HA!  shows what you know.  
...
But then, not everyone has basic cognitive skills...
...
Besides, my analogy is better than yours.

WHBT WHL WSHAND.
 

Contest?

If you were Porsche Inc, and some fanboy in Kansas decided he wanted to make his 2.5 cyl '67 stationwagon look like an authentic porsche, wouldn't you want to stop him?

That's actually a very bad analogy, and as a matter of fact several former Sierra staff members have complimented both AGDI and KQ9 on their sequels, so your claim that game writers don't like people messing with their story rings false.

Do you know TSR, the original publisher of Dungeons & Dragons? They had the same vision of copyright about ten years ago, and stamped down hard on anyone on the internet who dared create their own modules or add-ons for D&D. Hence they became known as T$R, and widely disliked, and eventually went bankrupt and got taken over by WOTC, who has the opposite philosophy and created the "open game" license. There's probably a moral in that story.
 

http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?t...9.new;boardseen

Aaah, where's HOIK when you need one?
 

Yep, if you don't defend a copyright or trademark it gets weakened. I'm not really sure how that translates into court, the simple fact is that a billion-dollar company can out-court you no matter what. That said, I'm not really sure what they could actually do about a fangame that refuses to stop, other than ask your webhost to kick you out. They can't sue you to claim your profits, because there aren't any. They can't sue you for loss of their profits since they're not selling anything (and unless you're doing a straight remake, it may be argued that you're advertising). And there's the parody clause, for some fangames (such as, arguably, QfG4.5). If you don't live in the US it gets even more confusing as to what kind of law might apply.

Oh and yes, there is a patch for GAOTML which fixes a number of crashes and hangs that can occur halfway through the game. I have been unable to complete the game without it (and unable to obtain the patch).
 

Nor has Space Quest 0 or Space Quest 3.5, even though both have been finished for quite awhile!

Damn you mean Attack of the Mutant Lasgana was shut down? When was this? I still managed to easily get a copy(but eh I thought it was 100% legal at the time ).

SQ3.5? You mean TLC, right? I believe a reasonable premise would be that Vivendi is not going after any AGI games. After all, in this age, it's hard to claim that a fangame in blocky 160x200 with 16-color graphics would cause a significant loss of sales. Similarly, it appears to be the case that Lucas only goes after people using their "active" trademarks (MI, Indy, Star Wars), not Maniac or Zak. It's quite possible that most people working at Lucas don't even know who Zak is any more.

Btw Vivendi owns Sierra and they have money too, it's not just Lucas; both appear to have an employee who occasionally reads adventure-related message boards.

Garfield AOTML was shut down about a month after its release. That's because its author made the mistake of contacting United Pictures Syndicate (if that's their name) and asking them what they thought of the game. The game is still easily found, but this has made distributing the patch rather difficult. Shame, too; that game captured the feel of the comics far better than the movie did.
 

Anything that has died and is not a continuation of a commerical series, has died for some other reason besides fear of cease and desist.
 

Exactly. To my knowledge, no game has ever been cease-and-desisted except shortly before a release (KQ9) or some time after they released. Of course, given the fact that 90% of fangames never reach the point of release, it's not worth the effort to send legal people after them.

Closed down, to my knowledge, are QfG4.5 and Quest for Orgy (both for "inappropriate" humor and adult situations), Garfield Mutant Lasagna (don't mess with Hollywood), Hugo Remake (author request) and one or two Monkey Island clones. Interestingly, KQ2 1/4 has not been shut down, nor has Zak McKracken II, Maniac Mansion Deluxe, and several other Monkey Island clones. I suppose law is a fickle mistress.
 

You might want to try and reach the original artists, and see if they object to their work being made available to the public (e.g. to use in other games, or failing that, for use as wallpapers). That way, their (assumedly great) art won't go to waste.
 

[Kingdoms]

I think it'd be pretty cool (and I might talk to some of the project leaders about this) to take all the material from all of the failed projects, and combine them to make one single game.

I would be interested in reading that Destiny story you mention, where do I find it? Obviously the word doesn't google much

There are quite a number of cancelled game projects that have had art, animation and music drawn for them (see here). It would be cool if people would release that for public usage, and there's definitely enough to create a game from that (I'd estimate it'd be low in the sprite department, though). Sure, the styles would clash a bit, but most people enjoyed QFG4.5 in spite of that.

I guess the trick would be in finding all those old artists, and maybe convincing the people in charge that their project really is cancelled, because some projects drag on for years without making any progress. But it would be nice for the artists to know their art actually goes some place visible.

Last year's Hero of Infamous Kingdoms wasn't like that, of course, it used art from ongoing game projects to promote them, and not all of that art was complete yet. And it was a joke, after all.
 

I don't watch the Simpsons religiously.

Infidel

(or, should I say, Calvinist?)
 

The month of Smarch is awfully similar to March. Though I doubt you'll be able to crank it out in less than a fortnight.

Okay, someone here is unfamiliar with inside jokes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarch
 

If memory serves me right, Destiny had about two artists and over a dozen plotwriters. For ATOTK, it's more like the other way around  (which, needless to say, is somewhat more workable)

Our official date? Try the month of Smarch.
 

[voice actors]

The ancient kingdom of Theylinn is beset by enemies both from within and without. Within the castle walls, nobles vie for the old King's favor, and not everybody is happy with the sole heir to the throne, princess Rhiannon.
Meanwhile, danger approaches, in the form of an invading army, a hostile giant, and a mercenary troop who are ancient enemies of the Theylann king.
And there is mystery yet. For hidden within the borders of Theylinn lies a second kingdom, named Thierna na Oge, where the faeries reign. Little is known about this shrouded, exotic realm.



A Tale of Two Kingdoms is a full-length graphical adventure with a mood of fairy tales, magic, and intrigue, written with AGS, the Adventure Game Studio, by a team of dedicated adventure game fans. We cannot officially guarantee a release date, but it should be soon and will definitely be this year.

We have a website, and you can download our trailer here. This is a 14-meg WMV movie of our intro sequence, with lovely graphics and stunning music. I encourage everybody to take a look at it!

Finally, we are holding auditions for voice actors. Interested parties are welcome to drop by.