jvoisin20140816154008
Subject: Open MW -- android Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 15:40:08 +0000 From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: Zini
Hi there
I received a PM note in the Bethesda forums to reach out about the note I sent to sandstranger in the OpenMW forums. Unfortunately, there wasn't a contact administrator email listed I could find on the site, so I sent the note to the first contributor I saw on the related thread. Since then, I've been told to reach out to you.
I think you've already seen the note, but here it is again:
Hi there
My name is Matt Grandstaff – I’ the global community lead at Bethesda Softworks. Recently I noticed folks discussing an OpenMW project currently in the works to support phones/tablets – namely Android devices.
We’re big supporters of the mod community – we’ve been amazed by what fans have created on the PC w/ Morrowind in the past 12 years – but we have concerns when the tools (intended for use on a PC) are being used on new platforms, including tablets. This can become a problem on a number of fronts, particularly on the legal side of things.
If you’re not the right person to address this with, perhaps you can point me to the correct person. Or perhaps based on discussion in this forum, the project has already ceased. Long and short of it though, we would like to make sure that modding projects with our modding tools continue to be used for the platform they were intended for, the PC, and nowhere else.
Thank you
Matt Grandstaff Global Community Lead Bethesda Softworks
I skimmed through the recent discussion within your forums, and there was a question as to whether we understood the nature of the project -- being that it's an open-sourced engine and not a mod. As I understand it (from the project site FAQ), all projects related to OpenMW currently require the use of assets from Morrowind.
Restating what I mentioned in the original note that was sent, we've been fans of the projects related to Morrowind over the years, but we would like to make sure that projects using our games continue to be done on the platform they were intended for, the PC, and nowhere else.
Thanks
Matt Grandstaff Global Community Lead Bethesda Softworks
2014081706
From: Marc Zinnschlag Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2014 6:04 AM To: Matt Grandstaff Subject: Re: Open MW -- android On 16/08/14 17:40, Matt Grandstaff wrote:
Hi there
I received a PM note in the Bethesda forums to reach out about the note I sent to sandstranger in the OpenMW forums. Unfortunately, there wasn't a contact administrator email listed I could find on the site, so I sent the note to the first contributor I saw on the related thread. Since then, I've been told to reach out to you.
I think you've already seen the note, but here it is again:
Hi Matt,
sorry for the bouncing around between people and the late reply. RL got in my way and since OpenMW is a spare time project only (and RL has to take precedence sometimes) I can't always do things related to OpenMW as promptly as I would like.
It seems that the person who was working on the Andorid port has discontinued working on it and none of the core developers is interested in mobile platforms at all (we are firmly committed to classical desktop/laptop). From what I understand about your concerns that makes this discussion mostly academic now.
But we should try to get rid of the misunderstandings anyway. This statement:
As I understand it (from the project site FAQ), all projects related to OpenMW currently require the use of assets from Morrowind.
is plain and simple wrong.
First there are no projects related to OpenMW that require the use of assets from Morrowind. There is of course OpenMW itself. Not sure if that was some unfortunate wording from your side or if there is still a misunderstanding in this area.
If you have a MW installation on your system and you install OpenMW on top of that, you can play MW through OpenMW.
In other words, if you want to play Morrowind with OpenMW, you need Morrowind (including the MW assets). But that's it.
You can also take OpenMW without any original MW assets, make your own game with your own original assets via our own content development tools (not using any tools related to/distributed with MW at all) and than you have a completely original game, again with no ties to MW assets or MW related tools at all.
We are actually planning to do something like this. The project is called the example suite. Please note that we are still in alpha. Our own tools are only partially functional at this point and the example suite is mostly in planning stage (waiting for said tools to be finished). So there isn't much to download and try out yet. But we will get there eventually.
OpenMW really is a general purpose-ish game engine (the -ish here means that we are still talking about games in the wider genre of 1st/3rd person RPGs; you wouldn't be able to make an RTS with OpenMW).
I hope that helps to clear things up a bit.
Regards, Marc
201408171318
Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 13:18:23 +0000 From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: Zini Thanks for the clarifications, Marc.
To the part about projects related to OpenMW, I was basing that off this FAQ item on your site.
The above notwithstanding, OpenMW is a complete game engine. It is possible for other projects to use OpenMW as a base for a total conversion of the game. However, there are currently no known TC that does not require any asset from the original game.
Not knowing about your example suite project, my read through the FAQ led me to believe everything was still directly to Morrowind. From your response, I have a better understanding of how OpenMW works, and understand how it could be used for something completely unaffiliated with Morrowind.
If the OpenMW project has no plans for making Morrowind playable on mobile platforms as you say, then I don't think there's going to be any concerns on our end.
I'll let you know if anyone on our end has any follow up questions.
