ProjectCB Official Board

[SmartRoss1 0]

Please Read:

Due to a bug in the forum software, page 4 won't display. To fix this, go to the part of the URL where you see &STARTPAGE= . Change the value after the = to 4, and you should be able to see the page. YES! Page-flip bug fixed!

This is a proposal based on the Simtropolis 1000 idea, located in the Sim City Societies board. However, that project didn't get very far, and even if it did get started there would be just too much work to do to actually get even an Alpha release; even with a community as large as Simtropolis.

My idea is, then, that instead of programming and doing-up a game entirely from scratch, we can take an existing Open Source City-Builder and modify the code and graphics to make it truly Simtropolis-like. Because it is Open Source we can legally distribute it.

I have chosen LinCity-NG for the base system, as it is readily available and easy to tweak. Here is a taster-shot of the main menu:

With the source code, this is rather easy to change quite radically. Here is a modification that I made to the main menu in 10 minutes:

OK, you can see that it's a rushed job, but it just goes to show how simple it is to do.

I feel that I am in a good position to administrate the project, as I can do most of the stuff required to a reasonable extent, including C++ programming. I am looking for as many volunteers as the community can provide, however it would be useful if you can actually do (and have the time to do) something which would help with the project. If you know somebody who might be able to help, then please refer them to this page.

There may be an actual website set up for this at some point to make it easier to find, but only if people are interested enough to want something like this done.

-Simtropolis: The Game - Administrator

[baertooth 330]

This had been talked about several times.  If you want to maintain the project, I say, go for it!

One caveat, the artwork might not be "open source" and you'll probably have to make new splash screens and such.

[sam_kan 1]

Here we trying to create as i could say clone of the sim city,creating such and open source game, is a great idea, i already started that but in another game if u heared of its called Transport Tycoon Deluxe made by Chris Sawyer and helped in the open ttdx which is its clone open sourced game, i guess we could do the same here as well, i know that dreaming of creating such a game was just a fantasy, but hey we could even if we r gonna start it from scratch...

About that coding it may involve,Mixing load of varieties in it and load of concepts in a more realistic way , not only building ur city, we can make one that evolve with time , such defending and strategy thinking and organizing it(getting more stratigec, like the concept of following games: civilization, age of empires, empire earth and rise of nations, generals etc.), and controlling the economy and finance and production more realistic (like capitalism, industry giant, car tycoon and monopoly,roller coster tycoon, Airport tycoon and other tycoon games), u know like indulging the concept of games together with others like (sim sity, tropico, city-life Cities XL , new york city tycoon with other sim games like we do here import files from The SiMs, M.S. FSX, M.S. S.S.,M.S. T.S., Transport Giant, Traffic Giant, Transport tycoon (ancient game i know i have it still play it and modifing it) chris saywr Locomotion etc ), and lastly managing peoples need and wants in a more realistic way,isnt this the concept of the NEW SIM CITY SOCIOCITIES based on but i guess it failed to do so and its not of that good its like being a bigger picture of the SIMS but u r to manipulate the buildings more often,.....

[sam_kan 1]

and hey we have here loads of ppl who r good at handling graphics in 3dmax or Gmax and bating as well as loting and modding and there r others who r good at programming as well we can make a team to start out such project, inspite of my busy time but hey i could help with programming and graphix

[sam_kan 1]

as the lin city there is http://www.openttd.org/ its an open source transport tycoon

[SmartRoss1 0]

baertooth: Thanks for the comments!

sam_kan: I agree; there are loads of BATters and modders at Simtropolis who could help quite a bit, and thanks for volunteering! I'm just going to try and set up an online file storage site for the development files (for obvious reasons). Unless you are running Linux I would suggest installing it in an emulation (VMWare Server works very well, I am writing this within an emulated Ubuntu 8.04) as the source code uses Linux Shell Scripts to configure itself.

From now any genuine volunteers will be invited to a file collboration site.

-Simtropolis: The Game - Administrator

[Patricius Maximus 236]

It appears that the ST-1000 project has been resurrected from the dead, at least for the moment. While I have no programming skills or anything that could help in making a game, I give the backers of this project my full support.

It is a worthwhile endeavour. We'll see what comes out of it.

Good luck.

[mayorkotsios 0]

Hey people.

I only just recently saw this thread and I have to say i nearly flipped out of my seat! An open source simcity would be ideal.

