One day I want to make an RTS or tower-defense type game to teach kids about parts of the cell. ATP is the resource, the nucleus is the "town hall", mitochondria are the "power plants", etc.
As in Plants vs. Zombies you could introduce more parts of the cell each new level until you have the whole microsystem working and fending off foreign bodies.
I've been using these quite a lot for my RPG, especially for styling menus, buttons, etc. The source is pdtextures.blogspot.com and no creator is listed. The site is working but I figured we could have a copy here just in case something happens.
(edit) found the author's name in the image metadata. Updated this submission.
The basics to create this effect:
1. Create a ring shape where the particles start. Make sure the normals are pointing up (positive Z). Once we add particle effects on this object it will become invisible.
2. Give the ring a new Material. Click the Halo option (which we use to make "lens-flare" type particle effects). In Shader choose the Lines option to make this particular effect style.
3. While the ring is still selected, open the Particle Window. ADD NEW particle system of type Emitter.
4. Change "Emit From:" to random (otherwise, particles will appear in the mesh face order, which is usually not what you want)
5. Under "Initial Velocity:" set Normal to some positive number. This means the particles will travel the same direction as the normals of the mesh (which are pointing up, from step #1)
6. Open a Timeline window. Drag the timeline cursor to Frame 1 then click Play. You should see the particles appear from the mesh.
7. Under "Basic:" tweak the Amount, Sta(rt), End, Life to get the amount of particles you want. Tweak the Initial Velocity: options to get the particles going the desired direction. Note: repeat step 6 any time you make a change in the Particle window.
8. Tweak the halo material Size, Add, and Color. Render. Tweak the material until it looks the way you want.
"Under Creative Commons’ core licenses, synching music in timed-relation with a moving image is considered to be a derivative work."
Based on that, I'd lean towards games actually being derivative works of the individual pieces of art used. But it's absolutely not spelled out. So hopefully that is cleared up in the future. Thing is, Creative Commons can't change or define what "Derivative Work" means... that's a term of copyright law itself.
At the very least, I try to mention on my works "contact me if you'd like to use this art under different terms". If anyone asks nicely I'm likely to let them use my art for anything.
It's disappointing to me though. When I started releasing art under CC-BY-SA I thought that my art used in games would be like GPL code. Instead, because art is treated as modular, it's more like LGPL.
If there were a CC license for games that operated more like GPL I'd release all my future art under that instead.
Assume all artists have their own pet projects/interests.
When you have a free game project, attracting and keeping artists is almost impossible. You have to somehow convince them to ignore their own awesome projects/interests and give their precious time to yours.
How to convince them?
1. Have a core, active crew.
A game project with one core artist and one core programmer is already farther than most projects ever get. It helps if these core people are good friends who came up with the idea for the game together. The core crew has to consider the project their own baby. New artists who want to help can take directions from the core artist (same with core/new programmers).
2. Communicate
Tweet, blog, forums. The core crew needs to talk about everything, out in the open. If your site looks like it hasn't been updated in three months, people assume your project is dead.
3. Money
It's hard to get professional quality art without professional quality pay. I pay artists when I need a fresh perspective on my project, or to fill gaps I can't cover as a core artist.
4. Demo
You might attract volunteer artists later once your project had a solid early beta and the core gameplay wows audiences. Until then, pay bounties to get the core pieces complete. Pull together one hero, one creature, one tileset, one level, one background song. Invest time in a level editor. Now other artists can come to your world and create their own stories, levels, etc.
5. Be Awesome
If your game idea and execution is lame, you won't even attract players (much less artists).
6. Know your limits
A lot of game projects seem doomed before they start because their scope is far too large. An MMO takes 50-200 people working 3-6 years. A simple puzzle or arcade game could take 1 person 6-12 months.
I'm using this in my game OSARE http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/
For a zombie head explosion. It's fantastic.
Next version is up
http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/
Main additions:
One day I want to make an RTS or tower-defense type game to teach kids about parts of the cell. ATP is the resource, the nucleus is the "town hall", mitochondria are the "power plants", etc.
As in Plants vs. Zombies you could introduce more parts of the cell each new level until you have the whole microsystem working and fending off foreign bodies.
Level ideas: plant cell, animal cell, cell mitosis.
