Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
      using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines

 

 

Previous message		Next message

 

 

Message: 4277

Author: andrewbroad

Date: 06/06/2004

Subject: Re: Copyright / Cover-disks / Diagonal guardians

 

john_elliott_uk wrote:

>
>> However, putting these data on the cover-disk would raise thorny
>> copyright-issues, as "the copyrights in regard to anything on
>> these disks remain with their legal owners", not with Retro Gamer,
>> who would presumably have to seek permission from/through Stuart
>> Fotheringham to do such.
>
> Of course, the same applies to putting nearly any Spectrum game on
> a coverdisc, and I've seen that done before now. I imagine it
> depends on whether the publishers think they can get away with it.
> For that matter, if we distribute games based on JSW it's because
> we think that we can get away with it.

Well, I've always been paranoid about copyright-issues since I
released Manic Miner 4 in 1997. But I know that Matthew Smith knows
about us, and I know that Jester Interactive know about us, so I
guess that if anyone had a problem with it, we would know about it
by now - except perhaps from Tommy Barton...

It's not like we're making any money out of Matthew Smith's
creations (unlike cover-disks), nor are we harming anyone's economic
interests since Spectrum software hasn't been sold in shops for more
than a decade.

If the worst came to the worst, I'd have to take a comparative code-
generation approach where I wouldn't actually be releasing any data
that was copyright to anyone else.

Matthew Smith has given explicit permission to freely distribute his
work:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/permits/individuals.html

General copyright-issues for Spectrum-emulation:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/permits/

>> I would not allow my Broadsoft software to be sold for money, not
>> even if I were offered a 100% share of the profits (though I am
>> perfectly happy for my software to be freely distributed, or
>> reused in other free software, provided that I am credited in the
>> accompanying documentation as appropriate). The Spectrum-
>> emulation scene thrives on a free-software culture.
>
> Free as in beer, or as in freedom?

Well, I'm a strict teetotaller, so it must be the latter! ;-)

>> If one of my games were included on a cover-disk of a magazine
>> sold for money, I would be absolutely livid.
>
> Interesting. I released JSWED2 under the GPL, so there's nothing to
> stop people putting that on magazine coverdiscs. Indeed, I believe
> it has been.

Which magazine?

> That probably means that I can't use any code from your JSW
> utilities in JSWED2.

If it's just a few code-fragments here and there (e.g. the way
SPECSAISIE MMtoJSW tweaks vertical-guardian boundaries), don't worry
about it.

> It seems that ever since the original JSWED2, 48k games upgraded to
> 128k did not have the 'diagonal guardian' patches applied (an
> example of a game in this condition is Party Willy 128).

It's a good job I don't use diagonal guardians in my games then! ;-)
I've never felt a need for DGs, although I suppose they do open a
new dimension of ramp-challenges.

Of course, had I wanted to have DGs in Party Willy, I would have had
to patch the 48K JSW engine to enable them, so that all the rooms
would be identical in both the 48K JSW and the JSW128 version.

I don't plan to use DGs until I write a pure JSW128 game such as
Narnia or Star Wars (not expected before 2010).

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/

 

 

	Back to the Yahoo! Archive
Previous message	home page	Next message