The Liberated Pixel Cup: a Game Making Contest From the CC, FSF, and OpenGameArt

Lendrick writes "OpenGameArt.org, the Free Software Foundation, and the Creative Commons are teaming up to bring the Liberated Pixel Cup, a free-as-in-freedom game making contest starting on June 1st and going through July 31st. The contest will be divided into two phases: the first phase will be about adding on to a consistent set of art commissioned specially for the contest, and the second phase, starting on July 1st, will be about building games using the provided art."

Re:

[subanark]

Your code may only depend on free libraries.
From the rules:
Platform: Your code must be able to be compiled and run on a 100% free-as-in-freedom platform. It may not make use of any proprietary libraries or VMs. Just to be clear, we cannot accept games that require any of the following: Flash, Silverlight, XNA, Unity, Windows, MacOS (or OSX), iOS, the official Oracle JVM, or similar. It is perfectly acceptable if your game runs on any of these platforms, but it must also work on an open platform (we str

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

> ... then this contest will suck ...

Correction: The games will suck, but the contest will clarify what the 100% free world is missing in terms of game development. I would argue that currently there is a lot of guesswork and misinformation involved; the contest will give more solid data.

Re:

[h4rr4r]

There are a few of these frameworks, and APIs. Pygame is the only one I ever played with but if all this contest does is generate interest in such frameworks that would be a success.

Re:

[HaZardman27]

SDL has binaries for many platforms and is open-source, so I would imagine that will be allowed.

Re:

[Novus]

OpenJDK is pretty much GPL 2 (with exceptions to allow applications to have other licenses), so Java should be OK as long as you don't use any Oracle-specific stuff. The blog clarifies that open source OpenGL implementations exist and may be used. Lots of game programming libraries can be found in most Linux distributions (e.g. SDL, ClanLib, PyGame); as far as I can tell they should all be OK.

Re:

[Nadaka]

Battle for Wesnoth was decent.

Re:

[sourcerror]

And Tremolous. And Ufo:Alien Invasion.

Re:

[HaZardman27]

Ever tried Nexuiz?

Re:

[HeckRuler]

I liked Armagetron. Pretty close to what the original source depicted.

Re:

[CanHasDIY]

Singularity [emhsoft.com] is pretty sweet. and addictive.

So is FreeCiv [wikia.com].

Re:

[Internetuser1248]

The corsix-th [google.com] theme hospital project is coming along nicely. I am also avidly following the openclonk [openclonk.org] project. Yes I know neither of these are finished, and I know that is main complaint about oss games, but corsix is totally playable, and openclonk is one of those projects that is never meant to be finished, but will instead simply grow and improve forever, much like the original clonk series.

Two pixels ...

[danwiz]

Two pixels ... one cup?

A two-phase art competition?

>> the first phase will be about adding ...
>> the second phase ... using

I'm seeing way too many similarities for comfort.

Re:

[paroneayea]

I'm the one who coined the name, and yes... it's been pointed out already: http://evan.status.net/notice/1367418 [status.net]

Two free culture non-profit foundations, one cup.

I have a good sense of humor about it, though. :)

Re:

[Lendrick]

Just to be absolutely clear about this: Any art that is found to be submitted in violation of copyright will be immediately disqualified. We want to add a body of art to the commons so people don't have to rip art from other places. :)

Fantasy themed content only?

[PrescriptionWarning]

I can't tell if all submitted art must be fantasy/steampunk based (as they comment in their blog post as their "base theme"), or if thats just their own contribution and others are free to submit whatever themed content they want?

Re:

[paroneayea]

Hi! You're welcome to submit in whatever thematic style you like (steampunk, fantasy, zombie office attack) as long as it matches the style guide (perspective, lighting, etc). We'll have that out soon. I'd love to have a lot of variety in content!

Re:

[Bram Stolk]

The lighting in your example is inconsistent.
The trees have shadows straight below.
The house has the light coming from the left.

Seems legit...

[mitzampt]

... when is the release date and where can I buy it from?

