[Mod] Next Encounter PC Remake Announced

[OoPpEe]

Ah I'd love to have the Next Encounter models, I'd gladly help out if I can. Do have 3D experience (see Quakeone.com/forums to see my work)

[Devostator]

New screen available (from serioussite.ru)

You can see a grenade launcher too.

[AntonioR]

I like it, I like it a LOT !

[encogen]

Looks neat. Keep it up.

[Wezilla]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

I like it, I like it a LOT !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH9t44iOiA4

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by Redboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH9t44iOiA4

That was exactly on my mind when I wrote that

[Mr. Bungle]

I'm very excited about this! I wish it would be on Steam.

Does anyone know when they will be finished with this?

[Dave3d]

Dont know when they will be finished.
I just hope at the time that I still have a net connection, and a gaming rig.


Looking great, as usual.

[Deepblue]

Bleh, that last screenie looks a little.....noisy.

[Scratch]

Impressive! Can't wait to play this.

[Brute]

Very cool. Looks slammin'!

[Dave3d]

Dangit.
Want it now.

Why dont you guys release it in levels?
Work on and release level 1 now, then work on and release level 2 next.

That way, we can get our SS on, while waiting for the next level.

[Finzy]

Great job that you're doing new weapons also!

[Wezilla]

Very good. Keep going

[Fiendian]

[Finzy]

Very low quality pic though, in reality it could be a lot worse without all the blur.

[Discy]

Originally Posted by Galvatron3000

This ones an oldie, but its still shows how good the textures can look with good effects gaussian blur applied:

*pic*

Fix'd.

Kidding aside, it still looks way better than on the PS2. Can't wait to get my claws on it.

[SLAwww]

It's a shame that such an excellent add-on might not be released on seriouszone. Not even because people might not get it, we all know that they will just go to serioussite since it was already mentioned several times. It's a shame to observe that precious legal system acting violently against people who aren't attempting to steal anyone's money or do anything as bad as that. So here's a little solution I came up with:
Climax might have something against the developers of this mod only in case of bitwise copying of their content. Unless this was proven to take place, the artwork is considered to be a fanart and therefor cannot be a subject to legal persecution. Even if it looks quite much like the original SS:NE.
Say, you like Silent Hill. You are free to create a model of a girl, call it Alessa Gillespy (one of that game's characters) and redistribute it under GPL. Of course, you would have to mention the authors of SH, but you don't need their permission, because the only thing you took from them is inspiration, which is uncopyrightable. Here, an example of what I mean, right in your facefilesystem: http://files.seriouszone.com/download.php?fileid=626

[Louva-Deus]

Actually, since this project was approved by Croteam I think we'll be fine with hosting it. Worst case scenario would be that we get a request from Climax to take it down.

You are only partially correct about re-creations. As long as you model it yourself you are allowed to make a model of pretty much anything. But you can't just call it the same name because of trademark issues. For example, the name Serious Sam is a registered trademark that Croteam owns and nobody else can use it in a product title or as a character name without their permission.

Not all companies are strict on this issue but many are because they have to protect their property and keep people from undercutting their profits. This is why many mod teams take unnecessary risks when they start a mod/tc project that is a remake or otherwise recreates one game inside of another. It is better, always, to generate your own unique ideas, but if you really must recreate some form of gameplay you like from somewhere else.. you should still make it uniquely your own. One big advantage of this is that you can go commercial at some point if you really wanted to.

So to recap: copying something from one game to another is copyright infringement unless you have permission to use it. If you re-create the content (models, textures, sounds, etc) or use public-domain content then you are fine. Reusing a trademark from another company is also illegal without their permission. But, one more thing comes into play and that is the Fair Use law. If you recreate more than a certain amount of the original content (called the essence of the property) then it is considered copyright infringement because you have undercut the value of the original property and created something in direct competition with it.

[SLAwww]

There's something I can't agree with. A "trademark" obviously has something to do with trading, and trading has something to do with money. Now look at a link I posted above, it's a model of Ronald McDonald, imagine the guy who made the model trying to sell it, he would never get away with this. IIRC, in the showcase forum there are people who build indie games about Serious Sam, and despite using a trademarked character of Croteam, they're okay with that. And even if we assume they have CT's permission (which is fortunately not something of an odd case), there are tons of content people legally make using trademarked characters that belong to large companies, deviantart host many examples. In other words, I think it is okay to use a trademark in a freeware fan-art. Even in the worst case, if one is being sued for trademark infringement, his penalty is measured by amount of money he earned using the trademark, which is in our case zero. See, it's different from the case with copyright infringement when a person illegally redistributes whole games or other large chunks of data, because if this occurs, the penalty is measured by the amount of money the copyright owner lost, not by the amount that the accused person earned.

[Louva-Deus]

Trademarks only apply to names and logos. Copyrights are for designs. Example, Ronald McDonald is a trademarked name. His outfit is a copyrighted design. Fair Use doesn't apply to trademarks as far as I know, so you literally can't use the name Ronald McDonald for anything without permission. Even if they never take notice or appear to care at all it is still wrong to use it. Copyright law has fair use stipulations that allow only certain things that do not infringe on the author's IP or on their rights to use and profit from their IP as they see fit.

The part of copyright law that you seem to balk against is the moral imperative. You are free to have that opinion. But let's be very clear here that just because you don't get caught or you don't suffer some kind of consequences for doing something doesn't make it right. There is no justification for doing something that is illegal. Ever.

[SLAwww]

Then let me ask one final question. If it's not allowed to use a trademark name for anything, then why isn't that player model taken down?

[Louva-Deus]

That's a good question. What do you think the answer is?

[SLAwww]

I think the usual reply would be "There was no official request to take it down". Obviously, the author of the model did not ask permission from McDonalds, there is no way they would reply so I don't even consider a possibility of that the author was officially allowed to share that model. But in case I am right, I would still have something to add.

[SeriousAlexej]

YouTube Video: Serious Sam HD: Next Encounter Debut Trailer

[AntonioR]

I am speechless...

[Discy]

I... I... wow.

I would pay you guys money for it.

[Fiendian]

I think I'm in love.

[dragon99919]

That looks great! Can't wait to play it. I am looking forward at multiplayer for that mod.
Another thing - vehicles. THAT'S AWESOME!

[Dave3d]

WOW.
That just made my 'The only game in 2012 I am looking forward to' list.


Good stuff.