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“A Dark Room” Developer bundles Ruby interpreter and code editor into Switch release (already taken down; see threadmarks for updates)
- Thread starter Deleted member 5028
- Start date
Apparently it's already taken down. He should've really put his easter egg through certification.
What an idiot. Hopefully Nintendo come down on him hard and others shun his work. It's weird how seemingly proud of himself he is considering this will have no worthwhile outcome for him.
Seems a bit harsh. I get what you're saying, but he was just trying to get a programming language to be more accessible to others on the Switch, I don't really see what's so abhorrent about that, though yes, I agree that what he did wasn't very intelligent and will likely bar him from being able to release games with Nintendo in the future, but it wasn't exactly "evil", just ill planned.
For those saying arbitrary code execution is not an issue because games are sandboxed: sandboxes are made to be broken. :P
Way to torpedo your own game, I might even have picked it up since ADR was a neat incremental game. Better hope this won't lead to restrictions for other devs on using interpreted languages.
Yeah but once users get to start prodding at that sandbox there's a chance they'll find an exploit at some point.
They got out of the sandbox the first time they tried it, two years ago:
Of course, that's patched now (probably, haven't kept up in detail) but given Nintendo's track record there's no reason to expect the current one to be impenetrable.
As expected. He'll be fortunate if he's allowed a second chance to put the game through certification without or without the easter egg in tact.
OP
OP
Anyone here buy it? Are you still able to download it after the fact or do they just refuse access to any potential exploitable downloads?
Yeah that's what I was thinking. It wasn't very smart of the dev, but to be literally angered by this and wish harm upon them, well I just don't understand that at all. He didn't hurt anyone, just made an ill thought out business decision; I'm pretty sure we've all made those before.
I can understand being angry at the dev.
Here's why: This could potentially lead to more people creating more hacks for games for the Switch. While most people would probably use the exploits to homebrew, you're always going to get people who do this. This dev just made it easier and basically probably drove sales due to exploiting the certification process and telling users to quickly buy their game to attempt to exploit the system
I don't think anyone is mad at the developer, but a "what did you think would happen" is very justified.
OP
OP
If anyone is wondering about the actual game: here's the web version
The mobile and Switch versions have more content but I assume the basics are similar.
The mobile and Switch versions have more content but I assume the basics are similar.
I hope we eventually see legit programming software on the Switch. SmileBASIC is (hopefully still) in development:
https:///puchikon4-smilebasic-delayed-to-spring-2019/
I would like to see an event-driven programming model from someone. I hate writing polling code.
https:///puchikon4-smilebasic-delayed-to-spring-2019/
I would like to see an event-driven programming model from someone. I hate writing polling code.
Further developer comment
OP
OP
Well, reading more of the developers responses to this then he's actively gone looking for trouble with Nintendo
https://ruby.social/@amirrajan/101991347839280423
Clearly the masters in this case refer to Nintendo and their gated rules, but what a terrible way to get that message out. All he's done is burn bridges with virtually no reporting on this. Essentially, few people will know what's happened here or care about it.
https://ruby.social/@amirrajan/101991347839280423
I like it. If we don't extrapolate to "wake up sheeps", I guess it is a fair message. We, 25+ years old, used to tinker a lot with PCs or even consoles just to get them working, playing games or watching porn (I miss those boobies I watched through a green screen).
OP
OP
I remember those days too. Programming on my ZX81 was a fun time for sure but this seems like a real misfire which isn't getting a message out there as widely as he could have.
Yeah, I feel like if he actually put the script engine through certification as he should have in the first place, he could have sent a much better message overall. For one, it would have stayed up for far longer. Though perhaps there's some extra hurdles to certification of those features.
Good thing I snagged it before it got delisted! Itll be fun to mess around with until Fuze or SmileBasic comes out.
Why would this make someone angry?
Why would this make someone angry?
Let's say you're the publisher responsible for sending the game to certification. The dev doesn't inform you that they included a tool like this as an Easter egg in the game, and so you make no note of it when you discuss the game with Nintendo and send a build in to be certified. Then after release, the dev is like "lol check this out!" and immediately gets the game yanked for their own stupidity.
The publisher would have every reason to be pissed at this guy.
There's a lot of things to tinker with in 2019; you don't need to tinker on a Switch.
The "sticking it to the man" approach from the developer doesn't have a moral highground when they signed a developer agreement to not stick it to the man.
Yup. The OS on most consoles is basically DRM with some nice added features like a friends list.
Nobody needs to tinker on anything, it's a case of wanting to tinker on everything.
Doesnt Switch have that weird workaround to get to the built in browser? used it months ago.
There are devices which are more open than the Switch that he could have supported - and learning devices on which people can draw a square, throw something together using scratch, or linux based IoT devices you can do literally anything on... seems dumb to me. Wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo lawyer up to make an example of him.
They meant why would consumers be pissed about it. The answer is apparently some nebulous slippery slope argument (see below).
Obviously a publisher being duped into publishing a game with such an easter egg would have every right to be livid about it (and, frankly, probably seek damages), that doesn't need any explanation. I don't think this game had a publisher, though.
You built up a slippery slope but forgot to provide the doomsday scenario at the bottom. Why should consumers care?
They were, see above.
Oh well, guessing the developer didn't want to be developing on Nintendo platforms again.
Honestly, trying to sneak shit like this through the approval process is just going to make life harder for other developers. This was rampant on the iTunes App Store when that first allowed third-party submissions, folks sneaking in compilers, emulators, all sorts. It just led to stricter controls and certification, more restricted SDK usage and longer publication delays as they cracked down on it.
And for a Ruby interpreter of all things, who is that benefitting? If you want to learn Ruby get a $10 Pi Zero. If he wanted to help people 'crack' the switch there are far more subtle ways of doing so, I know developers who intentionally coded games which didn't check the save game file size before loading it into the allocated memory, which is both way more useful and much more 'oops' deniable.
Honestly, trying to sneak shit like this through the approval process is just going to make life harder for other developers. This was rampant on the iTunes App Store when that first allowed third-party submissions, folks sneaking in compilers, emulators, all sorts. It just led to stricter controls and certification, more restricted SDK usage and longer publication delays as they cracked down on it.
And for a Ruby interpreter of all things, who is that benefitting? If you want to learn Ruby get a $10 Pi Zero. If he wanted to help people 'crack' the switch there are far more subtle ways of doing so, I know developers who intentionally coded games which didn't check the save game file size before loading it into the allocated memory, which is both way more useful and much more 'oops' deniable.
Here's how this will hurt me as a consumer - this will no doubt make the certification process on the Switch much tougher. At the very least there will be further delays for all Indie games needing certification, and most likely some Indie games that would have passed certification before will now no longer pass because the rules have become tougher, all thanks to this smartass.
