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An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

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Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#41

Post by Rizz »

joepie91_ wrote: post #36
timwaagh wrote: post #21

how does this work with copyright & trademarks & stuff?

No different from eg. OpenTTD. If they don't distribute any of the original assets or code, copyright is not relevant. That's most likely why they require an original installation to get the game assets from. They don't present themselves as AoE2 either - saying that it's like AoE2 is not infringing - so no trademark issue either. Can't see a problem with this.

Copyright affects more than just assets, it also includes e.g. creative physics. The idea of an RTS in a medieval time period is not copyrightable, but copying all the specific choices AoE2 made even when those choices weren't made because the setting required them can very well be infringement. Calling yourself a clone will also not help you in a court.

Read up on some judges' verdicts on video game clones at: http://adlervermillion.com/copyright-illustrated-video-game-...

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#42

Post by jehb »

joepie91_ wrote: post #36
timwaagh wrote: post #21

how does this work with copyright & trademarks & stuff?

No different from eg. OpenTTD. If they don't distribute any of the original assets or code, copyright is not relevant. That's most likely why they require an original installation to get the game assets from. They don't present themselves as AoE2 either - saying that it's like AoE2 is not infringing - so no trademark issue either. Can't see a problem with this.

I don't disagree in principle, but the last time I got excited about an open source RTS clone using a game's original assets, this happened:

http://games.slashdot.org/story/03/06/21/1323249/freecraft-c...

(And yes, it's been 11+ years since I got excited about one.)

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#43

Post by jcl »

joepie91_ wrote: post #36
timwaagh wrote: post #21

how does this work with copyright & trademarks & stuff?

No different from eg. OpenTTD. If they don't distribute any of the original assets or code, copyright is not relevant. That's most likely why they require an original installation to get the game assets from. They don't present themselves as AoE2 either - saying that it's like AoE2 is not infringing - so no trademark issue either. Can't see a problem with this.

Actually, it's quite different from OpenTTD. OpenTTD's source is based on a disassembly of TTD. So far as I can tell, OpenAge is being coded from scratch.

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#44

Post by Houshalter »

andygmb wrote: post #12
egeozcan wrote: post #8

Scripting AoEII maps with a decent scripting language has long been a dream of mine. Current trigger editor is "hard to use and lacking" to put it politely. Python support in the map editor would be amazing.

>Scripting AoEII maps with a decent scripting language has long been a dream of mine Isn't the current AI scripting done in Lisp?

It's an expert system. You can create if-then condtions. "If under attack, attack nearest enemy." It looks like lisp because every statement needs to be surrounded by parentheses, but it's not anything like lisp.

It's extremely limited, at least if you expect it to be a complete programming language. On the other hand, it's very easy to learn and use, which is what it's designed for.

The random map scripting is a programming language I believe. You can create scripts that generate maps.

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#45

Post by Houshalter »

Aethelwulf wrote: post #31

Has anyone else seen a big difference between the original AoE2 and the Steam re-release? I swear that the AI is barely aggressive anymore, even on the most difficult setting.

You can add your own AI scripts. There is an entire community around AI scripting, if you want good AIs to play against. I believe there are also a few in the steam workshop.

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#46

Post by est »

jtwebman wrote: post #17
izietto wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0 A.D. is great; I hope my grandchildren will play at beta lol

No joke just release the thing!

0ad kinda lags in later rounds. It utilize only one CPU. I heard on the forum it's due to Engine's design in early development times.

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#47

Post by Houshalter »

jehb wrote: post #42
joepie91_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No different from eg. OpenTTD. If they don't distribute any of the original assets or code, copyright is not relevant. That's most likely why they require an original installation to get the game assets from. They don't present themselves as AoE2 either - saying that it's like AoE2 is not infringing - so no trademark issue either. Can't see a problem with this.

I don't disagree in principle, but the last time I got excited about an open source RTS clone using a game's original assets, this happened: http://games.slashdot.org/story/03/06/21/1323249/freecraft-c... (And yes, it's been 11+ years since I got excited about one.)

>The development team received a cease and desist order due to the name 'FreeCraft' causing possible confusion with the names StarCraft and WarCraft

Good job blizzard on preventing any games from ever ending in "craft".

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#48

Post by mehwoot »

zaporozhets wrote: post #27
jqm wrote: post #25

I wish someone would clone Cossacks. I've been playing it since 2002 and keep an XP box specifically to play it on. After all these years I still haven't gotten bored of the game and probably play it 2-3 hours a week or more on average. I don't know if this means it's a really good game or I'm just a boring person. But it beats AoE all over in my opinion. I've tried a lot of other games, played them for a bit and for…

+9001 for this. Cossacks was and always will be the best RTS I have ever played. I want a mac port, an HD re-release and sequel right now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks_II:_Napoleonic_Wars

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#49

Post by bluehex »

I'm going to out myself as oversensitive and lacking a sense of humor in many of your eyes (or so I imagine) but I can't stand the kind of sarcastic humor in the contributing section.

Sarcasm is only funny to me when it's not mean spirited.

The joke about segfaults: "--dont-segfault --no-errors --dont-eat-dog." was quite funny, on the other hand. I'd like to see more playful expression in this way rather than playing with negativity; because even though it's obviously a joke, there's enough negativity in the world already that it doesn't make me laugh thinking about it.

I imagine i'm in a tiny minority. :/

Re: An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II

#50

Post by baddox »

fakeyfake wrote: post #26
aroman wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Voobly[1] is the primary aoc client at the moment Is this still true, given that Microsoft has officially re-released AoE on Steam? I assume most people would have migrated there now...

Sorry I meant for online matches, although some people would draw a distinction between age of empires: the conquerors and age of empires: hd edition. You can check the player history for steam here[0], it's almost at an all time low, although this number includes people logged in playing single player too, while voobly's numbers (just over 1500 at the time of writing) include people spectating matches and waiting in…

Are the performance problems you refer to the horrible slow-down in multiplayer? I've never had any client-side performance problems with AoC (Steam edition or prior), but the network slow-down has always been there, and makes substantial games with more than about 4 players essentially unplayable. I haven't checked on the Steam edition since a couple months after its release, but if they managed to fix that I would be elated.
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