Would anybody be interested in an open source project that loosely relates to Jazz Jackrabbit?

Epic owns the rights to Jazz, but what if we came up with a planet that might exist in Jazz's same universe and developed a game based on it? I don't think we'd be able to legally make references to any Jazz-specific names, but that's beside the point.

Anyway, here's how it would work:

1) We formulate a general idea.
2) We create a website to hold all of the most updated information, source code, graphics, etc. which would be publicly available to all.
3) Anyone who wants to submit design ideas, graphics, code, or anything else can do so.
4) A core group of developers reviews all submitted work and decides whether or not to introduce it into the game.
5) Once the game is good enough for release, the code base remains open source, so add-ons and sequels can be developed in the same manor.

What do you think?

-Onag

Here's an idea to get your brain juices sloshing:

Planet Mechaius was once populated by a race of super-genius beings that were really into technology. Through the years, they continued replacing parts of their bodies with mechanical utilities until they finally reached a point where they were no longer biological, but purely mechanical.

I'm thinking most of the mech characters would be MechWarrior-ish, but really any kind of machines would be possible.

The environment would be mostly mechanlical and indoors, but there would be lots of room for outdoorsy stuff too.

-Onag

Actually, I think (that's) completely crazy.

Getting programmers, animators, etc. would be difficult and expensive. And it would have no profit involved, being put on a website and all. Also, open-source projects never turn out good. We can be sure some "JJ fan" is going to make a "special" R-rated version of the game or something.

Overall, it seems a waste. We take loads of time and money to develop some code that is going to get stolen anyway.

Don't you just LOVE how positive I am?

Derby: Personal attack redirection.

No, read it again. The point is no one pays programmers or artists, and no one sells the game. It's called "open" source because it's completely open. Whoever wants to add to it can add to it. Whoever wants to play it can play it. Perverts can do whatever they want on their own system, but the core files would be strictly reviewed before being posted.

It's called fun. It's called learning about game design and development.

Reminds me of Possum. Awesome game engine made, and one frame of animation. It's ovbious that everyone's just going to say "Awsome, I luf j00, can't wait untill it's done" and leave. Nobody's going to work by choice. It would have about the same affect as a country making taxes optional. "Please donate" just won't work. It's one thing throwing a few quarters in a bucket to fund something, but you're asking people to spend countless hours of time working on something that really has no reward.


At least my views on society are interesting

So, Radium, how is that any different from making level/tileset (pack)s?

It's one game engine, four-hundred frames of graphics, sixty home-recorded sound effects, and at least ten custom music scores different, Unknown.

Possum was a group of several people working on a private project. This is a community of unlimited people working on a public project.

Anyway, new topic. Those who are interested, feel free to reply. Those who aren't, feel free not to.

Radium, we understood you are never positive about things that might be better than your fangame. Go post somewhere else :P

I am interested, altough I don't think I could do anything for it, except maybe level design, but if have an idea for me, feel free to say it

I like the idea, Onag, and I might just do some things if it gets off the ground.(busy with a dutch site and j2o v2 right now, so I don't know how much I would do)

I think you're one of the only good programmers in the community, Roaster and PaG are not here anymore, so for the code you would hope some people not from this community would join in, or people would learn to code. I know some C++ basics, but I never felt like really doing something in that language, but I guess I could learn a lot by watching the code, and maybe contribute something.

About the Planet Mechaius idea, I am skeptical. I'd think it would be fun if there was a combination of natural forms and technical forms, like in Jazz Jackrabbit, instead of mostly technical. What happened to your marshmallow idea?

Perhaps another dimension of the Jazz Jackrabbit world(put in smart references to that world) where the turtles won, and conquered all worlds. You'd have turtle bases, tree-house turtles, or something like that.

I am taking VB.Net now, and i'll be taking C++ or C# next semester. I wold love to help with a game, but I can't help with the site. My HTML skilz are really bad.
Overlord and Link and others at J2HG can Program, and lots of people can draw tilesets/textures and animations.
Sounds like a great Idea.
Hey, and on the storyline, there could be some kinda time flux, so you can see a wide veiw of the history of the planet.
That way you meet mostly naturel animals at some places, and mostly mech at other.

Ne ways, I have homework to do,
`N0

Originally posted by Fl@$h
Radium, we understood you are never positive about things that might be better than your fangame. Go post somewhere else :P

I am interested, altough I don't think I could do anything for it, except maybe level design, but if have an idea for me, feel free to say it

Actually, I'm just never positive. Someone has to look on the bad side, afterall.