Thanks
Matt
201408201109
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:09:53 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: zini Cc: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Hello Matt,
This is Bret Curtis (psi29a), Marc asked me to follow up with you and I'll keep him in CC. We are all anxious to to know the answers to the questions that Marc asked, since this will affect the future of OpenMW. I would like to talk with you if that is possible. My Skype name is: xxx and my gtalk is psi29a@xxx or you can contact me on IRC via #openmw on irc.freenode.org, if none of these methods are available, we can schedule a time to talk over the phone as well.
To be 100% crystal clear, OpenMW does not distribute any Bethesda/Zenimax IP in it source code (which is GPLv3 / opensource) nor in its binaries. No tools, provided by Bethesda, have been used in the creation of OpenMW. To run OpenMW does not require Morrowind to run. That being said, people who own Morrowind can use OpenMW to play the Morrowind game.
As for OpenMW running on non-PC platforms, such as "mobile platforms", I'm afraid the cat is out of the bag on that already and for years now. With OpenMW being included in Debian (and Ubuntu), it is compiled and tested on many platforms[1]. These include but are not limited to architectures that are used on mobile devices. This means if Ubuntu goes forward with their mobile plans, the Ubuntu Store will provide OpenMW, for free, to anyone that wishes to install it. This is already the case for tablets and netbooks. This is something out of our hands.
We currently have no plans to have OpenMW included in the google app store. We have been approached by people who want to do the work, but would want to charge for the work as a 'fee'[2]. Marc (Zini) declined this.
OpenMW is open-source, by law, anyone is allowed to fork OpenMW for their own reasons and even charge money for it. They are only required to honour the GPLv3 and provide the source-code when they do distribute OpenMW. We have no say as to what happens here.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask them. In the mean time, I have some questions of my own. I would like to know why Bethesda would be worried about OpenMW being used in the mobile space. Is it a question of brand and/or that money would be asked for? I can assure you that we do not wish to promote OpenMW for commercial gain nor wish to hurt Bethesda's brand in any way and are willing to work with you in any way we can.
Are there potentially any legal concerns we should be aware of? If so, we're willing to work towards a gentleman's agreement that would help us bypass any problems. That being said, we're also prepared to defend our rights if necessary.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
Cheers, Bret Curtis
[1] https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openmw&suite=experimental
[2] https://forum.openmw.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2248&p=25911&hilit=google+app#p25911
201408201303
From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: psi29a, zini Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Hey guys
I’m relaying the information you guys have provided to our folks for feedback. I’ll let you know if there’s any follow up items. I fully understand you guys do not distribute Morrowind and let folks know they need to have a legal copy of the game.
Thanks
Matt
201408201533
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 15:33:09 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Cc: marc Hey Matt,
Thank you for the update!
I hope the people you are forwarding this to are developers and other concerned people and not lawyers. :)
Even if there aren't any follow up items, you'll still give us a reply anyway right? We're kind of on pins and needles here.
On a more positive side, would there be anyway Marc (Zini) be interviewed as a fan on the Bethesda blog? I think he deserves it because of the amount of blood, sweat and tears he has poured into Morrowind and it's modding community.
Cheers, Bret
201408201342
From: Matt Grandstaff mgrandstaff@bethsoft.com To: psi29a CC: zini Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 13:42:30 +0000
Yes, I’ll be in touch as soon as I have feedback to share.
There’s always the possibility of an interview at some point… pretty swamped with prepping for PAX and The Evil Within’s launch at the moment.
Best,
matt
201408201557
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 15:57:32 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Cc: "marc@zpages.de" marc@zpages.de
That's great, I wish you success with PAX and the new release!
Cheers, Bret
201408211657
From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: psi29a CC: zini Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:26:57 +0000 Hey Bret/Marc
Talked with our folks here. Here’s the basic gist.
Where folks would take issue is if the focus of your work is creating an optimized experience of Morrowind on platforms other than PC – be it the Android, a homebrew project on handheld, or some other device. I don’t think this should be an issue because as you guys have described to me, your work is moving in other directions – being able to build an all-new game around the engine. And since the PC is the intended platform for Morrowind, we have no issues how you proceed with the project on that platform. Heck, it’s pretty cool.
And we fully understand that based on the architecture of the engine, that Morrowind could be played on other platforms, and there’s not really anything that can be done about that. As that’s the case, we’d simply ask that Morrowind and its assets not be the poster child for your project on other platforms.
I hope that answers your questions.
Thanks and best of luck on the project
Matt
201408212353
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 23:53:08 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Cc: Zini Hello Matt (and folks),
we're glad that to hear this. I'll tell the agitated villagers to put down the fire and pitchforks. :)
Seriously though, so that we're clear I want to see if we understand you correctly. The folks, we're assuming that to be the word of god (Bethesda), understand that while the main goal of OpenMW is to play Morrowind on Linux, *BSD, OSX and Windows that it is possible to also do so on other other platforms. The caveat would be that we ( the OpenMW Team) would not hype/promote this as 'the main feature' of OpenMW on non-PC platforms. Is this correct?
