Restarting development of Dawnspire (?)

[Swiss]

Hey!

I have now finished my projects and I got "freetime" I started working again in my old job tho.

But, I'm able label time of my life and dedicate to dawnspire. I truly would want to get Dawnspire back to its feet and raise the population via opening dedicated servers etc.

My idea is "simple"
We would be required to contact the original development team, requesting a permission to get hold of the whole source code, or at least the tools to "getid" and "reget".

What else would we need is some people willing to start and dedicate some of their time to Dawnspire, for instance, new maps, done from a scratch. I'm aware of the our current situation with Dawnspire, so there is no need to equliaze me.
I also know that some people here do know thing or two about map and Level editing and structural coeffiences.

Me, personally - I could stand by with the AI improvements etc.

What do I/we need to get this thing started.

Permission to restart development
Position where we have tools to direct source (Not nessessary but limits things)
Couple people interested in starting map getids and level structuring.
3d modellers, if possible (I suck with them myself)
C++ / C# knownledged people + people with sence of basic scripting or just huge will to help and learn.
Some money to start with (Dedicated hosts) + monthly donations regarding this.
Someone with mad PaintShop skills - If you do, contact me via email: jasu.ojala@hotmail.com I got some things for you.
People in Executive position - This would obviously be Nightmare/Johan etc.. What we look from Executive is the basic moderation and some nostalgic updates on the mainwebsite :p


The reason this idea came into my mind:

Me and my friend have been checking around the scripts and twelling around with them. And had this tough in our minds for sometime now, as we KNOW this community has potentiality to perform this kind of an action

So what we have currently: [Numbers inside () marks indicates the amount of people)
Host (We have 2 different hosts in mind)
Scripers (2)
C++ knownledge (1)
Map gedits (2)
Level construction (1)
3d modelling (1)

[ReverendLostLamb]

I completely love the idea. Won't get any help from me tho.

[Sparrisen]

I would like to volunteer Rev. He does no HAVE the required coding knowlage, BUT ABSOLUTELY, the will, the time, and the dedication to the society, and this game, to pull this off, in a manner gritting his teeth together, banging his head against this, until either of the two gives. And we all know the thickness of revs head, epecially his forhead. This is pratically a guaranteed success in a tincan, ready to open and spread it's wonderful scent in its world, a youngster, springing to furious action with inherent innocent and raw devotion, and a PROJECT, that most of ALL, requires a solid heart, and the honesty to fullfill ones promises NO MATTER WHAT.
It's mutally beneficial, to have such a project under is belt as he's approaching 15, TO HAVE BEEN FUNDAMENTAL IN THE CREATION OF A FINANCIAL AND CULTURAL MASTERPIECE AS THIS at SUCH an age! But I want to POINT OUT, that Rev has no desire to be counted among the most successful men in the history of Finland, he's main goal is just to help out, and his passion, is that of one following his muse, and from that, the creativity which makes a true unique diamond will come forth. As I write this, a tear trickles down my cheek, it's like watching a couple finding true love, in a world full of chaos and deceit. It's like purity, it's like recognition that there might BE a meaning to all, if such coincidences as this happen. It's, hope.










EDIT: I'm sorry for goofing off in such a topic, but I HAD TO. Please forgive me.

[Nightmare]

Well it's summer and all so got some free time, so in case there's need for some manual labour or something (basically anything I did back in the original DS) I guess I could pitch in. My coding or 3d modeling skills are not high enough though.

Edit: I could probably start by giving Sparrisen his dosage.

[ReverendLostLamb]

Is having a thick forehead negative or positive?

[Persus]

I would be surprised if the devs give access to these things. They have always been rightly guarded of their tech in the past. In saying that this is a noble endeavour and one I heartly hope has some success. Sadly I have all the programming skills of the dead. I'm more an ideas man if any are required.

Pimp would be best placed to contact the devs though I will not speak for him in this respects.

Is having a thick forehead negative or positive?

By thick do you mean Frankenstien's monster sized forehead? if so most assuredly it is a negative.

[Kakemann]

I like the idea. Hope it is do-able as far as the legal issues goes..

I'm in if we get a thumbs up from the devs.  Got some experience with C++, but ambitions too learn so much more. Just went through a course at the school I'm currently enrolled in. C# is something I've been kind of eager too dive into for some time too .

