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[raiten]

I copied and pasted this from the "Edge Compo" thread. This is an idea for a collaboration - if you're an artist, sign up! It'd be a very simplistic graphical text adventure - you are Tim Langdell, and get to play through his life.

The game would play like this: A screen with a pretty picture, some text describing the situation at hand and then a choice you can make. Make the choice and you get a new screen with a picture and some text describing the outcome of your choice. If you made the nicer, kinder choice, that's game over - sort of everybody is happy ending, but if you choose the less nicer choice, the game goes on to the next scenario.

Each scenario would be based on some assholery we know Langdell was behind.
For example, the game could play something like this:

First screen (Picture of Tim Langdell sitting behind a desk): The year is 1982. You are Tim Langdell, the editor of hardware/software reviews at the British computer magazine "Your Computer". You notice the quality of some of the games the kids send in aren't that bad at all. As a matter of fact, some of them could probably be sold commercially. Since these kids are 15-17, they wouldn't ask for much in royalties either....
What do you chose?
A) Rip these kids off! I'll make money off of their games and they'll be able to brag that they've got a game published. They won't see much money coming from it, but hey! I will.
B) Nah, I think I'll keep editing here at the magazine. I enjoy it. Besides, it would be unethical to steal these kids' games.

Quick dirty mock-up:


Option A would take you to the next screen that we also base on what we know of Langdell. If we can use his Wikipedia article against him like I did above, that's great, but we also have stuff like that interview Derek linked to on how he ripped off those guys who ported an arcade game to the Commodore, and then left for America. If you instead choose B, that's the end of the game, and everybody is happy. Langdell got a great career in video game journalism, the kids went on to sell their games to reputable companies and became big video game stars, bla bla.

So course of events could for example be

Rip off kids or not -> Refuse to pay the guy who made Fairlight unless he signs up to make more games, or pay him timely -> Develop interesting unique titles or licensed crap like "Garfield" and "Snoopy" (where the money arguably is) -> Rip off the Commodore guys and elope to the States or pay up -> sue Edge and steal their logo or not -> sue Namco or not -> write your own Wikipedia article or not -> lie your way onto the IGDA or not -> sue Edge or not -> THE END (Tim becomes the laughing stock of the entire industry and ends up impoverished on the streets of LA)

where for each decision, the good choice (the one real-life Langdell didn't make) brings you to a happy ending, while the bad brings you to the next step. Of course, the further you progress, the more rotten Langdell ends up, so we can't let him get away too lightly for past sins. You could get a "corrupted bastard" rating - kids like that stuff.

If there's a few of us, each person could do either one screen, or a set of screens (the introduction screen and one for each choice). The style of each screen or scenario could be completely different too, pixeled, painted, anything, that would just make it cooler. If there's anybody who'd volunteer to make a song that'd be cool too. I'd be happy to make one or more sets myself, organize it and make it into a flash game.

What do you think? Are you interested? We could have an awesome game finished in practically a day or two.

If you want to participate, just post in this thread and I'll add your name to the list!

Artists:
(ideally we'd have one artist per scenario, that would mean each person has to do 3 screens each)
Me
Fuzz
Kibble
Room for at least 6 more

Musician:
We could survive with one, longer song that plays throughout the game, or switch to a second song for the happy endings, and/or a third song for the unhappy final ending. Perhaps an opening song too.

Writer:
NathanielEdwards

[raiten]

The story: Let's discuss, are these screens good? Are they enough? Are there too many? Anything else that needs to be added? (so my idea was that either whoever wants to be writer does all of these screens, but we could also do them collaboratively)

Rip off kids or not
(placeholder)

First screen (Picture of Tim Langdell sitting behind a desk): The year is 1982. You are Tim Langdell, the editor of hardware/software reviews at the British computer magazine "Your Computer". You notice the quality of some of the games the kids send in aren't that bad at all. As a matter of fact, some of them could probably be sold commercially. Since these kids are 15-17, they wouldn't ask for much in royalties either....
What do you chose?
A) Rip these kids off! I'll make money off of their games and they'll be able to brag that they've got a game published. They won't see much money coming from it, but hey! I will.
B) Nah, I think I'll keep editing here at the magazine. I enjoy it. Besides, it would be unethical to steal these kids' games.

Outcome A:
outcome B:

Refuse to pay the guy who made Fairlight unless he signs up to make more games, or pay him timely.
(placeholder)

The year is 1985. Bo Jangeborg, a pretty talented guy, has been developing the game Fairlight for you. Now he wants you to pay him for what he's done, perhaps a reasonable request. But this guy is real talented, and could go on to work for any developing company. How do you make sure he'll give the publishing rights for his next game to you?
A) I'll make him sign a contract obliging him to sell all his future games to Edge! If he doesn't, I won't give him a penny! He needs the money, so what are the chances he'd say no?
B) I can't force him to do anything! I can only make him a good offer for his next game, and make sure everything works out to his contention on this publishing deal.

