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Pokemon Prism progress update. Displaying 1-20 of 20 total.
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blues_zodiakos
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Yep, I decided that the name would be Pokemon Prism (no, it's not just a pretty, all-inclusive name... it has something to do with the story :D).
I spent the bulk of today, working on the game... I got so much done it is insane. All in all, I think I renamed and edited about 800+ files, AND created a database with each of the 388 pokemon's names, types, and their 6 base stats. I couldn't find anything on the internet that even remotely resembled what I was needing, so I made them from scratch. Most importantly, I've got the code that allows verge to search through the databases done, so I have an in-game pokedex/stat screen working, albeit very crude at the moment. It even shows that individual pokemon's front and back sprites as well. :D I'm fairly impressed by what I've accomplished so far, if only because it was so brute force. ;D
I'm going to try to spend the bulk of this monday designing and coding the GUI... and after that comes the battle system (or at least enough of it to resolve battles... the entire thing won't really be needed until after the rest of the game is complete).
I did manage to rip the saphire/ruby male hero's sprite as a placeholder until I get something else... I'd really like to either have a paper-doll system, or at least a hefty supply of of user-selectable sprites in the same style as the pokemon games.
While trying to figure out what to do about the pokemon growls (the ones they make before battle), I came up with a cool idea that will make pokeballs and items obsolete. It will be neat, let me assure you. :D No more growls, but the change in game mechanics and the whole story will more than make up for it.
If you are a conservative christian and you think the Pokemon franchise is the devil incarnate... this game probably won't change your mind. :D
Posted on 2004-09-20 07:41:19
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mcgrue
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Hi, my name is Blues Zodiakos, and I like flirting with Nintendo's legal department.
Posted on 2004-09-20 08:03:34
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Toen
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Hi, my name's Blues Zodaikos, and I have way too much free time.
Posted on 2004-09-20 08:04:32
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blues_zodiakos
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Maybe their legal department is sexy. And besides, it's was a Sunday.
Go work on your games. :p
Edit: Incidentally, I was kind of concerned about the legality of my project too. So, I did a little research into the legal status of 'fan made games' and found that, while of questionable legality, I couldn't find any fan-made games in recent history that have been prosecuted or even sent a letter. Indeed, in one case, the author of a certain Dragon Warrior fan game sent a letter to Square Enix asking just those questions. Square Enix replyed along the lines that yes, they do have to protect their intellectual property, however, they will always give notice when they think something is going to far. So, here is my interpretation of this issue.
The only thing that a business (like Nintendo) is concerned of is money. Money is the lifeblood of the company. If you create a fan game, distribute it, etc., and you don't recieve monetary compensation for it, no real money is lost by said company, and therefore you are kind of 'below the radar' so to speak (even if they know about your project, which is likely... I'm sure they have software agents that regularaly scour the web and flag any site that has the word 'pokemon' in it). Now... if you were to somehow create a fan game that was so outrageously wonderful, fantastic, and great that everyone stopped playing THEIR game (unlikely) and decided to jump on your free game, then yes, you are cutting into their money... and that makes you DOOMED (I hear Nintendo's lawyers are great with a broad axe). I have yet to see any proof that this has ever happened in the history of the internet, at least not to an extent that anyone has heard about it. So... I'm kind of unconcerned.
Posted on 2004-09-20 10:17:37 (last edited on 2004-09-20 10:36:47)
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mcgrue
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Chrono Trigger: Ressurection, cancelled at Squeenix's request.
Squeenix is a 'nicer' company than Big N.
Fair Use and Parody are your friends.
You needn't fear any real legal problems. If you're not selling and you're poor, you're not gonna get sued, really. But they will Cease and Desist you in short order.
We're in an Overly Litigious Society. It sucks, but until there's tort reform, best to play by the lawyers rules. Sadly, Tort Reform is a bleak prospect at best, seeing as Lawyers write the gorram laws. Sed Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Posted on 2004-09-20 11:06:35
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resident
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To be honest, I'd STILL dump the Pokemon aspect of your game, and just make a more generic creature-fighting game instead. I mean, it frees you from legal concerns, and allows you a lot more freedom, even if you reckon its copyright-safe. Plus it saves you from having to rework everything ANYWAY when Nintendo finally decide to get medieval on your ass.
Posted on 2004-09-20 13:07:28
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rpgking
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I could easily get a cease and desist order myself, seeing as how thus far I almost exactly duplicated the interface of Dragon Quest/Warrior VI. But if anything, this is all a learning experience. Cloning the system of a professional RPG really helped me learn several RPG programming concepts/tricks, so I don't see it as a waste of time. ;) If I do get shutdown by Square-Enix, I really wouldn't care, and I'd just move on to something completely original.
Oh and Blues, good luck on your Pokemon clone. :P
Posted on 2004-09-20 17:51:22
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rpgking
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Quote: Originally posted by mcgrue
Chrono Trigger: Ressurection, cancelled at Squeenix's request.
Squeenix is a 'nicer' company than Big N.
Fair Use and Parody are your friends.
It was pretty funny how 300 Square-Enix employees reportedly downloaded that trailer after the cease-and-desist letter was issued. :)
Posted on 2004-09-20 17:56:44
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evilbob
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Nintendo is pretty ferocious about protecting their IP. People were posting that Dragon Warrior link but a few weeks ago on another forum, and I was warning them that it's stupid to invest so much time and hard work on something that could easily pull a cease and desist, and sure enough, they got it like three days later.
