GEOS
Games Series
Released to the Public Domain
A little history regarding the Public Domain status of the GEOS Games Disks Volume 1 - 4.
July 2, 2001 - Todd Elliott posted a note to the Homestead mailing list asking about the existence of a Missile Command type game for GEOS. Todd thought that programming such a game would make an interesting project. After some discussion the closest anyone could come was a geoBASIC Sample program with parachutists.
Messages on Homestead made it obvious that many people were unaware of the number, and variety, of GEOS Games. The result was the addition of the GEOS Games Download Page on the CUE web site (http://www.edmc.net/cue) which listed known GEOS games and made PD/Shareware games available for downloading.
June 13, 2002 - I announced on Homestead that I had found a Game called Missile Defense but that it was copyrighted in 1991 by a German firm. Arndt Dettke and Werner Weicht informed me that the game was from a set of 4 disks full of GEOS games released by M&T Software, publisher of 64'er Magazine. They did not think I would have any luck getting the software released as Public Domain. Still, I posted a question to the M&T web site asking about the status of the games. I heard nothing back.
August 4, 2002 - I posted a question to the M&T web site again.
August 6, 2002 - I received a phone call from a lady in Britain asking for more info on the disks I was asking about. Arndt and Werner provided me with what I needed. Over the next week I exchanged e-mails with 3 people at the British and German offices before finally getting told that Ralf Buschner was the person who could help me with this request but that he was on vacation.
August 26, 2002 - I received an e-mail from Ralf stating that the company did not hold a copyright on the software. They had a contract with the authors and all rights to the software reverted to the authors when the contract was released. Unfortunately, after all this time they did not have contact with the authors of the games and had no right to release the software to the Public Domain.
So it looked like the quest to get these games released to the Public Domain had hit a dead end. As a last resort I posted a request on the CUE web site for anyone knowing the game authors to please have them contact me. Fast forward 7 1/2 months.
April 17, 2003 - My web posting pays off! I received an e-mail from Ralf Bonse, one of the game authors, who had come across my query while doing a web search. He was in contact with the other authors and I soon received an e-mail from Walter Knupe. It stated that all four authors agreed that the software could become Public Domain. The following conditions were placed on the release:
1. The software is released AS IS with no implied guarantees or warranties of any kind. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties and conditions, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.
2. In no event shall we be held liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damage whatsoever, including but not limited to loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of information or any other loss, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such a damage.
3. The software is no longer maintained. There will be no source code, program copies, manuals or instructions of any kind. If the games are buggy they will have to remain that way.
April 23, 2003 - Since the authors had been unable to locate their copies of contracts to verify that the rights had reverted to them, as stated in the previous message from Ralf Buschner, I had to go back to Ralf to ensure that was the case. Ralf responded that he would have to check with the rights department.
Over the next months I would check with Ralf regularly for any updates on the request. My last note went to Ralf on February 1, 2004.
February 25, 2004 - I received a reply from Ralf stating that, since the authors had given their permission, the company would agree to the Public Domain release of the software as well.
So, after a year and a half the quest for PD status was nearing an end.
But, the software was not ready for release yet. The disks had been released with manuals and, as such, there was no documentation on the disks. The game menus and help screens are all in German so translations would be required. This process had begun some months before but it was not completed yet.
Arndt Dettke and Werner Weicht (with the help of Colin J. Thomson) worked hard to translate the German manuals into English and send me the files. Once I received them I had to do some re-formatting, create all of the separate files, verify that everything matched and made sense and update the disks (Werner had sent me D64 images of the original four disks).
I also had to create this file compiling the various e-mails and a history of the quest to ensure that all of the relevant material was included. In order to make the software available I was going to post the D64 images on the CUE web site download page. I would also, naturally, add these disks to the collection of Public Domain software on the geoSpecific PD/Shareware CD.
Now, when to make the release available? Since I am going to the Spring 2004 LUCKY Expo in Louisville, Kentucky to demo Todd Elliott's patched and improved geoPublish V1.1 it made sense to plan the announcement for the EXPO. Todd played an instrumental role in the process by posting that simple query to Homestead nearly three years ago.
Todd played another very important role in regards to the Missile Defense Game. This is a great GEOS game as it was originally written. However, in 1991, the SuperCPU did not exist so playing it at 20 MHz on a C-64 was not programmed for. Todd patched the game to switch the SCPU down to 1 MHz when the game loads. Wheels will automatically change the SCPU back to 20 MHz upon exit (GEOS does not switch the SCPU back to 20 MHz). Todd also added Color to the game which is a nice enhancement for users of Wheels. Todd's enhanced version, called Missile DefenCe (note the 'C' to indicate Color and superCpu optimized), is included on the GEOS Games Volume 3 disk with the original version.
And that is the story of the release to the Public Domain of 4 disks containing 17 fantastic GEOS games that you will truly enGEOy having in your software collection.
In Appreciation
I would like to say Thank You to Todd Elliott for starting this whole process and for being willing and able to update Missile Defense for SuperCPU and Wheels users.
I would like to send a big Thank You to Arndt Dettke and Werner Weicht for their efforts throughout this process in providing me with information and D64 images of the original disks as well as their documentation translation efforts. Thank You to Colin J. Thomson for the assistance he provided to Werner on the translations.
I would like to say Thank You to Ralf Buschner for his help in my quest and for putting up with my regular pestering for progress.
And, most importantly, I would like to say a very big Thank You and express my appreciation to the authors, Walter Knupe, Ralf Bonse, Volker Goehrke and H.J. Ciprina, for creating such an incredible collection of games in the first place and then for agreeing to release their work to the Public Domain.
May
2004
Bruce Thomas
Note: The English version of GEOS does not have the proper character set to display special German characters such as those with the umlaut (two dots over a vowel). Due to this, certain words in menus appear oddly. "Zuruck", which means 'back', has umlauts over the second 'u' and appears as "Zur}ck" in the English GEOS menu of some of the games. When you read the documentation for each game the words with umlauts will appear without the special characters ("Spielfeldgrobe" - Playing field size). When you view the menu items within the games the words will appear with odd characters ("Spielfeldgr|~e").
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4 disks of GEOS Games
GEOS
Games Vol. 1
Shangrila - by H.J. Ciprina
Patience - by Walter Knupe
Alles Kaese! - by Volker Goehrke
LogiTron - by H.J. Ciprina
GEOS
Games Vol. 2
Pipes - by Volker Goehrke
Black&White - by Volker Goehrke
Solitaire - by Volker Goehrke
Superhirn - by Volker Goehrke
Tic-Tac-Toe - by Volker Goehrke
GEOS Games Vol. 3
Dredgedriver - by Volker Goehrke
Breake Thru - by Ciprina & Bonse
Quartus - by Ralf Bonse
Missile Defense - by Volker
Goehrke
GEOS Games Vol. 4
GeoTris - by Volker Goehrke
Flip Star - by Ralf Bonse
Orpheus - by Knupe & Bonse
Puzzler - by Walter Knupe