Greetings. Some fo you may remember me from posting messages around the forum sometimes. I was going to do a Mod based on an original story known as Astroseries. Well, nothing says that I won't actually ever do it However, right now I am not on it.
The question is the following one: I am making a Macromedia Flash videogame (featuring Astroseries, precisely), that I will probably distribute around. I have been checking the VegaStrike .ogg musics and I found a good deal of them to be terrific. Are these musics royalty free? Can I use them in my Flash and other games without any problems? If yes I don't have any problems in citing the original source of them
However, I cannot give money. But then again the videogames will be for free.
That raises an interesting question. How is the Vegastrike content liscensed? Personally, I don't think the GPL would be appropriate for the content. It should probably depend on the artist's preference, so plain old copyright (or perhaps a short distribution/copying liscense or Creative Commons) might be the way to go.
The GPL covers anything necessary for a program to function (in VS case its the engine (source) and game data for the game itself to run. My understanding is this would then include artwork, models, written content etc as its all integral to Vegastrike the game.
I think it is that any contributions by anyone comes under the GPL. You can't have GPL where a program incorporates more restricted material. BUT, separate items are OK e.g. a database program is OS, but the data used is your own proprietary. The program is functional without your data. If your data was crucial for the program to run, (wouldn't function without it), then its part of the program and under GPL or similar license.
I wouldn't consider models, textures, music, and so forth crucial for the game to run. For it to be playable, probably, but I don't think that's a condition of the GPL.
Whatever works, though. Just as long as everyone is okay with their art being used freely in other GPL projects.
OK, I will assume the answer to my question is: "No."
I think this is the safest assumption given the question that my question raised . OK don't worry, I wont use any of the musics then. Anyways, thanks for answering me.
Actually, the answer is a "yes", but we have to first decide on a suitable license for when the music is distributed seperately. So...if you wait for a bit, you will be able to use the music
Dan.a
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
-- Pablo Picasso
That's a toughie. Strictly speaking, any artwork is not technically derived from any of the GPL-covered work (i.e. the code), so it doesn't naturally inherit the license as code would. It can, however, be licensed in any form by the copyright holder. But who is the copyright holder?
Is the artist still the copyright holder? What rights and restrictions would then be granted to the Vega Strike Project? Could the artist later revoke the content? I don't think the Project wants that at all.
Does the Vega Strike Project hold the copyright? That way the Project could ensure that its content retains its identity. Common practice I believe dictates that when content is submitted to such a group that the artist surrenders all copyrights to the group -- but that's never been stated here, so it's not at this time a valid statement. We'd have to put it in writing, and then ask all the artists who've already submitted to retroactively surrender the copyrights to their content. And we'd have to have a formal process for the submission and acceptance of content.
If the content becomes owned by the VSP, does it then get granted the GPL, or does it have its own VS content license? If the artist retains the copyright, is VS granted the right to use it as "we" see fit for eternity?
I don't think any of our contributors would have any problem with whatever's chosen. But if this game becomes wildly popular (and we all want it to, right?) than it may become a very real issue. Might as well work this out now.
I am planning on putting my current VS music, and all future music, under a Creative Commons audio license (http://creativecommons.org/audio/). Pretty much in tune with the GPL, but actually specifically applying to audio. It would be nice if Ken gave his OK to do the same.
pincushionman wrote:If the content becomes owned by the VSP, does it then get granted the GPL, or does it have its own VS content license? If the artist retains the copyright, is VS granted the right to use it as "we" see fit for eternity?
I'm under the impression that that liscense and copyright are different things- Say, music or artwork could be copyrighted by the artist and distrubuted under a certain liscense (such as CC or GPL). Users would be allowed to copy, distribute, and modify said works under the terms of that liscense, but the author still retains the copyright.
As far as I can see, yo are right. Specifically, a license is the list of rights and restrictions granted to an end user by the copyright holder for a particular intellectual property.
The issue I was talking about was whether or not the copyright holders should surrender the copyright to the Vega Strike Project when they submit their material to the Project. The Project could then release the material under any license equal to or less restrictive than what it had been previously released under.
It may seem less open-source minded than some may like, but it may be in our best interests to restrict the use of artwork created soley for use in Vegastrike, rather than GPL'ling it, to ensure that it retains its proper association with Vega Strike, rather than just being "hey, I was browsing the 'net and found all these cool ships these dudes made that we can use for free for our game!"
Having the VSP own the copyrights outright would make this more feasible.
Apologies to whoever thinks this makes me a bastard.
I would also lean towards more restrictive liscenses on the art end, at least going more with creative commons to protect the interests of the artists.
However, I see no reason for the artists to have to surrender their copyrights to the project. How would we derive any benifit from that?
The only plus it could possibly offer would be it would grant the Project the authority to control the distribution of said material. As it stands, I can give the same material to the VSP and at the same time send the same models to any and all other spaceflight games I choose, which would make it not unique to Vegastrike.
I don't think any of our contributors would do that though. For all practical purposes, it's more of an issue of policy and procedure than anything else.
OK don't worry about me. I will not use any of the artworks (graphic nor musical) present in VegaStrike. Seems I brought up an important topic for you, though
Vega Strike art should be at least as free as the code. That means people should be able to (and can) borrow art from the Vega Strike data and music modules for their own games/projects (in accordance with the license the art is offered under).
I just saw something interesting in section 2 of the GPL:
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.
This was brought to my attention in a distribution of Timewarp that contained music remixes. This was to say that under the GPL, the music (and presumably by extension, the graphics) were only to be distributed with timewarp.
So, by default, the 'mere aggregate' content of vegastrike is only to be distributed with vegastrike and is not freely useable by other GPL projects. However, if it is liscensed seperately (such as peteyg liscensing his music under creative commons) it can still be used in some cases.
Basically, I believe that the freeness of the art is something that Vega Strike requires. A full open source experience. That section of the GPL would allow a team to create their own art and include it with a Vega Strike executable, but license their art any way they wanted to. It also lets the Privateer Remake distribute Origin art without inappropriately giving the legal impression that the Origin art is somehow open source.
But given the open source nature of the Vega Strike project, I don't think that artwork that does not have some flavor of openness should be accepted.
However, right now I am not on it.
. OK don't worry, I wont use any of the musics then. Anyways, thanks for answering me. 