This isn't strictly a MAME thing, nor even a Dumping Union thing, but it's involved several DU members, so I think it's worth mentioning now that everything is done and dusted.
Late last week, it came to our attention via Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation and co-founder of Digital Eclipse, that a long-time software developer, Chris Oberth, had passed away. As he was married, but had little in the way of liquid assets, it was decided that all of the development discs that he had archived over the years would be auctioned off in order to garner funds to take care of his widow.
Among other items, these discs included the source code for an unreleased PC port of World Class Bowling, the source code for Shuffleshot, the source code to Boulder Dash which was used for the Colecovision port, the source code to the C64 classic Tau Ceti, the source code for Front Page Sports Football '98, and most interestingly, the source code and assets for an unreleased game on itech32-class hardware, Must Shoot TV.
Initially, we approached things on the assumption that none of the auctions would end up going for too much - this ended up being a faulty assumption, but one that isn't too unreasonable. Generally, arcade collectors tend to prefer physical PCBs with prototype ROMs already on them. We had a pool of around $700 comprising about $300 from the folks at Gaming Alexandria, $250 from one anonymous donor, $100 from a second, and $50 as backup from me.
The auctions for World Class Bowling, Front Page Sports Football, and Tau Ceti source code were among the first to end, and ended up going for around $200 each. It was at this point that the stark realization set in that we wouldn't be able to acquire the rest of our targets without additional funding, and so I put out a call for pledges via Twitter. Thanks to a signal boost by Frank Cifaldi himself, as well as Jason Scott of textfiles.org/archive.org fame, we ended up with a considerably larger pool to draw from than initially planned, and this proved to be quite the prescient move.
Last night, the auctions for Must Shoot TV, Shuffleshot, and the Boulder Dash source code ended. The source code and asset disc for Must Shoot TV ended up going for roughly $850, Shuffleshot for $300, and lastly, Boulder Dash for about $200.
This is one of the first cases I'm aware of where multiple disparate preservation organizations all worked together for a common goal. Were it not for the signal boosts from Frank and Jason, and were it not for the Gaming Alexandria folks and Video Game History Foundation folks agreeing to let some of us on the Dumping Union take point on the bidding, the prices would have likely been astronomical due to multiple people - all with the same goal - vying to make the acquisition. The fact that we were all able to work together to achieve this goal cannot be underscored enough, and in my opinion it rings in a new era of cooperation among preservation organizations.
I'd like to give thanks for everyone on Twitter who helped make this happen - from folks who chipped in $20, to folks who chipped in $200 and more. Each contribution has been noted, and each person will be credited if and when any prototype builds on these source discs are added to MAME.
Last but not least, in the spirit of being fully transparent, I do have to say that it will be some months yet before anything is released. The Gaming Alexandria folks are far more equipped to do deep dives into source discs than any one MAME dev, and so we've agreed that they are entitled to the lead time necessary to author blog entries for each of these acquisitions. At the end of the day, what matters is that these discs have been secured for preservation, and in the long run, there's a good chance that the Gaming Alexandria articles will cast some additional eyes toward MAME and the Dumping Union.
- Mog, 1:21AM, 30 April 2020
Oh, and here's a link to appease the script which otherwise blocks posts to the News forum unless a link is attached: https://twitter.com/TheMogMiner/status/1255324465929617409
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