes, even having copyrighted or trademarked code needed to boot is perfectly legal, which is why unofficial Gameboy games are legal. Using that example: the GB looks for the Nintendo logo in each cartridge and displays it at boot and refuses to boot if it isn't found or doesn't match. That's why it can be corrupted sometimes and blank others and why it is blank when you boot with no game pak inserted. In unofficial carts there is sometimes hardware that will present the proper bytes that form the logo when those addresses are first checked and then substitute them with their actual logo when the routine for showing it on the screen checks those same addresses again.

Let's put this another way: The NES was neither the first nor the last 6502 computer. Nintendo's own device is technically a clone.

 

Actually CZroe, SNES clones may indeed be illegal if SNES components or the system as a whole is still under patent. Until the patents expire (they did for the NES already) it is illegal to make and sell those clones. It's all about patents when it comes to hardware, though in cases of BIOS roms you might have copyright which lasts alot longer, and might as well be forever these days.

 

There is plenty of talent that is capable of helping the op, whether or not they want to help or if they feel his proposal is worth doing - is another matter. Or even if the OP is legit or not - is not the point.

You came out with blanket statements, that read just like a student repeating what they have been told. The SNES SDK can be downloaded easily enough - you post assumed its not on the internet and only people who are supposed to have it actually have it. You also assume it has to be someone who already works in the industry, which it doesnt. This shows you are talking from just theory, rather than fact.

There is also an open SDK thats not official Nintendo - which could be used without licensing/legal issues.

The clone hardware - might be an issue, but not the ops. Hes just making the software, his hardware partner would need to deal with that.

See Calpis's post for the real answers.

I doubt this project will go anywhere (I share your concerns that it seems fishy), but you were making plenty of inaccurate assumption.

 

A patent on an eject lever or cartridge locking mechanism wouldn't be a problem for a clone that doesn't need to clone that functionality to work. Other than things like lockout chips, controllers, casings, and other stuff clones don't need to copy excatly, Nintendo didn't make most components and most were available to competitors or are available today. For example, Sony has no reason not to sell or license the SNES' SPC700 audio tech that they aren't using unless some old contract forbids it, but why assume there is? Are we assuming that there are patents on the required technologies for executing the software? There certainly weren't any on the original IBM PC when Compaq cloned it... legally.

Assuming such things sets a bad precedent and stifles competition by putting too much power in the hands of companies instead of consumers. I've seen people assume that we didn't have the right to a backup just because a company told us that. I've seen people assume that emulation was illegal just because someone told them it was. Often, it's just the extreme fanboy but sometimes the misconception is broad enough that the public and officials may legislate with that assumption and we lose rights. It's happening right now as they try to make ESRB ratings legally binding. The MPAA's movie ratings aren't legally binding. The right to free speech prevents the government from blocking the sale of a game just the same as a movie unless the content can be shown to be damaging to the health of the group. Rather than the government establishing that "violent or pornographic" images are damaging to the health of a child and wrenching control of the industry away from them, the industry self-regulates. Treating video game industry self regulation any differently just because they are always wrongly blamed for causing violence is silly. I've watched news people sit there and tell viewers that the ratings are only on the BACK of the box and are too tiny to see, both of which are patently untrue. Ever compare the tiny rating on a DVD to the big rating on the front of a game's box? Ever notice that no console manufacturers will allow an ESRB-rated AO title or an unrated title? Ever notice that the ONLY unrated retail games are PC games and yet "unrated" DVDs are so common that they are sometimes the only version released of a particular movie? That's the kind of thing that results when you let misconceptions and assumptions drive policy toward technology.

 

If this even flies, I assume any person developing for the OP would want to be paid upfront. It's just too risky otherwise.

 

Leaving aside any legality issues, there's a good reason why homebrew programmers work in their spare time - because they have a job that keeps a roof over their head!

Regardless of whether it's in the games industry or not, programmers earn a good salary. Experienced programmers will earn around $50,000 - $120,000 a year. Graduate programmers would probably get somewhere in the $30,000 - $50,000 range.

So, if you want a programmer who can dedicate all their time to you, you'll have to pay them accordingly. That means probably at least $500 - $1,000 a week. I recall Microsoft offering £200 a day ($300) to programmers to work on Kinect games when they were introduced. I'd say that gives you a fair idea of what someone would expect on contract.