Anyway at first I didn't understand how people could be so legally naive, but I grew up in a lawyer household so maybe this stuff isn't the common knowledge I took it for. A lot of people are under the false notion that they can take someone else's IP and use it in any way they see fit as long as they distribute it for free. This is false, and seems to have been a logical distortion from 'you can do what you want if it's for PERSONAL USE.' Personal use means zero distribution. You know. 'Personal.'
In the case of the Chrono Trigger CAD order, Square Enix was obviously well within their rights to do so. There could have been benefits to letting them do the game after all (free advertisement, spreading of the franchise), but the corporate-point-of-view cons were more numerous. Dumb people could mistakingly assume it was made by Square, and if the quality of the game is amateur level it would diminish their reputation in those people's eyes. But most of all, if Square happened to go through and do modern 3D remakes of a bunch of their old games, Chrono Trigger sales would hurt from the fact that someone else is already giving their own product away for free, unchecked. The most realistic possibility is that the amateur CT remake is in fact impossibly better coded, since Square has never made a halfway decent PC port. It would suck to be outdone by a couple of internet dorks.
Also Grue mentioned safety in parody, but that only extends so far. I think even Sharkey got a letter from a Nintendo rep, but as I remember it that was a false case. But it does show you that even helplessly retarded internet losers are not outside of their target range.
Posted on 2004-09-20 18:42:04 (last edited on 2004-09-20 18:47:06)
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blues_zodiakos
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To be honest, I'd STILL dump the Pokemon aspect of your game, and just make a more generic creature-fighting game instead. I mean, it frees you from legal concerns, and allows you a lot more freedom, even if you reckon its copyright-safe. Plus it saves you from having to rework everything ANYWAY when Nintendo finally decide to get medieval on your ass.
Actually, the entire reason I decided to do a pokemon game was because a large amount of the graphics are right there at my disposal. I am unable to do any creative graphics at the speed that I'm able to program, and quite frankly, graphics are a major creative bottleneck for me. If I was doing any other game, I'd still be... where all my other game ideas are. Hiatus. It pisses me off to an extent that no words can possibly describe, but it seems to me that all my other original game ideas never come to fruition. I have two really great original game ideas, but every time I try to do something about them, nothing ever comes of it. They are, quite frankly, too ambitious. I've had the two stories ready for, oh, I don't know, about 15 years now.
My pokemon game is a much simpler project (if not from the work aspect, from the goal aspect). I know exactly what I have to do to pull it off, I have a certain amount of goals, and I can see definite progress when I complete each part and I'm able to work on the next.... I can see it coming together as a whole. While I'd love nothing else other than to see that happen to my other games, it hasn't. I don't know wether to chalk that up to me being 'lazy' or just unmotivated, I don't know. But this time it feels a little different, I guess.
In the end, I just don't really care how it turns out. Sure, I could get a cease and desist. I guess. I don't really plan on making my game SO publicly available that 500,000 people download my trailer. :/ Besides, if one person downloads it, and gives it to a friend, and they give it to a friend... it really wouldn't matter if they gave me a cease and desist or not. Or, from a different viewpoint.... I'm really making this game for my sister. She's been bugging me almost every day I see her, and she is always delighted that I have pokemon up on the screen and such. :D
Wow, that was long, and I think I got sidetracked. Anyway, I guess I'll know when the time comes. I plan on finishing the game one way or another, just so that it will be the first actual 'GAME' project I've finished (besides Forever Midnight TA, if that's what you want to call it). If I HAVE to, sure, I'll change the title of the game, but that's about it. Maybe in the future some wonderful graphic artist will tell me that they want to do royalty free, grade a+ monster graphics for a Shin Megami Tensei-like game. Until that happens, I'm on my own. :D
edit: Why doesn't the quote show up on a different background? Is techno geisha messed up?
Posted on 2004-09-20 21:02:49 (last edited on 2004-09-20 21:04:52)
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Gayo
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Even safety in parody doesn't help if you're unable or unwilling to hire a lawyer. Which is certainly the case for most internet nerds.
Posted on 2004-09-20 23:15:45
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mcgrue
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IANAL, however, if you are poor and have the balls to stand up to a Cease and Desist by quoting exactly how you're protected instead of caving immediately, you can fair well and they'll drop the matter. If you don't fair well, well, don't hire a lawyer unless A) Monitary damages are charged and B) You actually have the money to lose.
Posted on 2004-09-20 23:26:24
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rpgking
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IANAL?
Posted on 2004-09-20 23:48:53
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mcgrue
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Posted on 2004-09-21 00:04:44
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evilbob
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UANAL
Posted on 2004-09-21 00:14:02
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mcgrue
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(H/S/I)INAL
Posted on 2004-09-21 00:16:59
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Toen
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There was a fan-made 2D remake of Ocarina of Time in the style of Link to the Past that was shut down a few months ago by Nintendo's legal team. I dare say this game would be in the same boat as that one.
Posted on 2004-09-21 00:30:11
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Gayo
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I anal.
Posted on 2004-09-21 00:46:18
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anonymous
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I guess we'll see.
Posted on 2004-09-21 01:06:06
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Troupe
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I'm behind you 100%, although TINLA.
Posted on 2004-09-22 03:39:45
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Displaying 1-20 of 20 total.
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