Master of Orion (1) source code?

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Sheldar
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Master of Orion (1) source code?

#1 Post by Sheldar »

It appears that MOO is considered Abandonware now. Anyone know if the original source code is floating around? Something like this has to be available to those who made the Mac version of MOO. It might be interesting to see the AI section of this and see if there is anything that can be used here. Alternately it might be possible to rebuild the source with updated graphics.

Anyone heard anything?

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eleazar
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#2 Post by eleazar »

The term "abandonware" has no legal meaning.

Even if the source is out there, there's nothing "that can be used here." Without overt action from the owner of the game, the code is still copyrighted and cannot be released with FO under the GPL.


Sure it would be cool if we could simply update MoO1, but that requires something more concrete than "is considered Abandonware".

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Sheldar
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#3 Post by Sheldar »

That is true. I forgot about that stricture in the GPL. Hmm. I wonder if the copywrite holder would be willing to donate it to open source.

Even if the answer was yes, we probably still couldn't use the AI but it would very interesting to see how they ballanced the AI originally.

Moriarty
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Re: Master of Orion (1) source code?

#4 Post by Moriarty »

A significant chunk of the problem would be finding who owns the code in the first place. Chances are they don't know they own it and have probably lost it (it is well over a decade now).
And if they haven't yet, there's only about 80+ years until it leaves copyright. :?

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eleazar
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Re: Master of Orion (1) source code?

#5 Post by eleazar »

Moriarty wrote:there's only about 80+ years until it leaves copyright. :?
:wink: Progress may be a bit slow, but I bet we can get FO written from scratch first!

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