Blog! Team! Forum! About Apricot! Press! Gallery! Development! Yo Frankie! Apricot Open Game Project mee!
Aug 2

Spreading the word!

icon1 venomgfx | icon2 Apricot Press, Blogroll, Uncategorized | icon4 08 2nd, 2008


GDC Students and PabloLast weekend I’ve been out of the Blender Institute, spending it in what would be a presentation of Yo Frankie! on the Game Development Campus 2008, in the University of Aalborg, Denmark.

The goal of the Camp was to share ideas about games, get to know each other, make groups, and then each group (7 groups in total, with 6 people each) will have to develop a game for the end of the week, using Blender as the Game Engine where all the games will run.

It ended up being lot more than that!Β  met a lot of people and made very good friends over there.

But the good news are that they are releasing all the games under the Creative Commons license! quoted from the Press Release:

“Inspired by the open-source game project, Yo Frankie!, all the teams have decided to release their games under the Creative Commons license.
The teams decide on the specifics for the licenses individually. This means that the games created at the summer camp will be made available on the website, along with all the code, 3D models and textures. All the games will run on all operating systems (Mac, Linux and Windows).”

And is all thanks to you people for making this game as Open as it is, sharing characters, animations, textures, and helping with constant feedback.

Also, the Game Development Camp is going to be giving away each student in the camp a copy of Yo Frankie!, and the Essential Blender book. Isn’t that awesome?

GDC CrewSadly I had to hop back to Amsterdam and couldn’t spend the entire week there, we have to finish a game here!, but I will love to attend next year πŸ™‚

Here you can see the Official Press Release.

Games OnLine!:
Check them out here.

Each game have its own section there, where you can see:

  • Group’s Blog (Danish)
  • Download Source Code (.blend file)
  • Download Game (.zip)
    It’s .exe, but they run perfectly under Wine, however you can always download the blend file and press P, or save your own runtime file. πŸ™‚

Updated the Press section in this site as well.

Thanks to everyone there, I had a great experience and learned a lot, see you next year!
(charlieee!)

29 Responses

  1. n-pigeon on

    I just love Blender community πŸ˜€



  2. MrE on

    I’m impressed, i’m still in the stage of installing Blender in under a week.

    I really like to see what these people have come up with.



  3. Pappenheimer on

    The sparks of your passion hit them, and now, flying sparks of the open source spirit everywhere! πŸ˜‰



  4. Exgringo on

    Venom rlz (L)



  5. Justin on

    I really wish other Open Source graphics projects would learn from the example set forth by Blender. Outstanding. I can’t wait to get Yo Frankie! in my grubby mitts.



  6. Mal on

    I had a look at their blogs, I didn’t realise that most of them were actually using Blender and the GE to make their games – that is VERY cool!!!



  7. venomgfx on

    quoted from myself:

    “using Blender as the Game Engine where all the games will run…”

    πŸ˜€

    and yes I love how open source affects everyone in such a nice way, first is shocking and people can’t easily believe that is all open for anyone to do whatever they want with it, but once they get the idea they start to love it! and involve themselves in the process.



  8. David Kofoed Wind on

    I was one of the participants at Game Development Camp 2008. I want to say, that i truly love the Blender foundation and the initiative, with complete “openness”. I am from the group which made the game “Maggy”. We are thinking about keep working on the game, and maybe help out with developing the GE. Thanks for all the help Pablo, hope to see you again someday πŸ™‚

    (i was the guy with the “chain problem”)



  9. Walter Doubleyoothreecee on

    If you look at their web site layout, you wouldn’t believe that they can actually make good game graphics πŸ˜‰



  10. Lasphere on

    Yearh Denmark (and Blender) rocks..! Just cant stop saying it.. πŸ˜›



  11. Mal on

    quoted from myself:
    β€œusing Blender as the Game Engine where all the games will run…”

    lol – how did I miss that!!! Doh! πŸ™‚



  12. J on

    More game code for me to steal. Ya!



