skadoomer

It appears i have overlooked the very bizarre terms of licensing that makes zdoom exsist and the rights the independent gaming festival requires all of its particapants to have. Heres the e-mail i recieved earlier this evening:

Foreverhood, one of the games in the "emergency round," is based on the
http://zdoom.org engine. This engine is ultimately derived from ID
Software and other sources; a historical outline is given at
http://www.doomworld.com/10years/ports/ports02_1.php . I downloaded
the current zdoom 2.0.98 release from zdoom.org, and it contains a license
that specifically prohibits commercial use. This would be in clear
violation of IGF entry rules, which require the author hold all
necessary commercial rights. From Doomlic.txt:

3. Prohibited Uses: Under no circumstances shall you, the
end-user, be permitted, allowed or authorized to commercially exploit
the Software. Neither you nor anyone at your direction shall do any
of the following acts with regard to the Software, or any portion
thereof:

Rent;

Sell;

Lease;

Offer on a pay-per-play basis;

Distribute for money or any other consideration; or

In any other manner and through any medium whatsoever
commercially exploit or use for any commercial purpose.

Notwithstanding the foregoing prohibitions, you may commercially
exploit the software you develop by exercising the Educational Use
right, referenced in paragraph 2. hereinabove.

Because of the turbulent history of zdoom, it is possible that the
author may be able to demonstrate an alternate source code base with an
alternate license, such as GPL. A GPL doesn't prohibit commercial use;
it's just not usually profitable for games. I would note, however,
that if indeed the Foreverhood author produces a zdoom under GPL, the
contest entry would be in violation of the GPL. No source code is provided,
nor any offer for how to obtain the source code. I am not aware of zdoom
having any other licenses; I think the Foreverhood author has a burden
of proof here.

So, all i have to do is re-write everything that is derived from ken silverman's build engine and i can keep my place in the competition. Frankly, i have a better chance of becoming Telepathic than having this happen.

I spend a lot of time trying to make my mod less like your traditional doom mod and more like a brand new game (in the 1994 sense of the word). I knew that i would most likely never get anywhere in this competition using the software mode of a 10 year old piece of technology when there are new, flashier things running about. What gets me the most pissed about this isn't that i failed because i was an ant in a feild of games and gamers. But to know that in the end i was blindsided by a lisense and technical bullshit leaves me speechless. I take a lot of pride in this project, but this feels so cheep that i can't beleave i could have overlooked this kind of detail. Oh well, post your thoughts, i have a mod to finish.