Geometry Wars Port?
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El Jefe
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Whoah there, while blitzmax doesn't compile for arm, this is some pretty simple code, I looked through it.Tom` said:
The three complicated files are:
gridwars.bmx
gridparttrail.bmx
and control.bmx
gridwars does all the hard stuff, and this would be the biggest pain to port.
the second file, is merely the grid upon which the game is drawn. First, its not necessary at all, you can just have a normal grid(or even nothing) as background, not this dynamic one, second, if a dynamic one was necessary, that probably wouldn't be too hard as most of the code in that file is for about 10 different versions of the grid. So only the coolest one would be ported, which wouldnt be such a big task.
the control file. Well, if its for pandora, controls wouldn't be too hard, I believe, and it would negate the need for any control framework as is described in this file.
So yeah, I really haven't done any big-ass programming projects, but from what I saw of the code, It didn't look too complicated, besides some heavy math which is basically language independent.
If someone were to re-write this in sdl or opengl, they would have a massive boost, due to this source, and, as I said, I don't believe it would take a massive effort.
Complimentary ass-coverage: I have virtually no experience with sdl/opengl, so take everything above this with a menhir of salt, but I'd probably be willing to try in java.
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bzar
A Commando
So by porting you mean complete rewriting in another language? Just checking.
I don't think anyone said it's a waste, just not a port, more of a rewrite.
Someone may know how to rewrite it without understanding all the maths parts, if it was well structured, I've not looked so I wouldn't know.
It could be a big help rather than someone trying to work it all out from scratch.
Someone may know how to rewrite it without understanding all the maths parts, if it was well structured, I've not looked so I wouldn't know.
It could be a big help rather than someone trying to work it all out from scratch.
bzar
A Commando
Yes, not a waste, just a different task. I was just clarifying. If the target language it should be ported to is similar enough in concepts and syntax, most syntactic translation could be done with a simple script. Then the remaining parts could be ironed out, after which it would be more like porting (changing graphic etc routines to fit the platform).
WizardStan
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Good, I'm glad their enforcing their IP, because polygonal shapes shooting other polygonal shapes in an outer space setting is an enviably new concept
Prometheus
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Pfft, the folks at Atari clearly must have had a time machine.
El Jefe
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when was the last time you had fun playing asteroids?WizardStan said:
turns out, basically every game is a refresh of some other game. In this case, geometry wars, illegally.
If you are gonna bitch about it every time, you'll be quite busy. Not everyone wants to buy an XBOX 360 to experience a game like this.
But yeah, the developer had to take his links down, but current versions are available in the first search results of Grid Wars, so thats not stopping anyone. I actually emailed him a question related to porting this, and he responded...EDIT: with helpful information
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Monk
Caveman Ninja
El Jefe said:
Yesterday, actually, though Grid Wars is certainly further developed (I have and enjoy Grid Wars too - and Echoes, which is great too but doesn't seem to like my netbook
)
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Hooray, more intellectual property FUD. There's no such thing, but I'm guessing they're trying to say copyright since I somewhat doubt there are any patents protecting this. In which case writing a clone of the game isn't actually illegal, but just a target for yet another MS FUD campaign.
MrBlais
Member
However, it is not being sold...
Monk
Caveman Ninja
Sold or not doesn't affect the law in the same way as murder isn't legal if nobody PAID for a contract killing...
but the way that intimidation is used in place of law to get "what one party wants" regardless of what the law actually IS gets very old, very quickly
I'm glad it's not up to me to decide where the line is drawn tho!
but the way that intimidation is used in place of law to get "what one party wants" regardless of what the law actually IS gets very old, very quickly
I'm glad it's not up to me to decide where the line is drawn tho!
bzar
A Commando
He's cool
Monk
Caveman Ninja
I don't think I've ever actually SEEN the "original" Geometry Wars, but yeah I'm cool with Grid Wars.
The various IP laws are IMHO generally a good idea - copyright, trademark, trade-dress, patents and so on - but I'm sick to death of the law (or even more often the threat of the law, legally applied or not!) is used to squash the competition. So many people and companies seem intent on using intimidation rather than just manning up and outdoing their competition - writing better code, making a better game, or making a game that's as good but cheaper. I don't (offhand) see anything in Grid Wars that ought to "benefit" from IP protection other than direct copyright theft, so it follows that I have difficulty seeing how it could infringe upon anything but copyright theft... and as the author of Grid Wars made their code public, it seems HUGELY unlikely for the game to be the result of copyright theft! It's all fairly obvious advances on Asteroids, given the history of Asteroids-like games and the history of Space Invaders type games. But it's a darned fun evolution!
The various IP laws are IMHO generally a good idea - copyright, trademark, trade-dress, patents and so on - but I'm sick to death of the law (or even more often the threat of the law, legally applied or not!) is used to squash the competition. So many people and companies seem intent on using intimidation rather than just manning up and outdoing their competition - writing better code, making a better game, or making a game that's as good but cheaper. I don't (offhand) see anything in Grid Wars that ought to "benefit" from IP protection other than direct copyright theft, so it follows that I have difficulty seeing how it could infringe upon anything but copyright theft... and as the author of Grid Wars made their code public, it seems HUGELY unlikely for the game to be the result of copyright theft! It's all fairly obvious advances on Asteroids, given the history of Asteroids-like games and the history of Space Invaders type games. But it's a darned fun evolution!
Monk said:
If you think there's such a thing as "Intellectual Property Law" you don't know what you're talking about. There are two schools of laws you need to concern yourself about: Copyright and Patent law. These two schools of law take on two entirely different scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
Copyright law concerns itself with literal copy pasting of other peoples hard work and claiming it as your own without expressed permission. This would be akin to us stealing their code, changing it slightly and then redistributing it as our own.
Patent law steps in when the creator of some idea has paid a lawyer a considerable amount of money to get a patent that protects said idea. This means that if there is indeed a patent concerning itself with a game like this one, that aptly describes this idea and that patent preceeds any 3rd party implementation, we will need to obtain a license to use that idea. I highly doubt that this game is patented in any respect though.
You mention trademarks, but really, that's just a way of securing yourself again a form of name theft. It doesn't apply here at all.
tl;dr: no such thing as "Intellectual Property (Law)".
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WizardStan
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Did you just read the first few words of his post and stop? Because he went on from there. He didn't say there was an IP law, he just used the term "IP laws" to refer to all the ways people protect their ideas:zhasha said:
You're preaching to the choir here. We know they don't really have the rights over Geometry Wars they claim to, but they're Microsoft and they have a huge amount of weight they can threaten to throw around if they have to.
If you feel the need to correct anyone's use of IP laws, correct Microsoft's. They're the ones who are abusing them.
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