Outcome A: He brings in a lawyer and you're forced to pay him, but you end up with the rights to "Fairlight" and go on to release a buggy sequel without Bo's approval
Outcome B: Bo is happy to work with Edge for his next few games and Edge end up one of the most innovative British studios of the 1980's.

Develop interesting unique titles or licensed crap like "Garfield" and "Snoopy" (where the money arguably is)
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

Rip off the Commodore guys and elope to the States or pay up
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

Sue Future Publishing and steal their logo or not
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

sue Namco or not
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

write your own Wikipedia article using your wife's maiden name or not
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

lie your way onto the IGDA or not
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

sue Mobigames or not
Outcome A: (suing)
(placeholder)

"The year is 2010. This is Tim. Things didn't end so well for him. Tim now lives the life of a bum on the streets of Los Angeles. After Tim attempted to sue Mobigames, mainstream press started to take an interest in what had happened and Tim was made the laughing stock of the entire industry. Tim ended up losing the rights to the mark Edge, his wife left him for a guy who still had a Wikipedia page going strong and Tim took up drinking, and eventually lost his house. If only Tim had chosen differently..."

Outcome B:

[Mipe]

Year 2012. It is late winter, the snow has begun to fall, however it only gets red as it soaks the blood of many a white collar that has seen their escape in the hundred-story fall. Tim Langdell, whose gray hair is showing his age, is occupying his gold-lined throne atop the Memorial WTC, constructed with the money of indie gamers he has ripped off in his career. His hazy eyes scanned over the empty chairs of conference room and open windows, through which chilly draft brought the snow in. He forced himself to smile, for his victory was complete. He was dominating the whole market, he was the owner of every word he could find in any dictionaries in sale. He was untouchable.

Yet he felt empty inside. Microsoft, Apple, IBM... everything was his and his alone. There was nothing opposing him. Everything that he could sue had either come under his thumb or simply ceased to be. The Christmas was Tim Langdell's day, his name was chanted on the streets, however he could sense the bitterness and loathing within those quiet voices.

Tim Langdell supported himself on the pure ivory cane as he stood up and walked over the conference room, shivering from the chill. As he reached the nearest open window, he scaled the street with his tired eyes. Corpses lined the base of the tall buildings, the crowd was gathering and sirens could be heard approaching. Everything he could see was his.

Yet he felt empty. No, there was something he must have overlooked. Hearing the jingle bells, Tim Langdell gazed upon the cloudy sky. Snowflakes were slowly drifting past him, while his mind worked like a clockwork. There was one thing yet unclaimed... his life would be incomplete until he claimed that last thing. His lips crept into a devious smile. Oh yes, now that he had everything, the unmatched power, he could reach for the last word yet to be trademarked.

Tim Langdell rose his cane and pointed to the sky, his raspy voice echoed in the snowfall. The people below froze as they heard the damning words, the chill spread down their spines. Sirens died down, silence enveloped the snowy metropolis. Each of those souls knew deep within that the End had come.

For Tim Langdell had challenged the God.

[kavs]

I would like to contribute and put a slide together; I have some free time this weekend. :D

I don't know how much I could contribute apart from just doing some simple art; if it's in flash I could do something animated.

I like the idea of doing the self-written Wikipedia page; let me think of and edit a decent scenario.

EDIT::

Here is the wikipedia source from the original article I read.

Somewhat amazed by this, I went and checked Langdell's Wikipedia page, and discovered that, according to a massive section of the voluminous page, he's been asking for licenses for his apparent trademark 'Edge' in any manner of media or technology fields - generally gaming-related - for the past few years.

For example: "Langdell worked with Future Publishing to license the rights to the trademark EDGE to launch a new high-end games magazine, Edge, which was published by Future under license from EDGE starting in 1993. Langdell also took EDGE into comic book publishing and in 1995 worked with Gil Kane to license the trademark EDGE for a series of comic books published by Malibu Comics... Langdell also brokered a movie deal, too, licensing the trademark rights to 20th Century Fox for The Edge which starred Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin."

To be fair to Langdell, he certainly was publishing video games in the UK as 'The Edge' back in 1984 or so, as MobyGames shows, with Bo Jangeborg's Fairlight probably the most famous title produced by them.

But interestingly, the entirity of Tim Langdell's complex, detailed Wikipedia page on these licenses has been created by 'Cheridavis' - in fact the name of Tim's wife appears to be Cheri [Davis] Langdell, according to an online search. Even more interestingly, after Langdell's Wikipedia page entry was disputed, with user Frecklefoot commenting: "From your edit history, it's apparent you're either Tim Langdell or are somehow closely related to him", 'Cheridavis' comments: "I am writing a book on founding members of the game industry and noticed that Tim Langdell was one of the only people missing from Wikipedia. The article I created is based on my research, not on being Tim Langdell or knowing him personally."

