Online petition for an updated Civ III editor

[Gary Childress]

So, does anyone here have an idea, how much money we are talking about? Unless we got a nice sponsor here who would be willing to fork out that amount, I doubt we would get anywhere with a collection of money.

Imagine, we all raise money to get the license, we then need to talk about ownership as only few limited people would be able to access the source code and alter it. Who would decide the changes that should be made? I see this as a very time consuming and problematic approach. It sounds all great to give the game back to the dedicated fans, but the details will be far more complicated.

If 2k would sell the code and allow the community free access to it, that would be a different story. Sort of, civfanatics own the code and veryone here could use it. Now, for that I would be willing to chip in a bit of money. It won't be a commercial success anyway, but if the whole community would profit, why not.

Sounds like we're talking serious business now. If someone gets the code from 2K then the people working on the code would have to SERIOUSLY market the final product, just to cover the cost of buying access to the code. But like I say, I wouldn't mind buying a couple hundred in "stock" in a CFC franchise to improve the game. Of course everyone chipping in here would probably be a spit in the ocean. We're talking business loans from banks, the whole nine yards.

EDIT: DELETE

 

[cubsfan6506]

I suggest you look to the off topic for investments. Perhaps we could get some of the scenariosts to make mods for it. I also think we should make this a private forumn. Keep new users from getting access. Lets not let them look at our bussiness proposals.

 

[Gary Childress]

I suggest you look to the off topic for investments. Perhaps we could get some of the scenariosts to make mods for it. I also think we should make this a private forumn. Keep new users from getting access. Lets not let them look at our bussiness proposals.

What do you mean by "look to the off topic for investments"? Also, who is "we"?

 

[cubsfan6506]

Civfanatics should make the topic private. letting the other party in on you're bussiness discursion.

 

[Gary Childress]

That sounds like good judgment. Then what do you mean by "look off topic for investments"?

 

[Dezzilisk]

Sounds like he meant make a thread in OT to see if there is support for this there?

 

[Gary Childress]

Oh. OK, sure I can do that. No problem. Maybe I was just tired. I thought he was saying that it was a waste of time to try to invest in Civ3 and I was better to look elsewhere for investments. Maybe I shouldn't stay up all night on forums.

EDIT: Sorry Cubsfan.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Looks like I'm gonna have to start playing the Lottery...

 

[Steph]

Looks like I'm gonna have to start playing the Lottery...

Playing is way overrated. You'd better start winning the Lottery, that would be more useful

 

[cubsfan6506]

I checked there too... nothing

Tell me what you want to say I'll quote it.

 

[Mirc]

Tell me what you want to say I'll quote it.

I finally got the confirmation email, so I posted it myself. Thanks anyway.

 

[Gary Childress]

Am I all clear to post something with this heading in the OT forum?

"Investors wanted for Improving Civ3"

Or are we moving in a different direction or have we given up entirely?

 

[cubsfan6506]

We can't do this independant of take two. They would have to help us. So there really is no point. They would have to make the discs ect.

 

[Gary Childress]

We can't do this independant of take two. They would have to help us. So there really is no point. They would have to make the discs ect.

True we can't do this independent of 2K, however, how else will we recover the cost of getting the code which sounds like it may be a considerable sum, far more than we can raise on our own I'm sure?

Also looking at 2K's proposal to Steph (below), it looks like he/we will be required to start a company to do this.

Originally Posted by 2k
you would be contacting XXX XXXXX, who is the head producer, but I can help you with the beginning of this.

what you'll need to do before we can refer you to our lawyers and such is come up with your company and then write a detailed proposal of what you want to do. for example, you will want to license the Civ III code, which we have, and then modify it. you would never be able to release this code to the public, however, but you could, for example, sell the modified and compiled game.

but first, you'll need to create your company and draft us up a business proposal.

I'm not sure what all this entails but it sounds like they are looking for a serious, serious committment on our part, one that is sure to require financial resources.

Just my take from what I read in the reply.

I'll wait though and see what the others say before proceeding.

 

[King Flevance]

What it looks like is they will allow us to become a company that they become the publishers to. Basically, become a mirror company of Firaxis where they can profit off of the games put out by us.

From my perspective, considering the money involved everyone would do better off trying to make a new company and its own game with the money.

In a nutshell they are being unreasonably greedy b**tards.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Well, they are a business, not a charity, so they are only going to be concerned with money. Nothing unreasonable about that.

 

[Steph]

Wait a bit before making any annoucement my advice is.

 

[Spacer One]

Tho Im sure we have peaked the interest of a person or two at 2K...I suggest we keep contact to a minimum until we have established an entity that can deal with 2K on a corporate level...

I will say ahead of time, that Steph has my faith in this. He is the most likely person (IMO) to work an arrangement to get access to the code. I recommend we allow him to do the negotiations when the time comes (With a lawyer of course, which I think Steph has).

For now, we need to start a Forum somewhere to discuss what we really expect to happen here...I am echoing someone who said this was the brightest light shined on us in a while, lets not screw it up by being hasty...Somewhere we can determine what kind of funds we are talking about here (As a community...I for one, am willing to take my "1-time business loan" as guaranteed by the US Govt...as I think that this project will swallow my personal savings)...

I think there is also money to be made out of this...but we need to tread carefully...not ruffle the wrong feathers...kiss a lot of butt...and in the end, make a mark on the civ community that will never wash away...when all is said and done, if they let us do what we want to do, money WILL be made. By them, and those involved.

 

[D0NIMATRIX]

You guys have my support all the way, even if I can't loan any money.

 

[Gary Childress]

With or without money, people are needed to help keep the petition alive with 2K. The more people who show interest and voice it, the more willing they will be to negotiate.

EDIT: If anyone thinks this is a good idea I can go to the Off Topic and maybe other Non-Civ4 forums and try to generate some interest in this thread or in the 2k forum thread. Perhaps there are Civ3ers out there who don't realize how far Steph and I Batman have managed to get with 2K, and who would like to join in.