As for revenue share, well I don't think you're going to get many interested parties if there IS part of the project that isn't legitimate. Technically, you shouldn't use Nintendo trademarks (e.g. Nintendo, Super Nintendo), you can't use their logo and, as has been said before, the hardware and code probably contains patented/copyrighted materials that can't be copied, e.g. the BIOS.

I also agree that you need to state what YOU bring to the table, as I'm afraid if you're just a video game fan hoping to get people to do all the hard work for you and get rich, you're very misguided if you think anyone will help. If you're a rich bastard who fancies throwing some money on a gamble that may not take off, then you may get some interest... and if you have industry experience of running such projects, then so much the better. Not having a go at you per se, but I've seen fanboys try this sort of thing before, even rich fanboys going around throwing money at dev gear without having a clue how it works (or that they technically can't use the software legally) and it always goes nowhere.

 

I'm interested in one day making a game for the SNES, it'll probably never happen but it's nice to have aspirations for the future.
As to paying someone to make a SNES game... Lol, just no. SNES would needed to be coded in assembly, and there's a lot of (good I might add) mario hacks that people have made and are still making - none of them have a price attached because if they did - no-one would bother getting them.

Good luck trying to find someone to do something as a hobby/in spare time/not for money, but if you're offering money or trying to get money, you are so out of the times and luck it'll never happen. Lots of effort is needed to code in assembly and get the SNES to do anything - basic. Takes 20 minutes to setup a C++ compiler and build environment whereby you can make a complex 3D game running on PC and consoles.

 

@YamiHoshi.nl, your talking dutch nonsense, in the Netherlands we do have pro gamers companies, but all the people of this industry ive spoken to are doing awesome stuff in the litle spare time they have. Even some ppl how just entered into this GD industry told me that If you like it, one can make stuff in the time thats left.

I hope you are not following some HBO opleiding, because most of the teachers there are not realy prof. GD teachers. Uni im not sure.
i'm a student myself and over a weekend a classmate made a small SNES demo, and he is just like me A Hardware guy, no game dev related at all. So anyone with a Pro job can dev any game, especially snes or nes or any oldschool. Just experienced programmers with a mind to do a job

People who really don't have time? people who use their spare time for family, racecars, casino, drugs, woman, Building arcade-cabinets, sleeping... Or just so busy with work, they work at home aswell.

 

Game development is a lot of work, and requires talent in many disciplines. If you look in the credits of the average SNES game, it will likely be at least a dozen people working on the game. It's a lot more for the average modern game. Games made by individuals are small projects now.

At this point in time, it's basically infeasible to develop SNES games for a profit. A game programmer will demand a certain amount of salary to make games. Where would you find enough people who still have a working SNES and would be willing to buy a new game for it? You'd have to charge enough to pay your expenses - including the electronics that are part of every cartridge - at which point you'd be competing against games on Steam at the least. While nostalgia would help a little - Rockman 9 and 10 sold decently - you're still going to have trouble finding enough buyers.

For the past 15 years, most playing of SNES games has been on emulators with pirated ROMs. Even if you did release an amazing game, it'd get pirated immediately unless you took considerable measures to make copying difficult. This means you'd have to pay for a hardware engineer to make custom chips, and pay for one of these chips to be in each cartridge.

You'd be much better off making games for iOS and Android.

 

Wow!

I totally forgot to subscribe to this thread sorry about that!

Well, it is not that the current developers are not helping, it is that they have their day job, and I feel bad if I put alot of pressure, or expect them to work on their spare time on our projects.

That's why I want more people under my "team" because then I can spread the work and let everybody relax.

As for the "SDK" probably I should have left that term out and use SNES Library, you can find it here: Link


This is my current project : New SNES Multicart


As for Clone consoles, Patent is expired, since 2006 I believe for the NES; and they are backward engineered, rather than cloned.

Sorry I took to long to answer!

 

Just because a patent has expired, doesn't mean the protection has. Patents can also be renewed. Whether Nintendo bothered, I don't know.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2457/nintendo_entertainment_system__.php

 

No, NES and SNES unofficial consoles are clones of the original systems. They are not reverse engineered. They are literally clones of the Integrated Circuits. Someone took an entire system and a microscope or some other device and just looked at the chips once decapped and photographed/copied all that was there and it was cloned. The term reverse engineered implies more effort and a different result. These people just copied it/cloned it.