• New Horizons on Maelstrom
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Notice In Development or Not?

The Nameless Pirate

The Nameless Pirate

Just a pirate
Staff member
Administrator
Storm Modder
Public Relations
Was This Project Abandoned?
It was mainly @Armada who actively worked on this in his spare time.
He got sidetracked when he finished his game development studies.
He then joined Game Development - Skyward Digital, which is a startup Indie company.

@Captain Murphy was helping him out here and there.
But he got sidetracked by the eye of Hurricane Michael passing right over his house.


What's Happening Now?
Skyward Digital is currently working on a pirate themed game:

Announcing Buccaneers!, a new Pirate Game from Skyward Digital



As @Armada works there, he has taken everything he learned from New Horizons Remastered along with him.
You can consider this a spiritual successor. :doff


What About Crowd Funding?
The problem isn't money.
The problem is people-power and time.
Specifically people with the right mindset willing to work together.

That's easier said than found, as we all learned the hard way.
On the other hand, @Pieter Boelen also firmly believes it IS possible.
As he has learned here the FUN way. :cheers


How Can I Help?
The NHR code isn't being shared freely because the project contains several paid assets.
We only allow new developers to access it if they have extensive experience with Unity, agree to keep the code secure, and have plenty of time to dedicate to the project.

Our advice for now would be to either start tinkering with Unity and gradually build up your skills over time,
or contribute to the PotC: New Horizons mod if you have ideas you want to test in an existing game more quickly.


Original Opening Post:
The Nameless Pirate said:
Is New Horizons Remastered still being worked on, or development has stopped?
Click to expand...
 
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If the project doesn't continue for a few years straight, I think it would be wise for the team to consider open sourcing it, and giving a workable copy of it to the community to continue the project -- as long as due credit is given for everyone's work.

That still doesn't stop the original team from finishing and releasing their own version later down the line -- but they might find that some of the new code developed for the project will be interesting and that it can be merged into their official version as well. Not to mention that the community work may inspire and provide ways for the original team to continue the project.

If the traditional formula for production dies/fails, consider alternative means, while keeping your options open. ;)

I suggest titling the open source main branch of the project New Horizons Remastered (Community Edition) -- shortened to NHRC -- to indicate its expansive nature and to differentiate it from the original project/work.
 
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Of course. I'm just putting the thought out here for what it's worth as my two cents, in case and when they happen to check back to this thread again (which I have a good hunch they will, sooner or later ;)).

I should also duly note that it's their work, and therefore entirely their choice whether to give their source into the hands of others or not, and we need to pay their decision respect. I hope no-one is shameless enough to allow themselves to sink to begging and pestering -- that won't get you anywhere but looked down upon. If and when the developers think it's a good idea to share their work, they will.

In the meantime, we can discuss the advantages (and disadvantages) of having the project released open source in this thread, and any ideas on how to potentially handle it.

(That will be a more productive use of our energy/passion, and useful not only to this project, but also any other project considering going open source in the future.)
 
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I would really like to have an open source version.

First of all it may be easier to get started on contributing to the game.

Further more people with less time can do small things without devoting completely to the project.
 
Open sourcing doesn't work for NHR, unfortunately. There are too many proprietary and paid assets used in the project and as such they cannot be distributed. In fact some of the licenses are single seat and we had to purchase multiple licenses to allow the project to not run afoul of them.

The component in open source projects that is most overlooked is management of the project as a whole. Breaking the project into small parts is a great ideal but a massive time commitment for someone to do. There needs to be a ton of coordination in terms of code management, code standardization, framework standards, etc. We tried bringing new devs in to continue the project but the rate of participation is too low and the amount of secondary requirements for us (Armada and myself) to stay involved is far too high on the management side of it. When trying to manage the development of Hearts of Oak I spent almost twice as much time managing and trying to get developers working on their pieces than doing development. Someone has to take those small parts and put them all together and make sure they all play well together and follow the same code format and function.

My suggestion would be to make a new project and start with all new assets. I will warn you, however, that having an open source project will mean that you have to be VERY careful with licenses on assets. Including any assets that are licensed incorrectly will restrict your distribution abilities. You will not be able to use any paid assets at all. Unless the team building it is prepared to not only build the game framework but also around 90% of all the assets you are going to have a hard time building the environments. Another issue we ran into is theft of the game when open sourced. Be prepared to see your hard work on Steam as a new product all the time with a different name. Any assets or environments you include in open source will get used in other projects and it is impossible to control or manage the re-release of components.
 
Captain Murphy said:
Open sourcing doesn't work for NHR, unfortunately. There are too many proprietary and paid assets used in the project and as such they cannot be distributed. In fact some of the licenses are single seat and we had to purchase multiple licenses to allow the project to not run afoul of them.

The component in open source projects that is most overlooked is management of the project as a whole. Breaking the project into small parts is a great ideal but a massive time commitment for someone to do. There needs to be a ton of coordination in terms of code management, code standardization, framework standards, etc. We tried bringing new devs in to continue the project but the rate of participation is too low and the amount of secondary requirements for us (Armada and myself) to stay involved is far too high on the management side of it. When trying to manage the development of Hearts of Oak I spent almost twice as much time managing and trying to get developers working on their pieces than doing development. Someone has to take those small parts and put them all together and make sure they all play well together and follow the same code format and function.

My suggestion would be to make a new project and start with all new assets. I will warn you, however, that having an open source project will mean that you have to be VERY careful with licenses on assets. Including any assets that are licensed incorrectly will restrict your distribution abilities. You will not be able to use any paid assets at all. Unless the team building it is prepared to not only build the game framework but also around 90% of all the assets you are going to have a hard time building the environments. Another issue we ran into is theft of the game when open sourced. Be prepared to see your hard work on Steam as a new product all the time with a different name. Any assets or environments you include in open source will get used in other projects and it is impossible to control or manage the re-release of components.
Click to expand...
And these are the disadvantages of open source, couldn't have said it better. :onya

Making open source means making everything from scratch and even though more people can contribute more time is lost making everything and putting it all together, plus legal reasons.
 
It almost sounds like you're describing public domain to me, @Captain Murphy, and that makes me really sad -- that people have so little understanding of open source and respect for others' work that they will redistribute it in such a way, ignoring the permissions/licenses and without consent.

The whole reason for having to do all that breakdown and define/manage all those legal licenses is to keep distribution and derivatives of your work controlled to your terms as the original author of the work in question. If people don't respect that, then open source loses its meaning completely.

Some very thorough and considerate insight/advice in your answer. Thank you for that. I'm sorry for your negative experiences and I want you to know I understand the legal limitations you are bound by and your (team's) decision.

Given the circumstances, I think you are quite right in suggesting that the project be started over from scratch, with careful planning/design as to rights and distribution, or as public domain software.

I've been really excited about and hopeful for this project. I'm truly sorry to see that it has eventually met a dead end, but I can't find any fault in your reasoning.
 
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Good evening. Since the project has not developed for a long time, I want to ask you to upload its source code. It would help me a lot. There is a desire to transfer the City of Lost Ships to Unity. Thanks.
 
Myth said:
Good evening. Since the project has not developed for a long time, I want to ask you to upload its source code. It would help me a lot.
Click to expand...
The only person(s) who have those files are @Armada and perhaps @Captain Murphy.
I don't have them myself either.

I asked in the past if something of it could be shared, but got a no from them so far.
Their reason is that the NHR files use a whole bunch of paid-for assets and uploading those would be very illegal.
 
It will always be a 'no' answer as those assets are licensed and purchased, not free to distribute.
 
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