The Western thread made me dwelve in nostalgy and I downloaded a few of the old C64 games a few days ago. Now I''m planning on writing a remake of the old Archon II:Adept game using the Torque engine. (If you''re asking yourself why not Archon I : well, first of all, someone is doing a remake of that already, and Adept''s concept with the four element stripes on the main map seems more fitting for what I intend). The tactical map will still be turn based, but done in full 3D, and the combat part will be a FPS Deathmatch style game. The question I have concerns legal problems : how much must I change from the original gameplay to avoid copyright infringement? I intend to make it freeware, mostly because I''m doing this as a hobby, and so I don''t really want to get into any messy argument with the original publisher, who probably still have the coyrights on the game, in the case I ever finish and release it.

To make things easy on yourself, you could go to the original publisher to see if they mind if you do a Freeware version of the game. Just explain to them that you are doing it as a hobby and you will not sell the game. The worst they can do is say no. Then you move on from there. The original publisher is Electronic Arts.

For all decisions legal, you should consult a lawyer.

However, I would think that if you made the board a different configuration and use different character types, that should be sufficient, as you are already changing the fighting element.

ie, since you are using 3D, you could have water flow under ground and come out the other side etc, or use a real looking landscape. The biggest thing you would probably need to change would be the power points. Don''t use them at all, or change their usage drastically.

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Make it work.
Make it fast.

"Commmmpuuuuterrrr.." --Scotty Star Trek IV:The Voyage Home