So I was going through the Warrior mod skills looking for the next Community Skills Guide page, and I noticed that there are a lot of modders who disappeared around September/October of last year (<fistshake>SCHOOOOOoooooo....l!!</fistshake>) and that several of their mods are either 1) Still in beta or 2) Obviously not quite right. (I.E. unaddressed bugs, no icons, etc.) And I thought, "you know, it would be pretty easy to take these nice piles of existing code and ideas, freshen them up, kill the bugs, and release them back into the wild." Elemental Warrior, for example, still claims to be in Beta and is right on the edge of awesomeness with just a few minor issues (like Wind being able to teleport you onto monsters), and kino5 disappeared last September. I'd love to see that mod fully functional and awesome, and I have the time and energy to do it. (To be honest, I'd probably make a couple of other changes too, like adding some to Clobbering Time and scaling the damage on Fire to or something instead of which doesn't fit at all.) But before I just go all willy-nilly and start molesting other people's creations without their permission just because they're not around any longer, I thought I'd ask the community's opinion: kewl, or WAAAyyy uncool? [edit2]After some chatting on the chat, I felt it should be clear: I wouldn't be distributing these changes. I'd basically append the "Essential" version of the mod on the end of it's existing thread, and maybe make a thread that kept track of all of the mods I'd touched. Definitely no Steam Workshop shenanigans or anything like that.[/edit2] [edit]I had to vote to see the results of the poll, so I voted once for each option just to keep it even.[/edit]
1) Do your best to contact the original authors for permission. 2) If permission's granted or they cannot be found, modify. 3) Give prominent credit to the original authors.
To minimize the amount of potential controversy, I would say try to contact them, but if you can't, then don't modify them.
I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like the free service of mod polishing / bugproofing. Better not extrapolate new features from their theme , however. Of course , the original modders could logically ask that any unpermitted change is removed , but it's your spare time.
Easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Speaking as a player, it's better for me (and just about everyone else) if the default is "modify" rather than don't. I don't see any difference between fixing up Elemental Warrior and fixing up Magic Training.
Okay, I spoke with David. Basically, we'd be more comfortable about getting permission beforehand. We won't ban anyone for not doing it because it's not illegal, but we'd be thankful if it was respected.
So, if I make the most thorough possible effort to connect with someone and get no response, just don't touch? Sad, but OK.
My take is: Do what you want, when you want, to whatever, but briefly ask permission via PM, wait a week, if there's no response, do the bugfixes, balancework, etc. but don't modify the attribution rights. Alternatively, we can all start publishing our mods under the MIT license
I already gave answer to Essence in a private message, but I want to apologize here too. I had to abandon the mod (and playing computer games almost completely) due to time issues related to several things (job, studies, and now a new house). I decided to pay you guys a visit and I found out his message from january, and this thread. I've enjoyed playing Dredmor a lot all this time, and I intend to continue to do so when I'm able, but right now I'm not planning to finish the mod. I'm very glad Essence wants to finish it and I already said to him to do what he feels better for the mod, so this is a formal apology to everyone because the mod had an awesome welcome here, and I feel like I dissapointed you by not finishing it. Maybe I'll try to lurk the forums a little from time to time, since you all are a great community. See ya guys
Essence: I'm not sure if this would be something you're interested in, but I just don't have the time to get Evil Interior Decorator to a point where it's balanced. I am waaaaay to busy right now. If you don't have too much on your plate, I am offering up this skill to you. It's a bit long at 1400 lines, so I wouldn't blame you, but it is more organized than my other work. If you take it, you do not need to credit me. I just don't want to see it go to waste.