I have some limited skills in c++, some experience with 3ds max so i would be glad to offer any help if needed. Also the programming experience wouldn't hurt, since i'm currently studying computer engineering ;-)

Ok, you got me all excited, don't let me down! Good luck to everyone involved. PM me if you need anything

[TV-VCR 14]

No.

[SmartRoss1 0]

mayorkotsios: Thank you for volunteering. If you could PM me your e-mail address then I will invite you to the file collaboration site.

TV-VCR: What do you mean? Was your post shortened? All I can see is 'No.', if that was all you meant to say, then oculd you please elaborate?

-Simtropolis: The Game - Administrator

[fukuda 351]

Something that might interest you

[SmartRoss1 0]

fukuda: Mon parlez un petit pous Francais,I'll presume that it had something to do with images, but thanks for the link, anyway!

[IGGYMAN 101 1]

i WILL BE HELP YOU

[Hahayoudied 3]

Where are we going to get the fundings for the project? Also, if we do release the game, how are we going to sell the game?

[SmartRoss1 0]

Sorry for the long period of inactivity; I've been doing a lot and I'm about to re-install Windows Vista because of some buggy SP1 thing, so it will be a week or two before I can go any further.

IGGYMAN 101: Thanks for the offer! Obviously, you can't help much if you can't do anything that's useful, but I would appreciate the moral support (and I'm sure the existing team of 2 would too). If you can do anything of help, then please say so and your talents can be put to good use.

Hahayoudied: We don't really need fundings, as we're not starting from scratch, and it was intended to be open-source, and that means no need to sell anything. There isn't a problem with this, as long as any volunteers are aware that the only reward if/when we finish this is glory.

In a week or two, this project will be back in business and we should get somewhere...

-Simtropolis: The Game - Administrator

[mike007lp 0]

Awesome, and I'm sure it'll be more fun then SCS, I wish you good luck.

[rct3twins 14]

Wow, man. Good luck. Full support. Although when Cities XL comes out...

[SmartRoss1 0]

Right, my buggy computer is fixed, and I will shortly be restarting development!

mike007lp: Thank you for the comments; a first version might not be different, but if lots of volunteers come along and add some Simtropolis flair then we might have something interesting...

rct3twins: I know... To tell you the truth, I only saw that today. We may eventually be as good as that, but, let's face it, OpenSource vs. Big-company-with-loads-of-resources. I know who my money would be on, but, hey, some people may want a free city builder, branded with the name of their favourite forum.

[SmartRoss1 0]

UPDATE

I have just created an e-mail address specifically for this project. If you would rather your question be answered privately, or if you have any data to offer to the project, then please send an email to

simtropolis-the-game@gmail.com

Everything is set up, development should begin tomorrow!

-Simtropolis: The Game - Administrator

[star.torturer 0]

hey SmartRoss1

you say your the administrator???

LOL

LOL

[Yeah_Right 2]

i like your ambition,

and don't think of me as one of those pessimistic users,

but logically,

what is to stop me playing sc4 over ST:g?

[like my name lol? ST:g]

even if me and my mates got together

and started programming for this game,

what would it achieve?

will people still play this?

frankly its like pissing in the wind.

sorry for being blunt,

but i will have a talk about it with my mates, and will email you

about our decision.

if it is a positive then u will get an extra 4 or 5 programmers onboard.

it will be awesome to create a revolutionary game.

talk to you soon.

p.s yes we are experienced programmers, no *****s lol

[Yeah_Right 2]

we are planning to run our own tiny software company,

making small inventions and such,

our skills are:

Compiler optimization

Event-driven programming

Functional programming

Imperative programming

Object-oriented programming.

these are our major skills,

and we use languages such as

C++

C#

PHP

Python (wont be any use here lol)

Java.

well now that i have seen the game etc

i think the boys will like to come onboard.

not a 100% sure yet though

[SmartRoss1 0]

Yeah_Right: Yes, I do like that abbreviation (ST:g). I'll make that the official abbreviation. Anyway, thank you for offering! I personally can only program in C++ a little, as for C# PHP and Java, well...

It would be excellent to have you on the team, please let me know when you've reached a conclusion.

-ST:g - Administrator

[SmartRoss1 0]

OK, Development Shot 1:

This isn't set in stone; it's just an idea. All I have done is taken some images from the header of the forum site and banged them all together. If anybody has any ideas for the background, then please let me know. I am concentrating on the background before the buttons.

-ST:g - Administrator

[TV-VCR 14]

SmartRoss1, I don't think this will get very far unless you make "ST:g" from scratch.

