@paperfixie

Thank you so much! I'll try to remember to ping you if I have a site, but I'll hashtag with #PYOC as often as I can when I toot on it. ^_^

Here's hoping that someday I'll post a photo of at least a prototype! 😁

@paperfixie

The possibilities with the #PYOC might be so wide ranging, and it's honestly kinda exciting to me. ^_^ I might release a console! I might even attempt to collaborate on it, because this is a surprisingly giant project now that I look back over it.

Almost none of it seems completely insurmountable to me, and if I did work with others (I am very inexperienced at collaboration) that'd significantly improve potential speed of development.

But it's on my mind for certain!

#gamedev

@paperfixie

We'd also (unfortunately) have to have a list (that we maintain and ensure archival of if nobody can maintain) of games we consider "in the greatest spirit of #PYOC ", akin to Nintendo's seal of approval.

This would apply to four aspects:

* Freedom. This isn't going to require freebie hardware; physical means (relatively) expensive resources. But a statement that they accept "piracy" will occur eventually and they won't prosecute on ROM distros/sites/etc.

* Functions playably.

@paperfixie

> game's engine be open source

Well, I had gone back and forth on this a bit.

I think code is 'art' in the creative sense, not 'work' in the sense corporations describe it as legally. So.

I figured I'd split the difference.

The only things the #PYOC project would WITHOUT QUESTION support are open game engines.

We aren't going to tell people that's all they can run, though! It's their hardware! 😭 I just can't feel comfortable doing it.

We're encouraging free as hell though!

I gotta think about this more and hash some of this out because I'm still arguing with myself about a lot of things, especially form factor. Plus, it may seem like reinventing PICO-8 if the #PYOC eventually has a bespoke game engine for it (which is kind of a thing I'm considering, because FOSS UI/UX is, um, hell for anybody who doesn't know it already, and some of us aren't interested in that kind of self-flagellation).

BUT!

Battle Kid came out, too. ^_^

Maybe this is a thing I could manage!

The gamedev (group?) decides how they wanna release. Do they want a free digital download, but you can also buy the cart and/or chip? Do they want to be hardware insistent and tell people "make up a great cover art, we already numbered these, and it makes each one even more unique"?

So many possibilities! And we all know ROMs happen no matter what eventually.

Consoles are tethered to corps, all of them.

So what if they weren't? ^_^

#PYOC might be an amazing thing?

But so much stuff! -_- Hm.

I think something like the #PYOC I propose could potentially lead us closer to the best of all three bad situations: Help smaller studios and microstudios still trying to get off the ground to find an audience beyond PC gamers, help a gajillion awesome indie ROM files eventually happen, and subvert the entire "release is everything" paradigm of humans in general but gamers in particular. Release is Such! A! Thing!

I get it. Novelty drives the world sometimes. We're neophiles, largely.

This wouldn't be everything, either. Eventually, I'd want guides for those wanting proper wallwart power, to help them create different versions and models of it. (This would all be a key item, not some afterthought.)

So, for a precocious sort with a bit of awareness of the components, this is super doable. (Like kids. Even kids who don't have tons of money, but can get 3d printed shells, or at least electronics access.)

Print your own console: #PYOC (rhymes with 'snoke').