character design for next version of Cheapo

[guest]

Sorry for the double post.  The computer's having trouble navigating and posting on this forum right now.

[Conway]

The game did come with many style files. They are separate files because when you make a style, it is stored in a file... uh... yeah.

  I mean the fact that Cheapo comes in two zips, one containing the styles and one containig everything else.

[guest]

Hmm...that's not the way I got it when I downloaded it off somewhere I no longer remember.  I could've remembered wrong though.

Anyhow, this isn't really going to affect the next version of Cheapo anyway, since the default styles that come with it aren't going to use the traditional lemmings graphics.

[?QuErY?]

I have a pretty strange idea, but... Emus, perhaps? As I said, strange idea, but it might work. I got the idea from the fact that I often get called 'Emu' at school. Honest. I have no idea why. By emus, for anyone who doesn't know, I mean these big ostrich type things that live in Australia. They walk on two legs, and I suppose it would be fairly easy to get them to look cute.

[Jeri Moore]

Hi all!
I'm sorry, but I'm really getting tired of all of this "copyright infringement" paranoia that we have nowadays. It seems like we have become a country obsessed with "copyrights". I mean really. Look at any product you buy these days and you can hardly see the product name for all of the little c's in a circle and the tm's and the r's and the "patent pending"s and holy cow! Does anybody know what the original copyright laws were actually designed to do? They were initially intended to compensate the original creator of a work for only a specific time limit! That way, a person would be duly compensated only for a limited amount of time and then guess what? They would actually have to create something else!!!! Copyright laws were never intended to let a person create ONE thing and then live off of it for the rest of their lives. Let alone somebody else that didn't have any thing at all to do with the creation of something to make money off of it!!! Such as corporations and relatives. Copyright laws today actually stifle creativity. Why should anyone want to create something new if they can just keep making money off the same old thing.

Whew! Let me take a breath here.

Ok, what I'm getting at is this. Pysgnosis is no more. DMA Design is no more. Lemmings "officially" is no more. Sony had/has/will have absolutely Zilch to do with Lemmings. Why get all caught up in "infringing" on something that the creators could care less about and sold off a long time ago. I say pooh-pooh on 'em. I love the game(s) and you guys are terrific for keeping it alive. You're not making a dime off of this and it brings a lot of people (such as me) pleasure. As soon as I can find some web space that's cheap I've got some "Cheapo" levels and styles that I want you guys to take a look at.

Keep it up and stop worrying.

Signed.
An Avid Lemming Fan

[guest]

The rant was rather unnecessary.  In fact it almost caused me to fail to read your last paragraph which showed you do mean well at heart.  Your rant, on a careless glance, almost sounded like you are accusing Peter Spada of being mindful of copyright issues.

I would think from the discussion of this thread, and the board in general, that it is clearly possible to keep Lemmings alive while being completely free of copyright issues.  Indeed, I'd even daresay it sparked some creative musings, such as considering alternative character designs besides the same-old pixelated green-haired stick figures.

I believe most of us here, me included, probably "agree" with your rant to some extent, especially in action.  Most of us have little qualms with Custlemm for example despite the fact that it is just a hacked version of the ONML binaries, and hence a pretty unambiguous copyright violation.  Yet it's sitting happily on my computer and I have little intention of removing it anytime soon.    Yet at the same time, I do respect the law, and understand that while it is difficult to draw the balance between protection and overprotectiveness (with abandonware the archetypical example of where copyright laws are doing a great disservice as you noted), as long as the line is there, there will be a place for some form of copyright laws.

I could certainly turn your argument around and say that the same copyright laws that (theoretically) prohibits you from, say, using the original Lemmings graphics is enhancing creativity by forcing you to seek out alternative graphics designs of characters and settings.

So anyway, ahem, let's get back to character design, shall we?

[AstralLemming]

An idea for this came to me last night. They look sort of like lemmings but... not like them. They're quite lemming-like in shape, but they're brown and furry all over, with a sort of lion-type mane, but not as thick, with a ruff round their neck, kangaroo like feet and a short tail with a fluffy 'bob' on the tip(again, think lion).

[drumnbach]

I reckon orangutans would be perfect. They have long arms and legs, and so would be suitable for climbing, bashing, digging etc. Baby orangutans in particular have small bodies and long limbs, which when considering sprite size, would be perfect.

Orangutans are also adorable. And perhaps the game would raise awareness of the species' impending doom in the face of forest cullers.

Is this program (Cheapo 2) still in development btw?

[drumnbach]

Astral, your idea reminds me of this:



Know what it is yet?

[Essman]

Is this program (Cheapo 2) still in development btw?

Life became too busy to work on it as much as I used to, but it's still in development. Your grandchildren will enjoy it.

[Conway]

Your grandchildren will enjoy finishing it for you, Essman!  

[AstralLemming]

Astral, your idea reminds me of this:



Know what it is yet?

Not quite right, to put it lightly...