[Nightmare]

Hence my question if anyone on the forum has contact with V

I email with Jason Scott off and on.

He wouldn't have accidently send you the FS3 plot, or?

[General Battuta]

I don't think Volition is in a financial position to do anything except more Saints Row for now.

I posted my complete interview with Jason about a notional FS3 a long time ago.

[unsrm]

Well it can't hurt to ask can it? If we can get the IP maybe we can Kickstart the game or something if the desire is there!

[Nightmare]

Well it can't hurt to ask can it? If we can get the IP maybe we can Kickstart the game or something if the desire is there!

Nobody will make a FS3, ever. Being able to distribute FS for free would probably be VERY best that could happen; and even that's more than unlikely.

[0rph3u5]

It would be better anyway to start up a new IP ...

[Mobius]

My question is a bit OT, but... how does the IP affect community work other than modpacks and campaigns? I can't write a book with FreeSpace as its title, that's rather obvious, but what if I set up a story in the FS universe, using names such as GTD Orion, SD Demon and so on? Is that allowed by the terms of the current IP status?

[unsrm]

Among the differences is the fact that you couldn't sell a product with those elements in because Interplay (who currently own the rights) could sue you for using their IP without permission. e.g. you make a campaign in Fred for free and that's fine as they have provided the tools, you try and sell that campaign and that's a no go. Hence my desire to get the IP, IF Volition had any interest in it after 20 years and judging by the responses already about Volitions financial position this seems unlikely.

Personally I love the Freespace IP as much as the Gameplay (won't be the same for everyone I'm sure) but I still want to see the story continue, in an age of remastered and rebooted games and in an age of crowdfunding such a thing is possible but only if V have any interest. Given how much it is suspected the IP would cost, there is no point in trying to buy it if we then can't do anything with it.

The chance of FS3 happening is very, very small but I have to be absolutely sure, hence my desire to talk to Volition...l

Chris

[Kie99]

Time was I'd have given anything for a FS3, but at this point I'd be firmly against it. 

It couldn't possibly live up to expectations.  People have had over 20 years to come up with their own ideas of what it should be, it won't match them.  I very much doubt I'd enjoy an FS3 as much as I enjoyed Sync, Transcend, Homesick, Derelict or Sol: A History, since I don't enjoy most new games as much as I enjoyed them.

We already know pretty much what was planned for it through the interview with Jason Scott.  Anything on top of that is an original idea that's really no more of a valid conclusion to the events of FS2 than anything the community has come up with.

The reason the community has lasted as long as it has is the open-ended nature of FS2.  There's so much of it that's left open in the story - what happens after Capella, what happens to the refugees, how does the GTVA hold together, what happens when Sol is brought back into the fold, what was Bosch's agenda.  Those questions unlikely to be answered in a satisfactory manner, look at any TV show that's raised loads of mysteries, Lost for example, how many of them get answered and leave everyone happy?   How many have people pissed off because their pet theory didn't come true?

More importantly, definitive answers to any of these questions, and presumably a definitive conclusion to the war with the Shivans, would greatly reduce the scope for what new campaigns can explore.  Right now you can do anything and it's as valid a conclusion to the story as anything else.

Most importantly, if it came out I would absolutely have to play it despite all the stuff I've just said, and to do that I'd have to buy a gaming PC, which I cannot afford.

[unsrm]

A very interesting point of view and one I had not considered, I'll be honest. I'd always included the fan made campaigns as bloody brilliant as they are to be an 'alternative universe' in my mind and have always wanted to see through V's original vision for the story beyond the little snippets we have read about .

If the community doesn't want it then I can drop it, the last thing I would want to be another Derek Smart! I'll wait to hear what Scott says about chatting to Jason before making a final decision

[Nightmare]

A very interesting point of view and one I had not considered, I'll be honest. I'd always included the fan made campaigns as bloody brilliant as they are to be an 'alternative universe' in my mind and have always wanted to see through V's original vision for the story beyond the little snippets we have read about .

