A short entry for now, for what was a very promising Ghostbusters tribute on the C64 in PETSCII format by Dave Izon.
The object of the game was to capture 2 types of ghosts, one with ghost traps and the other which you would hit for bonus points. Once 3 ghosts are caught, you’d head to the elevator and move to the next level. Only one level was ever produced it seems.
Progressing very well as part of a programming exercise to learn about assembly, David Crane advised against releasing the title as he may get in trouble with the licence holders. As a result, Dave seemingly abandoned the game and has no plans to release in any shape or form to avoid any potential copyright issues.
For now we add some screenshots of this promising game, and you can also see a video of the game in action at https://youtu.be/dTGeBUadFk8
Contributions: Jazzcat
Supporting content
Gallery
Creator speaks
David Izon talks about his development:
“I started this game some time ago to learn more about assembly. It gave me many challenges to overcome, and I have learned a lot from doing so. The opening screen paid homage to the original game with the bouncing ball with the Ghostbusters tune playing while a ghost flies around. The music was by Roland Hermans and I asked him if it would be ok for me to use it on the game, which he said was fine. I think this version of the song sounds better than the original. I was also put in touch with David Crane by the Zap 64 team to ask if he was ok with me doing the game. He advised me after praising the game not to go ahead and release it, as Sony wouldn’t like me using the Ghostbusters trademark. So I decided to take his advice. The fact that David Crane said it was good, made my day.
The object of the game is to capture ghosts. There are 2 types of ghosts. The green ones that you can capture with the ghost traps and the black ones that you can hit for a bonus. To capture the green ghosts you first need to reduce their health. To do this hit them with your laser. It’s the end of the laser that will do the damage.
Once 3 ghosts have been caught, you then need to head back to the elevator and move to the next level. (There currently is only one level, but it increments and off you go again). The idea was that you would end up fighting Gozer on the rooftop.
If your health suffers you can find Twinkies to restore it.
Your laser will discharge if you use it too much, so go easy and it will recharge.”
One way to get around the copyright issues might be to modify the game to remove explicit references to Ghostbusters franchise. For example, replacing the player character with exorcist/psychic/sorcerer type using supernatural methods such as ritual in the place of ghost trap. That might also give more liberty with adding new content to the game, when there isn’t pressure to stick to existing source material.
That’s very true. Often what others have done in the past to get something out the door without worry.