Ideas are cheap so feel free to use this one.
I've been using these quite a lot for my RPG, especially for styling menus, buttons, etc. The source is pdtextures.blogspot.com and no creator is listed. The site is working but I figured we could have a copy here just in case something happens.
(edit) found the author's name in the image metadata. Updated this submission.
OSARE version 0.02 is up (windows, osx, source).
http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/
Main additions:
This is done using Blender particles.
A quick reference:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Physics/Particles
The basics to create this effect:
1. Create a ring shape where the particles start. Make sure the normals are pointing up (positive Z). Once we add particle effects on this object it will become invisible.
2. Give the ring a new Material. Click the Halo option (which we use to make "lens-flare" type particle effects). In Shader choose the Lines option to make this particular effect style.
3. While the ring is still selected, open the Particle Window. ADD NEW particle system of type Emitter.
4. Change "Emit From:" to random (otherwise, particles will appear in the mesh face order, which is usually not what you want)
5. Under "Initial Velocity:" set Normal to some positive number. This means the particles will travel the same direction as the normals of the mesh (which are pointing up, from step #1)
6. Open a Timeline window. Drag the timeline cursor to Frame 1 then click Play. You should see the particles appear from the mesh.
7. Under "Basic:" tweak the Amount, Sta(rt), End, Life to get the amount of particles you want. Tweak the Initial Velocity: options to get the particles going the desired direction. Note: repeat step 6 any time you make a change in the Particle window.
8. Tweak the halo material Size, Add, and Color. Render. Tweak the material until it looks the way you want.
adrix89, yes. The uploader can update the file at any time.
It's probably best if the WIP is at a useful state (e.g. with 3D: mesh complete but not textured/rigged).
I agree with a WIP forum.
The trouble seems to be that the definition of Derivative Work isn't clear when individual pieces of music or art are used in games.
If someone uses a background song unchanged in a game, is that game a derivative work?
(if Yes, games that use CC-BY-SA art must also be licensed CC-BY-SA).
CC doesn't mention video games, but does give this example:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#What_is_a_der...
"Under Creative Commons’ core licenses, synching music in timed-relation with a moving image is considered to be a derivative work."
Based on that, I'd lean towards games actually being derivative works of the individual pieces of art used. But it's absolutely not spelled out. So hopefully that is cleared up in the future. Thing is, Creative Commons can't change or define what "Derivative Work" means... that's a term of copyright law itself.
At the very least, I try to mention on my works "contact me if you'd like to use this art under different terms". If anyone asks nicely I'm likely to let them use my art for anything.
Lattice's analysis seems to be the accepted view.
It's disappointing to me though. When I started releasing art under CC-BY-SA I thought that my art used in games would be like GPL code. Instead, because art is treated as modular, it's more like LGPL.
If there were a CC license for games that operated more like GPL I'd release all my future art under that instead.
Assume all artists have their own pet projects/interests.
When you have a free game project, attracting and keeping artists is almost impossible. You have to somehow convince them to ignore their own awesome projects/interests and give their precious time to yours.
How to convince them?
1. Have a core, active crew.
A game project with one core artist and one core programmer is already farther than most projects ever get. It helps if these core people are good friends who came up with the idea for the game together. The core crew has to consider the project their own baby. New artists who want to help can take directions from the core artist (same with core/new programmers).
2. Communicate
Tweet, blog, forums. The core crew needs to talk about everything, out in the open. If your site looks like it hasn't been updated in three months, people assume your project is dead.
3. Money
It's hard to get professional quality art without professional quality pay. I pay artists when I need a fresh perspective on my project, or to fill gaps I can't cover as a core artist.
4. Demo
You might attract volunteer artists later once your project had a solid early beta and the core gameplay wows audiences. Until then, pay bounties to get the core pieces complete. Pull together one hero, one creature, one tileset, one level, one background song. Invest time in a level editor. Now other artists can come to your world and create their own stories, levels, etc.
5. Be Awesome
If your game idea and execution is lame, you won't even attract players (much less artists).
6. Know your limits
A lot of game projects seem doomed before they start because their scope is far too large. An MMO takes 50-200 people working 3-6 years. A simple puzzle or arcade game could take 1 person 6-12 months.
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