Game File Specs

[Dowland]

Are the AGS game file specifications public (I couldn't find them after a quick browse around the website)?

And when I say specs, I do mean the internal structure of the game file (what Roomedit opens).

[Pumaman]

No, they're not. This is because to document them would make it too easy for someone to write a "decompiler" to pinch graphics from other people's games.

This question has come up before and the large majority of opinion was that they should remain undocumented.

[Dowland]

Were the following points made (before I put the issue back to rest) :

• if anybody is serious enough about pinching art, they'll do it one way or another ;
  
• this includes reverse-engineering the files, something which is certainly not unheard of ;
  
• nobody ever opposed Lucas-Arts or Sierra game editors (which most often had no other purpose than to take the animated walking frames of Indy, or of Hoagie ...).

Furthermore was the possibility that they might be released privately, on a per case basis, left open?

EDIT: Umpf ... just realized Pumaman = CJ. Silly me.

[Pumaman]

*if anybody is serious enough about pinching art, they'll do it one way or another ;

Well of course, if people really want it then they can take a screenshot and manually edit it together in Paint or something. It's like copy protection on games -- there's nothing you can do to stop really determined people from getting around it, but it's worth putting in to stop casual copying.

*this includes reverse-engineering the files, something which is certainly not unheard of ;

Again, if someone was that desperate, they could reverse engineer the file format. If they're going to go to all that effort then good luck to them, and there's nothing we can do to stop them.
What we can do however is to stop all the wannabe game creators who want to take all the characters and backgrounds from an existing game and put them together badly into a "fan game". Most people here have worked long and hard on their games, and they wouldn't want to see people creating bad imitations that spoiled the reputation of the original.

*nobody ever opposed Lucas-Arts or Sierra game editors (which most often had no other purpose than to take the animated walking frames of Indy, or of Hoagie ...).

Lucasarts and Sierra games are considered classics at this point, though, and are so famous that players will realise instantly if somebody has just pinched Guybrush's animations. AGS games are not so, and somebody could pinch (for example) the Larry Vales walking animation (for it is great) and pretend it was their own, and a lot of players wouldn't realise.

Furthermore was the possibility that they might be released privately, on a per case basis, left open?

Highly unlikely -- someone would have to put forward a VERY convincing case for needing the information.

[Dowland]

Thanks for your very clear reply. You do make very valid points! 

[monkey0506]

What we can do however is to stop all the wannabe game creators who want to take all the characters and backgrounds from an existing game and put them together badly into a "fan game".

Just a thought, but taking chars and bkgs from an existing game isn't necessarily bad practice.

I realize that a lot of the time people who do this just want to throw together their game so they can say that they "did something", yet there are those who are dedicated enough to actually make a decent tribute to a classic game.

[Gilbert]

Well I think that had been discussed before, unlike ripping off old commercial game graphics most AGS game creators are present here. You can always ask the creators themselves if you want to use some stuff from them, if the creators think it's okay they'll just send you the required materials, if they don't want you to use their stuff you shouldn't use it then, this can at least show some respect to the creators, whether you have the right to use their creations or not is their own decission. It's not a really good practice to rip resource off AGS games without asking for permissions.
Moreover, there're geneous people that provides free recource (like graphics, music, templates, etc.) for people to download as start-offs already.