2-D MMOG Glitch Released Completely Into the Public Domain

c0d3g33k writes "Glitch, a collaborative, web-based, massively multiplayer game developed by Tiny Speck, Inc. (tinyspeck.com) has been released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal License. I'm not at all familiar with this game, but it is rare that both source code and all game assets are released into the public domain, which makes this announcement noteworthy. An excerpt from the announcement: 'The entire library of art assets from the game has been made freely available, dedicated to the public domain. Code from the game client is included to help developers work with the assets. All of it can be downloaded and used by anyone, for any purpose. (But: use it for good.)'"

Comments

Flash... yuck

[Anonymous Coward]

The art assets might be useful at least for prototyping other games.

Re:Flash... yuck

[gmuslera]

The source is open, you can port/rewrite it in HTML5 if you want.

Re:Flash... yuck

[Anonymous Coward]

I think what he mean to say is that the "game" is shit, it's nothing more impressive than any other web game and that the art assets are the only thing worth thinking about salvaging.

Cool

[magic maverick]

But, well, I'm gonna use the source and assets for evil. Ya know? 'cause, public domain means not having to say you're sorry.

Seriously though, this is awesome. I've never heard of the game, but the more art and source that's freed the better. Now if some community could pick this up and run with it, turn it into a decent game, I'll play it.

Re:Cool

[AlphaWolf_HK]

TFA and TFS are both confusing, because in one sentence they say it's CC licensed, and in another they say public domain. Those are two very different things.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

TFA and TFS are both confusing, because in one sentence they say it's CC licensed, and in another they say public domain. Those are two very different things.

It is the CC0 licence, which effectively releases the work into the Public Domain.

From the CC0 FAQ:

A person using CC0 (called the “affirmer” in the legal code) dedicates a work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her copyright and neighboring and related rights in a work, to the fullest extent permitted by law. If the waiver isn’t effective for any reason, then CC0 acts as a license from the affirmer granting the public an unconditional, irrevocable, non exclusive, royalty free license to use the work for any purpose.

Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[WillAffleckUW]

and ... copied.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[iYk6]

How exactly would one steal a public domain work, even for a loose definition of "steal?"

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[WillAffleckUW]

How exactly would one steal a public domain work, even for a loose definition of "steal?"

I see you're unfamiliar with Zynga.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask Disney.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[CreatureComfort]

Oh for Mod Points. So many +1 for this.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[westlake]

Ask Disney.

The stories the geeks think of as folk tales are far more likely to be the versions shaped and defined by the professional writer:

One of the most popular versions of Cinderella was written in french by Charles Perrault in 1697, under the name Cendrillon. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story, including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of glass slippers.

Over the decades, hundreds of films [and television productions] have been made that are either direct adaptations from Cinderella or have plots loosely based on the story

Cinderella

The geek's rants about Disney's "rape of the public domain" simply fall to pieces when you look at the evidence.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[fldsofglry]

Interesting...but maybe he meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
The point is that Disney used the public domain (as you cited) to help create an empire, but lobbies to keep its creation from going back into public domain. This could be argued to having the same effect as stealing.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[Anonymous Coward]

How exactly would one steal a public domain work, even for a loose definition of "steal?"

well because things can be stolen from entities who's ideology you agree with, but those same things can't be stolen from entities who's ideology you don't agree with.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[TheLink]

Copyright infringement is not stealing because it doesn't prevent the owners from using their own copies or restrict their access to them.

Copyright term extensions on the other hand restricts the public's access to works that would otherwise be freely available to them.

Therefore the latter is closer to stealing than the former.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[Anonymous Coward]

How is that not the public domain?

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Copyright infringement is trespassing.

Re:Cue Zynga code steal in 3 2 1

[Anonymous Coward]

Copyright Infringement is Copyright Infringement. Not trespassing.

Saying it is like trespassing does not help increase the understanding of what it is, and is more likely to decrease understanding.

The laws governing copyright and copyright infringement varies in different countries. In some countries you are allowed to make copies for your own private use. In others you aren't.