Alright, point taken. As Radium stated, this may be a total flop. Everyone should be aware of the following before they get involved:

1) This is not going to make anybody money. There will be no compensation (other than your name in the credits) for any work done, as the game will not be sold. The most that will happen, if the game turns out good, is I will pay to have copies made and sell them at cost+shipping.

2) There is no guarantee that the project will make it past the early stages. I will promise, however, that whatever does get completed will remain publicly available to all.

3) Because of the nature of the project, any work you do (art, music, levels, etc.) can be viewed, updated, or replaced by anyone else. The idea is for the group to make the best content possible, not for individuals to own certain parts of the project. No one wil 'own' any portion of code/graphics/etc.

4) This is a learning project. More than anything, I want everyone involved to become collectively better at what they do.

That said, here are several talents that are necessary throughout the life of a game (obvious stuff first):

Programmers (in varying areas of expertise)
Artists (still and animated)
Musicians
Level Designers
Writers
Translators
Storyboarders
Marketers
Game Designers
Architecture Designers (defines how the code will work)
Quality Assurance (testers)
Site Administrators
Forum Moderators (don't everyone raise their hand at once)
Tools Developers (build systems, version control, etc.)
Graphic Design (logos, CDs, advertisements)

...the list goes on. Don't be discouraged if you can't program and don't know how to draw. There's much more to be done.

Ideas for Planet Mechaius so far:

Purely mechanical characters (Onag)
Intermix biological and mechanical characters (Fquist)
Use time flux to allow biological characters from the past and mechanical characters from the future (NOBODY)

What if only a small group of the planet's inhabitants have mutated into this form? So, it's kind of biological versus mechanical?

Any ideas for other planets...or a different theme alltogether? Marshmallows? Gah...sure, if everyone wants to.

-Onag

"if everyone wants to"

We do.

Here Onag, some ideas.


Planet (choose a name)
A planet cowered with swamps and greenery, its hard to explore and weilds many secrets. The planet was taken over by goblins a few millenia ago, they built steel foretreeses that led underground. After a few hundred years of staying on the planet, the goblins (most of them) were wiped out by the inhabitats of the planet, which are monsters covered entirely with moss and plant life. The ways of these inhabitats are uncertain, but it is clear they are tricky and hostile. Underground in one of the goblin bases somewhere lies a giant swamp inhabitat by a giant aquatic creature which resembles a giant eel. Note* the deepness of the swamps may be as deep as 500m underwater, where ferocious and mysterious fish inhabit. These areas of swamps are usually untouched by goblins and to deep and dangerous to explore.

Is that good enough Onag, i hope at least one of the planets i make will be included in this.

If this really gets going, we could have more than one planet, but for now lets just focus on one. (Mechaius)

I'm intrested. But I wonder how we'd not turn it into a mess. I would be intrested in being a level builder if it will work though. Since new abilities always give me inspiration .

Build the website, and I will be there.

I'll help with any limited part I'm capable of, but I can't say that will be much. I can't draw, and I'm not a very talented programmer. Still, if you need ideas, I'll steal contribute some. ;P

If you want low quality paint drawings, ask me. However, I suppose I could do midi. Badly.

And when I say I'm bad at something, I am. Don't expect anything good from me. Ever.

I already dedicated my time to making games for school, so I couldn't really work on the project. I can however offer advice if anybody should ask me for it. And if you really want to do this, the first thing you need to do is to design the entire game with as much detail as possible. This should be done before any code is written.

Yes, at least the first couple months would be spent on developing a solid design document, followed by the software architecture. During this time, I will be spending a great deal of effort on developing the website and the process by which people will be able to access the files.

I've seen several people mention that their drawing skills aren't up to par. You can still be a part! Once the game has been designed and the programmers begin working on the code, they'll need graphics as soon as possible to start testing and tweeking things. Regardless of how bad you think your drawing skills are, most programmers are worse. Much worse. Anyway, we won't need production-quality artwork at first.

Keep those general storyline ideas coming, or further develop the ones you like!

-Onag

I can color drawings others made

If it's about translating the game to Dutch, I can surely help. I might be able to do some other things like testing and level design too.

Has anyone already thought of a main character? Let's name him Spiffy the hamster! Grocerious has been terrorised by evil bunnies who are eating all their lettuce! It's your job to destroy them! Your search for the rabbit in charge leads you to a mysterious place named Carrotus.