13:06

- Joined: Ultraviolet123 (n=*removed*)

- Topic: Official channel of Lincity and Lincity-NG - http://lincity-ng.berlios.de -- CIA is watching us! (Stats on http://cia.vc )

- Set by Mirrakor at 13:29 on Saturday 01 March 2008

- Channel opened at 00:43 on Sunday 26 November 2006

13:07

<Ultraviolet123> I have a question

13:08

<WolfgangB> ok

13:10

<Ultraviolet123> Would it be appropriate for a person to grab LinCity's code, modify it to their will, and then release it as their own game?

13:11

<WolfgangB> absolutely not.

<Ultraviolet123> Ok

<Ultraviolet123> What if they gave credit to the authors (berliOS)

13:12

<WolfgangB> no.

<WolfgangB> btw berlios is not the author but the hoster

<Ultraviolet123> oh

13:13

<Ultraviolet123> Who made it

<Ultraviolet123> ?

13:14

<WolfgangB> mainly the people listed in credits

13:15

<Ultraviolet123> ok, thanks

<Ultraviolet123> cheers

quote>

[sebbyb07 2]

in addition has dirk actually agreed to you using the simtropolis name?

and if you need any help with graphics and such, images for the front page ect just pm me!

[luudan 6]

no

[pagenotfound 53]

Absolutely not. Oh and stop with the copy and paste crap.

[simmaster07 1,220]

Hmm... this could be a good idea, but you're going to need permission from Dirk to use the Simtropolis name. If you do get permission, you might want to rename it. I find the whole "The Game" thing kind of... repetitive. So... maybe ST Stories would be a good name. Ah, open-source software. The GPL. I'm typing this up on Linux with some modifications and tweaks right now. I've started making a website for the purpose of this project. Oh, and change the banner. Please. I'd like to design your website and graphics. But maintaining this project might be hard, and remember... you need to release it under the GPL... you need to release the source code to your project... and you need to let people redistribute it as they please. To use a program released under the GPL means you need to obey the GPL as well... maybe I should manage the licenses too. Anyways... if you need to contact me, I'm at admin@udpx.x10hosting.com (yes, that's an e-mail address for my website). if you don't get permission to use the name, how about naming it, maybe... City Maximized. (CityMax)? Hmm... Also, you'll need to change the buildings in the game as well, and some of the features (add disasters?) or it'll be a repeat of Lincity... with different menu graphics.

[TV-VCR 14]

Originally posted by: simmaster07

Originally posted by: TV-VCR SmartRoss1, I don't think this will get very far unless you make "ST:g" from scratch.

13:06

- Joined: Ultraviolet123 (n=*removed*)

- Topic: Official channel of Lincity and Lincity-NG - http://lincity-ng.berlios.de -- CIA is watching us! (Stats on http://cia.vc )

- Set by Mirrakor at 13:29 on Saturday 01 March 2008

- Channel opened at 00:43 on Sunday 26 November 2006

13:07

<Ultraviolet123> I have a question

13:08

<WolfgangB> ok

13:10

<Ultraviolet123> Would it be appropriate for a person to grab LinCity's code, modify it to their will, and then release it as their own game?

13:11

<WolfgangB> absolutely not.

<Ultraviolet123> Ok

<Ultraviolet123> What if they gave credit to the authors (berliOS)

13:12

<WolfgangB> no.

<WolfgangB> btw berlios is not the author but the hoster

<Ultraviolet123> oh

13:13

<Ultraviolet123> Who made it

<Ultraviolet123> ?

13:14

<WolfgangB> mainly the people listed in credits

13:15

<Ultraviolet123> ok, thanks

<Ultraviolet123> cheers

quote>

quote>

Who is WolfgangB and why is he telling him modifying the code of LinCity is illegal? I'm sure Lincity is released under the GPL, giving us the right to freely remake and redistribute the game as we please. quote>

He was a channel op in there, and according to the BerliOS site he is a project administrator of Lincity.

Lincity is released under GPL. Here is part of the license:

You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion

of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and

distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1

above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

    a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices

    stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

    b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in

    whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any

    part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third

    parties under the terms of this License.

    c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively

    when run, you must cause it, when started running for such

    interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an

    announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a

    notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide

    a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under

    these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this

    License.  (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but

    does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on

    the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

quote>

Bear in mind I put that portion of the license there just for reference, not to back up any "claim" I may have made. Actually it seems WolfgangB's thoughts on the matter conflict with the license a little bit.