How do I make Steam for old consoles and computers?

[Plantman Knows Where Plants Grow]

I want to make Steam work with Sega Genesis(megadrive) for my first project into this idea. Steam would connect up with my Genesis from my PC's USB port and probably into the game slot in the Genesis.
With Steam and Sega's cooperation I would then be able to buy Genesis games from Steam (I actually already own the Genesis collection on Steam.) and then through the USB I would boot my Sega Genesis into games. I'm not sure if a USB 3.0 connection is fast enough to directly input cartridge data or if I will need a daughter board in the cartridge slot to act as a storage device.

I like the idea of getting this rolling with the Sega Genesis first because Sega seems to really want to work with Steam and they would probably love to sell their old games again. I think there are retro coders out there who would like to write games for old consoles too.

Once the Sega Genesis project is functional and doesn't need as much attention I would like to move on to other consoles that aren't disc based because without a cartridge slot I'm not sure how I could easily hook into a console(mod wire the disc drive but I would have to instruct others to do that too). I also have a love for old computers like Comodore, x86, and Apple II so I would love to touch on those as well.


The problem is getting started. Heck if I know how to get started on a project of this magnitude?? People have had a lot of success asking for money on Kickstarter but I don't even know what I need money for or if I need money? I am handy with electronics and computers so I think the knowledge is with in my range of ability but the guidance to use it is non-existent.

[JPMcMillen]

You don't need Steam for this. You'd have to write your own emulator for the console in question that has a way of interfacing directly with the cartridge. Not impossible, that sounds like some serious electronics design work.

[Plantman Knows Where Plants Grow]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

You don't need Steam for this. You'd have to write your own emulator for the console in question that has a way of interfacing directly with the cartridge. Not impossible, that sounds like some serious electronics design work.

They already make cartridges you can dump a bunch of ROM images on but it's piracy and doesn't support development.

I want to make something that fosters development of games for retro systems by providing a link to Steam where a game designer can make and sell a game for a old system through Steam.

Yes it is a hefty amount of electronic design work but I also eat sites like Digikey and EEVBlog for breakfast, lunch, and dinner then I sneak out of my bed at midnight to have some more.

[Start_Running]

THats actually not piracy and whatt you're saying. yeah. that wouldn'tt work. The closest you'll get is a lookalike console running an emulator ona raspberry Pi bed.

The Actual Genesis/Megadrive wouldn't even be able rto load steam. Heck it barely worked when Sega themselves tried thatt idea in the mid-late-90's

Also the problem you're talking about doesn't really exist....you name any system out there and there's a homebrew community. Hell. someone actually developed a brand new RTS game for the c64 recently. and if I'm not mistaken the current Megadrive collecttion workshop allows for home brewers to distribute their custom genesis creations.

[Plantman Knows Where Plants Grow]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Start_Running:

THats actually not piracy and whatt you're saying. yeah. that wouldn'tt work. The closest you'll get is a lookalike console running an emulator ona raspberry Pi bed.

The Actual Genesis/Megadrive wouldn't even be able rto load steam. Heck it barely worked when Sega themselves tried thatt idea in the mid-late-90's

Also the problem you're talking about doesn't really exist....you name any system out there and there's a homebrew community. Hell. someone actually developed a brand new RTS game for the c64 recently. and if I'm not mistaken the current Megadrive collecttion workshop allows for home brewers to distribute their custom genesis creations.

It doesn't have to load all of Steam your PC handles Steam and a USB connection to the console. The console will just be sent ROM image data with possibly some custom bootloader that will help with USB-ROM communication and probably have a Steam splash screen followed by the normal ROM boot that starts with the Sega splash screen.

The second thing I wanted to talk to you about is those Homebrew guys can't sell or advertise as well as if they were on Steam. Be honest with me, do you want to give one of these homebrew sites your credit card to buy a game and then rely on them to be there three years later when you want to play the game again?

As far as I know Sega doesn't sell ROM images for you to plug into a writable ROM cartridge. Maybe you meant free homebrew games?

I think a Pi might be overkill when all I need is a few chips to split, switch, and relay data through USB.

[JPMcMillen]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

You don't need Steam for this. You'd have to write your own emulator for the console in question that has a way of interfacing directly with the cartridge. Not impossible, that sounds like some serious electronics design work.

They already make cartridges you can dump a bunch of ROM images on but it's piracy and doesn't support development.

I want to make something that fosters development of games for retro systems by providing a link to Steam where a game designer can make and sell a game for a old system through Steam.

Yes it is a hefty amount of electronic design work but I also eat sites like Digikey and EEVBlog for breakfast, lunch, and dinner then I sneak out of my bed at midnight to have some more.

Communities like that already exist. Most popular old consoles have communities that still make games for it. Some have even figured out how to make programmable cartridges that you can transfer your game to and plug it in directly into a console to play it. Otherwise the game is stored in a format that can be run on an emulator.

As far as selling those games on Steam, you'd still need a built in emulator to run your code, something that Steam will NEVER provide as that could lead to big lawsuits.

