then the document layout isn't really changing and it should be super fast. Something like that? Have a demo somewhere we can look at?
I've been using html5 canvas for all my game prototypes for a few years now. But I like making tiny low spec games so I'm not really having canvas performance issues.
I think canvas optimization will catch up at some point (if it continues to be an html standard). Same thing that happened to the technique you're using. Those "DHTML" techniques were new and awesome circa 2000 but game performance was always too poor compared to Flash.
Your technique may be a good fallback plan for maintaining web games. That vanilla CSS is going to be supported long after any other game tech for browsers.
@Duion re: "making screenshots of anything is always fine" -- distributing screenshots you make is technically not always fine. An example I can think of, someone was selling unauthorized game walkthroughs using their own screenshots from the games and got in legal trouble.
Fair use is the only use you get for proprietary game screenshots, technically legally speaking. So screenshots of CC-BY-SA games have more legal uses, not fewer.
Fair use also applies to any CC license works of course. So anywhere you currently see screenshots being freely, fairly used then CC-BY-SA screenshots are allowed as well.
All licenses on OpenGameArt allow for commercial use. But Share-Alike has the most consequences on traditional commercial methods.
Your game must be licensed CC-BY-SA to use CC-BY-SA assets. The "Share-Alike" clause basically means: I'm sharing my art, and you can sample/remix it into new art if you're also sharing.
Here's what this means, in my opinion.
If your game is Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA) then the expectation is that it's there to be remixed. People can take all the game's content and sell it under a new name, as long as they give credit to your original works and their new game is also Share-Alike.
You can sell games that are CC-BY-SA, but anyone can probably share a legal clone for free. This is barely different than for proprietary games, when people can pirate any game without much consequence.
You can sell premium items and run ads. But because you're allowing remixing, someone could probably bypass or remove your ads. Again, in real life people already cheat these things in mobile games.
I argue the Share-Alike license allows your fans to love and share and remix your work instead of treating them like pirates and cheats instead. Now, Here are some trickier details. I'm not a lawyer, this is just my experience with SA art.
CC-BY-SA definitely has nothing to do with Source Code. Let me explain this way. In proprietary commercial games they sell you a copy of the binary but not a copy of the source. So we know that source and binaries can have separate licenses. CC-BY-SA never mentions source code because it's an *art* license. It is copyleft *code* licenses like GPL that bring source code into release requirements.
If using a game engine that is decoupled from the game's art and data (obvious case is using an off the shelf engine), then it's accepted that your engine binary can be a completely separate license from the game art and data. What's your game is really the art and data part. The standalone engine binary is treated like generic software that will run arbitrary data, sort of like a media player. The Share-Alike license then only applies to your data and art, and not to the 3rd party engine. You can have a closed, proprietary game engine and still use CC-BY-SA game and data.
I think CC-BY-SA licensed games could benefit from non-traditional revenue streams. A name-your-own-price (including free) download is very much in the spirit of sharing-alike. Another good fit for making money from Share-Alike games is commissions or fundraising to make more art/content.
this is a great rock. The odd shape makes it super reusable in different rotations!
Side thought. When it comes to photogrammetric quality work, it's surprising at how few assets can be used to create large scenes. Check out the GDC talk "Star Wars: Battlefront and the Art of Photogrammetry".
These may have somewhat better lighting that those originals.
The armor here is separated into multiple slots.
Lots more melee weapons
All of these specific files are CC-BY licensed to match this OpenGameArt upload. Note that some other characters in Flare-Game may be CC-BY-SA and do not apply to my message here.
Anonamix, yes you can use this. The main requirement of using CC-BY licensed art is to attribute the original artist. So your credits can say something like "recycle icons by Clint Bellanger" or "additional art by Clint Bellanger".
The cloudy mountain image I attached can be used as a material-specific reflection map. You may not need this if you put the swords into a scene that already has an environnment map. (the image is public domain from Burning Well)
I'd like to create .obj (or similar) files for each of these that have materials setup to work correctly upon loading into Unity or Unreal. I don't have that figured out yet (any tips?). For now expect to tweak material settings if importing these into another system.
ShannonGames, all art on OpenGameArt can be used commercially.
This art is licensed CC-BY which basically means you can use it as long as you give credit. So e.g. put my name somwhere in your game's credits under "additional art by:"
Flare purposefully cuts a lot of corners to assume a single hero game. There would definitely be a lot of gutting of the code to make full squads work. Especially if you want to be able to control all of them simultaneously, or be able to command each one separately.
Some of that work may have been bridged because there is light support for Minions/Pets. So combat featuring multiple good-guy units is at least minimally functional.
Another feature to look out for is the Transform feature. Currently that's used to magically transform your character into a different enemy type. Really what it does is gives you the sprites and controls of that creature. Instead of using it to polymorph self, it could be modified to take control of a target unit. That could be one way of switching controls between the units on the squad.
If your game isn't a single player action RPG really close to this Diablo style, then Flare probably isn't the best fit. If you're more interested in code hacking than releasing a game, then Flare could be a fun place to experiment.
Fun hack, I wouldn't have thought using CSS would be that much faster. I guess though that if all your moving parts are like this:
.sprite { position: absolute; top: (x)px, left: (y)px, z-index: (z); }
then the document layout isn't really changing and it should be super fast. Something like that? Have a demo somewhere we can look at?
