Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sluissa]

Honestly? I think they thought they could get away with it because this kind of stuff happens a lot with remakes. OpenTTD is a good example where they redid all the graphics to be truly "open" yet it still looks very similar to the original. (To the point where I honestly couldn't tell you which was which if you put them side by side. Although I'm sure some people could.)

In fact, a lot of these types of projects are unofficially sanctioned or at least ignored by the copyright holders.

Go check out DaggerXL. He mentioned he asked Bethesda about their stance on it. They didn't give him anything official to go with, but with a sort of "wink and nod" type attitude he got from them, he felt safe enough to continue.

Maybe they did it wrong. Maybe they have reason to be scared, but there is precedent out there which suggests that sometimes, at least, this kind of stuff can be pulled off without any legal trouble.

[Aklyon]

Really seems to depend on the holder of the rights, one one side theres OpenTTD and DaggerXL, and on the other side is the dead Chrono Trigger Remake Project.

[Shadowlord]

What was the last version that was released?

[Pnx]

The biggest issue with these things seems to be graphical assets. You can make fresh new ones, but if you're basically tracing your interface. It's a big no-no.
However, there seems to be a big loophole where you can use the graphical assets of the game itself if you require them to own the game, and there's nothing stopping you from adding new ones. I think that shifts it under the "mod" category or something.

But I dunno, the legal issues surrounding these things tend to be a headache.

[Sowelu]

Sadly, "We re-drew the original graphics at higher res" is one of their big selling points.  It's kind of like saying "Looks identical to a Ferrari and is faster".  People who like Ferraris might be happy.  The company, not so much.

[kerlc]

well, yes. they should not change gameplay, but GRAPHICS. why? because the people won't care so much about the gameplay as they will about the graphics. okay, maybe the copyright owner was a little harsh (it's a VERY OLD GAME, but people still seem to buy it. (to acctually play the first 2, i had to get the floppy disks to an expert, and he changed them to a CD, but i still had to use dosbox.))

[Vibhor]

well, yes. they should not change gameplay, but GRAPHICS. why? because the people won't care so much about the gameplay as they will about the graphics. okay, maybe the copyright owner was a little harsh (it's a VERY OLD GAME, but people still seem to buy it. (to acctually play the first 2, i had to get the floppy disks to an expert, and he changed them to a CD, but i still had to use dosbox.))

You do know that the game is sold on steam AND was available on disks with compilations?

[Cajoes]

Seems to be a little complicated overall, while Two Sides in itself isn't illegal since it's a fanmade non-profit remake with multiplayer feature (like the Zod Engine). The fact that most of the developers working on it are also involved in other games which they hope to sell as their own thing may lead to some 'legal iffyness' because it would potentially mean Two Sides becomes free promotion.

As an example, how often have you seen the phrase, "From the makers of X" in a movie trailer? That's the hurdle here. So rather than facing a possible cease and desist order, they've pre-emptively pulled the plug on the project.

Alternatively they can just make it opensource, but they really don't want to. So that's the end of that.

[ChairmanPoo]

that's one of the options they are pondering at the moment, actually. The others being remaking all images and stuff, and removing all images and stuff and make it access the original data files, which would be provided by the player.

[Aklyon]

Making it like Dune Legacy might work: The game is free, but it requires [original_art.bmp/.jpg/.png./gif/etc files] to play.

[kerlc]

well, yes. they should not change gameplay, but GRAPHICS. why? because the people won't care so much about the gameplay as they will about the graphics. okay, maybe the copyright owner was a little harsh (it's a VERY OLD GAME, but people still seem to buy it. (to acctually play the first 2, i had to get the floppy disks to an expert, and he changed them to a CD, but i still had to use dosbox.))

You do know that the game is sold on steam AND was available on disks with compilations?

why buy something that you already own? i HAVE the floppy disks of the originals, and have bought the 3rd one.

trust me, when my parents picked up UFO 1 & 2 from the discount bin, they bought the right to play. and i own that right, so i do not see the point in buying what i already have.

[MrWiggles]

well, yes. they should not change gameplay, but GRAPHICS. why? because the people won't care so much about the gameplay as they will about the graphics. okay, maybe the copyright owner was a little harsh (it's a VERY OLD GAME, but people still seem to buy it. (to acctually play the first 2, i had to get the floppy disks to an expert, and he changed them to a CD, but i still had to use dosbox.))

You do know that the game is sold on steam AND was available on disks with compilations?

why buy something that you already own? i HAVE the floppy disks of the originals, and have bought the 3rd one.

trust me, when my parents picked up UFO 1 & 2 from the discount bin, they bought the right to play. and i own that right, so i do not see the point in buying what i already have.

So, you've never bought a vhs then a dvd of the same movie?

[forsaken1111]

well, yes. they should not change gameplay, but GRAPHICS. why? because the people won't care so much about the gameplay as they will about the graphics. okay, maybe the copyright owner was a little harsh (it's a VERY OLD GAME, but people still seem to buy it. (to acctually play the first 2, i had to get the floppy disks to an expert, and he changed them to a CD, but i still had to use dosbox.))

You do know that the game is sold on steam AND was available on disks with compilations?

why buy something that you already own? i HAVE the floppy disks of the originals, and have bought the 3rd one.

trust me, when my parents picked up UFO 1 & 2 from the discount bin, they bought the right to play. and i own that right, so i do not see the point in buying what i already have.

So, you've never bought a vhs then a dvd of the same movie?

People still buy VHS?

[Shadowgandor]

No but have bought one in the past. I've got the Lion King on both VHS and DVD, because I don't have a VHS player anymore.

[MrWiggles]

No but have bought one in the past. I've got the Lion King on both VHS and DVD, because I don't have a VHS player anymore.

This was my point.