Coming soon:

[themushroom]

* Barney The Dinosaur edition.
* Pornographic edition(s).
* Fangirl of [insert fandom] edition.
* Dr Who edition (a better crafted version of the above).

Re:Coming soon:

[Anonymous Coward]

You arent familiar with Glitch? It looked like Super Mario a little since it was a 2-d side scroller, but it was clearly an adult game. Subtle or not so subtle adult jokes were all over the place.

Ive already seen Dr. Who Glitchen, that would be my friend Cleops. We had large dinosaurs that were conduits from one place on the world map to another and you would exit..from their asses.

Pr0n edition....Glitchen were rather sexless, so I fail to see the allure of that. It was all about seeing what the devs thought up and hid all over the map of Ur. Often in the global chat the devs would pop in and that was fun.

In the end, they caved in to my constant demands for Onion Rings and gave us the craftable food item (we had all sorts, but why the hell not Onion Rings too). What other game does something as nice as that? I cant think of many, but I dont play many other MMOs.

Glitch was fun, but had its faults - namely that 1) it was costing TS about $500k a month to keep rolling and 2) it apparently was pushing Flash to the limit and beyond and 3) not really many folks heard or knew about it.

I am not really sure why Stoot released Glitch like this, but its a bold move. I had always had the hope that he'd hold on to it, and just redo the damn thing to handle its limits and call all the Glitchen back to Ur and let us start over.

It was quite a fun time, a bit absurd (or a lot, I know I helped make it absurd) but I liked it.

Prisencolinensinainciusol!!!

Re:Coming soon:

[themushroom]

Glitchen were rather sexless, so I fail to see the allure of that.

Wait until the modders change the art completely. (Think: Spawn's "Sporn".) Then you will. :)

Re:Coming soon:

[SB9876]

Pr0n edition....Glitchen were rather sexless, so I fail to see the allure of that.

You must be new to the Internet. Do you need the services of a guide?

Re:Coming soon:

[N_Piper]

I Miss Asslandia.
Hell I miss the whole damn game.
I remember holding hands with my wife and crying as the server shutdown timer clicked down.

So....

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone got a server up yet?

Re:So....

[Bing Tsher E]

Glitch was so hands-on that it in effect was a managed, fully staffed 2-D animated chatroom. It wouldn't just be a matter of throwing up a server to recreate it.

There was a reason it bled $500K a month to operate; part of that was hardware, but it was also a very hands-on site to run.

Hmm

[Hsien-Ko]

I wondered why that was there!

No server code

[Anonymous Coward]

"Completely" released? Shame that the crucial server code is missing...

Yes server code

[Qzukk]

https://github.com/tinyspeck/glitch-GameServerJS

You're welcome.

Too Bad

[Hidyman]

They only source for the "client".
If we had the server source we could have this game up and running in no time.

Re:Too Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad you're wrong.

Re:Too Bad

[Jack9]

Did you look at the released code?

http://www.glitchthegame.com/public-domain-game-art/

Serverside code:

https://github.com/tinyspeck/glitch-GameServerJS

Is it complete? I don't know of anyone who has tried to find out.

Open Game Art

[Anonymous Coward]

OGA is looking for people to help convert these assets into a more popular format and upload to OGA. Check it out here: http://opengameart.org/

Re:Open Game Art

[Anonymous Coward]

I am looking for someone to help build me a magic pony that lays golden eggs.

Re:Open Game Art

[Lendrick]

OpenGameArt.org can help you with that!

Interested

[war4peace]

I am personally interested in this, because I am currently working on a browser-based MMO as well and I also intend to release all the code and assets to the public.
There are some differences, though; my plan is to create a core consisting in DB, rules, lore, mechanics, etc., all backed by a very very basic and simplistic interface, accompanied by a powerful API which would enable people to create their own UI, animations, etc. A foundation on which you can build whichever house you want.

It will feature a massive (read MASSIVE*) galaxy with gameplay centered on exploration, cooperation and development towards common goals.

