Messages

Looks great!
Very distopic somehow.
When is this going to be released?
Is it freeware?

Edit: Well if that doesn't make you feel better then maybe this will make you feel better. In the world over 25 Million people do piracy. And only about maximum 20.000 of those would get caught. So I wouldn't worry. And that is monitored unlike AGS games. Well that was someones random estimation

I remember that "Garfield - Attack of the mutant lasagna game". I think the guy got trouble with the Garfield guys... Wasn't it like that?

On the other side some AGS games in the database already use songs and tunes by famous bands like the James Bond music in "James Bond - Who wants to live again?" or the Queen music in "Death of an Angel" and they never seemed to get trouble...

Couldn't one say that he promotes the music of an author with a game? People might run in the shop and buy the CD...

About music:
This French or Suisse guy has a database with old registrations.
He proclaims that most of the registrations that are older than 50 years are free:
http://www.i12.ch/musiqueouverte/index.php/

http://www.publicsphereproject.org/drupal/node/785



About literature:
So it is really definite, that if I make a commercial game on a free adaption of Melville's "Moby Dick" and if I call my game "Moby Dick" aswell, I won't get into trouble?

Yeah...
But I have read somewhere that recordings that are older than 50 years are free to use, download etc. Can sombody confirm this?

Literature:
I would like to make a low budget commercial game about a famous novel by Herman Melville.
Is this allowed?
Do I have to buy rights for this?
Melville is dead since over 100 years.

What about music:
I have an old record of classical music.
The music fits very good.
The record was recorded in the 50s and is therefore older than 50 years
and the composers are all dead for more than 75 years.
Can I use this as background music for my game without paying for any rights?

I wouldn't want to risk anything...
What happens if someone tells me, that I was not allowed to do this...

Well I always liked the idea of a panel. And in most cases I agreed with it. But I just was confused by the fact, that panel ratings changed.

I mean: Earl Bobby 2 -which is one of my favourite games- got 5 cups.
One year later it had 4 cups.
Same with other games.

Why do they change the rating?
That is not a serious method.

It is like you say: "I think my steak tastes great.
Oh I remember that steak it tasted terrible."

"I want a glass of milk.
Stop I wanted a coffee..."

I think "Nelly Cootalot" is a great game.

But I also appreciate Ben Croshaw's games very much and I cannot understand all that theater around his personality. "Trilby's Notes" and "5 Days a Stranger" are definite must plays.

Among the full length games my favourite are the Woltairian games:
"A Second Face" is a very unique AGS must play aswell as the "Earl Bobby" series or "Masters of Sound". They are all very different but somehow similar in style.

What about Dave Gilbert's stuff? Well he's commercial but there is quite a lot to play now. Some of it even for free...

Lively Ivy is also going on and "Spooks" is something to remember.

.....it only had two weeks on release to find such high favour. Such a high nom result in this case is going to raise eyebrows, weather we like it or not.

I don't think that the release time has really something to do with the results, it is maybe more a question of the number of downloads and the distribution of the game.

I found out some info after looking at the major nominees database entries:
"Ben Jordan 7" was downloaded 1600 times in five months.
"Nanobots" was downloaded 1250 times in six months.
"A Second Face" was downloaded 2200 times in three weeks.

The other thing is that all the major nominees used teams, with voice actors or beta testers, that usually become potential nominators and voters.

Last year ATOTK was brought by a team of 17 persons. As far as I remember 50 persons took part at the nominations. It is pretty clear that some of the team members always vote for their game, which is not a crime, but with such a high number of team members and such low voting numbers it can actually influence the result.

I also remember, that certain games were always favorized.
Take a look at the nomination history of the AGS awards:
http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/AGS_Awards

Last year it was the "Two Kindom" game. The Yahtzee and Dave Gilbert games were always very popular, both "Apprentice" games have been very popular and Grundislav has always been there, so nothing changed. It was the first year without a Yahtzee game however...

I think the main reason for this is that most people who vote at the nominations are old AGSers and know wich games to play. People like Ivy, Woltaire and Grundislav have been there for years releasing their works with a certain style. A lot of people know them and simply play their games first because they know what they get.

With all those fanatic "Vote Ben Jordan for President" messages in all kind of threads it is pretty clear that a small sub community has built up who follow a certain serie or developer.
For example the gameplay in Ben Jordan 7 was just the same like in all other parts and based on the old sierra style. Nothing new... The documentation is a two page addition to the manual. The puzzles were mostly related to given dialogues and so on...

Ivy's Nanobots had actually five player characters, so there was a five time chance to get that nomination, but if you ask me which bot I find most interesting I simply wouldn't know it...

The nice thing about "A Second Face" is, that it was just released two weeks before the nominations began. Since it is a very long game, it didn't really have time to get popular. I think the results of this nominations show the true Blockbuster force of this work, that, although being still a sleeping beauty, managed to strike through all categories.

Since yesterday I am trying to vote for some games at the database...
I always get a message that I have to be logged in to the forums...

But when I login, I get the same message...
Has this something to do with the forums being moved?
Or is it just me...

