Forum unknown
· Games
#Starglider
23 messages in this thread
I dont remember saying 'its been sent out to have the sound done.' and
thats certainly not the way I would have phrased anything even if I had
said something similar… which i dont think i did anyway… but thats
beside the point.
I hear SG is already hacked and on the american bulletin boards (sigh). You
do a special favour of not COPY PROTECTING your code that has taken 2 years
to write… and within a week of it coming out, some bastard has already
removed what little theft protection you DID have in it, and uploaded it
onto a bulletin board!
How are us software authors expected to be able to make a living?
Grrrrrrr!
— Jez.
Jez, I'm extremly dismayed to here that. 8( Thiefs!! It's up to all of us
to put a stop to this. Everybody, if you do stumble on a bulletin board
system that is used to distribute stolen software please alert somebody.
Many of the police departments around the nation are aware of this problem
and have people that can help. Also there is a group called the SPA or
Software Publishers Association that can help put these people behind bars.
Lastly, many of the Sysops of the Amiga Forem are in touch with the people
that can really do something to stop this cr*p. -John
Jez, I'm extremly dismayed to here that. 8( Thiefs!! It's up to all of us
to put a stop to this. Everybody, if you do stumble on a bulletin board
system that is used to distribute stolen software please alert somebody.
Many of the police departments around the nation are aware of this problem
and have people that can help. Also there is a group called the SPA or
Software Publishers Association that can help put these people behind bars.
Lastly, many of the Sysops of the Amiga Forem are in touch with the people
that can really do something to stop this cr*p. -John
Jez,
Whatever the words, "sent out to have the sound done" were part of it. No
matter.
I expect that just about every piece of software will be in the same boat
as yours, available on the bulletin boards. It isn't a matter of protecting
or not, as you should know, there is no 100% protection scheme, and
protecting it only adds fuel to the fire. The better the protection, the
more "glory" the cracker gets (or thinks he gets). Take comfort in the fact
that honest people will buy it.
Regards, Larry.
Thanx Larry…. I agree with you entirely…. no matter what protection
is in, it will always be hacked out much more quickl than it was to add
it!
But, im just a wee bit upset because I was gonna add some hefty disk copy
protection (which im very good at!) and intentionally didn't, because
Americans dont like it! Its a lot harder to hack into a game and remove
the protection, if you can't even load it into memory (copy protected on a
non standard disk format)…. next time, I will definitely use copy
protection. There is no argument that if you are honest with people, they
will be honest back. It just doesnt work. (sigh!)
[I am of course referring to hackers and pirates. The majority of people
are of course honest.]
— Jez.
Jez;
On entertainment software copy protection is unfortunately neccessary. If
you offer easy and affordable replacement of bad disks then you are being
very fare and responsible. If the user must have an un-protected copy,
then offer one at an extra charge, possibly with their name and credit card
number written into the title screen.
BTW- Starglider is great, I have played it on the ST and have seen it on
the Ami, which I must buy when I can find the time to sit down and really
play it.
Ken P.S. Are you attending CES or Comdex in June?
I would like to attend both Comdex, and CES.. and SigGraph, and other
events… not sure which (if any) I will yet attend… preferably ALL of
them, but I cannot afford to be away from the office for so long.
— Jez.
Jez, you are alive! <smile> Where is SG?
bri
Jez, you are alive! <smile> Where is SG?
bri
I would like to attend both Comdex, and CES.. and SigGraph, and other
events… not sure which (if any) I will yet attend… preferably ALL of
them, but I cannot afford to be away from the office for so long.
— Jez.
Jez;
On entertainment software copy protection is unfortunately neccessary. If
you offer easy and affordable replacement of bad disks then you are being
very fare and responsible. If the user must have an un-protected copy,
then offer one at an extra charge, possibly with their name and credit card
number written into the title screen.
BTW- Starglider is great, I have played it on the ST and have seen it on
the Ami, which I must buy when I can find the time to sit down and really
play it.
Ken P.S. Are you attending CES or Comdex in June?
Jez,
Non standard disk formats are pretty easy to deal with on the Amiga. There
are utilities on the market for the purpose (Mirror Hacker Package comes to
mind), and of course the dedicated thieves (I prefer the name "thief" to
"hacker", in that the media are the only ones that don't know what a hacker
is, and have placed their own meaning on an honourable calling), have their
own tools that surpass anything available commercially.
I'm afraid the botom line is that no matter how good you are at putting the
protection on, the plain fact is that if it is readable and runnable, it is
breakable. No exceptions.
Anyway, there are honest people out there, and if your game is good, it
will sell. Good luck with it.
Regards, Larry.
Jez,
Non standard disk formats are pretty easy to deal with on the Amiga. There
are utilities on the market for the purpose (Mirror Hacker Package comes to
mind), and of course the dedicated thieves (I prefer the name "thief" to
"hacker", in that the media are the only ones that don't know what a hacker
is, and have placed their own meaning on an honourable calling), have their
own tools that surpass anything available commercially.
I'm afraid the botom line is that no matter how good you are at putting the
protection on, the plain fact is that if it is readable and runnable, it is
breakable. No exceptions.
