Why don't devs of 'retro' indie games just make homebrew?

[AppleQueso]

I want to start out by saying that I'm not talking about stuff that's intended to make a profit, there's pretty obvious reasons why someone trying to sell there stuff via appstore, PSN, Steam, etc wouldn't want to go this route. I'm mainly talking about freeware indie game developers.

Indie games with retro stylings have kinda been an in thing lately. Many go to great lengths to emulate the look and feel of certain old game systems. What I'm wondering is why do these developers bother trying to make your game look and feel like a Genesis game when you could just... make a Genesis game? It would make the experience a lot more authentic, that's for sure.

Just imagine if Eversion was Master System homebrew or something!

I'm sure you could make a case for limiting one's audience, but really anyone who's looking to download a freeware indie game that looks like a Genesis game is probably going to already have or know how to get and configure Kega Fusion anyway.

Is it simply a case of having an aversion to assembly code or something? I know from experience that transitioning from something like Multimedia Fusion to any sort of real programming can be a bit of a learning curve for example, but it seems worth it to me.

What do you think?

[BoringSupreez]

I think it's just harder to make a game for a retro console than it is to program a PC game that looks like an old console game.

[AppleQueso]

I think it's just harder to make a game for a retro console than it is to program a PC game that looks like an old console game.

I'd wager it's not as much harder as one might think. I mean for one, you're already working within actual hardware limitations as opposed to going out of your way to fake those limitations.

[alienjesus]

Yeah, pretty sure it's the difficulty of programming the old consoles compared to simplicity of scripting a game on a PC in a simpler language or with pre-made tools.

[theclaw]

Most such games are in effect catastrophically optimized for what they are. Using engines that wouldn't begin to resemble playable state on anything multiple times the hardware power their intended look suggests.

[isiolia]

I think it's just harder to make a game for a retro console than it is to program a PC game that looks like an old console game.

I'd wager it's not as much harder as one might think. I mean for one, you're already working within actual hardware limitations as opposed to going out of your way to fake those limitations.

Outside of it definitely being far more difficult...

Doing so would limit their options. If it needs a repro cart and a console, or an emulator, you add a hurdle for people to play the game. You make distribution harder on yourself, since now you need to mail out physical objects, negotiate distributing an emulator with your game, or just plain answering more questions about how to get it to run.

Using modern tools to make a modern game that runs on modern hardware and just looks like an older game means you can bend the rules if you want. Put a CD-quality sountrack in, use more color or larger sprites than old consoles actually did, whatever.
I guess in a way, you can make games like people remember them rather than how they actually were.

[MrPopo]

Because making games for old hardware involves writing everything in assembly, while making things for new hardware lets you use a high-level language.

Compare C to x86 assembly:

Code: Select all

 #include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    printf("hello, world\n");
    return 0;
}

Code: Select all

.model small
.stack 100h
 
.data
msg     db      'Hello world!$'
 
.code
start:
        mov     ah, 09h 
        lea     dx, msg
        int     21h
        mov     ax, 4C00h 
        int     21h
 
end start

It is MUCH easier to make a low-res game using a modern language.

[AppleQueso]

It is MUCH easier to make a low-res game using a modern language.

I'm a beginner programmer, and right now 6502 assembly is kinda all I know (or well, coding a little bit on the NES is all I know). Maybe assembly just seems easy to me because I'm kinda used to it?

[Menegrothx]

I would be alot more impressed by these "retro vibe" indie games if they could indeed run on old hardware. If you're not limited by the hardware you use in anyway, there's no reason to make your game look like ass. Often these "8 bit inspired" games mix that wanna be 8 bit look with some high res stuff so the result is really odd and off-putting

It is MUCH easier to make a low-res game using a modern language.

I'm a beginner programmer, and right now 6502 assembly is kinda all I know (or well, coding a little bit on the NES is all I know). Maybe assembly just seems easy to me because I'm kinda used to it?

Yeah but can you make a decent, working game on the NES? People who programmed NES games for a living back then were just as good/professional programmers (if not more) than the people who program Colladoodies and Halos for a living today. Naturally people didn't have as good programming tools back then so it was a lot harder work. But the NES hardware is still as limited as ever. You dont have to conserve memory or pull of any kind of programming trickery if you make a 8 bit looking game that runs on a modern PC. But making that same game work on a NES (and fit inside a NES cartridge) is a lot harder.

[MrPopo]

It is MUCH easier to make a low-res game using a modern language.

I'm a beginner programmer, and right now 6502 assembly is kinda all I know (or well, coding a little bit on the NES is all I know). Maybe assembly just seems easy to me because I'm kinda used to it?

Yeah but can you make a decent, working game on the NES? People who programmed NES games for a living back then were just as good/professional programmers (if not more) than the people who program Colladoodies and Halos for a living today. Naturally people didn't have as good programming tools back then so it was a lot harder work. But the NES hardware is still as limited as ever. You dont have to conserve memory or pull of any kind of programming trickery if you make a 8 bit looking game that runs on a modern PC. But making that same game work on a NES (and fit inside a NES cartridge) is a lot harder.

Yup. There's all kinds of tricks and traps when you're working at the assembly level (especially with old CPUs like the 6502) that can really affect performance and what you can do with the graphics. When you're CPU bound (as you are on the NES) you need to understand how the pipeline works if you want to be able to produce a quality product.