Jace Hall's Blood project at posty.

[Tchernobog]

I like the Kickstarter idea - if that does go anywhere and assuming they would put Linux and Mac support as an option on there (a condition of any good Kickstarter) I am sure I could rally up some Linux gaming troops to try and help out.

[N0t_mINe]

Latest from the Jace thread at the Postmortem:

with thatRe: Greetings to the Blood Community

Postby JaceHall » Aug 5th, 2012, 11:50
Hey all...

Just need to make a couple things clear to avoid confusion:

Of course I have the source code for Blood in my possesion - however, that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not it could ever be released to the public, and I want to make it clear that it is not my decision. AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND that the companies that can make that decision are not inclined to ever do so in my opinion.

My inquiry here on this forum is not oriented toward trying to lobby companies for a Blood public source code release. I will leave that campaign and effort to others and wish them the best of luck .

My inquiry, interest and potential goals in regard to Blood and the community are only as stated previously - which are goals that I know I have a reasonable chance of accomplishing if I make the decision to put the time, effort and money into it all and get the help and support of the community.

I have no desire to negatively affect Blood in any way, so rest assured that if I get the sense that the community doesn't want me to get involved with this again I will decide not to move forward and just move on to other things. So please know that I'm not trying to force anything. I just thought it would be great to bring the original Blood game back PROPERLY so that we all could play it again! I would start there, and then just see what happens. The project would hopefully grow organically from that point.

I hope that made sense.

It's starting to look like a limited or closed source release is what's being pursued. If you haven't posted over there yet I hope you will do so even if you have to create an account just for the occasion, as I have done. Be mindful of all forum rules and as always, stay on topic as posts that stray are being removed. Please use the link here http://www.the-postmortem.com/forum/vie ... 9&start=75 To go to Jace's latest post,
or use the link at the beginning of this thread to start from the Jace's first post over at Posty.

[N0t_mINe]

I don't think it's a good idea to start harassing both Jace and Saettler now for the source since it's not up to them to release it. The main thing here is to concentrate on the possibility of a proper re-release of our beloved game.

This

Now would be the absolute worst timing for incriminations of any sort. These people are professionals and asking them to take risks involving copyrights has got to be the lamest thing I can think of to do.

I just posted on that thread a couple of minutes ago. I hope it went through as I didn't see my post there afterwards. I'm used to the Transfusion and perhaps it takes a while to update (maybe a lot of users at once?)

Remember that the gaming media has been spreading rumors left and right. Postmortem has to err on the side of caution in this situation. They can't patrol the threads and read every post that they're being flooded with. Sometimes they might have to temporarily close threads outright, read through the latest "harvest" and post those that seem safe enough. You can't take it personally.

at least we know who to bitch slap to get the code now if he does'nt follow through on his words

I know you're just kidding, but because there are those out there who might not understand...
Jason Hall is a human being. He has influence and some money that he's willing to invest in getting a legal port of classic Blood. He may fail in getting Atari to listen. If you want to get mad, get mad at Atari.

[Wrim]

It would be awesome if that thread wasn't all about the source code....

[dosgamer000]

Remember that the gaming media has been spreading rumors left and right. Postmortem has to err on the side of caution in this situation. They can't patrol the threads and read every post that they're being flooded with. Sometimes they might have to temporarily close threads outright, read through the latest "harvest" and post those that seem safe enough. You can't take it personally.

Well it did appear on the forum after I checked it again later, but as of yesterday I believe it was deleted, probably because of it being off topic (half of it being Blood 2/Blood 3 related.) I'm not offended in anyway, I believe I understand why they did it but I'm not sure if Jace Hall read my message or not. Even if he didn't, there will undoubtedly be talk of more Blood installments in the future and I'll most likely have more than enough chances to get my thoughts across, one way or another.

It would be awesome if that thread wasn't all about the source code....

I suppose it's possible for you and other Bloodites to talk about the stuff that doesn't fit into the Posty topic (Blood 1 source port/source code stuff) in this thread, although I think Postmortem has a thread (I think) about their reactions to Jace Hall speaking to the Blood community which might serve the same purpose. I don't know as I haven't browsed it.

[N0t_mINe]

A new one from Jace at Posty:

Re: Greetings to the Blood Community

Postby JaceHall » Aug 9th, 2012, 10:59
Hello all.

I did not expect such a tremendous response from my basic inquiry but it is good to see and has certainly encouraged me further as I evaluate this.

I've seen a lot of good ideas and wish list items, and it would be great if there was some way to create an ongoing master list that everyone can see and contribute to so that it can be available if I decide to really move forward on the idea.

