How the Sony PlayStation Net Yaroze DevKit brought Indie Game Development to Consoles | MVG 

Wanted to give a huge thanks to Ben James, John Biank, Robert Dale Smith and the rest of you who reached out and told me your Net Yaroze Story. If you worked on the Net Yaroze, let me know in the comments or send me an email. Id love to hear your story. Enjoy the video !

Yes! I remember buying the official PlayStation magazine and sometimes had full games built from yaroze in their monthly demo disc.

Sony: Creates affordable SDK for hobbyists to break into console game development Also Sony: Takes Linux support off of PS3 due to fear of hobbyists breaking into console

Me and my brother must have had several dozen PS1 demo discs from magazines in the UK and some of the Net Yaroze games were our most played. Hours of entertainment crammed into these small games for the price of a magazine meant we played a lot of them. The demo discs were always a lot easier to justify to our parents than a full game was, so shoutout for to these devs, big part of my childhood right here.

That brings back memories. I had a Skywalker serial cable and a modded PlayStation so I could do my coursework at home instead of the computing labs. I'm pretty sure we were already working with OpenGL so having to deal with fixed point arithmetic for 3D transformations was a real eye opener.

I love you highlighting developers by name, and saying where they are now. This kind of investigation made my bump my Patreon subscription :) I’d love to see interviews/stories from the emulation/modding scene, even if the video/audio is obscured for privacy.

Best showcase of Net Yaroze games I've seen.

This is my 1st time hearing and knowing about Net Yaroze... Or even the fact that there was a "bedroom coder" kind of movement back in the 80s? Incredible. Just incredible! Damn, if only we had money to buy stuff like this at the time... I could've started breaking in making games sooner. In any case, this is really incredible!

I've actually been thinking about Net Yaroze lately with the official release of Dreams on the PS4. It feels like creation tools has always gone hand in hand with Sony Playstation (minus the PS2 but that had Linux support) - Net Yaroze, Little Big Planet, Dreams. It feels like sony has always wanted to give people a chance to create something Digitially depending on knowledge and patience.

17:04 "Sony has never been afraid to experiment with their hardware and open it up to the hobbyist bedroom coder." Well, they weren't until they removed "Other OS" from the PS3.

My older brother bought this when it came out and I remember tinkering with it. I didn't get very far (I was still a kid at the time) but remember compiling simple code with it. I am a programmer by profession today so I guess it helped push me along towards my career. I still have it and the SDK package on display in my house. Beautiful piece of hardware.

never thought i'd hear net yaroze said so many times in 20 mins

I really wanted one of these when I was in high school... but it was a good thing that it was so expensive and so hard to get one for a casual player. Because this would have been way way beyond my abilities to handle. I would not have been able to do anything with this, I didn't understand what it really took to create a game back then. It would have been wasted money for me.

"Most of them weren't very good, but there some impressive standouts!"; Sounds like modern indie-games to me!

Here in Australia and other PAL regions the ps2 came with a disk that contained YABasic which I believe was to get around import taxes by classing the ps2 as a computer. It was actually pretty terrible and slow but still making and sharing rudimentary games that ran on the ps2 was fun. There was no support for external files so images had to be converted to data statements in the code but from memory it did have pretty fast (Gouraud?) shaded polygon support. I also remember there was an emulated version of the yabasic elf with a few extra features to speed up coding and directly convert images to data statements etc.

I wish I would of had something like this as a kid to tinker around with. Even if I probably wouldn't have made a game worth while, just having it to learn some of the basics of programming would have been very interesting.

11:47 "...but in late 1987..." Are you sure about that?

I remember playing demo discs, that came with Finnish version of PlayStation magazines. I always wondered what were those games, that felt different from the rest. Nice to know they were indies. Also, didn't know Devil Dice was originally Net Yaroze game! I bet our demo disc had retail version for sure, but that has stuck in my mind for years.

Wow! This is one of your all time best episodes. Very interesting and I’d really like to see that Vita episode or any other episode you can design on this type of stuff. Thanks MVG.

