Ever love an old game so much....

#61

Quote:Jason Farmer
but I imagine the big boys would leave you to write it, release it, see how popular it got then demand you shut down and give them the source code as it legaly belongs to them

No, the big boys wouldn't own the source code (unless you reverse engineered the original and reused bits of it). If I write a Space Invaders clone, does Taito (I think) suddenly own my code?

#62 Me I would love to do another Battlezone game a sequel to Battlezone 2 and some of the mods you can still get on there if you go to the forums, especailly the Forgottoen Enemies mod, but it would be getting the license from Atari to make the thing

#63 @Philip,
Sorry, what I meant in that poorly constructed sentence was that the Big boys may demand the source code from you stating that the license belongs to them therefore you had no right to write the code which obviously emulates their property.

..and if you didn't have the legal knowledge to you might believe them, it would be an outright lie on their part unless the code was reverse engineered, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't try it. But this part was really me being cynical... I have no evidence of this ever happening.

All they can really do is ask you to stop what you're doing as you're in breach of their trademark.. etc.. They may try to sue if you've made money on their idea or if they can prove you've damaged their sales or their brand.. it could get ugly. But unlikely. If you're shipping around their protected media, like artwork, music.. then expect a kicking from them..

But in theory, if you've not broken any laws, you could change your graphics, levels and create a new game which works in the same way as the game you love and release that instead.

It's kindof an arse really. All you want to do is pay homage to a really cool game or even make a game work on a different platform and you're told you can't. I've seen it happen.
Freecraft www.happypenguin.org/show?FreeCraft Blizzard told them to stop.. so now the project has changed. (Just an engine, required original datafiles to work)
Another World www.happypenguin.org/show?raw The original author told them to stop so it was abandoned. ( Just an interperator, required original datafiles to work)


Note: I am not a legal professional.. please feel free to completely disregard anything I say on legal matters. Do your research and make your own decisions. :-)

#64 I think that's the thing though - who owns the original license? The bigger they are, the more likely you are to get a cease & desist. If it's a newish game that's still for sale in some places, you're also likley to run into problems.

You could always take the 'spritual' approach and build your own game using bits and bobs from the original. That way you get some of the gameplay elements from the game you want to remake/sequalise and less of the risk of being told to stop it by the orginal developer/publisher.

#65 I don't know if this has been asked yet so; what happens if the company that made the game a person is looking to make a remake or sequal of, is dead?

#66 Ever hear of Metal Fatigue? pc.ign.com/objects/010/010250.html

I was one of the original team members (very small team).

It was a great game but got delayed by about six months, lost its marketing budget as the original publisher Psygnosis went out of business the same time it was due to ship the game. Instead it got sold to and published by ...strategy first, if I recall.

That was my intro to the game dev biz. I hardly new what a PC was and I got hired away from doing comic book art to become the story board artist and take over environment development.

Still a fun game. My sister just spent several weeks playing through the campaigns again.

The screen shots never did the game justice. Our minimum spec target PC was ridiculously low, even for its era, so our environments, being all 3d, didn't have the decoration that our competition at the time shipped with.

Having said that, our game ran very well on the min spec machine, while the competitions did not.

I have been trying to find out for several years who ended up with the license to the IP, so I could make a sequel. But no one seems to know...sure as hell if I make a sequel, someones lawyers will start screaming :P

#67

Quote:I don't know if this has been asked yet so; what happens if the company that made the game a person is looking to make a remake or sequal of, is dead?

In most industrialised countries, copyright lasts 70 years after the death of the creator.

#68 I'm not sure if anyone else is with me when I say this, but I would love to see a remake in 3D of all of the quest for glory games.

#69 Quite a few games come to mind. Crusader: No Regret/Remorse and Bioforge. are the main two i can think of making sequels
Though I think there are also a lot of good games that could be remade (like quest for glory, kings quest, space quest etc.) .. that not just updating the graphics.. but the entire enteractiveness (dialogue/scripts, combat or running,jumping, climbing .. whatever)

#70 Heh I have notebooks FULL of remakes.. at this current date I have a fully documented remake of ..

Three More games for the Ultima series. (Cmon EA let me have the licence!!)
The Magic Candle (MindCraft is defunct that means I wont get sued... right? ;P)
The Bard's Tale (I will admit the recent game was pretty damn fun)
and The Dark Heart of Uukrul (obscure game but hella fun)

Who know who teh heck I would talk to for the permission to make those.. I just kind of do it for fun.

I really would like to see a Quest for Glory sequal... that series sure needs it.
There was a western game called 'Outlaws' if there was ever a game that needed a sequal it would be that.

#71 Do you know if exists a modern version of the old good M.U.L.E.? (do you remember it?)

#72 An MMORPG of Shadowrun 2nd Edition would rock.

#73 I would like to see similar games, remakes or sequels to X-Com 1 or 2 and Master of Magic. Both from Microprose who made all my favorite games back in the day. My cousin and I have thought of making our own MoM or X-Com style game, have to look into the 2D pack if we get more serious on this.

#74 You should check out www.retroremakes.com although they tend to focus on old 8 bit games, there are some stunning retro styled modern games.

One of the mods is writing a game called Vector Infector that looks absolutely stunning (in a Geometry Wars kind of way).

#75 I always wanted to remake Betrayel at Krondor.
Not a similar game, not one with the same style, THE game, with no additions or emmisions (well, maybe more of the Great Kesh). Raymond Feists world and stories worked perfectly the way they created it, it would just be an updated graphics engine, programmed in 32-bit, with full voice acting. And a movie of the Riftwar saga, but that can wait for now.

#76 Hey Joe, try UFO: Alien Invasion... http://ufo.myexp.de/

#77 @Manuel

I downloaded the Demo, very nice, I enjoy those types of games the most. Your demo just sparked even more interest in me pursuing game creation.

Thanks

#78 Let me give a few kind words of encouragement to those who are interested in reviving an old title. It's an example of it happening, not in videogames, but in comics. Just a little "try, try again" anecdote.

Some dude from the city I live in is (as was much of my generation) a huge Ninja Turtles fan. THe comics preceded the cartoon, movies, etc. and were a little more adult-based. He had been a big fan.

Years later, he had an idea for a storyline that would tie into the previous comics. He wondered if it could be done. He emailed the publishers, and asked if they considered fan submissions. They said that they never had, but that didn't mean no.

He submitted his idea, found an artist, submitted some examples, and got the go-ahead.

Yes, it's true--this year, the Ninja Turtles have a new mini-series in comics, all because some unimportant fan decided he wanted to see what he could do, and there was no reason not to let him.

Hope that makes people feel warm inside.

#79 Tribes

But it's probably not worth looking into building a sequel to.... especially if a certain company whose forums i am posting to right now might be working on something!!

#80 Some times, thoes old games are realy not as cool as you rember. Sometimes its just your memories that make the game great.

Some times, you should just stick with them.

Anyway =)

Good luck =)