The Spring Project

Warlord Zsinj · Post by **Warlord Zsinj** » 28 Jun 2006, 02:47

I think if you remodelled and renamed the TA mods, you'd lose one of the biggest drawcards to Spring, and AA would become 'just another mod', like the many other ones that are around that don't use TA stuff.

SWS has almost removed all of it's TA content, but we're still stuck with the potential SW reference.

I do think that TA is more intertwined with Spring then a lot of you want to think, and that removing it at this stage could potentially spell trouble for Spring. I could make various animal/suckling analogies, but I think you get the point.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 28 Jun 2006, 03:46

MUST HAVE NEW STARWARS!

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 28 Jun 2006, 05:23

Pxtl wrote:Anybody know if E&E is scripted from scratch? Since it otherwise seems unencumbered with IP issues...

It still uses 100% OTA textures as far as I can see, and nearly 100% of sound effects as well. And then there's still the alleged Earth 21#0 connection, but we're talking about the OTA link here.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 28 Jun 2006, 05:38

not quite, about 66% of textures are ota textures.

About 40-50% of the sounds are from ota, but the ones that are from ota are the ones like units stopping etc. Nothing that can't be changed easily.

DeathHawk · Post by **DeathHawk** » 28 Jun 2006, 05:52

ive actully seen something like this done before, A starcraft mod was made i think it was using the Generals mod i played the mod my self it was looking exellent then the mod started getting popular then Blizzard Came and shut the whole thing down!!! Barstards!!!!

Warlord Zsinj · Post by **Warlord Zsinj** » 28 Jun 2006, 12:30

Yeah, but blizzard are notorious for being arseholes with stuff like that.

SWS atm is more or less 90% TA free, and we have a secondary project that's still on the drawing boards intending to create a completely standalone showcase mod for Spring.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 28 Jun 2006, 16:10

DeathHawk wrote:ive actully seen something like this done before, A starcraft mod was made i think it was using the Generals mod i played the mod my self it was looking exellent then the mod started getting popular then Blizzard Came and shut the whole thing down!!! Barstards!!!!

No sense. None at all.

What you're talking about is the open-source game Freecraft which has a history something like what you describe.

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 28 Jun 2006, 17:38

Warlord Zsinj wrote:Yeah, but blizzard are notorious for being arseholes with stuff like that.

SWS atm is more or less 90% TA free, and we have a secondary project that's still on the drawing boards intending to create a completely standalone showcase mod for Spring.

SWS is also in a better position than most fanmods because Lucasfilm has a pretty consistent policy on fanwork - if it (a) does not include specific Star Wars characters (Luke, Vader, etc), and (b) is not for-profit, it's generally okay.

Caydr wrote: No sense. None at all.

What you're talking about is the open-source game Freecraft which has a history something like what you describe.

Freecraft survived by splitting the project and renaming it. Other projects like BNetD (open BattleNet server) were less successful. It really does worry me that (if XvM's scripts are indeed Cavedog rips) we have no IP-unencumbered mods. If lawyers from Atari and Bandai suddenly took notice of Spring, there would be _no_ playable mods for it.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 28 Jun 2006, 18:47

Pxtl wrote: If lawyers from Atari and Bandai suddenly took notice of Spring, there would be _no_ playable mods for it.

Not true, bandai generaly doesn't care about mods, they see them as fan art. There are now 3 mods that are gundam related one for hw2(very hyped and plays awefull), Gundam Century which they guy did contact both bandai and blizzard after the fact mind you. Also, gundam annihilation, which has been in pc gamer if only for a snippet and has gotten some fan attention.

The only reason I do not advertise my mod is because due to spring lacking certian features it is largely incomplete.

DeathHawk · Post by **DeathHawk** » 29 Jun 2006, 03:53

Caydr wrote:
DeathHawk wrote:ive actully seen something like this done before, A starcraft mod was made i think it was using the Generals mod i played the mod my self it was looking exellent then the mod started getting popular then Blizzard Came and shut the whole thing down!!! Barstards!!!!
No sense. None at all.

What you're talking about is the open-source game Freecraft which has a history something like what you describe.

