Let's fix "Shade"!

I noticed that someone "hijacked" one of my posts, so I thought I'd create this post to continue the discussion of fixing Shade, the epic game that tried.

Since the original dev cannot be contacted, should be it allowed that we as a community fix the game up and fix that 3 hour glitch? I am willing to unlock the .RPG file and upload it for anyone to take a peek inside and see what you may have missed in 2004, in terms of the overworld and such. This will allow a talented artist to remaster the graphics and for someone to figure out that glitch and resolve it, for the game can finally be enjoyed. I am willing to take a look at the glitch and see if I can figure it out, time permitting of course... I haven't even had much time to work on my own game recently... *sigh*

Do it up, if you're wanting. Just don't take more up than you can handle, dude. I want your Dragin' Werrier game to come (as I'll call it something along those lines until you release it)

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dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x

I hope that wasn't a rhetorical question and that this isn't "hijacking" the thread, but what you're talking about seems like an ethical gray area. I'm going to admit that I'm not familliar with the circumstances here, and am assuming the 3 Hour Glitch is some kind of technical issue that popped up in game.exe between the time he released the game and now.

With that in mind, my thoughts boil down to this:

Fixing an old game so people can play it again today is cool. If the game used to work, and doesn't now, by all means fix it. If the game was broken to start with, I think you should let it be.

Messin with a dude's game without his permission because you think you can do better is bad, even if he's moved onto other things and never even thinks about that game again. "Remastering" the art, no matter what the motivation, seems like a bad idea.

If you really feel like this game had potential that it didn't fulfill, why not make your own knock-off? Every Mario has room for a Sonic, and it'd certainly be more honest than turning someone else's game into your own.

Again, not sure what the situation is. That's just how I'm interpreting it right now. Is there some reason for the remastering that I'm not getting?

I seem to have started something. Oops! X3

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"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."

I'm with Giz on this. It's always possible to make a spiritual successor of sorts to the game without going and working on another person's project. Chances are, if he's abandoned it, he'd be OK with it, but it would still be good manners to actually receive permission before going ahead with it. I know if I finished Legacy, and then ten years down the road I found someone had redone the graphics and stuff (they're PD anyway, so meh) I wouldn't really mind. But I'd rather that I had been asked or at least notified of it beforehand.

So yeah, tldr, perhaps just making an game inspired by the one you want to remaster would be a better idea.

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Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

I just sent an e-mail to him about it. I'm hoping he'll reply soon and that the E-mail address is still in use.


I actually did kinda start to do this. It's a sort of side project for when I don't wanna do my point commissions on DeviantART.

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"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."

Many people would be upset (and well within their right) if you took their game, made modifications, and uploaded it somewhere. On the other hand I see nothing wrong with distributing a patch to a game. I don't think I've seen anyone denounce (aside from preferring the original game) someone for releasing fan translations, hardtype patches, compatibility fixes, high res texture packs, or even complete engine rewrites like ScummVM. I don't think you can even complain on legal grounds. Copy protection cracking excepted of course. But there is definitely a line somewhere as to what goes too far (e.g. taking someone else's game and basically making it your own).

I've actually been thinking about a patching system in the engine, mainly to fix bugs due to compatibility problems. Unfortunately we break games from time to time and sometimes the only feasible way to fix the problem would be a game specific fix (like turning on a compatibility bit. Much more complicated patches might not be practical).

As Giz mentioned, since this is an old game, the problem might actually be due to an engine bug, so I'd be interested in it if anyone looks into it.

Also, I tried to track down the original author. Unfortunately their nick is very generic, and none of the other information on Shinryu (email, AIM, etc) I could find lead anywhere.

You too, eh? Damn...

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"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."

On a completely unrelated note, love the new avatar, hehe.

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Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

Thankies! ^.^

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"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."

Sorry for Double posting, but... HE REPLIED!!!

The creator of the game got my e-mail and has replied!

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"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."

Awesome! Glad to hear it all worked out in the end.