Originally posted by Newspaz
Has anyone already thought of a main character? Let's name him Spiffy the hamster! Grocerious has been terrorised by evil bunnies who are eating all their lettuce! It's your job to destroy them! Your search for the rabbit in charge leads you to a mysterious place named Carrotus.

We can't use Carrotus, as it is pwn3d copyrighted by Epic. I like Spiffy the Hampster though, but I think he should be a telekenetic cat.

*perma smile*

I'm so in!

I can do
-artwork
-writing(as long as it referrs to "I have an idea for the storyline!"or formulating it in complete sentences!)
-translating (my english/german skills are almost same good,so you can give me that part if you want to!^^)

*shakes a little*
Y'know,my big dream is to make a huge game myself,so this is just perfect!^_^
*worships Onag*

Erm,can you give more info on artwork,please?
Do I just draw some monster for the game and if you like it,someone else is gonna animate it and wheehappy?^^;
Or do I have to make the animating myself?(I CAN do that,but not best quality...)
Basically I can tell you that I think I'm seriously gonna be a good addition to the team,if I have time to work for this,that is!

Oh and.....would it be possible to....insert Fawriel in the game....?
(The dude in my sig-banner...)

Ja ne!

So... many... apropriate... places... for... insults......... Must... not... drive... german... kid... suicidally insane...

Admins,why don't we play a little game called "Ban Radium"?

(Rad,watch what you say,there are days I'm really down,so if it comes so far,I'll haunt you til you (are haunted) in yer bed!)

Derby: Redundancy addition.

Yel haunt meh... riiiiight. Maybe Evil Mike can give you some of his (legos), he's got way too (many) already.

Derby: Content replacement.

No, you dont have to animate if you don't want to or are unable to. Concept sketches are just as important in the beginning stages as the final artwork.

And as Radium said, we cannot use anything that directly relates to Jazz Jackrabbit. For example, we cannot use the same planets, weapons, goodies, baddies, etc.

However, if users wanted to make tilesets or whatever on their own, they could do whatever they wanted. We won't be able to distribute copyrighted items without permission, though.

-Onag

Originally posted by Radium
Yel haunt meh... riiiiight. Maybe Evil Mike can give you some of his (legos), he's got way too (many) already.

Derby: Content replacement.

Since when is (/) a bad word? It's the same thing as (/)! And if you put a G in the middle it's a (/)! And it's a known fact that Mike is (/), and he seems proud of that.

Derby: Context removal. Actually, the previous quotation is on grounds for a personal attack. It does not matter whether or not it is true, the rules need to be applied uniformly.

Okay!

I'll hand in some scribblings of monsters we could use as soon as possible!^^

Noooow...

Any further descriptions on the"writers"?

Originally posted by Piccolo
Okay!

I'll hand in some scribblings of monsters we could use as soon as possible!^^

Noooow...

Any further descriptions on the"writers"?

Can't wait to see this.

I'd critisize Piccolo's work, but my critisization seems to be inturpeted as insults... by everyone.

I'd be well interested in helping. However, I'm in a net cafe and I have like 5 mins left online so I'll have to get back home from my vacation first and junk before I can provide any suggestions. :P

BTW Onag, ye use your ICQ anymore?

I'm very interested. =)
Contact me on pererik.mahl@telia.com, onag.

Piccollo, I don't know for sure, but you might want to wait until a general story-line has been finished, before you start drawing.

Originally posted by Fquist
Piccollo, I don't know for sure, but you might want to wait until a general story-line has been finished, before you start drawing.

I did start drawing already,my friend,but nothing plot-specific...

I guess we can use some yucky mutants anytime,ne?

Btw....IS there a possibility to insert my fursona Fawriel somehow?
As an NPC maybe?
Or will there be mulitple playable characters?o_o

Originally posted by Piccolo

I guess we can use some yucky mutants anytime,ne?

Fawriel's great at those.

I'm rather busy right now, my fortnight of exams having started this morning. Not to say this wouldn't be a welcome break from my studying.

I'd be happy to help in all areas. I have a whole 1 tileset to donate, with another one (slowly) in the works. I'm assuming that in a project of this type old JJ2 tilesets are welcome.

As for interpreting, I can handle French. Italian too, if you get really desperate. And if you want total incoherency, I could do Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish. What I'd really like to do is English dialectisation.

I'd probably be more useful on the programming side. It reaaly depends on what languages and APIs you use. C, C++, OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL, and from what I've heard DirectX should be a doddle if you need me to learn it.

Got an ICQ number?