Rebellion 2

[Guest JediIgor]

I just had some ideas a few days ago about Rebellion 2.

 

But since it seems LEC is going to abandon what could've been the greatest strategy game ever (their mistake) ..

 

What would be everyone's thoughts if it was possible to make an unofficial sequel (or something along those lines) but if it took many, many years (~5ish) to do it?

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I think it would be a great idea, but getting even the slightest bit of SW names, chracters etc will undoubtly bring law suites etc unless it's a free downloadable game or somthing. But to answer your question, DEFINITELY!! :D

[Guest JediIgor]

There's a bunch of mods and they haven't been sued. However, the legal side does interest me. Theoretically, if we wanted to do this, how could we get away with it?

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I believe it is only legal by means of a free download, JediIgor.

[Guest JediIgor]

What about some more concrete details? and more answers?

 

If we wanted to sell?

 

If we wanted to OSS (open-source-software) it?

 

If we didn't use the words "Star Wars" anywhere but extensively used the names from the books?

 

etc.

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

Now that I cannot be certain of, but I do know as long as no profit was to be made off their license then it does not matter, per se, for us to use SW stuff. Now about OSS, I am afraid I cannot help you.

[Jahled]

Emmm... we had some limited feedback regarding the source code in another thread... but it was communication! Perhaps we might start by asking the fiendmasters at LucasArts what the score is on the legal front.

 

If their response is silence then we at least had the legal standpoint of bothering to ask them. If we get a response and some guidelines then we will have something in theory to work around.

 

A timeline of five years!!! Whilst realistic Igor is a tab depressing to digest!

 

Our experiance with the reloaded project is that people sign up full of enthusiam and then vannish leaving at times huge holes for the more dedicated members to patch up. (But take heart dudes; reloaded is on it's way...and looking awesome!!!

 

Having said that, we could in theory devote our brains to the subject...

[the_mask]

Hey, you're alive

Welcome back, tovarish.

 

That would really be great, without doubt. Do you consider writing your own engine or to use an existing one ? Hopefully one, that easier to mod and that offers at least 65k colors

 

If we could have that and a tactical interface simmilar to the Homeworld series, that would be just perfect.

You'll probably remember, that we used to write down all our thoughts in the Reb2 ideas thread, like being able

to ram or capture enemy ships.

 

How we could get away with it ? Hmm, firstly by not making profit with it and secondly by making it clear, that

we didn't claim to have invented these ideas or that think we own them ... well, the usual disclaimer

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

The topic of Rebellion 2 has been going on since even the old forums and we really didn't get anywhere back then. I doubt that, with the poor results of Rebellion, LucasArts would be willing to officially do another, and the pains one would have to go through to create the game on thier own only to put it up for free would not be worth it.

 

Good to see you JI. MY NEMESIS HAS RETURNED!

[ADarkJedi44]

Good to see you're still around, Igor. I think it's a great idea, and we should try to do what we can, but I don't think we'll be able to accomplish our goal.....

 

But hey, why not try out being Corellian....

[Guest JediIgor]

Emmm... we had some limited feedback regarding the source code in another thread... but it was communication! Perhaps we might start by asking the fiendmasters at LucasArts what the score is on the legal front.

 

If their response is silence then we at least had the legal standpoint of bothering to ask them. If we get a response and some guidelines then we will have something in theory to work around.

 

A timeline of five years!!! Whilst realistic Igor is a tab depressing to digest!

 

Our experiance with the reloaded project is that people sign up full of enthusiam and then vannish leaving at times huge holes for the more dedicated members to patch up. (But take heart dudes; reloaded is on it's way...and looking awesome!!!

 

Having said that, we could in theory devote our brains to the subject...

 

You feel like being up to the task to shooting off your contacts at LEC an email at how we could get away with this?

 

But yeah, five years is optimal anyways, I think we'd have playable betas/alphas in a few years after we start coding anyways. But the finished product may take longer .

 

I don't think that's so bad anyways, I mean that's just about the time HL2 is taking, plus we can make software for super-duper computers now and it'll be right around the corner for "decent computer" in the five years.

 

For the Reloaded project, we should finish that up a.s.a.p. and divert our resources towards this possibility .

 

Hey, you're alive

Welcome back, tovarish.

 

That would really be great, without doubt. Do you consider writing your own engine or to use an existing one ? Hopefully one, that easier to mod and that offers at least 65k colors

 

If we could have that and a tactical interface simmilar to the Homeworld series, that would be just perfect.

You'll probably remember, that we used to write down all our thoughts in the Reb2 ideas thread, like being able

to ram or capture enemy ships.

 

How we could get away with it ? Hmm, firstly by not making profit with it and secondly by making it clear, that

we didn't claim to have invented these ideas or that think we own them ... well, the usual disclaimer

 

Well, the best thing would be to create our own engine, licensing one costs $$, and wouldn't offer the flexibility we want in a "perfect" Rebellion.

