Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Iain Baker on June 13, 2021, 06:44:37 am
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Hi All!
This might be old news, but I have just stumbled upon a group that is looking to acquire the FreeSpace IP, with the view to *I think* making an official FS3. They have a group on Discord called the Freespace-IP-Group.
I have technically joined it, because 'why not' (and to see what's going on) but I have yet to engage with it.
Any thoughts? Anyone on here part of it? If they were to be successful, how would this affect us?
Advice pls and discuss...
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Are they a bunch of bitter HLP vets seeking the ultimate revenge against those who have wronged them
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Does this group have any internet presence besides a discord server/group? A cursory internet search doesn't turn up anything about it but this post.
New owners of the Freespace IP could conceivably be very good, or very bad, for this community. Non-comerciality is not actually a legal defense against copyright infringement(it can help, but it's a small piece) and most if not all mods besides the stand-alones could easily be C&Ded and DMCAed if sufficiently ****ty people took control. On the other hand, if sufficiently cool people took control they might be able to free the SCP from some of the more murky and shaky bits of the license FSO is ultimately built on, and maybe open more doors besides. If they got all the relevant rights anyway, I wouldn't be surprised it they were scattered between different entities right now.
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Well so far i only know the reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/freespace/comments/nyjyoe/freespace_remaster_discord/) presence.
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If Derek Smart couldn't do it I don't expect a few randos on discord to do it :P
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Sounds like the person who brought it up on Discord a day or two ago, I encouraged him to make a post on this forum about it but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Talked to the guy. He's a college student who, in my estimation, has no real plans and no relevant expertise.
It's kinda telling how nonexistant commercial interest in FS is when the most serious person to talk about it is Derek Smart.....
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They won't succeed.
And even if they did, nothing would happen because making an "official" FS3 is an undertaking many a project here already attempted and failed at (minus the official part but my point still stands)
It's just idle chatter that will affect nothing. Pretending that it will is at best extremely optimistic and at worst outright ignorant of the circumstances.
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I hope nobody has any doubts. This endeavour will not bring us FS3, and in fact it should not to.
I hope that it's obvious community consensus, that any continuation developed by different people then original :v: team will not be viable continuation and would be considered spin-off or non-canon, just like all of the fanmade mods.
But...
If those guys somehow manage to purchase the license, the possible field of exploration is enormous. Judging by their discord content, they are fans. Just like us.
I mean, c'mon! Why everything developed on legal FS IP must be FS3? All the small-scale, spin-off projects like Deserts of Kharak would be possible, including commercial market. I personally would be interested in making full game projects, based on FS IP. In the age of all kinds of reboots, the very fact that a project is based on almost-forgotten IP can be good selling point, if advertised properly.
I make a blind bet, that those guys are not DS-level asshats, but my imperative guess is that nothing will happen and IP will stay forever in limbo. Still let's keep that little spark of hope alive for a while, and see if anything happen.
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I hope nobody has any doubts. This endeavour will not bring us FS3, and in fact it should not to.
I hope that it's obvious community consensus, that any continuation developed by different people then original :v: team will not be viable continuation and would be considered spin-off or non-canon, just like all of the fanmade mods.
To be honest, even if there was an official FS3 made by Volition/Deep Silver today I bet half the community would consider it non-canon. I don't even know what FS3 would look like today. It would be unrecognizable from the old games, and likely worse than many of the custom campaigns or games with a bigger budget like Star Wars Squadrons. The only thing the IP is good for at this point is to prevent legal threats (or create them, depending on who buys it).
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To be honest, even if there was an official FS3 made by Volition/Deep Silver today I bet half the community would consider it non-canon. I don't even know what FS3 would look like today. It would be unrecognizable from the old games, and likely worse than many of the custom campaigns or games with a bigger budget like Star Wars Squadrons. The only thing the IP is good for at this point is to prevent legal threats (or create them, depending on who buys it).
This ^^^ is also my opinion of the topic.
I 100% Agree.
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I mean Overload was pretty good.
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Overload was great but it really just had to get the core gameplay right to be a worthy Descent sequel. Any FS3 would be much larger in scope and harder to do properly, and would have tough competition from the custom FS2 campaigns. Many of the other Kickstarter-backed sequels to old games have been disappointing.
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The idea of Freespace 3 is nothing but a rope to hang yourself by.
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True, but the IP in the hands of the community would be ideal from a legal point of view, effectively giving us carte blanche regarding mods, and anything FS related.
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Overload was great but it really just had to get the core gameplay right to be a worthy Descent sequel. Any FS3 would be much larger in scope and harder to do properly, and would have tough competition from the custom FS2 campaigns. Many of the other Kickstarter-backed sequels to old games have been disappointing.
I'd take FreeSpace 2 plus some new gameplay stuff (probably a progression system) with a Jason Scott story. Why not? It wouldn't replace anything HLP has made and it'd be neat to play.
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If some consortium of known and trusted people from here were to purchase the IP for the community then maybe there's something you can do with that, but I'd be much less enthusiastic about some unknown figure or group. We don't know what they'll do with it, they might view us as the competition. They might close modding down, the game might flop and they might try to recoup their investment by licensing usage of the IP, or coming to us for a one time fee. Community like this could probably raise a decent amount of money to stay alive.
These might be slim possibilities, but I'd rather let sleeping dogs lie.