Anyway to make the current challenge thread appear on the home page?
If someone was new to the site or didn't know to come looking for it, they'd never know there was a challenge going on.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 - 20:35
They look kinda like what they are, noisy noise.
Do you have a sense of what kind of art style you want for the whole project?
There are probably dozens of grass and dirt tilesets on OGA that you could probably use for these.
If you're intent on creating the tiles yourself, I'd advise you simplify dramatically. Choose a three color spread for each material, that is a dark, mid tone and bright color. Fill the tile with the mid tone and then just sprinkle in a few dots of dark and bright. You'll still essentially have noise but it'll be alot less busy, especially when repeated all across the screen.
I'll add that even a few pixels worth of rounding will help the 'rectangular' look dramatically and should be slight enough that player's will forgive it with regards to collisions.
Just my two cents, hope it helps!
ju
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 - 07:35
Hate to toss cold water, but most likely the works you are thinking of using use either the cc-by or cc-by-sa license, both of which can not be used with iOS apps due to their 'anti-DRM' provisions.
MedicineStorm is right though, can't say for sure without knowing the exact works and licenses. I do encourage you to look into this so you don't end up using a work in a way that violates it's license.
Monday, January 23, 2017 - 10:19
Googling 'can I use cc-by work in steam game' found this discussion:
If you look at the first answer, he outlines three options for using CC stuff with DRM'd services:
* Referring to the CC media rather than including it (downloaded from the web)
* Publishing a link (inside the app) to the CC media in an approved non-drm mechanism.
* Including the CC media in a form that is unprotected.
My memory is foggy, but if I had to guess, I'd say I have probably read this or similar analysis before, which is most likley where I got the idea you should include CC-BY/SA in their original form in your game distribution. The idea is you can use DRM to restrict access/use of your game you just can't use it to restrict use/access of the CC-BY/SA works. By including the works in a common format in your game distribution, you are allowing the end user to exercise their full CC-BY/SA rights to the work even if they must use DRM to access/run your game. TBH, this seems like the something that meets the license in spirit and practical terms, but may not actually meet the bar legally. As previously noted, I don't see anyway w/in the Steam EULA to exclude certain items from it's terms, terms which clearly place additional restrictions on a work's use.
Note that for the entire discussion it is simply assumed that Steam constitutes DRM. So here is one place where the point is maybe not argued but certainly stated. Not trying to argue that point myself either, just pointing out that I've seen it stated both ways, which is why I have taken to flagging it as a potential issue. Whereas, going the other way, nobody ever argues that IOS, PSN or XBL /don't/ constitute DRM, so in those cases I think it's fine to state unequivocally that they use DRM.
Further down in that thread is an interesting discussion of what I think is a new feature to CC-BY/SA 4.0. That is an explicit waiver by the copyright holder of the right to sue/etc someone for cracking/hacking a DRM scheme in order to access the CC-BY/SA work. In other words, you can break/crack a DRM scheme to access a CC-BY/SA work. It's an interesting idea, although it doesn't exonerate one for distributing a CC-BY/SA work with DRM and I'm not sure it's sufficient to prevent a Valve or other platform holder for going after someone for cracking their DRM to access a work. I mean, it seems like it should, but I'm sure Valve, et. al. have the fine print and lawyers to go after people who tinker with their DRM schemes anyways.
There doesn't seem to be anything explicit about DRM in there (not too surprising since it is a legal not technical document but there are definitely a fair number of 'additional restrictions' placed on what you can do with works distributed via Steam. Ex.
You are entitled to use the Content and Services for your own personal use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Content and Services to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Content and Services to others without the prior written consent of Valve,
I guess the idea would be, these terms apply to your game but not the cc assets it uses, which are distributed along side it but under a different license. However, I don't see anywhere in the Steam EULA where it allows for that, or implies that anything distributed on Steam could be subject to different terms (more restrictive terms yes, but wholly different terms no). Since this seems like pretty boilerplate stuff that I'd imagine most storefront EULA's would include, I think I'll try contacting both CC and Valve to see if either can provide any guidance on fhr question.
