code for really old games

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2003-07-06 01:58am

Is it possible to get the source code for really old games, I was thinking about games like Asteroids (didn't that come out in the 70's actually? Not the 80's?) Perhaps some companies will actually a donate a game's source code to a university/college so they can see how it works. If games like Asteroids are only a few hundred kilobytes large, would it be possible to somehow crack the source code, trying every combination of 1's and 0's until you get the right one, is this possible at all? Trying to break the program into it's component parts to see what code it's made of?

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2003-07-06 02:28am

Well, as far as I know, the really old games like Asteroids didn't technically have source code, since they were all written in assembler. As for getting the assembly code for it, that's fairly easy to extract from the ROM, although it wouldn't be much use to you since assembly code is very platform-specific.

On the other hand, there's been lots of Asteriods clones written over the years, and many of them are already open source. I'm in the process of writing one myself, as a matter of fact, and I'll be releasing the code when I'm done.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2003-07-06 09:29am

Drooling Iguana wrote:Well, as far as I know, the really old games like Asteroids didn't technically have source code, since they were all written in assembler
.

What exactly is assembly code, is it a step up from binary, the most basic programming, machine code where you just typed 1's and 0's?

As for getting the assembly code for it, that's fairly easy to extract from the ROM, although it wouldn't be much use to you since assembly code is very platform-specific.

I don't know really anything about programming and I was wondering why exactly people need the source code to make changes, is there not a way to crack it like cracking password, trying every possible combination until you get the one that's a match for that particular line, etc.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-07-06 11:27am

I think your best bet is looking for open source clones...cracking the code would technically be illegal thanks to certain strange laws recently added in america....dont forget that your marker pen is also illegal thanks to this

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-07-06 03:22pm

Shrykull wrote:
Drooling Iguana wrote:Well, as far as I know, the really old games like Asteroids didn't technically have source code, since they were all written in assembler
What exactly is assembly code, is it a step up from binary, the most basic programming, machine code where you just typed 1's and 0's?
Essentially, assembler has words instead of binary groups. (e.g. ADD rather than 010010 or whatever). It's almost always platform-specific as well.

I don't know really anything about programming and I was wondering why exactly people need the source code to make changes, is there not a way to crack it like cracking password, trying every possible combination until you get the one that's a match for that particular line, etc.

You can try and modify the actual binary itself, but that takes some skill. Many cracks for shareware programs work this way - they search the program for certain commands and then modify them. It is not easy, however, and high-level changes almost always require the source code to change.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-07-07 02:52am

Back in those days, I used Borland's turbo debugger to see the code from some games. I think it's better than most other debuggers, but chances are you won't get any source code.