2:20....when I heard that ancient PlayStation boot SFX, I actually rewound it just to hear that delicious ear candy again. Man that is a fucking legendary console.

2mb is rough but people still pulled off some amazing games. I particularly remember ‘adventure game’. I might have the name wrong but it was a really funny parody of RPGs, and fully 3D.

10:30 - Oh my god! I remember Blitter Boy! It was on one of the demo discs, along with a bunch of other games. 12:30 - Terra too! Oh my gosh. So much nostalgia.

I always had a huge fascination with the Net Yaroze when I heard about it from one of my Playstation Underground discs... unfortunately I was only a kid when it came out and we didnt exactly have 750 dollars to spend on it so all I could do was admire it and play the demos they displayed... but I loved the games that were made and the stories behind Net Yaroze and it was always in the back of my mind since.

that david johnston guy who made timeslip definitely got inspiration from jazz jackrabbit :D my favourite series as a child.

Good video, fun walk down memory lane! The Yaroze was always so fascinating to me back in the day and I continue to adore the look of the console itself. I still have a vivid memory of booting up Terra Incognita for the first time, but I'd totally forgotten about Total Soccer until it appeared in this video and then it instantly came rushing back. That was a genuinely good Sensible Soccer clone and I think it's still quite impressive!

I bought a NetYaroze from Sony back in the late 90's. Back then I was making (euro)demos on the Amiga and the intention was to make demo's on the Yaroze to be used in wild-competetions at demo-partys. However I got distracted with all sorts of other things and never really got very far with that project (also at the time I found C annoying since I was used to m68k assembler). At one point I was interviewed for a PS developer position but did not get the job since I did not really have any proper demos up and running on Yaroze - if I had I would proberbly have had a career in game development. Guess my NetYaroze is for sale now, at the current prices I might almost recoup my original investment lol - "investment by bying hardware" thats new ;-)

2:20. Nice. Both the sound and video stream right into my soul.! I have such an extremely positive association with that bit of audio video. It brings a tear to my eye. So so good. Thank you for that.! Excellent video 👍

Very interesting, and well presented, as always! Thanks for this. That darker coloured Net Yaroze console looks fantastic. I’ll be looking forward to subsequent episodes. Keep up the great work!

I have heard of this machine before and when the Playstation hit...I was instantaneously hooked. There was a time in my life when I could not imagine not having a PSX in it. It was one of the first consoles I purchased with my own money (I bought a Sega Saturn the same day as my PSX). I was 16 years old with a decently paying job and my own muscle car (what a time in my life!). I subscribed to every game mag I could get my hands on but I never saw this for sale (I live in the States). I would have purchased this machine without question had I been given the opportunity. Even though we in the States did not get into the microcomputer craze we had something just as big hit in 1993...and its name was Doom. I cut my teeth in 1994 making levels for Doom on my cloned 486DX2. When I got my hands on Doom 2 it was it changed everything. I wanted so badly to break into the gaming industry when I was younger but it was not to be. Today I am a collector of all things gaming and if I ever see obe of these out on the wild...I will snag it.

Abertay Uni still had a Net Yaroze, when I was there a back in 2015. Was cool to see. One of the things I loved about Dundee was having access to current and old dev hardware.

2:19 Oh man, I got crazy great shivers hearing that again. Thank you for putting that in the video in its full form.

You might have the ONLY content on ALL of RU-vid that I look forward to watching. I was SO immersed in console modding scene in the late 90's and early 00's. Watching your stuff takes me back. Also makes me feel I'm connected to a community that experienced the same things I did. You can never stop making videos. Thank you for all you did within the scene back in the day.

Its really awesome to see "Blitter Boy" being featured in this video. I remember playing it on one of my brothers demo discs.

I fianlly snagged myself a complete Net Yaroze a little while back. Not with it's original box but all it's original software. I don't code like but always wanted to learn to have a go. I found a website with a copy of the FULL developer SDK's some time back as well. So bouns.

I am SO happy I found this channel. Seriously, such good content that's right up my interests.