Although user 'Cheridavis' is writing a book on the game industry, her Wikipedia contributions have never mentioned another person, but has, variously, changed the old AIAS entry to include Langdell as co-founder, and insert references to the word 'Edge' being licensed in graphics card articles, plus set up 'THE EDGE' as a page devoted to Langdell's trademark, and then complain when it gets removed.

Anyway, here's my proposal for the Wikipedia slide.

Statement text:
The year is 2001. You've just finished another productive evening surfing Google with search parameters of '"edge" +game', when your last search of the night guides you to a brand new web-site. It appears to be some sort of... Wiki? Encyclopedia? Hmm... what is this Wikipedia anyway?

First things first; you quickly search the infant database for the word 'edge', which returns only a few results. Suddenly, you are struck with a shocking observation: "Nobody has made an entry about either my company, the 180 games I have designed or written, or my key contributions as a founder of the game industry as we know it!" It's your job to fill that void! You summon every ounce of creative energy your are capable of and create a username: "Cheridavis".

...ok, ok. In place of creativity or cleverness, you just use your wife's maiden name. That's ok, nobody will ever figure it out!

You start editing Wikipedia. What do you do?

A) Accurately enter information about your achievements, your studio, and your trademarks. You are sure to be humble, and make sure that no information would make it seem like you are a more accomplished person than you really are.
B) Fabricate entries about your achievements, what your studio has done, and the games you have worked on. Take full credit for the 180 games you know you haven't really worked on, but snuck in on due to trademarking, lawsuits, or downright lies.


------------------------------------------

There, that's what I've come up with for tonight. I'm not a talented writer, but I do need to get better at it so writing this up was a good exercise.

I like the idea of this being done in Flash, too. Easy to distribute, and even people who don't know how to use Flash can still enter slides.

I like the idea of all contributors doing it in their own style (both art and writing), so we have a true compilation.

Anyway, if this takes off, I'll create something for this.

[raiten]

I would like to contribute and put a slide together; I have some free time this weekend. :D

Awesome, I've added your name to the list. Your scenario suggestion is good too, but maybe a bit on the long side (same goes for Mipey - albeit a hilarious read). Also, I think the honorable thing would be to NOT edit Wikipedia at all (after all, if you really are notable, somebody will write it for you)

[kavs]

I would like to contribute and put a slide together; I have some free time this weekend. :D

Awesome, I've added your name to the list. Your scenario suggestion is good too, but maybe a bit on the long side (same goes for Mipey - albeit a hilarious read). Also, I think the honorable thing would be to NOT edit Wikipedia at all (after all, if you really are notable, somebody will write it for you)

Ah, yea, that's right. :D I'll revise the text to shorten it up a bit and correct the right answer, once I've started drawing.

[NathanielEdwards]

I'm up for writing, if that's alright. Looks like a pretty linear script that needs filling out, so I could get this done for you.

[Melly]

Shouldn't this thread be on competitions if you're gonna enter?

Let me know when you've got something playable and I'll move it.

[raiten]

Sorry Melly, I'm a newbie. Feel free to move it whenever.

NathanielEdwards, awesome! Now all we need is some more artists... come on people!

[NathanielEdwards]

I've already gotten a start on writing this up. I'm just using your framework you set up, it works just fine. If you could give me all the links you can find to information about what he's done, that'd be helpful. I already have the Wiki page, the TIGSource post, and the Gamasutra post, but I think you have more information somewhere.

Also, what's the difference between suing Edge and suing Mobigames? Or is this a different Edge than the iPhone game?

[raiten]

I've already gotten a start on writing this up. I'm just using your framework you set up, it works just fine. If you could give me all the links you can find to information about what he's done, that'd be helpful. I already have the Wiki page, the TIGSource post, and the Gamasutra post, but I think you have more information somewhere.

Also, what's the difference between suing Edge and suing Mobigames? Or is this a different Edge than the iPhone game?

I removed "suing Edge", don't know what it's supposed to mean either. I think the new front page post by Derek basically sums everything up pretty well. Feel free to PM me any text you finish so I can have a look at it!

[NathanielEdwards]

Yeah, the new post pretty much gave me all I needed, basically just after I talked here. I'll PM you as soon as I'm done, and we can discuss.

[kavs]

Just an update; I have been slogged with work and haven't had time to finish my drawings up.

I think this is best done in Flash, and I think we should keep the image sizes around 720x480. I just did a quick mockup in Photoshop with 720x480px, and I allocated 720x150px at the bottom for text. How does that sound? It might be a bit too tall for text; its a bit overpowering.

