Posted By
DrMistry
on 2010-04-10
00:02:36
|  Re: Trailblazer remake for XBOX360
Hi again guys.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean about copyright breaches. Copyright is a very specific thing which refers directly to tangable (but not nessecarily physical) things, like the box art and other graphical assets, the music (and I prefer the original boogie-woogie soundtrack to mine) and so on. Nothing of the original game appears in mine /in that way/, but I'd repeat that I don't think that's really the point.
There is a concept of look and feel, and the risk you take when repliicating any game is focussed primarily on two arguments - prior art for the original and prior art for the "replica". There is some prior art for Trailblazer (but not much and the story isn't 100% clear to me just yet), meaning that there were examples of 1) faux-3D representations of linear game environments, 2) physical simulation of a rolling bass, 3) a combination of those two gameplay elements in to one cohesive game, 4) the interaction of elements of a faux-3d represention and the player's character which prohibit or promote progress through the game world. There's bags and bags of prior art from my position - PD games, shareware and full commercial "remakes" for the ST and Amiga, and games with substantively similar gameplay (with no reference to the original whatsoever which I could find). I am not going to release a game on to a worldwide, well publicised and popular gaming platform which is attended by thousands of websites and millions of gamers which is in breach of ANY IP at all. I would be, quite rightly, torn to pieces. Adding to that the fact that Mr Chip allow ALL their old C16 titles to be distributed on a not-for-profit basis and it's entirely legitimate to take the position that the work is a fir and proper subject for re-writing, with the proviso that no copyrights or other IP for other rights holders or products are breached.
The graphics *aren't* particularly intense, and that was an entirely conscious choice. I felt that if I tried to "overdress" the game then people who remember Trailblazer would be even MORE angry that someone was ripping it off and trying to pass it off as their own idea. I thought by staying faithful to the original people would recognise it for what it is - a reasonable programmer having a reasonable attempt at reproducing the fun of a very good game. I also wanted to make sure the focus was entirely on the gameplay and not the flash. TBH almost anyone could write *something* for the 360 which looks pretty cool. Making it play right is the real challenge, and if it could be done on a 6502 in 16k with no real sprites and no real synth chip and certainly no 3D in the way we understand and use it today then I want to work out why and how it's so much fun to play!
That said, I do have the possibility of updating the game with a "better" graphics engine - or indeed with a credit to Shaun. I already need to do one update because the music looses sync after about 30 minutes of play. Not that I expect people to play the game that long, but if you're going to do a job...
The coins were my wife's idea. So, basically, all the good stuff is her and all the rest is me ;0) I have abolsutely positively no problem at all with people not liking my games - I'm nowhere near a good enough games designer or programmer to expect everyone to enjoy them - but I really honestly hope you guys will give it a try, and to show that it's really not about profit, here are three redeem codes so you can have a copy each for free. The codes are single use. Enjoy the game if you want to try it, if not then maybe I'll tickle your gaming fancy next time out.
MBXYC-BXTRK-XP2CD-GTDTM-4HQ2G
HRKTK-YM4MB-W33VQ-37G7G-BX4WW
B67HM-2K4BB-WQ9XM-G9GRF-48B8Y
Regards,
Mike
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