Homebrew

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The term Homebrew is a relatively new term, often encountered in the retro scene. A homebrew version refers to a computer program that is not officially licensed by the manufacturer or publisher, or as an official conversion of a computer platform (including consoles or handheld systems such as the Atari 2600 or Gameboy). Homebrew software is developed by a programmer or team as a hobby or fan project and is usually released free of charge as public domain (PD) or Freeware.

Often, well-known games are converted faithfully from arcade machines or video game consoles for computer systems, for which there was previously no official or faithful implementation. At other times, existing games are modified or extended, so that there is, for example, an unofficial follow-up game.

Furthermore, new storage media of recent years has created possibilities for home computer systems that did not exist in the 1980s and 1990s, making it possible for today's programmers to develop perfect conversions that could not exist earlier due to earlier memory limitations (e.g. for graphics or music). With the C64, earlier limitations are removed by the use of, for example, modern cartridges like EasyFlash or memory cards.

There are always new ideas from hobby programmers, which are often implemented as games, sometimes with programming aids or game creation programs such as S.E.U.C.K., and these are then published for free as digital .D64 images for emulators on scene websites, such as the CSDb.

C64 Fan Projects (Selection)[edit | edit source]

An animation from "Zoo Mania" (2006).
A slide show from "QWAK" (2016).

Some well-known and interesting Homebrew versions and fan projects:


Links[edit | edit source]

WP-W11.png (video games) Wikipedia: Homebrew (video games)