Sorry about that maybe this will help clear things abit

http://commandandconquer.filefront.com/ ... als_;14640

Felix the Cat · Post by **Felix the Cat** » 29 Jun 2006, 06:49

The difference between Bandai and Blizzard is that Bandai makes TV shows/movies/whatever, and Blizzard makes games. A Gundam mod for some random game does not threaten Bandai's sales of TV shows/movies/whatever, because nobody would play Gundam Annihilation as a replacement for watching Crappy Gundam Anime #48712. In fact, it's even some minor advertising; I had no idea what a Gundam was when Gundam Spring was started; now I know that it is some sort of large robot thing carrying large weapon things. Theoretically I am now more likely to watch Gundam anime (which in practice means that I move from "watching it on a freezing day in hell" to "watching it on a cold day in hell".)

Blizzard, on the other hand, makes games. A Warcraft mod for some random game does threaten Blizzard's sales of games, because games directly compete with games. Someone might play Warcraft Spring instead of Warcraft III, especially if Warcraft Spring is completely free.

Making a Warcraft mod for Spring is like Disney making a "Disney Gundam" movie/TV show. Bandai wouldn't like THAT. The same holds true for Spring being a TA remake: Atari wouldn't like that one bit if it shows even the smallest potential of cutting into their sales.

The good thing is that TA was released in 1997 and its sales are probably not phenomenal at this point, and that "TA 2" (Supreme Commander) is not being made by the owner of TA and in fact has to step carefully itself to avoid being sued for a TA connection.

DeathHawk · Post by **DeathHawk** » 29 Jun 2006, 07:16

thanks for that felix thats given me a better understanding now

Dragon45 · Post by **Dragon45** » 29 Jun 2006, 19:10

This whole point of course is pointless unless the higher-ups (our Swedes-in-charge) decide to actually change things around.

/me stares at SJ

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 29 Jun 2006, 19:27

/me stares at JC

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 29 Jun 2006, 23:59

The theory behind Blizzard being so paranoid about their games is they don't want their brand diluted. If some person who doesn't know what Star Craft is plays some awful clone, they might associate that with Blizzard and think they put out bad products.

Frankly, I think they don't give their audience enough credit. People like Valve (and Cavedog while they were around) take a much more positive approach to fan participation. I lost my copy of HL a few times and always ended up rebuying it. There were so many incredible mods coming out all the time. I'm still playing the game today.

Flare · Post by **Flare** » 30 Jun 2006, 00:11

DeathHawk wrote:
Caydr wrote:
DeathHawk wrote:ive actully seen something like this done before, A starcraft mod was made i think it was using the Generals mod i played the mod my self it was looking exellent then the mod started getting popular then Blizzard Came and shut the whole thing down!!! Barstards!!!!
No sense. None at all.

What you're talking about is the open-source game Freecraft which has a history something like what you describe.
Sorry about that maybe this will help clear things abit

http://commandandconquer.filefront.com/ ... als_;14640

I think they just renamed it
http://mods.moddb.com/1530/starkiller/

DeathHawk · Post by **DeathHawk** » 30 Jun 2006, 04:02

Flare wrote:
DeathHawk wrote:
Caydr wrote: No sense. None at all.

What you're talking about is the open-source game Freecraft which has a history something like what you describe.
Sorry about that maybe this will help clear things abit

http://commandandconquer.filefront.com/ ... als_;14640
I think they just renamed it
http://mods.moddb.com/1530/starkiller/

i was looking at that a couple of days ago but it looks like blizzard may have got to that too because that project is suspended

Felix the Cat · Post by **Felix the Cat** » 30 Jun 2006, 05:36

Molloy wrote:The theory behind Blizzard being so paranoid about their games is they don't want their brand diluted. If some person who doesn't know what Star Craft is plays some awful clone, they might associate that with Blizzard and think they put out bad products.

Frankly, I think they don't give their audience enough credit. People like Valve (and Cavedog while they were around) take a much more positive approach to fan participation. I lost my copy of HL a few times and always ended up rebuying it. There were so many incredible mods coming out all the time. I'm still playing the game today.

Again, there's a difference between Valve and Blizzard.

Freecraft decreases Blizzard's sales, as people opt to play the free version instead of buying StarCraft.

The Specialists and other HL mods increase Valve's sales, as people buy Half-Life to play the mods.

If StarCraft were moddable I'm sure Blizzard would look benignly upon SC mods.

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 30 Jun 2006, 06:03

Starcraft is moddable. There was a WC3 mod made for starcraft that blizzard never foxed.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 30 Jun 2006, 06:27

SwiftSpear wrote:Starcraft is moddable. There was a WC3 mod made for starcraft that blizzard never foxed.

what is it?

Also fyi, project revolution is un bothered but then again it is for warcraft3

Spring RTS Engine

The Spring Project