Well to sum it up, there's probably no "original vision". FS1 was made. It's a rather generic story all things considered, yet it recieved a sequel. FS2 was written by somebody else. Ofc these people remained with but it's not like there's a grand vision how stuff was supposed to be made from day 1.

For example, (it might be just hearsay) IceFire mentioned once that V had no idea how the supernova could be turned into a base for a meaningful story.

[Nightmare]

Personally I love the Freespace IP as much as the Gameplay (won't be the same for everyone I'm sure)

Must be a typical lawyer thing

[mjn.mixael]

If the community doesn't want it then I can drop it, the last thing I would want to be another Derek Smart! I'll wait to hear what Scott says about chatting to Jason before making a final decision

I'm very interested in the community (or someone friendly to it) owning the IP for a whole lot of reasons. Nowhere near the top of that list is FS3, though.

[unsrm]

I would love to know your reasons please 😀

[mjn.mixael]

-The license issues that The_E discussed could be resolved.
-The game could be made free and/or pay whatever you want and profits could go to HLP/Knossos hosting.
---Sub point, free games can easily turn into more players.
-Risk that Interplay gets DMCA happy, however unlikely, is removed.
-The community would have more of a say in how the game is installed by Steam/GOG --> reducing the friction of new players getting into the game.
-HLP can directly host the files as they can now be freely distributed. Want to play Freespace? Download right now, right here.
-The buzz in the gaming world of a modding community getting the IP of the game they mod would almost definitely bring in new players.
-New players == new creators. New creators == more content.

[Mobius]

I would love to know your reasons please 😀

There's an entire FreeSpace Wiki page which is literally full of concerns raised by the community over a hypothetical FreeSpace 3.

[jr2]

I never really understood **why** everyone always hated on an official FS3 as if it removes fan-made parallel universes.  I mean, don't we have alternate histories of FS1 etc now as mods?  I don't get it.  It would only be a problem if asshats started "yeah well your story isn't canon now so you suck" flamewars, and I don't think they would be on this forum for very long if they did that. 

Right?  Summary: I don't get why parallel universes can't get along.  They can even draw inspiration from each other.  Just cause one is the official storyline doesn't invalidate the rest of them.  Cause they're ALL stories!! 

[Goober5000]

Intriguing.  @unsrm, I've sent you a PM.

[Kie99]

I never really understood **why** everyone always hated on an official FS3 as if it removes fan-made parallel universes.  I mean, don't we have alternate histories of FS1 etc now as mods?  I don't get it.  It would only be a problem if asshats started "yeah well your story isn't canon now so you suck" flamewars, and I don't think they would be on this forum for very long if they did that. 

Right?  Summary: I don't get why parallel universes can't get along.  They can even draw inspiration from each other.  Just cause one is the official storyline doesn't invalidate the rest of them.  Cause they're ALL stories!! 

It doesn't invalidate them, but the ending of FS2 demands a conclusion or a continuation in a way that a definitive ending would not.  It's that vacuum, that craving for a sequel, for more information, that gives so many people cause to write sequels and to play them.

If Freespace 3 came out and was generally accepted by the community would there be the same motivation to make or play a campaign on the premise of "What if FS3 didn't happen?"?  I'm sure you'd get the odd one but I don't think there'd be anywhere near as much interest.

[mjn.mixael]

What if FS3 is made and its engine isn't near as mod-able as the FSO engine? What does that do to the community?

[Nightmare]

What if FS3 is made and its engine isn't near as mod-able as the FSO engine? What does that do to the community?

I dunno, it implies that it's just as good as 18 years of SCP work... I dunno how difficult it'd be to make a new FS game in a different engine (what seems to me the most likely thing), but it'd require an investment into a dead genre at first, so I wouldn't know what to expect. Unless HLP would get C&D (and a chunk of the potential playerbase p...sed off), it'd be still there.