Comments on: Original Prince of Persia source-code discovered, posted as free software

By: Tiago Peixoto

Tiago Peixoto — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:08:00 +0000

It is hard to tell. The code does not come with an actual, clearly-written license. Only the above statement. Notice he does not at all mention_distributing_ any modifications you make.

Strictly speaking, this is not free software (nor even open source) by a long shot.

By: Ant

Ant — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:08:00 +0000

True.

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:42:00 +0000

In the same way as Atari is?

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Oh, the irony…

By: Ant

Ant — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:39:00 +0000

They’re still around too!

By: Ant

Ant — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Is that Xbox 360 version based on the original? It looks very pretty! Too bad no Windows version since I haven’t had a video game console since Atari 2600.

By: Ant

Ant — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:37:00 +0000

And the only PoP source available out there at this time. FYI, you can play Apple 2 port on http://www.virtualapple.org/princeofpersiadisk.html …

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:42:00 +0000

Ah Brøderbund.

By: shadowfirebird

shadowfirebird — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:52:00 +0000

But, you could in theory use the code to write, say, “Prints of Atlanta” (a platform game about a US photographer).

That ran on an Apple II.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:37:00 +0000

6502 assembly is the easiest in the world to work on. I did a lot of that on Apple ][s at high school.

By: Tiago Peixoto

Tiago Peixoto — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:18:00 +0000

This is not free software. From the readme file:

“As the author and copyright holder of this source code, I personally have no problem with anyone studying it, modifying it, attempting to run it, etc. Please understand that this does NOT constitute a grant of rights of any kind in Prince of Persia, which is an ongoing Ubisoft game franchise. Ubisoft alone has the right to make and distribute Prince of Persia games.”

By: MrEricSir

MrEricSir — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:24:00 +0000

Wonder how many lines of code a similar game in say PyGame or Love2D would come out to.

By: i_hack_sites

i_hack_sites — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:15:00 +0000

1. Jump
2. Catch the ledge
3. Repeat

A great game. :)

By: BarBarSeven

BarBarSeven — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:18:00 +0000

Hey, Atari 800xL here. RESPECT!

By: morcheeba

morcheeba — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:01:00 +0000

The source code isn’t well commented, but be sure to check out this awesome technical document mentioned in the README: http://jordanmechner.com/wp-content/uploads/1989/10/popsource009.pdf

By: morcheeba

morcheeba — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:00:00 +0000

I don’t see the graphics included, so you can’t build it.

But there is the source code to their copy-protection – it is obfuscated and you can see both the original source and the de-obfuscator.

Most interesting is their proprietary 18-sector disc format (instead of the usual 16 sector). I researched this more last night – apparently, if you slow your drive down, you can record 18 sectors that will still be readable by normal-speed drives. Not only does this get you more data on a disc, but it also means that a normal drive can’t make a copy of it.

By: MrEricSir

MrEricSir — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Have you seen the photos? This looks like it was a rather involved project.

By: regeya

regeya — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Haven’t looked at it yet, but I’m sure it’ll make me wish I knew assembly for the Apple II. Coders from that era wrote code that was virtually indistinguishable from magic.

By: SoItBegins

SoItBegins — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:45:00 +0000

The old Macintosh (not Apple II, System ~6 Mac) version is even prettier. Better MIDI, too.

By: Frank Farmer

Frank Farmer — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0000

Apparently the source is incomplete, and as such not executable in its current form. https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II/issues/1

By: Westfakia

Westfakia — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0000

Amazing in two ways: first, that the floppies were still readable, and secondly, that he could find a system with a working floppy drive to read them with. Bravo on both counts!

By: Ripcord2

Ripcord2 — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:12:00 +0000

I’ve seen this on 10 or so different sites now, and it’s funny to me that the screenshots are always from the MS-DOS port, and not the original Apple II version (which this code is for).

By: Ripcord2

Ripcord2 — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:12:00 +0000

Though it is the better (and much prettier) version.