[PDF] Sustaining the Growth of an NES Homebrew Community - CORE

[PDF] 02 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING LANCE - Atarimania

The 6502 Assembly Language Instruction Set 3-1 CPU Registers and Status Flags 3-3 6502 Memory Addressing Modes 3-5 Memory — Immediate 3-6

[PDF] for the Serious Compute - 6502org

a 6502/68000 MACRO cross Assembler 6502/68000 Cross Assembter from S-C Software Corp online 24 hours a day, except for occasional periods of

[PDF] [0IYC]⋙ Beyond BASIC: 6502 Assembly Language Programming

Download and Read Free Online Beyond BASIC: 6502 Assembly Language Programming for the B B C Microcomputer Richard Freeman From reader reviews 

[PDF] Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies - Hackadayio

It is the online community which makes developing for the machine 'fun' - though I use that 6502-variant processor, we need an assembler that knows how to

Sustaining the Growth of an NES Homebrew Community - CORE

16 sept 2014 · of an NES Homebrew Community Through Online Communication A Major useful for learning the basics of 6502 assembly We will discuss 

pdf American Language Course Placement Test HANDBOOK

The American Language Course Placement Test (ALCPT) is developed by the Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC) for foreign military and US government-sponsored English Language Training Programs (ELTP) around the world It measures English language proficiency through the modes of listening and reading

[PDF] 6502 assembly apple ii

[PDF] 6502 assembly code

[PDF] 6502 assembly example

[PDF] 6502 assembly jsr

[PDF] 6502 assembly language programming

[PDF] 6502 assembly language programming book

[PDF] 6502 assembly language tutorial

[PDF] 6502 assembly tutorial pdf

[PDF] 6502 block diagram pdf

[PDF] 6502 board kit

[PDF] 6502 brk bug

[PDF] 6502 brk opcode

[PDF] 6502 brk vector

[PDF] 6502 circuit diagram

[PDF] 6502 commands

W orcester Polytechnic InstituteDi gital WPI %*-0'$!3$)"-*% /.'' -. %*-0'$ !3$)"-*% /. *''*2/#$.) $/$*)'2*-&./#

6+.$"$/'*((*).2+$ 0(,+''5$

.)- ./-$/ $.-*0"#//*3*0!*-!- )*+ ) . .3/# %*-0'$!3$)"-*% /./$"$/'/#. ) +/ !*-$)'0.$*)$) %*-0'$!3$)"-*% /.'' -.3)0/#*-$4 ($)$./-/*-*!$"$/'*-(*- $)!*-(/$*)+' . *)// $"$/'2+$ 2+$ 0 +*.$/*-3$//$*) /-$ 1 !-*(#

6+.$"$/'*((*).2+$ 0(,+''

1

An Introduction to Retro Software Homebrew:

Sustaining the Growth

of an NES Homebrew Community Through Online Communication

A Major Qualifying Project Report

Submitted to the Faculty of

the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science, Professional Writing

Submitted by William Poirier

Advised by Jennifer DeWinter

September 16, 2014

wjpoirier@wpi.edu 2

Abstract

In the modern computer age of information, the line between consumers and producers has become blurry in many cases. For some programming hobbyists and videogame fans, there is no line. Homebrew in this context refers to software developed for proprietary system by hobbyists and/or

hackers. There is no endorsement usually from official intellectual property holders. The relationships

between homebrew communities and companies are strange and awkward, containing some of the most

passionate fans for a brand like Nintendo or Atari while also arguably infringing on copyright. From a

professional communication standpoint, there is much to be interested in studying. Thanks to homebrew communities, a massive amount of documentation on reverse engineered proprietary hardware has entered the public domain. Yet it is an understudied field in academia and is a heavily misunderstood phenomenon by intellectual property holders. This report hopes to shine light on the

community and break down several of the misunderstandings. It also strives to evaluate the quality of

the user experience and documentation within homebrew communities and recommend improvements in their communications. Primarily, this MQP deals with the question of how a homebrew community can sustain membership through their technical communications. A community catered to the development of Nintendo Entertainment System homebrew called NESDEV was selected. Specifically, this study dealt with how well a newcomer could find and comprehend the documentation provided by the NESDEV community. Test participants were tasked with learning basic mathematical and programming constructs necessary for low-level assembly programming. This included binary numbers, bitwise logic, hexadecimal conversions to other bases, and programming in 6502 assembly. The research showed that both technical minded and non-technical minded people had difficulty at various degrees with various parts of the website. The design of the NESDEV wiki needs improvement in order to attract more members. Also, several documents were found to be too technical

for beginners. It was recommended the community looks at the data contained in this report and decide

how or if the website should be improved. Although not a full representative sample of all homebrew communities, the study demonstrated many design and communication pitfalls a volunteer and hobbyist driven community could fall victim to. Based on preliminary analysis, other homebrew communities exhibit similar technical communication problems. In the future, I intend to adapt this study to more homebrew communities in order to bring to their attention ways their communications could be improved and made more accessible to newcomers. 3

Table of Contents

Abstract--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

Table of Contents--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Table of Figures----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Chapter 1: Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Chapter 2: Background------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17

Chapter 3: Method------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 43

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58

Chapter 5: Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 73

References----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 76

Appendix A: The Sustainability Game------------------------------------------------------------------------ 80

Appendix B: Pre-Test--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82

Appendix C: Final Iteration of Usability Test -------------------------------------------------------------- 85

Appendix D: Post-Test-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88

Appendix E: Spread Sheet Data------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 89

Appendix F: Future Homebrew Topics of Discussion---------------------------------------------------- 100

4

Table of Figures

Figure 2.1 --- NESDEV forum, Page 20

Figure 2.2 --- AtariAge.com, Page 22

Figure 2.3 --- NESDEV wiki, Page 28

Figure 2.4 --- Exponential Curve, Page 34

Figure 2.5 --- NintendoCity Google Trends data, Page 39 Figure 2.6 --- Homebrew Google Trends data, Page 42 Figure 4.1 --- Stickied Topic in Newbie Help Center, Page 65 Figure 5.1 --- Google trends data for homebrew communities, Page 73

Figure 5.2 --- Google trends datquotesdbs_dbs7.pdfusesText_5