In the last years there were "for your consideration threads" at the general discussion board.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33457.0

Maybe it would help out some people to decide which games to play...

Just finished the game.
Really great work.
Surely among the best that has ever been done with this engine.
When is the release of the sequel?

@neon:
It's pretty easy:

Spoiler

If you have the form, reask for the plans. Look at the plans, they contain Brafoks signature. With the pen, that you got from your room, you can copy the signature on the form. Use form on plans.

[close]

Looks funny...

["Earl Bobby is looking for his Balls"]

Since Le Woltaire is lying in a hospital at the moment
I'm going to nominate "Earl Bobby is looking for his Balls" for him.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=846

The game doesn't really have a plot or so...
And sometimes I thought the author is a bit crazy,
or at least a freak... 


But the game has a lot of surprises, that I didn't expect
and was however not really mentioned around this place...

I think it should be nominated in the categories:
- Best Puzzles (wrenched, non-linear, but still logical)
- Best Player Character  ("Earl Bobby")
- Best Non-Player Character  ("Lula" the nymphomaniac Girl, "Arnold the Armour" or "The Greenkeeper")
- Best Character Art (tons of animated close-ups)
- Best Animation
- Best Use of Sound (Voices and so on)
- Best Use of Music  (the "Birdie Song")
- Best Documentation
- Best Scripting  (interactive arcade passages and a virtual golf tournament)
- Best Backgrounds
- Best Voice Acting, if this exists...
- Best Story, an adventure game where you have to look for your own balls. That's a story!

Play it, it's worth some puzzling...!

I'm really looking forward to this.
I've enjoyed all games by you so far.

I think you're one of the most promising game makers around here,
although you haven't had a real breakthrough for now.
Maybe this game is what we're all expecting from you.

Keep up your work.
I'm ready for testing if you need me again.

Not copyrighted, but "Monkey Island" happens to be a registered trademark owned by LucasArts. So legally speaking, not a good idea.

Also, if your game has nothing to do with the Monkey Island series, then calling it Monkey Island anyway is likely to get you a lot of negative criticism by disgruntled fans who hoped that it was related.

Well, this wasn't a good example, I guess.

I mean you use the title of an old game that has been underappreciated for a long time. The game has a lot of fans who are waiting for some kind of a reinterpretation or redevelopement. I think "Dreamweb" or "Death Gate" are better examples.

Now you make a game, that is somehow unique in it's way, but it is inspired by one of these underappreciated, ancient games so there would be certain coincidences between the original and the reinterpretation. Apart from this you use a part of the original title.
Let's say "Dream-Web" or perhaps a bit more creative...

This would let the fans know somehow, that there is a reinterpretation of the game. Let's say that the game is much better than the original and is exactly what the fans were looking for.

Is there a problem with copyright and advertising in this case?

Stupid Example: Let's say you make a reinterpretation of the game "Gobliins" and you call it: "Gob-Liins" or "Goblins"

Well, the term "abandonware" has no legal meaning. So what you'd be doing is copyright infringement, if you're using the chararacters or distinctive likenesses. If you're just using the general idea, you'd be in the clear.

No, I'm just talking about the title.
Lets say you make a game that is called "monkey island" or "island of the monkeys" but it has nothing to do with the original game. It's completely different, but the title fits somehow for some reason. The word "monkey" isn't copyrighted, and the word "island" can't be copirighted as well, but is the combination of two common words copyrighted?

Ok, the music I want to use is definately not copyrighted itself.
About the musicians: I know most of them personally.
I don't think it's a big problem, but I'm not sure if they used some kind of reconstuction of a score that is copyrighted so far...


Now what about the mp3?

I didn't play any of the commercial AGS games so far, that's why I would like to know how they did. Did they just use wav, mid or ogg format and the mp3 free AGS edition?


And another thing: If you decide to make a reinterpretation of a game classic, that has been released as abandonware and you want to use a part of the original title in your game, is this a copyright problem too?

Stupid Example: Let's say you make a reinterpretation of the game "Gobliins" and you call it: "Gob-Liins" or "Goblins"

And last thing:
If you make a freeware game but you use copyrighted music, that you actually recutted somehow, is this legal? I got along some AGS games in the database that definately use remixed soundtracks of movies or orchestral music like "Project Xenophobe", "Stargate Adventure", or these "Earl Bobby" games...is this possible without problems?

Thanks for the fast feedback!
But let me concretisize my idea:

The game I'm making is a medieval game.
I would like to use original music of medieval composers.
These composers are all dead since the 14th century.
There isn't any copyright on their music.
And they sure wouldn't mind me to use their music I think...
If someone would use my artwork in about 600 years from now, I would feel honoured.

The recordings I use for the game were done by myself at medieval concerts at a music school.
The players are young students without professional license but they play like professionists, at least for my ear.
The concerts didn't cost anything, they were free.
Nobody told me ever that I'm not allowed to make any recordings, although my micro was visible.

Do you think, that it is a big problem to use this in a high quality commercial adventure game?