Honestly though, you'd be better off just making the game using an existing game development software (Unreal, Unity, etc...) as you can compile your game for multiple systems (Win/Mac/Linux/etc...). I doubt there are any compilers that would allow you to take a game programmed for a console and get an executable for a different system, or if any do exist they would NOT be allowed for commercial products.

[Zekiran]

"Develop things for steam this way" ....

Yeah, no. There's a reason games have evolved. Also note: many publishers *don't want their games being reverse engineered*. Which is STUPID as hell, but that's what we have to work with.

[Plantman Knows Where Plants Grow]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

They already make cartridges you can dump a bunch of ROM images on but it's piracy and doesn't support development.

I want to make something that fosters development of games for retro systems by providing a link to Steam where a game designer can make and sell a game for a old system through Steam.

Yes it is a hefty amount of electronic design work but I also eat sites like Digikey and EEVBlog for breakfast, lunch, and dinner then I sneak out of my bed at midnight to have some more.

Communities like that already exist. Most popular old consoles have communities that still make games for it. Some have even figured out how to make programmable cartridges that you can transfer your game to and plug it in directly into a console to play it. Otherwise the game is stored in a format that can be run on an emulator.

As far as selling those games on Steam, you'd still need a built in emulator to run your code, something that Steam will NEVER provide as that could lead to big lawsuits.

Honestly though, you'd be better off just making the game using an existing game development software (Unreal, Unity, etc...) as you can compile your game for multiple systems (Win/Mac/Linux/etc...). I doubt there are any compilers that would allow you to take a game programmed for a console and get an executable for a different system, or if any do exist they would NOT be allowed for commercial products.

Writable ROM cartridges do exist and I've mentioned them in this thread earlier the trouble is how do you sell your game? How can Sega sell a game to your writable ROM cartridge? They want money for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 on Steam so how can you say it's not piracy to download it for free for your WROM cart? Sega is not EA, they take your money and make good games with it.


I also don't think I explained clearly how I expect this would work so I will try to break it down into steps:
1: assumes PC is on and Steam is running
2. Connect USB Steam-to-Console cord
3. USB stuff happens inside the PC and interface!
4. USB communicates that is the Steam-to-Console device
5. PC finds drivers(hopefully!), installs, and device ready for uses it
6. Steam recognizes a friend named Steam-to-Console and syncs up with it.
7. With console powered off insert other end of Steam-to-Console cord in the cartridge slot
8. Select game on Steam
9. Start Console
10. Booting stuff happens inside the console!
11. Console requests data from cart slot which happens to be the Steam-to-Console device.
12. (possible) boot loader to help with USB port communications is loaded and console begins booting.
13. Game runs normal with the console occasionally requesting cartridge data that has been cunningly disguised by USB tricks to look like a cartridge but is in fact as USB connected PC running Steam!

[JPMcMillen]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

Communities like that already exist. Most popular old consoles have communities that still make games for it. Some have even figured out how to make programmable cartridges that you can transfer your game to and plug it in directly into a console to play it. Otherwise the game is stored in a format that can be run on an emulator.

As far as selling those games on Steam, you'd still need a built in emulator to run your code, something that Steam will NEVER provide as that could lead to big lawsuits.

Honestly though, you'd be better off just making the game using an existing game development software (Unreal, Unity, etc...) as you can compile your game for multiple systems (Win/Mac/Linux/etc...). I doubt there are any compilers that would allow you to take a game programmed for a console and get an executable for a different system, or if any do exist they would NOT be allowed for commercial products.

Writable ROM cartridges do exist and I've mentioned them in this thread earlier the trouble is how do you sell your game? How can Sega sell a game to your writable ROM cartridge? They want money for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 on Steam so how can you say it's not piracy to download it for free for your WROM cart? Sega is not EA, they take your money and make good games with it.

You'd need to find the homebrew communities for the console you want to make games for. They could probably tell you how it's own people sell their games. Most probably use some sort of pre-existing marketplace to sell their games (eBay, Etsy, etc...).

As for Sega, it's really up to them if they want to sell games for their old consoles. If they did, which is highly unlikely, they would just produce new cartridges. They would never allow people to download a ROM as there is no built in DRM to prevent people from freely distributing it.

As far as piracy goes, it's generally accepted that as long as you own the physical cartridge, having a ROM of the game is fine. The problem is that most people that download ROM's don't own the cartridge.

[Plantman Knows Where Plants Grow]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

Writable ROM cartridges do exist and I've mentioned them in this thread earlier the trouble is how do you sell your game? How can Sega sell a game to your writable ROM cartridge? They want money for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 on Steam so how can you say it's not piracy to download it for free for your WROM cart? Sega is not EA, they take your money and make good games with it.

As for Sega, it's really up to them if they want to sell games for their old consoles. If they did, which is highly unlikely, they would just produce new cartridges. They would never allow people to download a ROM as there is no built in DRM to prevent people from freely distributing it.

Sega does in fact sell Sega Genesis/Megadrive games on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13945/SEGA_Mega_Drive_and_Genesis_Classics/ it's nothing more than a emulator and ROMs.

