Hero of Allacrost - RPG project with well-developed engine

[Jetrel]

Isn't there only use of "pixelate" filter in GIMP and knowing the size in which your pictures should be in pixel art?

Uh, no. "Pixelate" is a shortcut for just downsizing a picture, and returning it to the larger size with the nearest-neighbor algorithm. It really has nothing to do with pixel art.

The point of pixel art is - if you just take a large picture and downsize it, you'll have a blurry, inscrutable mess. Pixel art is the act of hand-placing those pixels on the tiny picture, to emphasize specific features that would not otherwise be visible (part of this involves selectively removing other features). Sprites allow you to do a lot of things that would otherwise not be possible on super-tiny-res drawings, such as displaying emotions - a single pixel being off, as would often be the case for a procedurally generated image, can completely change the perception of an emotion, since human emotions are perceived by such subtle cues as how the corner of lips and eyes are curled. You can generally only portray it by hand-tweaking a tiny image, and ensuring only the tweaked version gets used.


Beyond that, the other big point of sprite art is doing it for the visual aesthetic. The construction methods used by early digital artists, who were forced to construct images pixel by pixel, often with a low color count, created a certain unique look to things. For some reason, this look is incredibly appealing to some people. More often than not, especially with larger images, the point of pixel art is trying to achieve that "look".

[Jastiv]

I still can't get allacrost installed. I don't understand why everyone tries to develop games from scratch, why don't they just take an already working game and modify it until it does what is desired.

My latest error (on Fedora 10, I tried to install a later version but it didn't work)
checking for lua_newstate in -llua5.1... no
checking for lua_newstate in -llua51... no
checking for lua_newstate in -llua... yes
checking whether LUABIND_VERSION is declared... no
Could not find the luabind 0.8+ headers. Check that they are properly installed on your system

[Unnheulu]

A good thing to do before compiling is:

sudo apt-get build-dep <appname>

That'll only work if its in the repository, of course, and if you have apt installed; otherwise just try looking in your repository for lua, and make sure you get the -dev as well, that lets you compile it.
Why do people build games from scratch? For fun. Fun. Fun. Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun.
Fun.

(Join irc if you want a more detailed explanation from me )

[Jetrel]

I don't understand why everyone tries to develop games from scratch, why don't they just take an already working game and modify it until it does what is desired.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ ... 00069.html

Because it's easier to write new code, than to understand and re-use someone else's code. Or at least, it seems that way to programmers.

Also because Sturgeon's Law applies to code - most videogame engines out there are terrible, and/or are also poorly suited for the particular thing you're working on.

[Sangel]

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ ... 00069.html

Wow. This guy's site is a trip down nostalgia lane as signposted by a host of common-sense design principles.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Well... I think this is okay, but I'd rather err on the side of caution and ask first, so:
I see that this game is also licensed under GPL. Does that mean I can use a music track from it in a wesnoth addon, or do I have to do something additional?

[Sangel]

Well... I think this is okay, but I'd rather err on the side of caution and ask first, so:
I see that this game is also licensed under GPL. Does that mean I can use a music track from it in a wesnoth addon, or do I have to do something additional?

I would assume that, with Allacrost licensed under GPL, the music is also licensed that way - but you can't count on it. If I were you, I'd wander over to the Allacrost forums and see if you can verify the license they're using for their music. If you can't find the info that way, I'd make an account over there and ask. That will also allow you to find out exactly who created the piece you're looking to use, and add their name in the credits. Depending on the license, that may not be necessary, but it's the friendly thing to do.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Mmkay.
I'll try that. Thanks!

[lmelior]

Their wiki is excellent. Here you go:

http://allacrost.sourceforge.net/wiki/i ... ailable.3F

All of the source code, images, music, sounds, and other content are licensed under the GNU GPL.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

So the music is under the GPL too.

Legally, do I have to do anything extra before I can use the music, then? (I'm already planning on finding out who wrote the song I'm using and crediting them, to be polite.)

[Iris]

Odds are it'll be Ryan Reilly (Rain), who's also one of our musicians.

If you are going to use the music, you need to make sure your users can know who composed the track and what's the license for redistribution, which in this case can only be the GNU GPL. You might want to do this by keeping/adding Vorbis tags as necessary, or by including a text file or any other acknowledgement medium with your application.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Forgive my ignorance in legal matters... I don't want to make assumptions on my own- the last thing I want is some sort of legal conflict. So I'll err on the side of caution and ask one more question for clarification:

You might want to do this by keeping/adding Vorbis tags as necessary, or by including a text file or any other acknowledgement medium with your application.

So suppose I choose to include a textfile in the music folder of the campaign- now what do I need to have written in it? Just "The song "_______" is written by ________ and licensed under the GNU GPL license"?

[lmelior]

Well nobody can really tell you for certain what you have to do unless someone sues and a judge decides. But we can guess by reading the GPL (just note of course that lawyers can guess better).

The GPL states that you have to publish an appropriate copyright notice. The thing is, if the files distributed by Allacrost don't tell you who exactly wrote the song, then to me it is implied that the composer considers that appropriate. Otherwise there would be no way to comply if the Allacrost site and developers disappear, and that's exactly the kind of thing the GPL seeks to avoid. Personally I'd do what you're doing, find out the composer to credit him and maybe update the id3 tag if the composer's name isn't there. But I'd be willing to bet the only thing you have to do legally (in that case) is credit "The Allacrost Project" since that's on their copyright notices.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Well, I have confirmed via metadata in the file, that Ryan Reilly is indeed the composer.

I suppose I'll just include a textfile crediting him, the Allacrost project, and acknowledging that the song is under the GPL.
If it is pointed out that I'm missing anything or doing anything I shouldn't be, I'll just comply immediately since I don't intend to cause any trouble.

I can't go wrong with that, can I?

[lmelior]

Well, I have confirmed via metadata in the file, that Ryan Reilly is indeed the composer.

I suppose I'll just include a textfile crediting him, the Allacrost project, and acknowledging that the song is under the GPL.
If it is pointed out that I'm missing anything or doing anything I shouldn't be, I'll just comply immediately since I don't intend to cause any trouble.

I can't go wrong with that, can I?

Nope, typically that's what happens when a GPL violation is discovered. You technically could be sued, but since we're talking about people who meant for their work to be shared, you'll just get an email or letter asking you to comply to some reasonable terms.