Comment by mmastrac
18 hours ago
This is a cool project, but the author should note that they _are_ likely creating a derivative version of Civ1 here. It might look somewhat different, but that's clearly just 16-bit (?) intel opcodes in a slightly spicier form.
It's very unlikely this sort of approach will end up with a copyright-free codebase, though it might be useful as a source for a cleanroom approach. The author shouldn't be discouraged -- lots of other recompilation efforts work this was as well, but it's a muddy place to be.
Well, the 'intel opcodes' are just a proof of concept. It was important, for me, to prove it could be done. If you look deeper in the available code there is already a bunch of code that has nothing to do with 'intel opcodes'.
On 'It's very unlikely this sort of approach...' I will say Why not?
The process of rewriting the code is that the one side is describing the functionality in details and the other side writes the 'clean' code. That's what I'm trying to do. The 'intel opcodes' describe the functionality, and I'm writing the clean code.
I believe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean-room_design is the best practice in this situation.
It is very likely that no one cares if anyone cares about copyright.
If someone do in fact care, I'm sure someone else can organize an online donation for them tissues those who care can cry into.
Otherwise please accept that Civ I is effectively public domain.
Nobody cares until the original company wants to release a remaster in 10 years.