I have reached out to all the necessary companies/rights holders to verify that previous conversations that I have had with them in the past are still valid and so I am waiting to hear back on the status of that before I can come to any final conclusion in the matter. At the moment, Gamescon is a bit of a distraction for them but after that I should be able to better engage and get to the bottom of things.

We shall see how this goes. Baby steps.
Jace

As always, use the links above to visit posty directly and contribute your thoughts. Stay on topic or your post might not get through and good manners are expected. Also, try to avoid repeating what's already been said in more than 10 posts by others (read through the thread b4 you post). It maybe a several hours or a day before your post appears because of all the rumors going around in the gaming media (Jace Hall making Blood4.5 OMGFBBQ!!!).

[N0t_mINe]

Wrim said:

It would be awesome if that thread wasn't all about the source code....

Life is about the source code!

[Daedolon]

Well it did appear on the forum after I checked it again later, but as of yesterday I believe it was deleted, probably because of it being off topic (half of it being Blood 2/Blood 3 related.)

I think you posted in the midst of the biggest chunk of new users joining and we couldn't even keep up with all of the posts; There were so many offtopic ones, some with even the most ridiculous, even offending ideas we've ever seen and we just moved them to be on the safe side. Looks like your post is safe, though, I'll put it back where it belongs. It's kind of volatile time and we can't let anything pass.

You're free to post again if you want, as well.

Thank you for understanding.

[N0t_mINe]

@dosgamer000 and everyone.

I think a pertinent example might help people here. I recently posted a comment about how great it would be if Jace used the TF resource 1icense to start negotiations with Atar!, then it would come down to an expansion of an existing l1cense instead of a new one. Sounds nifty huh?

A day later I suggested the same thing to someone in a PM. The person reminded me that Atar! doesn't own the source, just the resources.

Now, in a world ruled by googlebot like creatures that control the internets, how many times do you think that would have been linked to? How long do you suppose it would take some lazy game mag writer would see that link, do a quick search to find that there was a resource license held by the TF project, and then put up a new, snarky article explaining that the source was released all along?


They have to be careful. It's almost impossible to stop a rumor once it gets a head of steam. Stopping it before it starts is the only practical option.

[N0t_mINe]

http://www.the-postmortem.com/forum/vie ... =25&t=1915

That link takes you to a postmortem thread providing access to the google wish list. If you feel the need to add any items to the growing wish list of new Blood port features, this would be the place to do it.

[Tchernobog]

Other than the somewhat contentious "Stuff We Don’t Want" section that seems to be a pretty fair and good list, all things considered.

Only thing I would want to add is the idea of bots for multiplayer.

[N0t_mINe]

The tiniest of updates.
Jace said:

I'm in the process of trying to figure this out with Atari. We will see how it goes.

Jace

[Tchernobog]

So much for all the rights issues being settled...

Ah well, I wish him the best of course.

[dosgamer000]

So much for all the rights issues being settled...

Ah well, I wish him the best of course.

Ditto. Let's all hope for the best, it's a rare thing when an official like Jace Hall tries to bring back a game over 10 (?) years old.
Blood is a great franchisee and truly deserves more than it got and I could name other games that would like a comeback as well.

[da_weezle]

I don't know how it is possible (well... I can guess), but I managed to miss this news entirely! My pants fell down spontaneously when I read about it.

It seems like there is no news since the last update from Jason that he's trying to figure things out with Atari.

I kinda like the ZDaemon developer's suggestion of Jace joining forces with the crew in that corner to get this done. After all, they have a bunch of the BUILD stuff ported already, so why not use it? I think the greatest risk for this is that it takes too long to get anywhere, and the project getting dropped. With the eDuke stuff as a base, most of the really heavy lifting (BUILD graphics, audio and physics) should have been taken care of. I hope that in "worst case" they can distribute compiled versions of the Blood-specific part of the code, so that there's no issue with the source being released.

I highly agree with what Willis and dosgamer already stated on the posty thread.

The way I see it, what we need desperately are the following:
- General compatibility with OSes (at least Windows)
- Decent mouse handling
- Network code that works over IP protocols (Bloodbath and Coop)

I personally don't really care too much for (extremely) hi-res modes and wide-screen stuff... It would be nice to have, but it's not like people don't play things like GLQuake because it doesn't have widescreen resolutions. However, we'll probably get this "for free" with the Duke3D ports code.

I can get Blood to run in DOSBox as it is, but I notice that it's not running 60 FPS (even on my high-end computer), the mouse-handling is terrible and obviously the IPX issues prevent us from playing it on LAN or over the internet properly.

Go Jace!