@mdwh: You are correct. Not sure where I got that idea but indeed the cc faq directly addresses this very point twice and very clearly states that distributing a work in whatever format you wish is permitted by all cc licenses.
TBH, even in GPL land, you are not required to include source with every distribution of a work, you only agree to make it available upon request.
As far as android/steam, all I can say is somewhere in these forums. TBH, i haven't investigated the issue personally myself so my default advice is simply to flag it is a possible concern. However, as I have been working on the OGA faq rewrite it's probably worth looking into for that. My main concerns would be how broadly 'technical measures' is defined and what is buried in the fine print of the Google Play and Steam EULA.
Friday, January 20, 2017 - 22:16
I can't speak for how the LPC team would like their stuff credited, but I can say for satisfying the license it should be fine. You may want to add the text 'see CC-BY-SA-3.0.txt for details.' to each of the license call outs.
You must include cc-by/sa assets in a common file format that end user could easily use to open/modify the work themselves if they wanted. I mention this because it is not wholly uncommon for games to re-package assets into their own file format schemes. As an example, for textures, it's not uncommon to have some kind of build step that compresses them into some kind of a raw gl/direct format in order to speed load times. I've also seen plenty of devs that like to bundle all the files for their game into a single file with some kind of zip or otherwise compressed format. Pretty sure distributing cc-by/sa works like this would be violation of the license. Though for sure, if you just flip a PNG to a JPG that is ok.
re: android/steam, as with so many things license related, I have seen it argued both ways. But for sure with Android, you would want to take care to distribute without google's DRM feature.
Nobody know how to get these challenges to appear on the front page? I think that would be great for two reasons:
1) encourage participation in the challenges
2) demonstrate to casual browsers that the OGA community is active and alive
Alright, here's my effort:
http://opengameart.org/content/the-beeker-boys-art-pack
Not an artist by trade, but really wanted to join in the fun, hope folks enjoy the results!
Anyway to make the current challenge thread appear on the home page?
If someone was new to the site or didn't know to come looking for it, they'd never know there was a challenge going on.
They look kinda like what they are, noisy noise.
Do you have a sense of what kind of art style you want for the whole project?
There are probably dozens of grass and dirt tilesets on OGA that you could probably use for these.
If you're intent on creating the tiles yourself, I'd advise you simplify dramatically. Choose a three color spread for each material, that is a dark, mid tone and bright color. Fill the tile with the mid tone and then just sprinkle in a few dots of dark and bright. You'll still essentially have noise but it'll be alot less busy, especially when repeated all across the screen.
I'll add that even a few pixels worth of rounding will help the 'rectangular' look dramatically and should be slight enough that player's will forgive it with regards to collisions.
Just my two cents, hope it helps!
ju
Hate to toss cold water, but most likely the works you are thinking of using use either the cc-by or cc-by-sa license, both of which can not be used with iOS apps due to their 'anti-DRM' provisions.
MedicineStorm is right though, can't say for sure without knowing the exact works and licenses. I do encourage you to look into this so you don't end up using a work in a way that violates it's license.
Googling 'can I use cc-by work in steam game' found this discussion:
http://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/175/can-i-redistribute-cc-...
If you look at the first answer, he outlines three options for using CC stuff with DRM'd services:
* Referring to the CC media rather than including it (downloaded from the web)
* Publishing a link (inside the app) to the CC media in an approved non-drm mechanism.
* Including the CC media in a form that is unprotected.
My memory is foggy, but if I had to guess, I'd say I have probably read this or similar analysis before, which is most likley where I got the idea you should include CC-BY/SA in their original form in your game distribution. The idea is you can use DRM to restrict access/use of your game you just can't use it to restrict use/access of the CC-BY/SA works. By including the works in a common format in your game distribution, you are allowing the end user to exercise their full CC-BY/SA rights to the work even if they must use DRM to access/run your game. TBH, this seems like the something that meets the license in spirit and practical terms, but may not actually meet the bar legally. As previously noted, I don't see anyway w/in the Steam EULA to exclude certain items from it's terms, terms which clearly place additional restrictions on a work's use.