*Some numbers for the interested parties:

- cca 2M stars
- cca 4M planets
- cca 500K asteroid belts
- millions of other celestials (moons, comets, mini black holes, etc)
- tens of different star types
- hundreds of different planet types
- over forty race customization points with 8 to 12 degrees of customization for each
- hundreds of skills (YMMV based on race customizations)
- tens of ship hulls, each with its own base attributes
- 30 to 50 points of modification for each ship hull (not decided on this yet)
- tens of basic buildings (which you can interconnect and modify accordingly)
- hundreds of craftable space objects (from tiny yet deadly proximity mines to self-replicating "living" AI driven objects to solar-system-wide star energy capturers) ...and so on, and so forth.
But I bored you enough :)

Re:Interested

[Anonymous Coward]

- cca 2M stars
- tens of different star types
- tens of ship hulls, each with its own base attributes
- tens of basic buildings (which you can interconnect and modify accordingly)
But I bored you enough :)

Ummm, actually, was more confused - did you mean ten or tons? 'Tens of' anything doesn't make much sense.

Re:Interested

[ElectricTurtle]

Go home, Chris Roberts, you're drunk.

Re:Interested

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like thousands or hundreds, just fewer.

Re:Interested

[war4peace]

Makes sense in Europe. You know, that continent you must've heard of :)

How about... 1/10s of hundreds? Sounds betters? or even better... 1% of thousands? :)

Re:Interested

[war4peace]

Unlike him, I ain't asking for money, so if the project fumbles, well... at least nobody loses anything apart from me, and I only lose time.
BUT I would still gain experience.

Re:Interested

[Anonymous Coward]

"Tens of" is quite valid, however it does sound somewhat awkward to me, too. "Dozens of" is of a similar order of magnitude, and feels better to my imperialist British ears.

Re:Interested

[Raumkraut]

I suspect many have, but I've been thinking about a similar kind of project.
As a theoretical and architectural exercise, I've been considering that the only direct interface to the universe would be over XMPP. So at the very simplest level, you could use an existing chat client to interact with ships and stations by sending simple messages to them like "report status", "report location", "buy firearms", "set course for Kerbin", etc.

Re:Interested

[war4peace]

Very interesting idea, but prone to errors. I mean, you assume people can spell, which is a bold move, to say the least :)
I'm playing with a PoC design idea of just having webpages with buttons and text for the end-user. It would look pretty ugly and bland, but then again, there will be an API to build on using whatever language/method you want. Much like the EVE Online API, but two-way.

Of course, since I have no clue how to build that, it will most likely be outsourced to someone who already knows.

Re:Interested

[werewolf1031]

BUT I would still gain experience.

Only until you reach the level cap.

Re:Interested

[war4peace]

True. Valid for all situations :)

Played It

[theGreater]

Game left a big "?" as to why one would wish to play it.

I subscribed.

[OglinTatas]

You could spend money for the game, but it was a free to play quirky side scrolling MMO which didn't have much in the way of PvP (none at all) and was mostly crafting. It was always a work in progress, they were always adding new assets and mini games. But it was always going to be a niche game.

I did eventually drift away, and I suppose most others did too, because they eventually folded.

The cool thing was, they notified subscribers (like me) that they were offering the money back if we wanted. I told them to keep the money, I had enjoyed it while I played.

Now releasing source code and assets. That is even cooler.

Re:I subscribed.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem was, there is a 'horde of MMO players' that has developed. Not an ordinary horde, this is an insular, shrill, and sort of snotty horde. They played Faunasphere, then they moved to glitch, now they are migrating in other directions. Many to a game called MageFaire. Once they arrive, they tend to repel other players who don't share their ideals. It's over, if you're an MMO that hopes to expand and grow into a large mainstream game.

They self-identify as a group, and their attitudes are closed-but-identifying-as-open. Once they've migrated to your MMO you realize what a bad deal it was. They're sort of like a big flock of canada geese. You don't want them on your land as a group, because they eat all the grass and leave behind huge slippery surfaces coated with goose shit.

