Spritelib contest -- copying?
Author
Did anybody notice how many of the games in the Spritelib contest resembled old Atari games? I saw space invaders, asteroids, pong, etc.
Do the people who entered this contest need to be worried?
Diana
I personally don't know much about the Hasbro discussion except what they are trying to do, prevent copying of intellectual property. Right? Nah, it's all about money.
Anyway, I think it would be pretty lame for Hasbro (or Atari) to attack any of the games in the game contest. Aren't companies such as Hasbro strong in innovation? If they were, I doubt that they would be worried much about this issue.
Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600 as a pretty strange and interesting game (you remember that one don't you?). Are their many games out their like that one (nope!)? Is anyone cloning it?... why not? How about Tron? Dig Dug? BurgerTime? Bezerk? Spy Hunter? What happenned to the innovation? Did everyone just jump ship and start making 3D shooters and Starcraft style games because that was the cash cow at the time? Wasn't the Bard's Tale on the Apple a rip off of Wizardry? Why didn't they attack? Actually didn't it push Wizardry to new strange developments in their sequels? Is that bad? Just some ranting thoughts.
I believe that a lot of people choose to make clones because the majority of people out there are familiar with them. This familiarity provides a lot of positive things such as low documentation effort for the programmer, good fan base, etc. I'm getting off topic.
I'll write later, more on topic hopefully... I need a haircut. =
Edited by - nickGA on May 8, 2000 4:47:13 PM
Anyway, I think it would be pretty lame for Hasbro (or Atari) to attack any of the games in the game contest. Aren't companies such as Hasbro strong in innovation? If they were, I doubt that they would be worried much about this issue.
Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600 as a pretty strange and interesting game (you remember that one don't you?). Are their many games out their like that one (nope!)? Is anyone cloning it?... why not? How about Tron? Dig Dug? BurgerTime? Bezerk? Spy Hunter? What happenned to the innovation? Did everyone just jump ship and start making 3D shooters and Starcraft style games because that was the cash cow at the time? Wasn't the Bard's Tale on the Apple a rip off of Wizardry? Why didn't they attack? Actually didn't it push Wizardry to new strange developments in their sequels? Is that bad? Just some ranting thoughts.
I believe that a lot of people choose to make clones because the majority of people out there are familiar with them. This familiarity provides a lot of positive things such as low documentation effort for the programmer, good fan base, etc. I'm getting off topic.
I'll write later, more on topic hopefully... I need a haircut. =
Edited by - nickGA on May 8, 2000 4:47:13 PM
Author
Dave,
You could have found this if you looked.
http://www.gamedev.net/community/contest/curr_entries.asp
These are some nice games, btw. Real professional stuff. Winners get a Fastgraph.
Diana
You could have found this if you looked.
http://www.gamedev.net/community/contest/curr_entries.asp
These are some nice games, btw. Real professional stuff. Winners get a Fastgraph.
Diana
quote:Original post by dgruber
Dave,
You could have found this if you looked.
http://www.gamedev.net/community/contest/curr_entries.asp
No, probably not. I didn''t notice the contest until a few days before the deadline... someone posted to the forums, I asked the URL and got a reply the next day. Otherwise I would have never known.
quote:
These are some nice games, btw. Real professional stuff. Winners get a Fastgraph.
Hopefully that will prove useful to them in the next contest.
For me, writing a new gfx engine will be half the fun... i''m currently researching different aspects of 2d game engines.
Btw, you will notice that my entry is clearly an early-90''s shooter and not a space invaders clone. Must be somehow related to that 40+ page thread I was following. =)
- n8
nathany.com
Actually, there''s a link straight to the contest page from the main page, so, yes, it can easily be found...
Bunnies At War - A new wave in bunnydom! http://users.moscow.com/rikhowe/baw/bunny.html
Bunnies At War - A new wave in bunnydom! http://users.moscow.com/rikhowe/baw/bunny.html
>> Aren''t companies such as Hasbro strong in innovation? <<
Generally speaking, no. Hasbro is a marketing company, not a development company. Their product lines consist almost exclusively these days of licensed properties such as Pokemon, Star Wars, Major League Baseball, even John F Kennedy.
When they do produce something new, it is something they licensed from a developer. To my knowledge they do almost no completely internal development.
Generally speaking, no. Hasbro is a marketing company, not a development company. Their product lines consist almost exclusively these days of licensed properties such as Pokemon, Star Wars, Major League Baseball, even John F Kennedy.
When they do produce something new, it is something they licensed from a developer. To my knowledge they do almost no completely internal development.
Ack, I got my haircut and all my powers of ranting are lost. 
You know, I've been cooresponding via email with a few people that entered the contest. They are all pretty cool!
Anyway, I don't think that cloning of games is such a bad idea if they bring more to the table. I saw that Frogger by Hasbro was one of the top ten selling games. Not bad! The Sims on the otherhand is pretty original in terms that it is a simulation instead of a game like Fallout. No wonder it is #1. The contest games were great. Are they clones? Some have the same feel as other old classics. I don't think they should be in trouble. They seem much more difficult to play (and more fun) than the originals.
Thanks for the info Mvpsoft. I visited your website. Nice games it looks like. I'll try them out later.
Edited by - NickGA on May 8, 2000 11:14:52 PM
You know, I've been cooresponding via email with a few people that entered the contest. They are all pretty cool!Anyway, I don't think that cloning of games is such a bad idea if they bring more to the table. I saw that Frogger by Hasbro was one of the top ten selling games. Not bad! The Sims on the otherhand is pretty original in terms that it is a simulation instead of a game like Fallout. No wonder it is #1. The contest games were great. Are they clones? Some have the same feel as other old classics. I don't think they should be in trouble. They seem much more difficult to play (and more fun) than the originals.
Thanks for the info Mvpsoft. I visited your website. Nice games it looks like. I'll try them out later.
Edited by - NickGA on May 8, 2000 11:14:52 PM
quote:Original post by SeanHowe
Actually, there''s a link straight to the contest page from the main page, so, yes, it can easily be found...
Sure, if you "read" through the navigation... apparently there is a lot more to this web site than articles and forums... i just never noticed
.anyway, i think it would be somewhat beneficial if they split site news and industry news, or something like that. but i don''t know... i think i''m just whining because I was so incredibly late to the game ...
- n8
nathany.com
quote:Original post by NickGA
Ack, I got my haircut and all my powers of ranting are lost.
He.he. poor Samson.
quote:Anyway, I don''t think that cloning of games is such a bad idea if they bring more to the table. I saw that Frogger by Hasbro was one of the top ten selling games. Not bad! The Sims on the otherhand is pretty original in terms that it is a simulation instead of a game like Fallout. No wonder it is #1. The contest games were great. Are they clones? Some have the same feel as other old classics. I don''t think they should be in trouble. They seem much more difficult to play (and more fun) than the originals.
Well, it would be pretty upsetting if hasbro came along and demanded gdnet take down those games because they infringe on such and such.
I think enough people think they are bullies [and don''t wanna buy their games] because of the current lawsuits, and those are ones where they have something to gain [shelf space]. Wouldn''t seem like the smartest PR move to start shaking things up in the freeware game sector.
At the same time, I rather play it safe and make 2d games more in the early 90''s era. Only pain is that now I will have to find a tile artist.
One could spend a few months perfecting a good game of Yar''s Revenge and release it as freeware... but if Hasbro got a hold of it, they''d probably be knocking down your door. Or more than likely, they''d wait 2 years until they decide to do an updated Yars Revenge, then come after you.
- n8
nathany.com
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