Absolutely love your content. Always a highlight when I get the notification!

14:54 - There was an official USA Playstation Magazine. I had a subscription for years and in fact I still have some of the discs. I was an underground member too so I did play some of the Net Yaroze demos. But I think you are right in that they weren't on the official mag disc.

As someone who was part of the bedroom programming era this was a joy to watch, brings back good memories of coding simple games on my ZX Spectrum.

Cheers for bringing attention to the Net Yaroze and telling it’s story.This was an excellent video and I learned a lot. Thanks!!

Top notch video as usual. Thank you for taking the time to keep the quality up!

6:15 : «the main difference is the serial connection port for debugging». No, the serial port is the same as the retail version. In fact, the console is almost the same on the outside as the SCPH 1000 version (minus S-video port).

2:19 this brings back so many good memories. I have replayed it over and over call me weird but it sounds so beautiful.

Amazing stuff, would have never knew about this device without your coverage, thank you MVG

Great Video! Is an interesting topic, I writed an article about it some years ago. Terra Incognita is one of my Favourite title in the PSX Library btw. Oh and I'm glad that you explained that here in Europe, we never had a real "crash". Looks to me that nowdays, most ppl think it was a worldwide thing.

Still got all my official magazines and demo discs with the yaroze games on. Terra incognita, psychon, haunted maze................Those were the days, lad.

I still have mine! I need to root through the garage and see if I can find the access key. It was pretty fun to tinker around with, but I mostly only ever used mine to make simple demos. It was pretty cool though. There was also an option to buy a Metrowerks Codewarrior along with it to get a proper IDE.

Used to love playing these games on the old demo discs as a kid. I found them all fascinating for reasons I'm only just realising through this video. Terra Incognita and Devil Dice were my favourites

Fascinating stuff!! Your tutorial videos have really impressed me so much!

My all time favourite is Gravitation and I am a bit sad you didn't mention it. It was insanely fun with 2 players on a split screen!

2:20 Goosebumps.

I wanted one of these so much back in the day. Thanks for the video!

always love learning more about yaroze as a ps1 demo disc collector, thanks mvg~

The original PlayStation’s boot screen still gives me chills. :)

Blitter Boy! Those crying babies caused so much teenage anxiety. Dude this video was awesome!

It's so cool seeing such old indie games. Especially ones on an otherwise closed platform like a console. Really puts things into perspective for me now as an indie developer myself.

Psychon was AMAZING! Lovely vid MVG! A great overview and a great trip down the Nostalgia lane...

Never knew about this hardware, freaking awesome that this was possible :) Seeing the Acces Card i wonder why there are not any Gecko/FMCB cards for the PSX.

aw hell yeah, this thing

Very informative video. I was never aware of the bedroom coding scene. Appreciate the history lessons, MVG! Keep 'em coming.

Absolutely fascinating episode. Never even heard of the Net Yaroze before!

6:11 I had a regular PS1 back in the days (still have it at my parent's home) and it has a debug port. It is an early model though (probably from 95-96 era). I know later ones had that port removed, the same for the RCA jacks.

Apparently Sega was considering something similar for the Dreamcast. I remember some VP (I think?) of Sega of America reaching out to active people on the dcdev mailing list to do some market validation research. They asked us to keep it quiet at the time. Given the advanced state of homebrew libraries and tools and the soon-to-be death of the Dreamcast, the project never went anywhere AFAIK.

The intro segment brought back such good memories. I learned to code as a kid by typing out code listings from magazines such as Home Computer into my BBC Micro and Commodore 64. Good times man!

Always excited when you get a video out. Keep 'em coming. Saludos desde Costa Rica

I recall playing a bunch of demos from this on a demo disc, only one I can recall was "terra Incognita", was ok :D

1:55 You could've called this game Bird vs Camel and no one would have argued with you

I need to look more into the Net Yaroze scene. I remember playing some of the games included in demo discs but hardly remember the specifics. Seeing Blitter Boy brought back a vivid memory, so that's one title I can now put a name to.

