Continuing Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth – Call for former team member

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

I'm part of the BYTE RANGER Software team, and we would like to continue the development of Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth, which was discontinued in 2021 by Screen7.

We believe this project deserves to live on, and we want to carry it forward in the spirit of the original vision – for all fans of classic point-and-click adventures.

We are currently gathering resources and therefore reaching out to see if any former developers, artists, writers, or contributors of the FOY project are still active here in the AGS community.

We have already gratefully made use of the documents that were shared in this thread:
👉 Remnants of a long project – The Fountain of Youth

However, any additional material – such as:

• Story drafts
• Room design documents
• The most recent source code

...would save us significant time and help ensure that our continuation stays as true as possible to the original project.

To make sure that this work remains accessible to the whole community, the project will be developed as an open-source repository on GitHub.

Our goal is to preserve and expand Fountain of Youth, while honoring and building upon the amazing work already done by the original team.

👉 If you were involved in the project (or know someone who was), we would be very happy if you could get in touch with us.

You can reply directly here in the forum or contact us via email: ByteRanger@gmx.de

Thank you very much for your time and support – and of course for all the great work that has already been done on Fountain of Youth!

Best regards,

BYTE RANGER Software Team
CalDymos – CEO & Lead Programmer

🌐 https://byte-ranger-software.github.io/indy-foy

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

I would like to follow up on my earlier post about continuing Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth (open Source).


First of all: is there really no former developer of the original FOY project still active here in the forum? Having access to the latest source code and possibly a Game Design Document (GDD) would save us enormous amounts of time and help us stay faithful to the original vision.

Of course, any former contributors of code, artwork, sound, or music would be fully credited and mentioned both in the attributions and in the game's credits.


Secondly, I would like to ask the community directly:
👉 Is there genuine interest in seeing this project finally completed?

Your feedback would be very valuable for us to decide how much energy and resources we should dedicate to this continuation.


From our point of view, it would be a real shame if such a great idea and all the work that has already been invested in FOY were never brought to fruition. We would like to acknowledge these efforts and try to ensure that the project receives the conclusion it deserves.

Thank you very much for your time and opinions!

[brushfe]

@CalDymos here's one enthusiastic vote for completing it! The work so far has been incredible

[Mati256]

There is definitely interest!
Maybe keep the name IJ out of the game so you will have no problems with IP?

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

I have another quick question for the community:
Does anyone here still have contact with Mark J. Lovegrove (alias "m0ds"), who was the project leader of Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth?

If someone is still in touch with him, it would be great if you could help us get in contact.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Best regards,
BYTE RANGER Software Team

[CalDymos]

I'd like to give you a short update on our current progress regarding the continuation of Fountain of Youth

At the moment we are reaching out to as many former team members as possible in order to gather all available resources. Some of them we have already contacted directly and we are now waiting for their replies.

 - From Miez we have already received a response – he kindly provided us with an additional design document for FoY and even offered his help with potential artwork in the future.
 - We also received an offer of support from another forum member, which we will gladly accept at the right time.
 - Unfortunately, Mark J. Lovegrove (m0ds) seems to have vanished into thin air, which makes contacting him very difficult.

All original resources will be archived (as far as possible) in our GitHub repository.
Please note: browsing these resources comes with spoiler risk!
The current progress can also be viewed anytime on our GitHub page.

Once we have collected all possible documents and materials (hopefully including the original source code), and after creating a new Game Design Document (GDD) and Room Design Document (RDD), we will make a full assessment of the current state.
This will allow us to estimate the remaining effort and define the next steps for development.

Thanks again for all the support – it really means a lot to us as we try to bring this project back to life.

[cat]

I just realized that even the Screen7 homepage (Mark/m0ds was running this) is not anymore. I have no idea what he is currently up to.

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

a quick follow-up on our progress:

I was recently able to contact another former team member, Blaze. While he no longer has any materials to share, he kindly stated that he waives any rights to his earlier code contributions, should they be recovered from other sources.

Unfortunately, despite several hours of online research and many messages, I have so far not been able to establish contact with further former members (apart from Misja). No replies yet – but I'll keep at it.

[Dave Gilbert]

I just realized that even the Screen7 homepage (Mark/m0ds was running this) is not anymore. I have no idea what he is currently up to.

He goes by "MarkyMint" on Steam. I'm not sure how active he is there.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/markymint

[CalDymos]

Thanks, I will try it out

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

I'm happy to announce that I have successfully contacted Mark (m0ds) Lovegrove..

He kindly said he will try to dig through some of his old HDDs and see what remains.
He also expressed his support for the idea of a new continuation, even if it may turn into a fresh interpretation rather than a strict recovery of the old project.

Mark confirmed he'll do his best to recover and pass on what he can, hopefully before Christmas, though his current game release has his full attention right now.

I really appreciate his openness and support, and I think this is a very positive step for preserving and continuing the legacy of FoY.

[CalDymos]

Hello everyone,

as part of our planning we've also been thinking carefully about the IP situation. Naturally, we want to avoid any risk of Disney stepping in and shutting the project down at a later stage.

That means we unfortunately cannot use the original names or likenesses from the Indiana Jones franchise. Of course, as fans ourselves, we want to stay as close to the original spirit as possible. So we've started brainstorming alternative names that are phonetically close to the originals but, as far as we can tell, legally safer.

Here are some of the ideas we've come up with so far:

• Indiana Jones → Dr. Indigo Johans (The nickname "Indy" still fits)
• Marcus Brody → Dr. Martin Bromley
• Henry Jones Sr. → Dr. Henrik Johans (if he should mentioned in the story)

It's a bit of a shame that we have to take this step, but it's better to handle it this way than to risk the game being taken down after all the effort.

What do you think about this approach? Do you feel these alternatives preserve the spirit while keeping us safe from IP issues?

[cat]

I think it's a good idea, but you could go a bit further with renaming.

It could be Idaho James or Kentucky Lennox or whatever...

[Danvzare]

Why not Lara Jones, Raider of Uncharted Tombs from Indiana? 

[brushfe]

A couple things I learned from making a board game with a trademarked name, in case it's relevant:

-IP laws are unique in different parts of the world, so it's worth checking what's "too close" in any market you want to sell in

-It's less about exact VS non-exact copies and more about the potential for confusing your product with someone else's IP. So retaining the nickname "Indy" might be arguable in isolation, but combined with your sprites, setting, story, etc, is it meaningfully distinct?

-Trademark owners often have a legal requirement to challenge every attempt at infringement, simply because if one person gets away with it, everyone else can use their success as precedent for their own infringement. So the closer to the original IP you stay, the more you can expect a letter.

This all really starts to matter if you charge for the game or trademark part of it. Hopefully this helps!

[CalDymos]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!

You're right, it's not just about exact names but about how close things feel overall, and the risk of confusion. That's exactly why we're experimenting with alternative names and looks, even if it feels a bit sad to move away from the originals. Better safe than sorry if we want this project to survive.

Of course, we definitely do not intend to charge money for this project; it will remain a free, non-commercial open-source fan project.

For now we're still in the stage of gathering as much of the original FOY material as possible. Once we have everything together, we'll create a proper GDD and that will be the point where we can also make adjustments if needed, to be sure we're on the safe side.

The important part is keeping the spirit alive, even if some details need to shift.

Thanks again for the input!