Status of the D3 code/copyright

Feedback for the Outrage Entertainment D3 dev team members - bug reports, patch issues, your raves (or rants).
User avatar
Dakatsu
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1575
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:22 am
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida

Post by Dakatsu »

Okay, is this negotiation thing not working as in they don't budge no matter what, or it would take lots of money to get the game rights?
User avatar
Duper
DBB Master
DBB Master
Posts: 9214
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2001 3:01 am
Location: Beaverton, Oregon USA

Post by Duper »

Valin can answer this better than I, but I'm pretty sure this is a principle thing and not a money thing. Now if you through a LOT of money (and I'm talking an obscene amount) that might do the trick, but still maybe not. Descent was created somewhat outta spite so I think it holds a very special place in Matt's and Mike's hearts.
zbriggs
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2004 8:22 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by zbriggs »

As I have stated many times before, Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog own the development rights as Parallax. Interplay owns the publishing rights. Haven't development rights doesn't do a spit worth of good without the publishing rights. And you will under no conditions get Interplay to caugh them up.

I got this \"Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog own the development rights as Parallax.\" directly from Matt Toschlog. And when I did get to talk to the former CEO of Interplay and the former staff it was confirmed.
User avatar
Nosferatu
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 481
Joined: Mon May 23, 2005 5:15 pm

Post by Nosferatu »

I could swear there was some kind of legal definition of an \"Abandoned work\".

Interplay is not in the best of shape financially right now and if they go completely under, wouldnt Descent become an abandoned work, possibly allowing reverse engineering/compiling when that happens?
User avatar
CDN_Merlin
DBB_Master
DBB_Master
Posts: 9747
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 1998 12:01 pm
Location: Capital Of Canada

Post by CDN_Merlin »

I think the rights stay for 10 years.
User avatar
Duper
DBB Master
DBB Master
Posts: 9214
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2001 3:01 am
Location: Beaverton, Oregon USA

Post by Duper »

Then we still have a wait ahead of us. D3 isn't 10 yet. :\\
User avatar
Alcatraz
DBB Cadet
DBB Cadet
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:43 pm

Post by Alcatraz »

not to good with copyrights, but i did find this. thought it was interesting.
Image
User avatar
d3jake
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1074
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:08 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Post by d3jake »

Booyah! THat means all we have to do is wait about four more years and we can finally get to it! I'm hoping that there will be a D3 community left...
Blackhole
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:23 pm
Contact:

Post by Blackhole »

If someone wanted to make an entirely new descent game, they wouldn't want to work off of the D3 engine, its too old and out of date. It'd be easier just to make a new engine.

Of course, just making improvements to the D3 source code is another matter entirely.
User avatar
Duper
DBB Master
DBB Master
Posts: 9214
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2001 3:01 am
Location: Beaverton, Oregon USA

Post by Duper »

Black hole..

welcome. This is actually more about copyrights and whether or not another Descent game (by title) can legally be made.

That's pretty much not going to happen.

Where the D3 engine is concerned, we only wish to get the source so we can fix some problems ourselves (instead of waiting 4 years for someone else...) and maybe mod something by those so inclined. :)
User avatar
Moon
DBB Alumni
DBB Alumni
Posts: 830
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 1999 3:01 am
Contact:

Post by Moon »

Burlyman wrote:Descent has its design problems...like overpowered missiles in multiplayer.
Overpowered in terms of what? Speed? Destructive power? Cause I disagree.

You know, I've modified the Stadium port in D3 to include all weapons in the game (after all the host can disallow any he doesn't like) and we've been playing this on LAN parties with Megas and Black Sharks and noone was in any real trouble. The Afterburner does help a lot evading those
Moon's Descendarium - THE single-player guide to Descent 1-3

Maintainer of The 'official' Descent 3 FAQ

Coming soon to a domain near you
User avatar
NUMBERZero
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 288
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:12 pm
Location: Florida
Contact:

Post by NUMBERZero »

Whew! 3 year revive, but it has been 10 years since D3 was released, so where's the code?
User avatar
Aus-RED-5
DBB Friend
DBB Friend
Posts: 1604
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Contact:

Post by Aus-RED-5 »

Posted Sat Oct 24, 2009
Kevin Bentley wrote:If/when the owners of D3 code ever agree to release the source I'm going to encourage them to do so under a GPL license so there won't be as much duplication of effort. I'm normally not a fan of GPL, but in this case I can see the benefits.
viewtopic.php?t=16059
User avatar
Duper
DBB Master
DBB Master
Posts: 9214
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2001 3:01 am
Location: Beaverton, Oregon USA

Post by Duper »

Thanks Red. perfect cross link.

yeah, Interplay probably won't let their end of it go. They're so strapped for cash right now, they'll use what they can, where they can to generate revenue.
User avatar
NUMBERZero
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 288
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:12 pm
Location: Florida
Contact:

Post by NUMBERZero »

You can miss a lot if you don't check this forum thuroughly. I don't really even know Kevin.

Here's a plan, spam the owners of the code with 1000 emails saying \"Your time is up! Hand it over!\" jk

But I do say that we need to do something big to get their attention. I'd bet that they just don't know that we exist. It seems like every time someone tries to send them an email, they get no reply. As to what \"big\" would be, I have no idea.
User avatar
Aus-RED-5
DBB Friend
DBB Friend
Posts: 1604
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Contact:

Post by Aus-RED-5 »

Kevin is one of the devs from Descent 3.

If possible, he'd be the one to \"get their attention\". ;)
Locked