This is the content I love and come back for more of. Well done!

Dreams is the modern equivalent of the Net Yaroze

I nearly bought one of these back in the day, went as far as getting all the paperwork from Sony, from what I remember they required you to sign a contract and would send you a large envelope with all the paperwork. In the end I decided against it, as it was quite expensive, but I can imagine it would've been fun to write little games for the PSX and probably makes for a nice collectors item today.

Nice video. I worked in City Software in Liverpool between 1982 and 1988, so I knew quite a few of the developers, artists and musicians that worked in the game industry at the time.

it looks so PRETTY plus the memory card disc and controller omggggggg nicest looking console I've ever seen.

"This continued on the ps2 and 3, and even on the PSVita.. which we will cover in another episode" PSM Covered by MVG Confirmed!!!

Finally... After so many years, I finally found out how *that* game was called... Blitter Boy... Thank you MVG

That's amazing!! I had NO Idea this was once available to the public. Great video man.

Great video as always, detailed and interesting

I like the fact you covered this. Doesn't help prices of these though,

lovely content

Thanks for the video! Always been interested in the Net Yaroze, found it really interesting - great to learn a lot more! You always do a fantastic job with your videos, very well put together and a great watch.

I'm a simple man. I see Dev-Kits, I watch.

That comic sans though

This brings back memories. I used to to subscribe to Edge magazine and when I read about the Net Yaroze I was really excited about it and knew I had to get it. I wasn't much of a coder in those days and while I wrote a couple of tools for it I never did much in the way of games. There were however many other talented members and once people got passed the fact that writing games isn't easy many that persevered did end up with jobs in the industry. From what I remember Europe seemed the most active region compared to American and Japan. I'm grateful to Sony for providing the opportunity to allow bedroom coders to write games for their console, and for the support they provided as part of the program.

I was hoping you'd be able to cover this one day. Great stuff!

It’s sad the way the industry has changed. Seems like they used to pretty much support people developing for and experimenting with their consoles. Now they immediately try to shut anything down that wasn’t made by them or some other corporate monster. I doubt we’ll ever see any type of development kit for any console ever again. Hopefully something changes otherwise they might be looking at another crash. I see it already in our current gen of consoles. We’ve got some great consoles but the library of games for them is pretty limited.

2:20 You had to do it didn't you :)

Thank you for the PS1 startup sound. Gave a chill down my back...

I love this channel and videos!! I never knew things like this dev kit even existed

Please someone tell me: What's the game at 8:57?? I remember playing that game when I was super young and it left a really lasting impression on me (I think because it scared me). I wasn't even sure if it was real or if I had just imagined it!! Please let me know if you know the name. Thanks!!!

It’s amazing Sony went from this to the PS2 HDD\Network adapter to the official Linux distro on PS2 and PS3, only to pull the shit they did early on in the PS3’s life removing support for Linux (even though people PAID for kits) they suing those who jail broke the consoles to restore functionality Sony removed!

I used to have, or actually still have, demo discs containing just about every Yaroze game featured in this video. I had no idea about the background story on these games until I saw this video. Actually, a good amount of those games were quite playable and entertaining for a while.

Damn.. this was so nostalgic to watch. I loved playing these games. I love your videos man.

"and making games was fun" - it's also super fun now. It's you that has changed.

At 11:48 you said 1987 I think you meant 1997

I heard about net yaroze and knew it was a dev kit, but didn't know the full story behind it. Had also heard of Devil Dice before, but had no idea it was a net yaroze game, that's pretty cool. Awesome content as always MVG

13:00 Total Soccer! thanks for the blast from the past. Loved that game

So basically Dreams PS4 brought this “bedroom coding” stuff back.

yeehaw, nothing like a video released 25 seconds ago,

I remember hearing about the Net Yaroze on one of the PS Underground discs back in the day and it looked like the coolest thing ever. I always wanted to own one just because of its black color.

I love this matte color of Net Yaroze, Awesome vídeo!

This was very interesting. I always love your documentations.