Allegiance Rebuild

cashto · Post by **cashto** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:56 pm

Still working on this. Can't share the details at this point, (other than it looks like I'll have to talk to Rick Rashid), but it seems I might have a chance of pulling this off. Not a large chance, but it's something.

Post by **zombywoof** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:16 pm

Globemaster_III wrote:QUOTE (Globemaster_III @ Mar 22 2015, 08:07 AM) the back of my head, my hair just standing up, cashto are setting himself up for a lawsuit from Microsoft, Microsoft is not in business of giving anything away for free

First of all, how is Cashto going to get a lawsuit from Microsoft for following Microsoft's internal procedures for getting a particular item's source code released?

Second, "Microsoft is not in business of giving anything away for free." Well except .net. Or directX. Or Allegiance. Or IE.

The thing old-timer business folks like you often miss is that "Free" is not the same as "No expected value." Let's take a look at a very popular game: League of Legends. They *give away* the game for free because they expect that you'll spend 40-50 dollars a year (some spend as much as $4000 a year, which blows my mind) on premium content like skins.

I once got a free meal from a restaurant that was absolutely free. The manager was there and said, "Well, I could make coupons that give away a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of product to people who bring in the coupon, or I could just give everyone a free pizza on our opening day and assume that our food is good enough for them to come back." MS isn't in the business of having short-term profit goals: they have always (and hopefully will always) played the long game. When presented with a decision they don't think, "What's good for our company today?" they think, "what's good for our company tomorrow?" It's part of why they're so damn big.

cashto · Post by **cashto** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:35 pm

Honestly I don't think Microsoft gives a @#(! about Allegiance -- hasn't since 2001. The noncommercial limitation is there because the MSR-SSLA was the "sensible default" at the time (and for some software released under the MSR-SSLA, maybe the noncommercial limitation makes sense).

But honestly no one at Microsoft cares whether anyone makes money off Allegiance or not. Even if we pirated the hell out of Allegiance, I doubt we would ever have to seriously worry about Microsoft legal ever darkening our door. They have much bigger fish to fry.

Still, it's worth it to protect not only FAO from legal liability, but Steam, Desura, and other partners as well. Plus it's just the right thing to do.

The hurdle is all about negotiating the bureaucracy and finding the right someone who can be arsed to lift a finger, because that's literally all it would take.

Post by **aem** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:09 pm

cashto wrote:QUOTE (cashto @ Mar 25 2015, 12:56 PM) Still working on this. Can't share the details at this point, (other than it looks like I'll have to talk to Rick Rashid), but it seems I might have a chance of pulling this off. Not a large chance, but it's something.

Yes Rick Rashid has always been the key if we want to make any real progress. He is the only one at Microsoft who cares about Allegiance and one of the few who even know about it. The problem has been he is too high up at MS to easily get in touch with. Who knows if he even has the power to quickly get the rights to this game released or more flexible. He isn't even in Microsoft Research anymore which may or may not make things more difficult.

My big concern is that Steam and possibly other digital game distribution platforms might not be willing to work with us if we do not own all rights to Allegiance. I'm not sure them moving to a more flexible license is enough.

cashto · Post by **cashto** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:10 pm

BTW, in the unexpected event that we can get Allegiance relicensed, we need to scrub the game and remove any other intellectual property that we don't know for certain that we own or have rights to, before we can put it on Steam.

I'm looking at you, Sobe lizards faction. Also I know the Phoenix models came from somewhere, we'll need to look at that license to make sure there is no noncommercial use clause or anything else that could cause a problem.

Anything else? Ambient noises? Images? Code contributions that didn't come from FAO?

Deathrender · Post by **Deathrender** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:35 pm

Sent to TotalBiscuit
QUOTE Hello Genna,

My name is Zachary and I'm part of a small community for a game called Allegiance. The majority of our active community have been in the works for working to promote our game to help revive our diminishing player-base. It came to my attention that there was an older video published on Youtube by TotalBiscuit (WTF Is... Moon Breakers?) where there was specific mention made of Allegiance and his supposed wish to someday discuss the game. I understand that you do not take requests for videos to produce. I also understand that this video mentioned was made in 2012 I would, however, like to inquire about what could be done to make this previously mentioned "review" of Allegiance happen?

Allegiance is entirely community-run. We have been this way since 2001. Our biggest problem since this time has been our ability to market and promote the game. Promoting this game has always been met with brick walls due to our small scale and lack of funds for dedicated advertisement. Recently, our player-base has been dwindling below 150 active players and the community is pulling together to find other ways to promote the game in previously restricted ways (due to our shared-source license) like Steam.

We have a small community fund of approximately $800. If your time is valued in that we would be required to pay you for the production of the video, I could discuss this with the rest of our marketing team and something could be worked out. Please understand that we are not in this for monetary gain. Our game has no fees. We are simply looking into ways to promote a game we enjoy and keep it alive and fun.

So in short, I would like to ask: Is there anything that can be done to have Allegiance reviewed/promoted? If there is anything that would be required, I'm sure the community can come together and meet those requirements.

Thank you for your time,

Zach[/quote]

Post by **zombywoof** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:07 pm

cashto wrote:QUOTE (cashto @ Mar 25 2015, 02:10 PM) BTW, in the unexpected event that we can get Allegiance relicensed, we need to scrub the game and remove any other intellectual property that we don't know for certain that we own or have rights to, before we can put it on Steam.

I'm looking at you, Sobe lizards faction. Also I know the Phoenix models came from somewhere, we'll need to look at that license to make sure there is no noncommercial use clause or anything else that could cause a problem.

Anything else? Ambient noises? Images? Code contributions that didn't come from FAO?

Dreg can just have a new logo. Probably should be done anyways.

Peenix can just die in a couch fire.

TheAlaskan · Post by **TheAlaskan** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:27 pm

The lizards are the bases but I can probably scrub those should The time come

MrChaos · Post by **MrChaos** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:35 pm

The ranking system is based on ideas from MSR but the code is FAO. Either TigerEye or SgtBaker can confirm. Someone help DuckWarrior up I believe he fainted from relief.

Interesting details about Cashto can be gleaned from the coorspondence. All of my interactions with MSR have been hyper friendly and very helpful... you know sort as if they were real people and not cartoon cut out versions of mustache twirling villians.

Oh and stop being an ageist FBD gIving away technology for free has been around for over a hundred years now probaby and successfully stayed that way even when superior technology came along... radio and then broadcast TV of course

MrChaos · Post by **MrChaos** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:47 pm

Oh and I have seen discussions about Noir buying ship models and seen a site selling them with my own eyes. IIRC they all cost him lesd than a 100 USD. Cannot reproduce the trial if you need more than my words but maybe SgtBaker can do it. If I understand right that means they have to go. I got an old couch