quote:

---

Originally posted by TL:
It would make sense that game rights would be wrapped up in the movie deal.

---

Gee i hope this isn't the case. *crosses fingers*
 

---

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
It is absolutely the case.

It should also be noted that Card's son is a professional game developer. *grin*

There've actually been several threads on this forum about how to do a good Battle Room mod -- but I'm almost certain that the game rights are now owned by Warner Bros.
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
Rats. I'm actually a developer myself who's quite a big fan. Knowing that his son is a developer does put my mind at ease somewhat. At least it wont get all munged up by a big studio. Even so, i'm very dissappointed that these rights are owned by WB. I guess i'll just have to re-think this whole thing.
 

---

Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
 
What was your concept for the game, Fuzz? I'll tell you the game I'm dying to play. I want an FPS battle-room simulator. It would be styled roughly like UT99, with great speed and awesome physics. Tons of maps (battle room configurations), and of course two armies. Every soldier in every army is an actual player at home, playing the game FPS style.

You have about 30 seconds before each game where your whole team is in a room, waiting for the gate to open and the light to go on; during this time you could freeze each other's legs, etc.

Teams could be as organized or disorganized as the players playing: ie they could be divided into toons, or they could just have a bunch of people running around crazily.

Literally an unlimited number of strategies could be applied to such a game. Certainly people would get online and organize "armies" and play each other on organized competitive ladders.

Oh man, I would love that game.

So much.
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
Actually this is pretty much what it is. I'm looking to mod the game half-life 2 which is primarily PC. So far i have a freezing system of sorts down. The weapons will be those used in the book (just the blaster). The wire that they use to assist in movement may be either obtained in the level by a powerup, or maybe a skill-based addon. I'm also trying to think of a way you can create a server environment to facilitate training and practice. So, for example, you could create formation practice and have X amount of people in the room watching a ghost image of what the formation is supposed to look/act like then they can practice it. Not sure how it'll work out but i have 2 other Ender fans helping me out if I decide to do it.
 

---

Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
 
Most games are too slow! Back in the days of UT99 I used to play at 155 speed (55% faster than normal) and no game has been able to match the lightning intensity of that experience.

An Ender's Game Battle Room Game should be FAST.
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
This is true and i never thought about this. I'm off on my lunch break, i have some other ideas but i can't type fast enough because my coworkers want to goto lunch....
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
TL:
Did you ever play the Corkscrew mod for Q3 arena?
 

---

Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
 
Wish I could send you the two design documents I wrote
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
You can, i have my email address allowed for members i belive.
 

---

Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
 
I'm guessing he means he's not allowed. He is OSC's son (also known as a rat named dog)
 

---

Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
 
To clarify, she means his other name on this forum is "A Rat Named Dog".
 

---

Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
 
Yeah, I meant that the documents weren't written for public consumption My real point was, yeah, I've thought this whole thing through a million times, and it would rock, if Warner would get their butts in gear and license the thing
 

---

Posted by Fuzz (Member # 8195) on :
 
Ho hum, that'd be pretty sweet. Now, i don't quite know how copyright/trademark law works. But if a work is influenced from another but doesn't carry the name, would it still infringe? Obviously it depends how close it comes to the original ideas, but does anyone have a clue where that line is?
 

---

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 



Did I read that? Are you asking, even in jest, OSC's son how to sidestep his father's copywrite righs so that you can make you game based on his works, without permissions?


My first guess would have been to not mention it here at all, let alone ask in a thread where his son is posting... and not to put it in writing under any circumstances.


 

---

Posted by Sid Meier (Member # 6965) on :
 
wait... what happens if its non profit? If you aren't actually selling the mod for money do Copyright laws still effect? Would it be possible to actually do it but for say a select group of Hatrackers?
 

---

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
Copyright laws apply whether you charge for it or not.
 

---

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 

quote:

---

Obviously it depends how close it comes to the original ideas, but does anyone have a clue where that line is?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomDavidson:

quote:

---

Obviously it depends how close it comes to the original ideas, but does anyone have a clue where that line is?

---

I'd imagine that you could safely do a zero-gee squad-based battle game without infringing. Adding "freeze guns" pushes it closer, but even that's probably kosher. Making the players children would, IMO, tip it over the line. Any mention of a "Battle Room" or "Battle School" or the like would be verboten, of course.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwea:



Did I read that? Are you asking, even in jest, OSC's son how to sidestep his father's copywrite righs so that you can make you game based on his works, without permissions?


My first guess would have been to not mention it here at all, let alone ask in a thread where his son is posting... and not to put it in writing under any circumstances.

---

quote:

---

Obviously it depends how close it comes to the original ideas, but does anyone have a clue where that line is?

---

No one knows were that line is until the lawsuit is settled. here is a decent summary of the concept involved:

quote:

---

>
> How about a hypothetical with a slightly different set of facts.
> Let's say that I write a novel about a group of travelors stuck on a
> train somewhere. To pass the time, the passengers share some important
> background story about themselves. And amongst the many [tales] related
> is Nabokov's Lolita telling the story from her perspective. And for
> this hypo. let's say that her story amounted to a cameo appearence in
> the book, say ~20 pages out of a 400 page novel, and only one of eight
> or ten stories told.

This sounds like a hypo based on Learned Hand's "levels of abstraction"
analysis. He posited that with any given work, one could tell the same
story at increasing levels of abstraction (generality), until one ended
up with only a sentence describing the basic outline of the novel.
Copying at the most concrete level (literal copying of text) was clearly
infringement, and copying at the highest level of abstraction was
clearly copying only the idea and not expression. The trick is to find
the dividing line in the middle. Here, Hand is less helpful, since he
says only that there must be a line, and that the inquiry is inherently
fact-specific.

---