  13. venomgfx on

    @ J, is not stealing if the code is open and free!, sorry to ruin your joyness πŸ˜›



  14. Francisco Ortiz on

    Congratulations everyone!

    Loved “Maggy” it’s awesome! Clever concept, character design fits the game… Very fun to play! Clever use of physics, BTW. Just need to improve the scenario textures a little bit, but that’s easy πŸ˜‰



  15. venomgfx on

    worth to say that this was made in 1 week by mostly non-3D people, they just started.

    im very happy with the result, good job guys!



  16. J.B. Nicholson-Owens on

    I don’t read Danish so I don’t know what their blogs say. I wanted to thank you all for sharing your work and suggest that you all choose a license for your code that is meant for use with computer source code.

    Your article here makes it sound like CC licenses are being used for computer software (“But the good news are that they are releasing all the games under the Creative Commons license!”) and it makes the common error of talking about “the Creative Commons license” when in fact there are many CC licenses and they don’t all say the same thing. Some might qualify as a free work, others definitely do not.

    The Creative Commons licenses are not meant for use with computer software. Creative Commons recommends some licenses for computer code (and has “wrapped” some licenses with their plain-language description and hosted copies on their website). I’d recommend licensing under the GNU General Public License version 3.0 or later as that license has provisions to make sure that derivative works stay Free Software but I’ll be happy so long as any Free Software license is chosen.

    Thanks!



  17. venomgfx on

    @ J.B. Nicholson-Owens, hey there, yes I should be more clear about that, but since in the press release it says that it was inspired by “YoFrankie!” then is more likely that they’re using the same license that we are, CC by.



  18. Francisco Ortiz on

    @J.B.Nicholson-Owens:

    You don’t read Danish but you probably read English so please read this post entirely (“…working to get all translated to English”).

    And the kids are doing right! First you need to publish the job using your own language; respecting your own culture.

    The name of this post is “Spreading the word”.
    Apricot is “Spreading the world”
    as well… And… The world (OMG, that’s amazing!) uses other words than English :). You should see this post as an opportunity to learn Danish just a liiiittle bit and expand your culture boundaries instead of living inside a courthouse.

    BTW,
    Sorry: i’m not able to use your language, please make an effort to see my point of view.
    Thank you.



  19. Mini on

    Hello everyone, i was one of the attendees at the Game Developement Camp (Programmer at the Shake It! Game)

    I know that the organizers is working very hard on getting everything up and running.

    Each team / game have choosen their own Creative Commons license, and i think that the exact licenses will show up on the page in a few days, it’s just a matter of all groups replying to the organizers what exact licens they have choosen.

    I would like to take the time to say many thanks for the teaching at GDC, Pablo, it really was an honor to have you staying at the GDC πŸ™‚



  20. Mini on

    Oh, i just forgot to add, google have somewhat reasonable support for danish in their online translator, so following http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgame.unf.dk&hl=da&ie=UTF8&sl=da&tl=en should make it somewhat possible for foreigners to understand most of the contents πŸ˜‰



  21. J.B. Nicholson-Owens on

    @ Francisco Ortiz: Your response is a non sequitur. What you have written does not follow from anything I wrote. I suggest you re-read what I wrote. You aren’t addressing any substantive points in my post. You seem to take offence at something I wrote but it’s not clear why.

    The issue here has nothing to do with language, the main issue has to do with licensing. I mentioned the language barrier in order to inform readers that I can’t evaluate what the Danish programmers are doing by reading their own words. This way it’s clear that I have gathered all my information about this situation from this blog and this post. No blame is placed.

    I can only hope the Danish programmers will stop following a bad example. The “Yo Frankie!” team is inappropriately licensing their computer program by choosing a license not fit for computer software. This program has not been released yet so this can be fixed and I hope it will be fixed. It does not follow that more people should develop more computer programs that are also inappropriately licensed.