@marc, do you agree with my reasoning or have additional comments or questions?
Anyway, Matt, thank you again for contacting us and I'm glad we could get this sorted out and we're glad that we've managed to peak the interest of Bethesda. Is there anything that the 'folks' would like to see in OpenMW? Anything to be improved? Any easter-eggs we could add? ;)
One last thing before I call it an evening, what is the chance of future Bethesda games having Linux as a first class citizen? Would there be anything that the OpenMW team could help with in this area? Internships or even jobs? :)
I wish you the best for the new game launch and a safe trip to PAX. I also hope to hear back from you about having an Zini interview!
Cheers, Bret Curtis
201408212202
From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: psi29a CC: Matt Grandstaff x@bethsoft.com, Zini Subject: Re: Open MW -- android Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:02:19 +0000 Quick answer to your first question: Yes, and also that you're not putting the main focus of your efforts into ways to play Morrowind on other platforms, like android. It would raise a flag if a video or log update was focusing on how you can play Morrowind now on, say, iOS or Android. If that's something the engine allows, better for you to share an indie project you're working on, etc. That's really the heart of it.
On the road - I'll address the rest as time allows.
Thanks guys
Sent from my iPhone
From: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com To: psi29a CC: Zini Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 23:22:21 +0000 Quick follow up
Comments/request on OpenMW -- not right now, but I'll be following the project more closely now that I've chatted with you guys.
Linux -- no announced plans for anything like that. If that ever changes we'll let everyone know.
Internships/jobs -- all openings are on jobs.zenimax.com. You have experience and appreciation for our games, so that's a great start.
Interview stuff -- would love to figure out something when I have more time. 2014 has been crazy with three game releases and baby #1 (closed).
Best,
Matt
201408220957
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 09:57:41 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Cc: Zini
Thank you for the reply,
I get the feeling that the "Sword of Damocles" hangs over us with that last email. For example, I'm getting my Raspberry Pi B+[1] today, the reason was to play around with it, teach my kids programming and to make sure that OpenMW runs on it. This means using Morrowind, because it currently is the only content available that stresses all parts of the engine. This thing uses a ARMv6 SoC[2] that is similar to the millions of mobile phones and tablets out there. The reason for this is that any optimizations and improvements that come about ultimately help the performance of the engine (OpenMW) on other platforms, like the PC, as well.
I can understand that Bethesda wants us downplay the fact that Morrowind can be played on such platforms, since we are also aiming for our own game/content. WeirdSexy (MrOpenMW on Youtube) from the forums, who does all our promotional videos, stated that he would sooner leave the project than to have to make a video about Morrowind on an android/iOS/Tablet[3].
I just want to make sure that any developers out there that want to contribute code/patches to OpenMW, are free to do so, for any platform they please without fear, as is the case with SandStranger. I'll not go into details, but he panicked pretty badly when you PMed him.
In return, we'll (OpenMW Team) not focus on running Morrowind with OpenMW on non-PC platforms. This means no videos on our blog or blog posts exclusively to this effect. If we do post any information, be it video or blog post, for non-PC platforms, that it should have to do with our own content.
Would this be an example[4]? My own pet project that creates heightmaps, we then created our own demo that hopefully would become our new "Example-Suite" for OpenMW. (Scroll to the bottom) If I show this, for example, running on an Android tablet or mobile, Bethesda will be OK with this?
Thank you again for your time and for talking with us. I hope that we've covered the necessary ground to move forward.
Cheers, Bret
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM11 [3] https://forum.openmw.org/viewtopic.php?f=3D20&t=3D2332&start=3D50#p26723 [4] http://www.mindwerks.net/2013/02/introducing-worldsynth-for-your-world-building-needs/
201408221122
From: Matt Grandstaff mgrandstaff@bethsoft.com To: bret curtis psi29a@gmail.com CC: "marc@zpages.de" marc@zpages.de Subject: RE: Open MW -- android Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 11:22:55 +0000
In return, we'll (OpenMW Team) not focus on running Morrowind with OpenMW on non-PC platforms. This means no videos on our blog or blog posts exclusively to this effect. If we do post any information, be it video or blog post, for non-PC platforms, that it should have to do with our own content.
Would this be an example[4]? My own pet project that creates heightmaps, we then created our own demo that hopefully would become our new "Example-Suite" for OpenMW. (Scroll to the bottom) If I show this, for example, running on an Android tablet or mobile, Bethesda will be OK with this?
Yeah, this sounds reasonable.
201408221611
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 16:11:07 +0200 Subject: Re: Open MW -- android From: psi29a To: Matt Grandstaff xxx@bethsoft.com Cc: Zini It would seem that we're in agreement! What a wonderful way to end the week.
Keep in touch and don't be a stranger on the forum.
Cheers, Bret