Messages

One suggestion, since you guys are about to be editing a few things, is to hide the version number of SMF that's running. It's been my experience that few people care about versions of CMS/forum/webapps unless they're looking for exploits.

Edit: Though, weirdly, the pin points to Scotland until you zoom all the way in. I guess that's Google's fault though?

I believe it must be, as it shows me being Canadian until the map is zoomed in.

Good job with the forum upgrade!

Did you mean something like this: http://files43.com/en/download/file/17346/skeleton/
?

I downloaded this out of curiosity, and can't get it to run on any computer.

Just noticed Monsieur had the same trouble. I'm also running Win 7.

I appreciate you saying so, but I think every single entry was better than mine! Won't stop me from entering your new contest though!

[Media:]

Media: Book
Fact: He likes curry

Lister from the Red Dwarf novelizations?
Is he British?

Time's almost up folks, any late entries had better get their skates on.

Shoot! I have one in the works, but haven't had much time to work on it. I'll see if I can get it finished tonight!

EDIT: I DID get it finished!

Any chance you could share the pencil sketch for this BG as you have for some of the others? I'm interested in the full process you guys are going through to make these lovely scenes.

With these early cartoons, it's fairly easy to know which are in the public domain and which aren't, as the PD cartoons are widely known as such. There's probably a list on Cartoon Brew somewhere.

My question was whether the PD only covered redistribution of the cartoon as a whole, or whether one could break it down into distinct elements. Which, thinking back, is kind of a silly question, because that's sort of why PD exists in the first place.

Worf?
Did this character wear clothing?

I for one had no idea, until now, how important the declaration of the MAGS game was, and I have worked on at least 2 MAGS games (which were dropped) without declaring them.  Maybe it's just the fact that Icey has a history of MAGS misuse, but it's good to clarify this anyway.

This is the good that can come of this situation. I started working on something too (that failed), and had no idea I needed to pre-declare. I thought it best to keep mum in the likely case that I didn't finish. This is good info to know, and should maybe be declared in the prompt post from now on?

I only recently discovered the Hall of Fame thread and noticed there used to be a voice acting comp up until 2006.

I've been trying to think of a tactful way to suggest bringing it back (apparently I completely ignore stickied threads like this one and the HoF thread). I'd like to give voiceover work a try, have a mic and a copy of Audition, and a range of voices I'm capable of performing. However, I don't want to volunteer for game work because I'm completely inexperienced and I could be a total wash-up.

A voice acting comp would give me, and perhaps others, a nice way of trying out.

If all corporate copyrighted works from 1937 had been in the public domain since 2004 (and presumably another 8 years since then, up to 1945), that would be huge. I don't know that Mickey and Superman would be pd (presumably Disney and DC would try to have the courts use the creator's death + 70 years system instead), but it would at least be open to interpretation.

Interestingly, this will happen even as Warner Bros. (owners of DC Comics) screws over the estates of those creators in court. But yes, public domain law is widely coupled with Mickey Mouse whenever it comes up in conversation, as Disney is a prime force behind copyright extension.

I think it's also important to note that copyright and trademark are two separate things. I believe that, when/if Superman falls into the public domain, you still can't do business under the Superman name, or use the Superman emblem.

Such is the case with those beautiful Fleischer Superman cartoons that are also public domain.

If you were to make a public domain game, I think public domain would have to be a feature of the narrative in some way. I wouldn't be terribly interested in any old game which used these backgrounds. I'd want it to be finding an interesting approach to the debate around intellectual property.

I think it would depend on the game, the characters, the story, and how the backgrounds were used. I wouldn't necessarily say that it had to deal with PD. I'd guess that most people, if they saw these in a game, wouldn't be able to spot them as being from a Popeye cartoon anyway.

I could also see them being used in an Epic Mickey fashion, with a character entering classic cartoons.

I can't read notes... I only know the key letters and that's it.

I use a program called Guitar Pro in which you can write sheet music and it makes MIDI files for you. You can even change the instruments. Not the greatest MIDI files, mind you, but it might work for your purpose.

[Heaven Help Us]

Heaven Help Us ?

One quick turn deserves another. It is, indeed, the classic coming-of-age film Heaven Help Us.

[Southland Tales]

Sorry to get it so quickly! I don't know why, but two movies popped into my head based on your description, this one and Southland Tales. I almost guessed the latter, before I noticed they were wearing period costume.

Here's a new easy one:

[Timeline]

i]whole thing[/i] is horrible (hint: NOT Waterworld).

My guess is Timeline?

This looks neat. I wanted to drop a few words of encouragement. I have a similar thread in the Critic's Corner where I'm hoping that regularly checking in will keep me working on my project (not much there lately, though, as I'm working on the design doc before I commit to any more art).

I might offer a brief critique / bit of advice -- to be taken with a grain or two of salt, of course -- in regard to your menu/verbcoin system. I think it looks nice, but might suggest three things:

1. I know you're in the mock-up stage, so you might be planning this already, but I'd try to match the verbcoin to the aesthetic of the game, and it's probably not to early to start thinking about how to do this.

2. The vertical text under the "Look" menu will be hard to pull off effectively, even in a more polished version with tighter leading. Westerners accustomed to reading left-to-right have difficulty parsing vertical text. You might consider 'spinning' the menu upon selection so that the selected sub-menu is always on the right, where the 'Use' option is now.

(2b. Of course, I have no idea how to program that.)

3. You're providing a number of verb options for players, and as a player, I might expect there to be responses to most of these things. Am I going to try to taste the sidewalk? Hell yes I am. Will you be creating responses for each combination?

This is a good start. I'll be checking in!

[Popeye Meets Ali Baba]

I have no background in law, so I might be talking out of my ass here, but if my understanding is correct, a court ruling a few years ago clarified public domain in regards to animation so that anyone is free to distribute actual materials from cartoons that have fallen into the public domain, but are not allowed to create wholly new material or publicize their products through use of the still-protected trademark.

In the court case, a clothing company was using images of Betty Boop off of a poster that had never been copyrighted. Numerous other cartoons, especially those from Fleischer, have lapsed into the public domain. Numerous companies have pumped out copies of these cartoons in varying quality formats, unrestricted by copyright, and selling them under names like, "Classic Cartoons," instead of "Betty Boop."

If I'm interpreting the law correctly, this means they're available as assets to be used elsewhere as well (as in the precedent-setting case of the clothing manufacturer). My line of thinking is that something like Popeye Meets Ali Baba, which is public domain in the U.S., might provide enough useful backgrounds to furnish a short desert-based adventure game. If you're lazy, you might even find someone who's done the hard work of extracting some of the backgrounds for you.








I'm not sure how far this can be stretched (for instance, would trace-overs of walk cycles from PD cartoons be allowed?), and you probably don't want to make an actual Popeye game, but I thought I'd throw this out as food for thought. Perhaps someone with a better grasp of the legal system could clarify things.

That's very clean. No blood or afterbirth.

Thanks to your brilliance, I've sought out someone with a full render, which is even better. Talk about overlooking the obvious. Thanks, Prog!