 

The disclaimer, I don't really like one of those, it works if we aren't trying to make money off it.. but..

 

The topic of Rebellion 2 has been going on since even the old forums and we really didn't get anywhere back then. I doubt that, with the poor results of Rebellion, LucasArts would be willing to officially do another, and the pains one would have to go through to create the game on thier own only to put it up for free would not be worth it.

 

And that is exactly why I was wondering what legalities we can jump through incase we wanted to sell it.. putting years and years of something into a product is one thing, but to publish it and spread it amongst a possible millions of people is another (and making some money off it is a nice way of saying "Hey you did something productive with your life" ).

 

Good to see you're still around, Igor. I think it's a great idea, and we should try to do what we can, but I don't think we'll be able to accomplish our goal.....

 

"Nothing is impossible, some things just highly unlikely." In this case it'll just take a long time.

 

==========

If you ask me there's certainly the potential. Open source always attracts people, and as long as we have the right ideas I think it's possible given a long time limit.

 

My reasoning behind this is to originate the project in this community, but absorb other people from other Star Wars communities, and to get big enough so that even people who aren't just Star Wars fans like us to join. With a big enough staff and a good coordinator we can do lots!

 

Now what about them legal loopholes, eh?

 

p.s. good to see you back to Thrawn, I thought you disappeared

[Jahled]

The one advantage a project like this has is that the basic game-structure of Rebellion is so appealing(you get to rename and command Star Destroyers or Mon Cals; have control over characters, and wage your game in utter unique story mode basically how you want, which is an aspect of a SW game I can't think is available with anyother game). Soo, you're right JI in suggesting it might attract people from the larger SW gamming community...

 

...I'll see what I can script together with regard to contacting LucasArts over the weekend...

[Guest JediIgor]

I think that ultimately our project could be so interesting having it be "Star Wars" would be just the best bonus (remember all those ideas we had for Rebellion 2? Well, a bunch of them are VERY good ideas that I don't think ANY game has but SHOULD).

 

One more thing, moddable? Heck yes. I'm not talking that crap Rebellion modding we have now, but something that would be a lot more flexible.. not that it matters, cause if we have the source we'll be able to mod it anyway we want .

 

By the way, not to throw any hopes here, but does anyone else invision a game something along these lines?

Tactical (i.e. galaxy view) like Rebellion

Space battles like Homeworld

Ground battles like Total War (i.e. see your troops actually fight and several factions controlling one planet).

 

Heck, I am drooling over this already.. now if only there was a magic wand to make it all come true!

 

Good luck with that script, Jahled .

[Mad78]

The hole point depends if you wish to sell it or give it away.

If you wish to sell it:

All books are licensed. Actually you can say that anything to do with star wars is under license. So if you wish to sell it you will have to write a VERY polite letter to lucasarts or lucasfilms and ask for the rights to sell such a thing. And do not forget that they will SURELY want a piece of the cake, ie you will surely have to give them some of the benefits.

If you want to make it freeware:

I am not sure if any license is necessary for freeware. You hould try and check that.

 

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And do not forget that one great problem with producing a game on the net would be concept and engine discussion. If you really want to get trhrough with this. All those wishng to lend a hand would have to meet someware. Because discussing that kind of think on the forum would be a bit long. The IRC network is a possibility.

[Guest JediIgor]

Well I don't want any speculation. Right now I'm thinking what would be sweet is developing it as OSS (Open Source Software) and then once it's about ready for public consumption to publish it (and publishing a game that's made already is a lot easier than to get $$ for a game that's not even done yet ) -- star wars license is interesting though.

 

I suppose as a last resort we could change all the models, names, etc, and then release an unofficial "Star Wars" pack hosted somewhere in Zimbabwe. Mwahahaha .

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

Wow, I hope this all works out. And Igor, if you need anything to do with design and story give me a PM, I would love to contribute to the project. Have not really worked on a project since Morrowind.

[Mad78]

ME TOO!!! But I think you will have to organise a meeting on the IRC server to discuss the different consepts

[Guest JediIgor]

Ahem, make sure it doesn't get bumped off the top of the thread so I can get other people's feedbacks when they come see it .

[ADarkJedi44]

Why don't you make it an announcement or a stick then?

[Guest JediIgor]

Because there's too many? Besides, I'm not positive if it's a sure thing yet, that's why I need to get the replies.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I've no doubts that the community will be 100% behind this. With the diverse skills that are available here, it should be realative easy to find willing participators.

[Krytos]

I'm down for it, and I'd love to help with either story line or what warships etc are being used in the game. Heck, I'd be willing to help with practically anything to do with it!

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I'm down for it, and I'd love to help with either story line or what warships etc are being used in the game. Heck, I'd be willing to help with practically anything to do with it!

 

That definitely makes two, like I said above. Would be more than happy to help with anything to do with story outline/plot. Aswell as game design.

[Mad78]

That would be my area as well. I am not an very good programer.

[bobandrubert]

How about making it free?