Re:

[paroneayea]

Not sure how serious you are, but as in terms of "dates" the contest dates are set in the rules: http://lpc.opengameart.org/content/lpc-rules [opengameart.org]

And if you want to "buy it"... well you can donate to us here [fsf.org]! :)

Re:

[mitzampt]

Well you blew my funny remark, but it's ok. Thank you. You realize that when the games are ready and the word gets out people will try to buy it, until they find them advertised as free. FSF is an example of civic sense in the global village, it's a shame that so few get it. I'm looking forward to see the results.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an opensource game, you only have to buy support for it.

I could be wrong

[Draconi]

But I believe the 32x32 tile size is the same for RPG Maker. Regardless, like the contest says, these tiles could work in a variety of genres and its exciting to see more art become available from the community!

I am against restrictive art

[Moosader]

It feels almost like the concept of 'Free' has gone to the other side of the spectrum in that it is also very restrictive in how it can be used. I have read through the OpenGameArt FAQ and one example is that- if someone's art they're providing is licensed as GPL, then the code must ALSO be licensed as GPL. At first I thought that possibly the license would only apply to modifying and redistributing just the art itself, but I find the idea that using specific assets dictates how you produce your project t

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

So don't use their free art. Make your own.

The game does not have to only run on free-platforms, but has to run on them as well. There is no point to a FREE game that requires non-FREE software to run it.

Re:I am against restrictive art

[Lendrick]

Just want to set the record straight on a couple of things:

The FSF considers art to be non-functional data that does not trigger the GPL's linking requirement:

Data that has an aesthetic purpose, rather than a functional one, may be included in a free system distribution as long as its license gives you permission to copy and redistribute, both for commercial and non-commercial purposes. For example, there are some game engines that have been released under the GNU GPL, and have accompanying game information—a world map, game graphics, and so on—released under such a verbatim distribution license. This kind of data can be part of a free system distribution.

Source: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html [gnu.org]

Secondly, the art will be dual licensed as CC-BY-SA, so even if you happen to not like the GPL, you need not use the art under that license. Also, while the contest requires your art to be CC-BY-SA and GPL for the sake of consistency, you are also entirely free to license it under a less restrictive license as well.

Finally, your assertion that the game has to run only on a 100% free platform is false. Your game can run on any platforms you want it to. It's just that those platforms must include a 100% free platform.

We don't want to restrict what you do with your code and art. However, we do have a set of standards for entry -- as long as those standards are met, you can do anything you want with your work.

Re:

[Moosader]

Just want to set the record straight on a couple of things:

The FSF considers art to be non-functional data that does not trigger the GPL's linking requirement:

Data that has an aesthetic purpose, rather than a functional one, may be included in a free system distribution as long as its license gives you permission to copy and redistribute, both for commercial and non-commercial purposes. For example, there are some game engines that have been released under the GNU GPL, and have accompanying game information—a world map, game graphics, and so on—released under such a verbatim distribution license. This kind of data can be part of a free system distribution.

Source: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html [gnu.org]

Secondly, the art will be dual licensed as CC-BY-SA, so even if you happen to not like the GPL, you need not use the art under that license. Also, while the contest requires your art to be CC-BY-SA and GPL for the sake of consistency, you are also entirely free to license it under a less restrictive license as well.

Finally, your assertion that the game has to run only on a 100% free platform is false. Your game can run on any platforms you want it to. It's just that those platforms must include a 100% free platform.

We don't want to restrict what you do with your code and art. However, we do have a set of standards for entry -- as long as those standards are met, you can do anything you want with your work.

I was just referencing someone else's comment that made it sound like it had to be on a 100% free platform. I didn't see a comment it was responding to, so I didn't know if it was out of context. I am glad to find out that the art does not affect your software license; the FAQ page for OGA made it sound like this was the case.

Re:

[Lendrick]

If this goes over well, we're discussing moving in different directions next year (and that may very well include 3D).