Anyway, there are honest people out there, and if your game is good, it
will sell. Good luck with it.
Regards, Larry.
Please don't make general statements about Americans…it's almost kind
of snobby. There are plenty of honest Americans around, lik eme.
But I probably would have copy protected any game (I sure hope you proteced
the C64 version…god). The ST version makes the drive make a terrible
sound I've never heard one make. Also the drive light stays on even though
the it doesn't run. (I'm not complaining at all, just commenting.
StarGlider has been one of the best selling games ever…even after a year
for us.)
I am curious if you're going to make an 8 bit Atari version. After hearing
all about the ST version, 8 bit Atari owners would buy alot of StarGliders,
I can assure you.
1 more thing – hacker used to mean someone who enjoyed using his computer.
(like me). I wish the media hadn't twisted that word into meaning breaking
into bank's computers, etc.
Henry –
I doubt there will be an 8 bit Atari version… it would be impractical
(but not impossible).
The horrible noise that the ST version's copy protection makes, is really
only the drive stepping itself at a much slower rate than usual (to be
safe, and allow ANY drive at all to work with our copy protection) hence it
is noisier than usual (lower graunching frequency, grin!)
I use the terms Americans, not in a snobby way at all! But, it IS true{_
and undeniable that Americans hate copy protection. They are also very
vociferous about it. No other country's computer users in the world, are
anti copy protection. In England, its the Norm. No product for home or
personal computers, comes out without copy protection on it…
— Jez.
Henry –
I doubt there will be an 8 bit Atari version… it would be impractical
(but not impossible).
The horrible noise that the ST version's copy protection makes, is really
only the drive stepping itself at a much slower rate than usual (to be
safe, and allow ANY drive at all to work with our copy protection) hence it
is noisier than usual (lower graunching frequency, grin!)
I use the terms Americans, not in a snobby way at all! But, it IS true{_
and undeniable that Americans hate copy protection. They are also very
vociferous about it. No other country's computer users in the world, are
anti copy protection. In England, its the Norm. No product for home or
personal computers, comes out without copy protection on it…
— Jez.
Please don't make general statements about Americans…it's almost kind
of snobby. There are plenty of honest Americans around, lik eme.
But I probably would have copy protected any game (I sure hope you proteced
the C64 version…god). The ST version makes the drive make a terrible
sound I've never heard one make. Also the drive light stays on even though
the it doesn't run. (I'm not complaining at all, just commenting.
StarGlider has been one of the best selling games ever…even after a year
for us.)
I am curious if you're going to make an 8 bit Atari version. After hearing
all about the ST version, 8 bit Atari owners would buy alot of StarGliders,
I can assure you.
1 more thing – hacker used to mean someone who enjoyed using his computer.
(like me). I wish the media hadn't twisted that word into meaning breaking
into bank's computers, etc.
Thanx Larry…. I agree with you entirely…. no matter what protection
is in, it will always be hacked out much more quickl than it was to add
it!
But, im just a wee bit upset because I was gonna add some hefty disk copy
protection (which im very good at!) and intentionally didn't, because
Americans dont like it! Its a lot harder to hack into a game and remove
the protection, if you can't even load it into memory (copy protected on a
non standard disk format)…. next time, I will definitely use copy
protection. There is no argument that if you are honest with people, they
will be honest back. It just doesnt work. (sigh!)
[I am of course referring to hackers and pirates. The majority of people
are of course honest.]
— Jez.
Jez,
Whatever the words, "sent out to have the sound done" were part of it. No
matter.
I expect that just about every piece of software will be in the same boat
as yours, available on the bulletin boards. It isn't a matter of protecting
or not, as you should know, there is no 100% protection scheme, and
protecting it only adds fuel to the fire. The better the protection, the
more "glory" the cracker gets (or thinks he gets). Take comfort in the fact
that honest people will buy it.
Regards, Larry.
Jez,
I don't know if it's made the BBS circuit or not…I don't log onto the
local BBS's, but I can guarantee you it will never show up in our Data
Libraries. As to the general idea of software theft…you and I have
discussed it many times…as have others….and I just don't have a good
answer for you other than prosecute anyone you find with illegal copies to
the fullest extent you can (or your U.S. distributor) as an example.
Don –
Naturally, it will never appear on a public service like Compuserve…..
because these are in control by responsible Sysops like yourself….
Its the bbs's that are the problem. Here in England, you rarely see pirate
programs on a bbs… mainly because there are so few bbs's that sysops dare
have anything illegal on them, because they are so easy to trace and check.
— Jezx.
Don –
Naturally, it will never appear on a public service like Compuserve…..
because these are in control by responsible Sysops like yourself….
Its the bbs's that are the problem. Here in England, you rarely see pirate
programs on a bbs… mainly because there are so few bbs's that sysops dare
have anything illegal on them, because they are so easy to trace and check.
— Jezx.
Jez,
I don't know if it's made the BBS circuit or not…I don't log onto the
local BBS's, but I can guarantee you it will never show up in our Data
Libraries. As to the general idea of software theft…you and I have
discussed it many times…as have others….and I just don't have a good
answer for you other than prosecute anyone you find with illegal copies to
the fullest extent you can (or your U.S. distributor) as an example.