Note that for the entire discussion it is simply assumed that Steam constitutes DRM. So here is one place where the point is maybe not argued but certainly stated. Not trying to argue that point myself either, just pointing out that I've seen it stated both ways, which is why I have taken to flagging it as a potential issue. Whereas, going the other way, nobody ever argues that IOS, PSN or XBL /don't/ constitute DRM, so in those cases I think it's fine to state unequivocally that they use DRM.
Further down in that thread is an interesting discussion of what I think is a new feature to CC-BY/SA 4.0. That is an explicit waiver by the copyright holder of the right to sue/etc someone for cracking/hacking a DRM scheme in order to access the CC-BY/SA work. In other words, you can break/crack a DRM scheme to access a CC-BY/SA work. It's an interesting idea, although it doesn't exonerate one for distributing a CC-BY/SA work with DRM and I'm not sure it's sufficient to prevent a Valve or other platform holder for going after someone for cracking their DRM to access a work. I mean, it seems like it should, but I'm sure Valve, et. al. have the fine print and lawyers to go after people who tinker with their DRM schemes anyways.
So reading through the Steam EULA:
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
There doesn't seem to be anything explicit about DRM in there (not too surprising since it is a legal not technical document but there are definitely a fair number of 'additional restrictions' placed on what you can do with works distributed via Steam. Ex.
You are entitled to use the Content and Services for your own personal use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Content and Services to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Content and Services to others without the prior written consent of Valve,
I guess the idea would be, these terms apply to your game but not the cc assets it uses, which are distributed along side it but under a different license. However, I don't see anywhere in the Steam EULA where it allows for that, or implies that anything distributed on Steam could be subject to different terms (more restrictive terms yes, but wholly different terms no). Since this seems like pretty boilerplate stuff that I'd imagine most storefront EULA's would include, I think I'll try contacting both CC and Valve to see if either can provide any guidance on fhr question.
@mdwh: You are correct. Not sure where I got that idea but indeed the cc faq directly addresses this very point twice and very clearly states that distributing a work in whatever format you wish is permitted by all cc licenses.
https://creativecommons.org/faq/#when-i-release-my-work-under-a-cc-licen...
And
https://creativecommons.org/faq/#can-i-take-a-cc-licensed-work-and-use-i...
TBH, even in GPL land, you are not required to include source with every distribution of a work, you only agree to make it available upon request.
As far as android/steam, all I can say is somewhere in these forums. TBH, i haven't investigated the issue personally myself so my default advice is simply to flag it is a possible concern. However, as I have been working on the OGA faq rewrite it's probably worth looking into for that. My main concerns would be how broadly 'technical measures' is defined and what is buried in the fine print of the Google Play and Steam EULA.
I can't speak for how the LPC team would like their stuff credited, but I can say for satisfying the license it should be fine. You may want to add the text 'see CC-BY-SA-3.0.txt for details.' to each of the license call outs.
You must include cc-by/sa assets in a common file format that end user could easily use to open/modify the work themselves if they wanted. I mention this because it is not wholly uncommon for games to re-package assets into their own file format schemes. As an example, for textures, it's not uncommon to have some kind of build step that compresses them into some kind of a raw gl/direct format in order to speed load times. I've also seen plenty of devs that like to bundle all the files for their game into a single file with some kind of zip or otherwise compressed format. Pretty sure distributing cc-by/sa works like this would be violation of the license. Though for sure, if you just flip a PNG to a JPG that is ok.
re: android/steam, as with so many things license related, I have seen it argued both ways. But for sure with Android, you would want to take care to distribute without google's DRM feature.
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