    I’m sure everyone here is grateful that the developers intend to share their work with the world allowing even commercial modification and distribution. I certainly am. That gratitude doesn’t change the fact that CC tells us their licenses aren’t for computer programs: “Creative Commons licenses are not intended to apply to software. They should not be used for software.” as I pointed to in my previous post. I can only hope there’s a Danish translation of this FAQ so you can more clearly see the point.



  22. Vexelius on

    … Mr. “complex nickname in order to gain some free respect”, I have a question for you: What do you plan to win out of your “amazing discovery”? To gain a place in the Yo Frankie! credits for finding an obscure licensing error that no one cares about? Man, that’s something which anyone with the “Reading” skill would do.

    Following a bad example? Hey, their main purpose isn’t to follow a license to the point, but to make something innovative and share their work to others… And that’s a very good example to follow! In fact, you know? If some other projects follow this “bad example” and put their software under the CC License, maybe the CC guys will decide to open the license to software oficially, which would broaden their perspective and potentially benefit everyone… Well, one of the benefits would be to avoid annoying rants like yours.

    If you want some regard or at least, attention, try to do something that others might enjoy.



  23. Epsilorn on

    Don’t know why everyone is going against J.B. Nicholson-Owens in this childish way, he pointed out something in a respectful manner and explaining his own reasons. Could be that by your point of view he is not right, but for everyone expressing their own reasons is the basis of freedom and democracy. Why everytime someone is singing out of tune has to be treated like that?



  24. Emil Kjaehr on

    Hi there!

    The site has just been launched in English.
    Sorry for taking so long. If there’s anything we missed, let us know and we will fix it ASAP. πŸ™‚

    About the Creative Commons not being fit for software – thanks for pointing that out for us – we will keep that in mind for the camps in 2009. πŸ™‚



  25. Henk on

    I think Epsilorn is right, why bash on J.B. Nicholson-Owens? I think he’s got a good point., @Vexelius, why do you think a project should have any kind of licensing if “no one cares about” them? If you use a license, why not choose the right one? A lot of them are available for software already, why should CC ‘broaden their perspective’? Just my 10 cents.

    Back on subject: thanks Emil Kjaehr, for the translation and your sane response.



  26. Artisten on

    Thanks, I will check out those games ASAP!

    Since I’m Norwegian I understand Danish, so the blog language is no problem for me πŸ˜€



  27. Vexelius on

    @Henk: For convenience’s sake, not everyone has the time to read through every one to make sure it’s the right one, and for convenience’s sake again. My response to your 10 cents…

    BTW, I’m not “bashing” that guy without reasons: First, this apricot project has had its share of trolls for a while, and I’m growing tired of these guys lately. Second, he was able to explain his point perfectly, and still, keeps saying “you’re wrong!”, what exactly does he plans to do? Anyone can critic… And third, the fact that you and Epsilorn suddenly decided to add some comments to support him, without appearing to say “Thanks!” at any other of the amazing moments of this project really makes me think that you are that same guy…



  28. Tim Garbos on

    Hey, I’m part of the crew behind this project.

    About the licensing, I have to say that each of the groups behind the games, have chosen their own license. No one has been forced to use CC and some of the games was in fact released under LGPL and BSD license.
    More info about the games license will become available soon.

    Oh and thanks for spreading the word, it’s awesome.



  29. help on

    whot can you do with blender 3d ??
    you can make a game or film. but if you whot to sale the game or film HOw ??
    If you use blender 3d software can you make a game for sale in the shop ??
    but not the blender 3d software.. But I have see the sale of big buck bunny on sale in uk shop
    and on website blender E-shop , I have see the game call Apricot open game DVD ??? do’s this meen
    this game is for sale ?? if this game is on sale it is make in blender 3d open source free software.
    on the net so paple are saleing film that is make in blender 3d..
    and some game’s I have find some game for sale whot was make in blender 3d .. if you go to google vidoe
    ask for blender game’s you will find some 1 of them call super3boy is make game to sale he is asking for $20.00
    it is make in blender 3d open source free softare