manikus WIPs (Works In Progress)

[manikus]

I'm going to use this thread to post some of my incomplete, but still being worked on projects.

When the projects are complete I will try and go back and edit the posts with WIPs to say that it's done, and maybe show the final version.

First up is the candidtate for PC portrait slot 16, male gnome. After playing around with him, I like the cut of his jib - he's now stockier to look more gnomish.

[SilentThief]

Wow, ok. And here I thought I was the only one who had this problem. Most of my WIP projects are mod ideas tho.
And here goes the list - and what the holdup is:
A Siege/war conquest mod - special attacks like cavalry overrun
A Demon mod where you play one - non human chars
A stealth mod similar in idea to assassins creed - haven't worked out the idea yet
A guild war mod exclusively in a city - need magic to work correctly

As for the artwork, I'm working slowly but surely on my idea for the contest mod. I have the idea and am doing some artwork (sprites, smallpics, and icons) for some of my custom made creatures.
My only fear is that between today and the end I don't have enuff time for doing any kind of release. I will do a short release if I don't have it done completely, and release a complete release later if necessary, tho.

ST

[manikus]

I have thee main DC directories- one holds the "game" it's where all of the designs I might play/playtest/design go; one is for expirementing wiht source code and crazy things ; one is where all of the rest goes. In that last directory, there are many, many subdirectories (art repository, my art, source material, etc.) there is a folder called the back-shelf, where all of the designs that I'm not currently working on are stored. There are currently over two dozen. Super-heroes, Star Wars, World of Darkness, New York murder mystery (set present day in the real world), Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Power Puff Girls, Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Miami Vice, CSI, Roger Zelazny's Amber, Oriental Adventures, Oriental Adventures real-world historical (think Shogun), Transformer G1, Transformers 2007, Buck Rogers remake, several Sci-fi epics, plus a bunch of concept designs for naval battles, space battles, different screen layouts, etc.
Man, I should be making better use of my couple of weeks off from school.

[Funky Dynamite]

That murder mystery has me hooked already...

[manikus]

Aside from my pet Silver Marches project, that's the one that I've spent the most time on. I have DCized maps of Manhatten, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and have tons of real world images to plug in. I thought, "wouldn't it be cool to go in the empire state building?" at one point, but it turns out it's really only cool to look out from the top. Lol. It is one setting where it doesn't matter if magic works or not.

[SilentThief]

I have 4 mods just for testing ideas (two testing mods, and two quick-test for simple tests/ideas), but other than that I have a build mod for my campaign that when I get it done will be copied to new designs to make mods with similar databases.

After getting the rest of my stuff moved down from Michigan, I'll start on another project or two, namely a mod based upon this awesome sci-fi book I read "Armor" by John Steakley. This brings up another Q, tho. For published works, such as this or Tolkien's "Hobbit"; can we use these sources without legal trouble? I mean, yeah I could do something in a "mock" world that has some detail changes so as to try to make it mine, but what I liked most from Armor was the story. So would I have copyright legal trouble if I were to make a sci-fi mod in the story of Armor?

ST

[manikus]

This is a good question, ST. It's something that is really important to the DC community. Ans as such, it has a complicated answer. But, if we break down into a couple of parts, it is a little easier.
The first seperation to make is images and text/dialogue, as this will apply to movies, books, other games, etc.
The graphics: if we use copyrighted material, let's say a small picture of Boba Fett for a Star Wars design, we must give credit to the copyright holder, in this case Lucas Films Ltd. LLC, and honor their wishes in regards to it. These wishes are defined under the law. We cannot do anything that would compete with the copyright holder, so we cannot make money off of the use of this material, we cannot use it in a way that defames the copyrighted material or copyright holder (note, that parody and satire do not equal defamation under the law) and we must stop using it if requested by the copyright holder. Fair use laws do not apply, unless you are using the image for educational purposes.
The text/dialog: It's just like writing a paper in school, if you quote, you have to cite your source. If you paraphrase, you have to cite your source. This can be done by putting the citation in the readme file, or in the credits that run at the end of DC. (DC automatically calls a file called credits.jpg to display at the end of gameplay.) Fair use is not really applicable here, unless you were displaying pages of a book or script in an event in the game. In which case, it would be as above, you are only protected if your using this for educational purposes.
The setting: This follows the same rules as text/dialog. To use the Star Wars setting, just give credit to Lucasfilms in your readme or credits files.
The story: This is a more interesting ground to walk upon. If you are using the story in a new medium and you are the first to do so, you hold the copyright on the adaptation. If you're not the first, all of the above rules apply. But even if you are the copyright holder, you do not have any claim on the original material, only on your adaptation. So, if I'm using a screen capture of Boba Fett, the above rules still apply. But, if I'm using my own picture of Boba Fett, I own the copyright for this picture and can use it in my adaptation. This is very important- Lucasfilms still holds the copyright to everything Boba Fett, but I can have my interpretation of him in my adaptation and it's legal. Text plays out a bit different. I could quote the movie exactly and it's entirety and I would be protected but would still need to credit my original source, in this case George Lucas and Lucasfilms. A further important note, maybe the most important in this section, I can only achieve the adaptation status if I'm the first in this medium. DC does not count as a medium, but electronic media does. Whomever has the first game/website/flash animation has the adaptation rights for this medium. In the case of Star Wars, that would be Lucasfilms. Incidentally, Lucasfilms copyrighted the prequel in all media when they put the movie into production, so before I even could find out who Qui-Gon Jinn was, he was protected from adaptation by Lucasfilms. With books, it is often the same, but copyrighting generally occurs when the book is finished. Sometimes for older books, it happens years after the book came out (think the rights to make the Lord of the Rings movies). Adaptation as a legal concept is only important if money can be made. (I have first hand experience in this, which is why you got the detailed version. I was part of a production company that was sued by Kurt Vonnegut b/c we were adapting one of his movies to film and got our stake claimed before he did. Our lawyer talked to their lawyer and the suit went away. It didn't hurt our cause that we were an indie film company and were just doing this to play at some festivals and on cable and not to make lots of money (which is good, b/c we didn't ).)

Does this answer your question?

[manikus]

Here's another WIP. Her name is Victoria and I'm pretty darn happy with how she has turned out. I just need to work out a background.

[Uatu]

Wow, very nice work, manikus! Victoria is also a nice name

Her hair is quite nice (nice curls there).

[manikus]

She just may be moving to a little town near a large glacier...

She started as an experiment, utilizing a different rendering technique then what I have been using.