Has anybody ever done a 3d version of Fairlight map?
Has anybody ever done a 3d version of Fairlight map? I am thinking about Speccy games that were isometric, but had a rich spatial structure. Great Escape would probably work too, although not as well.
Just think about it. Standing in the courtyard you could look in ANY direction, you could look through the windows, you could ascend a tower and overlook the whole thing from above. Everything with modern color lighting and radiosity.
What I am thinking about is a level for a game like Quake or Unreal. It can be a single player map with or without monsters. Perhaps it will have a gameplay of its own, where you'll have to work through it by pressing switches, collecting keys and killing monsters, usual stuff.
Or worse yet, a multiplayer Deathmatch or CTF map! Doors, windows, trapdoors can be added if neccessary to enchance connectivity.
Looking on Google I couldn't find anything of the kind I described. Now, I kinda suspect that tomorrow in the morning I will find more than one thing that is wrong with this idea, because Quake1 has been around for 9 years and if nobody has undertaken this project that means something.
Anyways, reflect please.
Just think about it. Standing in the courtyard you could look in ANY direction, you could look through the windows, you could ascend a tower and overlook the whole thing from above. Everything with modern color lighting and radiosity.
What I am thinking about is a level for a game like Quake or Unreal. It can be a single player map with or without monsters. Perhaps it will have a gameplay of its own, where you'll have to work through it by pressing switches, collecting keys and killing monsters, usual stuff.
Or worse yet, a multiplayer Deathmatch or CTF map! Doors, windows, trapdoors can be added if neccessary to enchance connectivity.
Looking on Google I couldn't find anything of the kind I described. Now, I kinda suspect that tomorrow in the morning I will find more than one thing that is wrong with this idea, because Quake1 has been around for 9 years and if nobody has undertaken this project that means something.
Anyways, reflect please.
Post edited by Erlstoned on
Comments
I suppose the initial novelty value would be high though. Incidentally, a true Fairlight clone wouldn't be possible since Edge has reservations on the issue.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
At the very least it can serve as a map of Fairligh... Although who plays Fairlight anymore? :(
According to the same logic, remakes aren't possible then. Philip seems to know quite a bit about copyright and trademark issues.
BTW, since Trial Of Darkness starts of when the first part ends, ie beyond the gates of the castle, those two parts can be merged together to see how the whole thing looks like, just for the heck of it.
The loading screen can be used as a help :p
And then The Edge squashed it and the author had to take it down.
D.
That takes care of the idea I guess.
In a strict legal sense, "inspired by" is OK (at least from a copyright point of view; trademarks (eg Sonic) get wider protection); what you can't do is take the graphics, level data etc from an original game and reuse it in a remake.
Thank you, Phil. Your insight and expertise is like a breath of fresh air.
So I have a question then. Creating a map of the game in the form of a Quake or Unreal level is still considered a derivative work and is subject to legal interest, right? How would it be different from a map drawn on paper?
Would presence of monsters and/or other game elements of Quake make any difference?
I realize that your opinion is not a professional advice and should in no event be used as a guidance for making decisions, so feel free to express it.
Search on Google for Softek Software International Ltd mostly yields links to Spectrum/CPC games resources and Encyclopedia definitions saying it's a software label connected with The Edge. Ironically, you keep wading through dozens of Encyclopedia definitions with no signs of the actual company still existing.
There is SofTek Software International, Inc, but it's a corporation with offices in the USA and incorporated in 2000.
That's an interesting one I hadn't really thought about; I think it would largely depend on how "much" of the original information you reproduce.
At one extreme, if you took the data directly from a snapshot and ran it through a (semi-)automated translator to produce a Quake level, that's fairly obviously a derivative work of the original. At the other end of the scale, a map which consists of not much more than some boxes connected by lines, along with some annotations similar to "Monster in here", "Key in here" is probably OK as it can't really be used to reproduce the original. Somewhere in the middle is a grey area :)
Not really; you've still taken the map data from the original, even if you've then put differently shaped monsters in.
And even then the lines aren't entirely clear (think Giana Sisters vs Nintendo).
Remakes are more often than not done on the basis that people probably won't be bothered. If they are then it's unlikely the remaker is going to risk a court appearance, so they'll just drop it at the first sign of trouble.
In the case of Fairlight, obviously The Edge aren't keen on derivative versions showing up so it's best to steer well clear.
Oh, that would be PITA :) What I really had I mind was simply looking at the game screens. Maybe measuring them with a ruler or a "pixel-meter."
We're talking about a phantom here. It may be that something like that isn't even possible due to space warps in the game itself.
http://zx-maps.wz.cz/fairlight.png
http://www.zx-spectrum.cz
Even though the company may no longer exist, the copyright most likely does. For instance, it could have been sold or transferred to another company as one of the assets upon dissolution.
Of course today the copyright extends for some 100+ years, so long live Fairlight :)
Well, not much, but at least something. Can be of some help.
BTW, that's why a 3d map would be useful: the complex spatial structure of the game almost invariably renders any 2d map incomprehensible.