Nice. I was just messing around with the old-skool pseudo-3D 1st person RPG format. Mine doesn't look as good as gatesofintegrity, but I'm happy to see a genre I'm fascinated with. :)
"Am I free to use this in free and commercial projects"
Yes. The license requires you to release any modifications you make to the assets under the same license. As long as you are doing that, you're free to use it in either type of project. See FAQ
"Am I right in thinking I have to release my source code if I use this art pack?"
Possibly. It depends on how the assets are packaged with your game. If the code and assets are one "collection", it might mean the code is affected by the GPL, meaning it must also be GPL. If the code is one collection, but the asstets are in a separate collection (for example stored in a separate folder in the game files or a clearly delineated package independent of the executable/code, even if it's referenced by the code) then each collection can have separate licenses. GPL for the art, whatever else for the code. Be sure to clearly note which license goes with what parts of your game, though. See FAQ
The reason for all the "maybe" and "might" around GPL is because GPL is a great code license, but a terrible art license. However, GPL was the only free-and-open cowboy in town back in the old wild days of the interwebz, so a lot of projects where GPL, and the art was grandfathered in with it for lack of a better option.
Surt may have intended the use of this art to require your code to be open source, so if you want to be extra cautious we may have to wait for him to reply here with clarification. However, more than likely this is GPL simply because the original project was GPL and it features Tux the penguin, a GPL mascot.
@docfo4r: to answer your earlier question, I believe using the triangle-circle-cross-square buttons in a playstation game should be perfectly fine. What OGA shares and what you're allowed to use are not quite the same thing. Nominative Fair Use, and all that. I can't give you any sort of guarantee or endorsement, obviously. Ultimately you'll have to make your own determination.
As for other non-Sony buttons and symbols: The XBox, Steam, and Nintendo logos and branding could be problematic for you in the same way the Sony symbols may be, but those don't appear in this pack, so they were not addressed. Sony appears to be the only one with trademarked button symbols. All other controllers use fairly generic letter or number designations (not trademarked), so they were not the focus of the discussion above.
It appears the community has arrived at a consensus on a few things:
Sony's trademark is stupid.
Although there is a difference between copyright and trademark, this community considers both concerns worthy of scrutiny.
Despite #1, we should let people know of the potential pitfalls of using trademarks in their projects so they can make an informed assessment of how Fair Use affects them.
If there are no objections, I'll add a notice per #3 and omit the potentially troublesome symbols, while also making them available elsewhere for users to decide their own circumstances.
P.S. it's pretty minimal as I have little discord moderating experience. Let me know if you'd like to be a moderator on the discord or brush it up a bit. I'll promote you. :)
If anyone knows of official usage guidelines, they would still be very helpful here. Since OGA has firmly established disallowing trademarks in submissions, I also agree adding a notice regarding the specific trademark is a good idea, but we'll wait a bit for xelu's input first.
@withthelove: I think that is a valid viewpoint. As far as I can tell, the complete trademark does not appear in this set. Unless new information comes to light that contradicts this, I beleive there is no issue with this submission. Thank you for correcting me in a civil and logical discussion. :)
Nice. I was just messing around with the old-skool pseudo-3D 1st person RPG format. Mine doesn't look as good as gatesofintegrity, but I'm happy to see a genre I'm fascinated with. :)
Yes. The license requires you to release any modifications you make to the assets under the same license. As long as you are doing that, you're free to use it in either type of project. See FAQ
Possibly. It depends on how the assets are packaged with your game. If the code and assets are one "collection", it might mean the code is affected by the GPL, meaning it must also be GPL. If the code is one collection, but the asstets are in a separate collection (for example stored in a separate folder in the game files or a clearly delineated package independent of the executable/code, even if it's referenced by the code) then each collection can have separate licenses. GPL for the art, whatever else for the code. Be sure to clearly note which license goes with what parts of your game, though. See FAQ
The reason for all the "maybe" and "might" around GPL is because GPL is a great code license, but a terrible art license. However, GPL was the only free-and-open cowboy in town back in the old wild days of the interwebz, so a lot of projects where GPL, and the art was grandfathered in with it for lack of a better option.
Surt may have intended the use of this art to require your code to be open source, so if you want to be extra cautious we may have to wait for him to reply here with clarification. However, more than likely this is GPL simply because the original project was GPL and it features Tux the penguin, a GPL mascot.
@dawn: yes.
wow! I've seen 8x8 pixel platformer tilesets, but 1x1?! ambitious! :)
@docfo4r: to answer your earlier question, I believe using the triangle-circle-cross-square buttons in a playstation game should be perfectly fine. What OGA shares and what you're allowed to use are not quite the same thing. Nominative Fair Use, and all that. I can't give you any sort of guarantee or endorsement, obviously. Ultimately you'll have to make your own determination.
As for other non-Sony buttons and symbols: The XBox, Steam, and Nintendo logos and branding could be problematic for you in the same way the Sony symbols may be, but those don't appear in this pack, so they were not addressed. Sony appears to be the only one with trademarked button symbols. All other controllers use fairly generic letter or number designations (not trademarked), so they were not the focus of the discussion above.
It appears the community has arrived at a consensus on a few things:
If there are no objections, I'll add a notice per #3 and omit the potentially troublesome symbols, while also making them available elsewhere for users to decide their own circumstances.
Why not! https://discord.gg/d9Hr8Ns :D
P.S. it's pretty minimal as I have little discord moderating experience. Let me know if you'd like to be a moderator on the discord or brush it up a bit. I'll promote you. :)
If anyone knows of official usage guidelines, they would still be very helpful here. Since OGA has firmly established disallowing trademarks in submissions, I also agree adding a notice regarding the specific trademark is a good idea, but we'll wait a bit for xelu's input first.
@withthelove: I think that is a valid viewpoint. As far as I can tell, the complete trademark does not appear in this set. Unless new information comes to light that contradicts this, I beleive there is no issue with this submission. Thank you for correcting me in a civil and logical discussion. :)
Thanks. I honestly think this is the stupidest licensing flag I've ever issued, but Sony has a legit trademark. :(
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