In the meantime, I'll plug a similar contest that might interest you on behalf of a friend of mine, that's going on right now. :)

http://tempestintheaether.org/index.php/news/133-open-tempest-3d [tempestintheaether.org]

Re:

[Moosader]

Coolcool. My community also just last year did a two-phase, "Make art/music for our CC-by/CC-0 community pool, then make games using only those assets" competition, which ended up going pretty well (for our size, that is). Maybe there should be a directory of art-generating competitions and projects.

Re:

[X0563511]

So, what stops you from doing the art in 3d and rendering it to 2d "sprites" ?

Re:

[Lendrick]

Nothing at all, really. :)

That said, you'll probably need to "post process" it in a pixel editor to make it consistent with the art theme (since art entries are being judged on consistency, among other things).

Re:

[h4rr4r]

This is free stuff, you are not losing anything by not using it.

These are FREE culture folks, why would they host a contest contrary to their beliefs?

Re:

[X0563511]

Python, SDL, GTK+, OpenJDK etc - you just have to be able to run it on a system without requiring non-free software to be present.

Here's a good indicator: if you can also run it on a standard debian install, you are probably meeting the requirement.

Re:Linux support pretty much required?

[mmmmbeer]

They aren't forcing anything on you. They only insist that you don't force things on them.

Re:

[brit74]

Software under copyright doesn't force anything on anyone because everyone is still *free* not to use it. Similarly, if I give you a ride in my car, don't complain about how I'm "restricting your freedom" because me giving you a ride is contingent on you not yelling obscenities out of the window.

Re:

[armanox]

I don't dabble in OpenGL, but I thought the 2D stuff was supported in the open source drivers?

Re:Linux support pretty much required?

[Lendrick]

Funny, they don't force the artists to use GIMP over tools they are familiar with. Sometimes people just like using a game competition as an excuse to make a game and not as a platform for some idealogical political crap. Why else would so many people enter into game jams where there aren't even winners?

As has been stated earlier, it is perfectly fine if your game runs on any of those proprietary platforms listed. It just needs to also run on a free-as-in-freedom platform, since that's the point of the contest. To be clear, it's not about restricting developers, it's about not restricting users. If your game requires a proprietary toolkit such as XNA, you've limited yourself to people who have purchased Windows. If you build your game out of free libraries, as long as you do it correctly, it will run very happily on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.

Can we also assume that the judges are savvy enough to compile and install my game on Linux (and it's dependencies)?

The rules address this question:

Ease of use: Your game should be easy to compile and run. You won't be disqualified automatically if a judge is unable to run your game, but it will count against you. You are advised to avoid having large numbers of obscure dependencies or requiring bleeding edge (unstable) libraries.

I think it's pretty clear from that that the judges are willing to compile your game in order to run it, but would appreciate if you stick to relatively common libraries and make sure compilation is a smooth process.

Can I require them to have working OpenGL even if that means they need to install scary proprietary GL drivers?

Your tone here is unnecessarily rude. For the record, there are non-proprietary OpenGL drivers that work just fine, so you don't need to worry about OpenGL support.

The way these GPL people push their ideals really tick me off sometimes. I've sort of jokingly thought that I should change my open source projects from a BSD license to a modified one that doesn't allow static linking with GPL libraries. Seems fair right? Why shouldn't I also punish developers for using restrictive licenses (such as the GPL).

In the grand scheme of things, allowing contest entries to use any other license (even CC0) in addition to the GPL is a pretty poor way of "pushing" the GPL on people, don't you think? We're requiring it for licensing consistency, because it provides a level of freedom that we deem necessary for the contest. If you wish to grant your users additional freedoms by releasing your code under other licenses in addition to the GPL, that's completely fine.

Maybe we'll get another Xonotic out of this...

[tommasorepetti]

This could yield something amazing. Even if this round will comply with Richard Stallman's increasingly delusional understanding of free software, the results should be interesting to watch. This competition is unbiased enough also to merit the interest of the conventional video games industry and may be a way for new talent to make itself known. I think more importantly, though, this will again demonstrate the truly open source gaming is a very viable concept.