Hi Well, i think the problem is interesting. Wormux isn't the first game that is closely similar to an existing game. I am thinking more particulary of Freeciv, Pingus and Advanced Strategic Command (Initially a rip off of Battle Isle). In the case of ASC, it was decided between Blue Byte and the developpers that they couldn't use the initial graphics. For Freeciv, i don't know, but the game is pretty much playable and except for the graphics (a few features still implemented) identical, they even use the CIV, CIV2 ruleset. Wormux could ask them. Now about avoiding a problem with Team 17, you could change the name of the game. You could change the sprite to replace the worms with Tux (but personnally i think that would be boring, too many games already with Tux). You could change a little bit the gameplay thought that might be impossible. The big no no is to reuse any direct graphism from Team 17. Pingus is another example that comes to mind. And the author grumbel on #Clanlib is easily accessible, you could ask him about any experience he might have with DMA design.
In the end, it is a matter of creating a game similar to Worms in term of gameplay without borrowing code and graphism. I would like to add that Team 17 is not really making any more 2D worms but they continue selling the old ones, so, if there is a copyright or trademark infringement, they have to go after the project to assert their rights. I am thinking of the Freecraft project too. Their mistake was to reuse Warcraft game graphics and to clone very strongly all the features. Again, i don't know if it is a good idea, but you could do the ask slashdot, and maybe get some meaningful answers. Or maybe try contacting Groklaw to see if they can't put you in contact with a lawyer for a friendly talk with no bill attached That's about it. Now, if they don't want to see Wormux on Windows, it means that they think the game will be good enough to possibly replace their own products. The technic of just providing the code has been used by LAME, but to be true, on a slightly different reason, they didn't pay for any of the patents, and to avoid them, it was decided that they will provide only the source and say it was just an academic project. That's about it Emilie Laffray On Sat, 2004-08-21 at 19:11, Victor STINNER wrote: > Salut, > > J'ai relancé la question d'une version Windows de Wormux sur le forum > "Comptoire Juridique" de FramaSoft : > http://forum.framasoft.org/viewtopic.php?t=1810 > > Qu'en dites-vous ? > > Je voudrai relancer le débat pour mettre les choses au clair. > > @+ Haypo >