Re:I subscribed.

[Lendrick]

their attitudes are closed-but-identifying-as-open

Sounds like the Minecraft modding community. Want to run a server with a bunch of mods? God forbid you automate your mod setup in some way; no, you have to make your players click stupid fucking linkbucks links and set the mods up themselves (which is delightfully error-prone) so the mod authors can make their hundredth of a cent per click. FSM forbid they just set up a donate link. Drudging through linkbucks and complicated manual setups are about respect, which apparently only works one way.

I'm going to use some of this art in my game.

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

I'm making a Zelda style 2d MMORPG called "Throne and Crown". Many of the art pieces I will be able to use in my game eventually. I sort of wish Congress would say there's a 10 year copyright law. That way, after 10 years, we could use the art assets, and 3d models of other games. Also it'd be pretty radical for the Internet to be a giant library. It'd be an awesome boost to education.

Re:I'm going to use some of this art in my game.

[kamapuaa]

It would be a bunch of shitty Zelda clones in 1996, with Nintendo having way less motivation to work on a Majora's Mask or a Twilight Princess.

Re:I'm going to use some of this art in my game.

[Teancum]

I'm making a Zelda style 2d MMORPG called "Throne and Crown". Many of the art pieces I will be able to use in my game eventually. I sort of wish Congress would say there's a 10 year copyright law. That way, after 10 years, we could use the art assets, and 3d models of other games. Also it'd be pretty radical for the Internet to be a giant library. It'd be an awesome boost to education.

I'd be more than happy if copyright terms were simply returned to the 17 year + 17 year (for copyright renewal from those that bother) that was in the Copyright Act of 1790. 10 years of copyright is likely all that is needed, but you might make an argument that a few people might be more encouraged (hence the incentive) to make more stuff if they can continue earning money from it 17 years later.

I don't know anybody who is encouraged to publish stuff if their kids and grandkids might be making money off of their stuff 76 years after you are dead... yet current copyright treaties want to even further extend and expand copyright terms. The Steamboat Willie complex is alive and well.

Re:I'm going to use some of this art in my game.

[Anonymous Coward]

if they hold up to modern competition, then maybe modern games stink.

Don't tell Stallman...

[Anonymous Coward]

He can't stand it when the freedom of intellectual property gets abridged by its release into the public domain.

(Note to Slashdotters: irony intended.)

Re:Mayor Rob Ford ( +5, Entertaining)

[Anonymous Coward]

The Rob Ford news story was broke way back in fucking May. Are you guys fucking retarded or what?

Re:easy

[Anonymous Coward]

This. Mod it up.

Help!

[symbolset]

Anybody know how to strip the art assets out of a .fla file? It seems Google offers a service called Swiffy to turn the .swf into HTML5 elements.

Re:Help!

[datorum]

+1

Re:Help!

[anchovy_chekov]

You may be able to get some assets out using swftools (http://www.swftools.org/). It's not the easiest thing to use, but handy. Have used it in the past, but you need the compiled .swf, not the .fla. Fla files you can probably just use Adobe's tools (commercial, but you might be able to pick up an old copy from somewhere).

Re:Help!

[datorum]

thx, tried it a bit, well for me it appears the whole .fla/.swf packing makes the whole package mostly useless, because it takes a large amount of effort to retrieve the assets...

Thanks guys...

[beaverdownunder]

Great to see the occasional selfless act once in a while.

Re:Thanks guys...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is, without a sense of self, all you have to offer the public is a bland bowl of oatmeal. Which is what Stewart ended up serving. He listened too closely to a small and very active community of players, ended up building his game to suit their wishes, and lost the public. It was surely a very fulfilling hobby for him, but it's hard to see how his investors came out ahead.

And...

[Anonymous Coward]

...since the game is no longer around, it doesn't do much...

Free code and media?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here you go https://libregamewiki.org/

Re:Mayor Rob Ford ( +5, Entertaining)

[Anonymous Coward]

[S]he/it has been preparing this tldr-bait since May.