I've been using html5 canvas for all my game prototypes for a few years now. But I like making tiny low spec games so I'm not really having canvas performance issues.
I think canvas optimization will catch up at some point (if it continues to be an html standard). Same thing that happened to the technique you're using. Those "DHTML" techniques were new and awesome circa 2000 but game performance was always too poor compared to Flash.
Your technique may be a good fallback plan for maintaining web games. That vanilla CSS is going to be supported long after any other game tech for browsers.
@Duion re: "making screenshots of anything is always fine" -- distributing screenshots you make is technically not always fine. An example I can think of, someone was selling unauthorized game walkthroughs using their own screenshots from the games and got in legal trouble.
Fair use is the only use you get for proprietary game screenshots, technically legally speaking. So screenshots of CC-BY-SA games have more legal uses, not fewer.
Fair use also applies to any CC license works of course. So anywhere you currently see screenshots being freely, fairly used then CC-BY-SA screenshots are allowed as well.
anotherGameDev,
All licenses on OpenGameArt allow for commercial use. But Share-Alike has the most consequences on traditional commercial methods.
Your game must be licensed CC-BY-SA to use CC-BY-SA assets. The "Share-Alike" clause basically means: I'm sharing my art, and you can sample/remix it into new art if you're also sharing.
Here's what this means, in my opinion.
If your game is Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA) then the expectation is that it's there to be remixed. People can take all the game's content and sell it under a new name, as long as they give credit to your original works and their new game is also Share-Alike.
You can sell games that are CC-BY-SA, but anyone can probably share a legal clone for free. This is barely different than for proprietary games, when people can pirate any game without much consequence.
You can sell premium items and run ads. But because you're allowing remixing, someone could probably bypass or remove your ads. Again, in real life people already cheat these things in mobile games.
I argue the Share-Alike license allows your fans to love and share and remix your work instead of treating them like pirates and cheats instead. Now, Here are some trickier details. I'm not a lawyer, this is just my experience with SA art.
CC-BY-SA definitely has nothing to do with Source Code. Let me explain this way. In proprietary commercial games they sell you a copy of the binary but not a copy of the source. So we know that source and binaries can have separate licenses. CC-BY-SA never mentions source code because it's an *art* license. It is copyleft *code* licenses like GPL that bring source code into release requirements.
If using a game engine that is decoupled from the game's art and data (obvious case is using an off the shelf engine), then it's accepted that your engine binary can be a completely separate license from the game art and data. What's your game is really the art and data part. The standalone engine binary is treated like generic software that will run arbitrary data, sort of like a media player. The Share-Alike license then only applies to your data and art, and not to the 3rd party engine. You can have a closed, proprietary game engine and still use CC-BY-SA game and data.
I think CC-BY-SA licensed games could benefit from non-traditional revenue streams. A name-your-own-price (including free) download is very much in the spirit of sharing-alike. Another good fit for making money from Share-Alike games is commissions or fundraising to make more art/content.
this is a great rock. The odd shape makes it super reusable in different rotations!
Side thought. When it comes to photogrammetric quality work, it's surprising at how few assets can be used to create large scenes. Check out the GDC talk "Star Wars: Battlefront and the Art of Photogrammetry".
A note: over time I have created more files that match these bases. They can be found in these two locations:
https://github.com/clintbellanger/flare-game/tree/master/art_src/characters/hero
https://github.com/clintbellanger/flare-game/tree/master/art_src/characters/heroine
All of these specific files are CC-BY licensed to match this OpenGameArt upload. Note that some other characters in Flare-Game may be CC-BY-SA and do not apply to my message here.
I'm in awe of how tiny and precise these are!
Anonamix, yes you can use this. The main requirement of using CC-BY licensed art is to attribute the original artist. So your credits can say something like "recycle icons by Clint Bellanger" or "additional art by Clint Bellanger".
The cloudy mountain image I attached can be used as a material-specific reflection map. You may not need this if you put the swords into a scene that already has an environnment map. (the image is public domain from Burning Well)
I'd like to create .obj (or similar) files for each of these that have materials setup to work correctly upon loading into Unity or Unreal. I don't have that figured out yet (any tips?). For now expect to tweak material settings if importing these into another system.
ShannonGames, all art on OpenGameArt can be used commercially.
This art is licensed CC-BY which basically means you can use it as long as you give credit. So e.g. put my name somwhere in your game's credits under "additional art by:"
Flare purposefully cuts a lot of corners to assume a single hero game. There would definitely be a lot of gutting of the code to make full squads work. Especially if you want to be able to control all of them simultaneously, or be able to command each one separately.
Some of that work may have been bridged because there is light support for Minions/Pets. So combat featuring multiple good-guy units is at least minimally functional.
Another feature to look out for is the Transform feature. Currently that's used to magically transform your character into a different enemy type. Really what it does is gives you the sprites and controls of that creature. Instead of using it to polymorph self, it could be modified to take control of a target unit. That could be one way of switching controls between the units on the squad.
If your game isn't a single player action RPG really close to this Diablo style, then Flare probably isn't the best fit. If you're more interested in code hacking than releasing a game, then Flare could be a fun place to experiment.
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