As far as hosting goes... I might come up with something über nice. I take it for granted that this is not going to be comercially. In that case I could persuade my fellow students too let this project in on some dedicated servers we are currently running.

I'd love too contribute to this. Count me in if something happens.
Kake

[Persus]

And for those interested in C++ or learning might I once more direct you to the link in this thread that should get you started.

http://dawnspire.tinyrocket.se/forum/index.php/topic,884.0.html

[Ghost]

I like the idea,  but would this be used to create updates/patches for dawnspire to expand it further... or to start a completelty new dawnspire 2?

If its going to be based on dawnspire 1, it might be easier to use some of the original maps and models as well (to boost diversity).

In saying that, as far as new programming goes.... I'm rubbish lol. But I'm intreged into what photoshop stuff needs to be done. What did you have in mind with this?

[PimpFather]

I have sent a message to dev-Henrik about this thread, we'll see if he has the time to answer some of the questions.

IMHO a good start would be to develop more maps and fix the major bugs in the bot's AI. The idea of the game is great, the 3D-engine running it ok as is the character balance. If we can manage to develop maps and fix the bot AI, then we can go into the next step (dunno what that is, but it will probably be trickier).

Pimp

[Persus]

Yeah you mentioned you had finished a few steps of the bot AI any chance we could get it implemented?

As for step 2 I have always advocated trying to get the Shrine domination maps remade as Relic conquest maps and vice versa without costing us the use of the original maps. If this was possible we could double at a stroke the amount of maps available. If it was then possible to further create new maps from these for the purposes of deathmatch only, implementing a scoring system for this we would have 3 game modes and 36 maps. OK the maps are all basicly the same 12 but used for 3 different game modes. This was done recently with Demigod. They took 8 maps and used then for 4 game modes giving then 24 maps in total.

I would think if we could work within the confines of the current game mechanics we could still do a lot.

For instance the deathmatch mode would require only an altered map and a way to score it and record the stats/rating. Easy 

[henrik.oquist]

Hey guys!

I got a mess from Pimpie regarding this thread and now I've read through it. I'll cut right to the chase. No matter how much we would love to see Dawnspire regain a pulse I think it's basically impossible, for a bunch of reasons.

1) We don't even have a working version of the game ourselves to distribute. Getting the game up and running at all would be quite a project at this point.

2) The game code is ginormous and without heavy support from Anders will be extremely complex and confusing to get anything to happen at all.

3) All the tools are seriously underdeveloped and as with #2 would require a lot of time and support from us devs and unfortunately we just don't have that time. Both me and Anders have gotten kids and are working full-time with other stuff plus running side projects already.

4) And perhaps the most boring - but a very important - reason: This engine is solely owned by Anders and its worth a lot of money (due to further engine development since the Dawnspire days). If and when he/we would start up a new project it would potentially put that project at risk having an earlier version of the source code available on the internet.

I hope you guys know I'm not trying to be a douche bag about this. I applaud the initiative, really. I would friggin' love to see Dawnspire have a life again. It's just a way more complex endeavor than it might seem at first glance. Honestly, if you guys want to improve on the Dawnspire formula, I would really suggest ripping off all of the ideas you like and recreating it in another (more developed) engine such as Crytek, Source, Unreal or any other game engine that allows heavy modding.

I'm gonna be going away for a couple of days now, but I'll look into this thread when I get back and keep talkin' to you guys about this.

Cheers,
Henrik

[Persus]

Kids! what is this a breading ground for a new age creche? Totally understand were you guys are coming from with this. Thanks for the quick reply. 

So as I stated above we have to work within the confines of the engine as it is and what changes you could make within those confines or as Henrik says start again on another engine tha's free.  I think all of these are free for small non profit programmes.

Crytek (Crysis)
Unreal 3 (Unreal Tournament 3)
Nebula 2 (Drakensang)

And you have it here from the devs themselves you can rip off everything you like and start again. Not an undertaking for the faint hearted.

[johan]

Cyrtek is not free yet, although I think that they are going to release some kind of dev kit in the near future. Unreal has the Unreal Development Kit which is free for non commercial use and a 25% royalty for commercial. And Nebula 2 is free for everyone but at a lower level and with much less tool support than Unreal.

If some of you were to create a Dawnspire inspired game then I would probably recommend UDK as it is the most complete game development platform out there.

[Persus]

Here's the link for it it

http://www.udk.com/

and a link to planet defence by Mr Hammervald

http://andershammervald.com/