[JPMcMillen]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από JPMcMillen:

As for Sega, it's really up to them if they want to sell games for their old consoles. If they did, which is highly unlikely, they would just produce new cartridges. They would never allow people to download a ROM as there is no built in DRM to prevent people from freely distributing it.

Sega does in fact sell Sega Genesis/Megadrive games on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13945/SEGA_Mega_Drive_and_Genesis_Classics/ it's nothing more than a emulator and ROMs.

Selling on Steam isn't the same as selling for their old console. Sega isn't interested in selling games for their old consoles. They've moved on.

Also, it's not impossible for Sega to have built a compiler that would let them take the original code and compile it to run on Windows. So there may not be an emulator in those games.

[Start_Running]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

The second thing I wanted to talk to you about is those Homebrew guys can't sell or advertise as well as if they were on Steam. Be honest with me, do you want to give one of these homebrew sites your credit card to buy a game and then rely on them to be there three years later when you want to play the game again?

Yeah they can't sell because they do not have the license to do so. using SEGAs code. There's also the lack of certification to be used on the console, etc etc.

As far as I know Sega doesn't sell ROM images for you to plug into a writable ROM cartridge. Maybe you meant free homebrew games?

Why would they when they sell the cartridges already. Plus they already put out all the games they still hiold the distribution licenses for on the genesuis mini and said games are also already available on PC. They literally have no reason to. As for homebrewers They can and some do I think actually make proper carts. But many don't bother.

I think a Pi might be overkill when all I need is a few chips to split, switch, and relay data through USB.

Yeah. You shoudl probably learn a bit more about what's going on inside a genesis. Might want to hunt down some technical system manuals and dev kit manuals.


DUde. Lets just say thius out loud. WHat your asking is not a question about STeam at akll its about SEGA so head over to their forums and ask around there. This luiterally has zero to do with Steam.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από The ★Plantman★ of Dojima:

I want to make Steam work with Sega Genesis(megadrive) for my first project into this idea. Steam would connect up with my Genesis from my PC's USB port and probably into the game slot in the Genesis.
With Steam and Sega's cooperation I would then be able to buy Genesis games from Steam (I actually already own the Genesis collection on Steam.) and then through the USB I would boot my Sega Genesis into games. I'm not sure if a USB 3.0 connection is fast enough to directly input cartridge data or if I will need a daughter board in the cartridge slot to act as a storage device.

The biggest potential problem with this, in my opinion, is getting some sort of Steam to actually work on a Genesis.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Sega Genesis games that are sold on Steam are actually the Genesis games themselves in an emulator. If that's the case, as long as you have some technical means to pass the appropriate game data to the system, it'll be able to run the game.

But if you want the game to launch via Steam, you'll need to run Steam itself on the console, or some sort of thing that can interface with the Steam servers. And that's where I think you'll run into a problem.

That's because Steam is basically built to be a form of DRM. You're supposed to sign into Steam in order to be able to access your games (even though there are some Steam games that can be accessed without going through Steam). As such, my guess is that Valve is probably disinclined to allow people to essentially make their own Steam client. Though, there may be ways around this (such as using some of your own code and some of their proprietary stuff).

That said, as mentioned by others, if getting the games on Steam means you've officially bought the ROM files, you could just take those ROMs and put them on a flash cart or something. I don't know how legal this is, but it seems ethically reasonable given that Sega no longer officially makes these games in cartridge format for the Genesis and your copy of the ROM would have come from a legally provided source as you've already bought the game. It wouldn't get you Steam playtime, but then again Steam's way of managing those games is sorta cruddy anyway, if I recall correctly, since all of those individual games are treated as DLCs of Sega MegaDrive Classics or something.

[Gambit-3k]

These games come with a rom file to use in an Everdrive or an emulator.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/837190/TANGLEWOOD
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1065020/Micro_Mages

Then there is this game, you can purchase a cartridge (Genesis/Megadrive) or the rom from them on a separate website. It would be cool if the Steam release included the rom, but I just think it's awesome people still make games for old hardware, this is one of the best I've seen. The version on Steam is a slightly enhanced port of the original game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/464260/Xeno_Crisis

[Black Blade]

I honestly can't see Valve getting into doing this themself, it just sound like painful work for the very little benefit on their side

I can see a community doing a project like that, and then developers can just work with it from Steam to work with whatever device was made
As others pointed out they can simply give you the ROM if they want to, and then let you write it into your cartridge your self

However I think what you really may want is Sega to release a system that is simply build to allow this
They can likely make a sega with internet and select a game, even if then it will be running on an emulator to be honest, does it matter? I mean for the game and what you see it could just as much look like a real sega with the real game and all and likely can be done with a raspberry pi all ready

[nullable]

This is a fun idea. But I think there's some technical difficulties (and a lack of expertise given your question) that are going to make just buying cartridges from eBay a more realistic solution.

Or alternatively buying a mega drive controller and a usb adapter.

Or buying some sort of flash cart if you really believe the games are being sold on Steam are just ROMs.