Steam Greenlight

Ideas for cool stuff in the future.
User avatar
tangar
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:49 pm
Contact:

Steam Greenlight

Post by tangar »

Lets go to steam greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/

Its really good opportunity to make Tome Net more popular. This game has HUGE potential. We only need to show it to the whole world!

What do you think, guys? :)
Tangar's tileset, addon, guides & maps: English TomeNET page ||||||| Russian TomeNet page
http://youtube.com/GameGlaz — streams in English // http://youtube.com/StreamGuild — streams in Russian
My chars @ angband.oook.cz
Lightman
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:55 pm

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by Lightman »

Hi,

Tomenet does have HUGE potential. I'd love to make Tomenet more popular and show it to the world. Now that I am between jobs it might make a nice project but there are a few things we should consider.

As I understand it, Tomenet is tolerated as a small scale work of free Tolkien fan fiction. It can't really be commercialized. Furthermore, the licensing for the code is open source for educational purposes etc. Frankly, we can do without anyone coming in and thinking they can use it to make money. They can't and it wouldn't be good for us or for them. That's my thoughts on the subject.

Thanks for listening

Lightman
User avatar
PowerWyrm
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2010 4:28 pm

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by PowerWyrm »

Unfortunately Lightman is right. This game will forever be "free" because of obvious copyright issues, unless a major overhaul is done (see ToME4 aka Tales of Maj Eyal) which would remove every Tolkien reference.
User avatar
tangar
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:49 pm
Contact:

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by tangar »

But its possible to submit game to the Steam even if this is free game:

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/abou ... ection=faq
I have a free game – can I still submit it to Steam Greenlight?
Yes, you can submit your free game to Steam Greenlight. Note that once your game has been Greenlit and you are preparing for release, any in-game transactions or subscriptions available to Steam customers must be purchasable only by the Steam Wallet.
Tangar's tileset, addon, guides & maps: English TomeNET page ||||||| Russian TomeNet page
http://youtube.com/GameGlaz — streams in English // http://youtube.com/StreamGuild — streams in Russian
My chars @ angband.oook.cz
User avatar
tokariew
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 8:20 pm
Location: Poland

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by tokariew »

the problem isn't that the game is free, problem is with a lot of Tolkien reference, and our beloved copyright. For this moment only Warner Bros have licence for computer games. What it means? As long as we live quiet and peacefully we are happy, but if tomenet wil get a little more audience, devs may have problems, even if they don't use game to monetize.

Author copyright is funny, nasty, little thing. Maybe in 2043 when all Tolkien stuff will go to public domain.
img {
max-width: 100%;
}
https://tokariew.xyz
User avatar
tangar
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:49 pm
Contact:

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by tangar »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_Estate
In November 2012, the Tolkien Estate, trustee and publishers sued Middle-earth Enterprises, Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema for infringing Tolkien's copyrights by producing casino and video games using his characters. The original license to Tolkien's works was limited to the right to sell "tangible" products such as "figurines, tableware, stationery items, clothing, and the like", but did not cover "electronic or digital rights, rights in media yet to be devised or other intangibles such as rights in services".[2] Tolkien's estate claimed that the defendants actions had caused "irreparable harm to Tolkien's legacy".
So as I understand Tolkien copyright for game-like content in hands of Tolkien Estate, not to a bunch of greedy warner brothers managers.

Also.. There are so much Tolkien style games (http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/alphabet.html its VERY old list, now its much larger ) so I don't think we have to worry about copyright as long as we don't sell anything (full free to play). No money = no interest of copyright sharks.

We got loads of online games where you could create a hobbit character and huge loads of books with a lot of LotR refferences. Nobody care :)
Tangar's tileset, addon, guides & maps: English TomeNET page ||||||| Russian TomeNet page
http://youtube.com/GameGlaz — streams in English // http://youtube.com/StreamGuild — streams in Russian
My chars @ angband.oook.cz
User avatar
tokariew
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 8:20 pm
Location: Poland

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by tokariew »

Is it possible to write stories that are set in Middle-earth?
The short answer is most definitely NO!

We understand only too well the fascination and enjoyment that the world of Middle-earth can bring, but the fact remains that this is an imaginary world, created by the author on his own terms and in his own right. So, however tempting, to publish this type of fan-fiction for personal or commercial purposes, even online, is absolutely not authorized.
In the era of the Internet, with people selling ‘homemade’ literary works on websites all over the world, it must be unambiguously stated that the Tolkien Estate has never authorized the commercialisation or distribution of such material, and has no intention of doing so.

The Tolkien Estate’s mission is to defend and protect the integrity of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. As literary executor, it has always been Christopher Tolkien's goal to publish the writings of his father—both finished and unfinished—in the most faithful and scrupulous way, without adaptation or embellishment.
From Tolkien Estate homepage. So if they don't like fan-fiction stories, what about game?

Worners have license to public games set in Middle-Earth for this moment. I don't write anything about them having rights.
img {
max-width: 100%;
}
https://tokariew.xyz
Lightman
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:55 pm

We are not alone out there....

Post by Lightman »

Hi,

We are not entirely alone out there. There is a Tales of Middle Earth mod for Age of Empires.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/tales-of-middle-earth

Anyone tried this?

Opening up Tomenet on Steam would be interesting, but there is no way to guarantee how it will work out. Any thoughts from the Dev team?
mikaelh
Developer
Posts: 216
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:18 pm

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by mikaelh »

TomeNET has always been a bit of a niche game, that is, it's not aimed at the mass-markets. I think many people actually prefer it that way. I don't know much about Steam's Greenlight but it seems like a system where you would need to appeal to the mass-markets. Therefore, I think we wouldn't be very successful on Greenlight. Sure, we're always looking to attract new players to the game. However, we're not going to change the intended audience of the game.

There is also the issue of the license which prevents making money with the game. I'm not a legal expert so I don't know how far we could push this even if we wanted to.
User avatar
tangar
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:49 pm
Contact:

Re: Steam Greenlight

Post by tangar »

Its awesome to be a niche game and I like TomeNet as it is now. But nowadays TomeNet could have 100+ online users and game would be still quite niche in compare to another games. Market of online games grow so fast, so much people involved in playing MMOs atm.. Even ~500 ppl online its still very niche online game right now. So why not to show BEAUTY of TomeNet to more people? Steam Greenlight its just a method to do so.

If there is a problem with a server hosting capacity — we could create voluntary donations (without any profit or any bonuses to donaters). I'll personally ready to help pay for hosting. And nobody making money with the game - no profit to any person there, just direct voluntary donations to hosting, if its a problem. Or we could make donation campaign to Steam Greenlight (need to play 100$ to participate), I also willing to participate in it (I think its not only me).
Tangar's tileset, addon, guides & maps: English TomeNET page ||||||| Russian TomeNet page
http://youtube.com/GameGlaz — streams in English // http://youtube.com/StreamGuild — streams in Russian
My chars @ angband.oook.cz
Post Reply