We need to have some kind of standard, though. Any thoughts?

[raiten]

Just an update; I have been slogged with work and haven't had time to finish my drawings up.

I think this is best done in Flash, and I think we should keep the image sizes around 720x480. I just did a quick mockup in Photoshop with 720x480px, and I allocated 720x150px at the bottom for text. How does that sound? It might be a bit too tall for text; its a bit overpowering.

We need to have some kind of standard, though. Any thoughts?

I don't think there's any actual hurry to finish your drawings, I mean, if we can't get at least a few more people to join I'm not sure anything will come of this (I won't have time to do all the drawings on my own!).

640x480 would be a reasonable resolution. We wouldn't necessarily need a text field, the text could be white and outlined in black and just superimposed on the picture.

[NathanielEdwards]

Here's the script so far, I'll edit this post whenever it's updated:

Rip off kids or not

First screen (Picture of Tim Langdell sitting behind a desk): The year is 1982. You are Tim Langdell, the editor of hardware/software reviews at the British computer magazine "Your Computer". You notice the quality of some of the games the kids send in aren't that bad at all. As a matter of fact, some of them could probably be sold commercially. Since these kids are 15-17, they wouldn't ask for much in royalties either....
What do you choose?

A) Rip these kids off! I'll make money off of their games and they'll be able to brag that they've got a game published. They won't see much money coming from it, but hey! I will.
B) Nah, I think I'll keep editing here at the magazine. I enjoy it. Besides, it would be unethical to steal these kids' games.

Outcome A: Hey! That was easy! You earned some cash, and no one’s going to spank you or send you to time out or anything! Isn’t it fun being an adult?

Outcome B: Congratulations! You make a reasonable income and are generally liked throughout your small circle of friends and fellow co-workers. Most importantly, no snarky games were ever made that shat on your career. TIME PARADOX EYE n33d sc1ssors, 61!

You were ranked: Legitimate Businessman

__________________________________________________________________________

Refuse to pay the guy who made Fairlight unless he signs up to make more games, or pay him in a timely fashion.
Quote
Background: The year is 1985. Bo Jangeborg, a pretty talented guy, has been developing the game Fairlight for you. Now he wants you to pay him for what he's done, perhaps a reasonable request. But this guy is real talented, and could go on to work for any developing company. How do you make sure he'll give the publishing rights for his next game to you?

Outcome A: He brings in a lawyer and you're forced to pay him, but you end up with the rights to "Fairlight" and go on to release a buggy sequel without Bo's approval. It’s like a Win-Win, right?

Outcome B: Bo is happy to work with Edge for his next few games and Edge end up one of the most innovative British studios of the 1980's.  Most importantly, no snarky games were ever made that shat on your career. TIME PARADOX EYE n33d sc1ssors, 61!
You were ranked: Extremely Poor Man’s Richard Garriot

______________________________________________________________________

Develop interesting unique titles or licensed crap like "Garfield" and "Snoopy" (where the money arguably is)
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

You were ranked: Like Peter Molyneux, but Less Irritating
________________________________________________________________________

Rip off the Commodore guys and elope to the States or pay up
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

You were ranked: Piddler on the Roof
_________________________________________________________________________

Sue Future Publishing and steal their logo or not
Outcome A:
Outcome B:

You were ranked: Future Pube-Licking [maybe too much here]
_________________________________________________________________________

Namco’s got a killer-looking fighting game coming out! But clearly, that doesn’t matter! The point is, it’s called Soul Edge. Defend your trademark! Or don’t!

Outcome A: Your nuisance suits succeed! You set a settlement price at just the right point, where Namco might actually have to pay more just to hire a lawyer to beat you, so they decide to back off and name their game Soul Blade (later Soul Calibur, which sounds better anyway). Chalk another victory up to Timmy L. and aggressive lawsuits!

Outcome B: This is really too much. Soul Edge doesn’t really have anything to do with Edge Games, and you’ve decided to hedge your bets and call it a day on lawsuits.
(Namco decided to change the name anyway to evade a potential lawsuit from the guys behind Solfege)

You were ranked: Nightmare
_________________________________________________________________________

Get this. Wikipedia doesn’t even have an article about you, or basically any of the 700+ games you’ve totally worked on. There’s only one way to fix this, and it should be obvious: Make an account in your wife’s maiden name, of course! Do you want to?

Outcome A: Despite a healthy dose of well-balanced edits, those Nazi Sysop Admins are totally warning you, like you did something wrong. But hey, at least your article wasn’t speedy deleted! You secretly feel proud that it made it into an arbitration vote.

Outcome B:

You were ranked: Bimbo Whales
_________________________________________________________________________

lie your way onto the IGDA or not

Outcome A: You’re totally a respected game developer! Just whipping out your list of 700+ titles developed by you, without any help from “Easy Instant Game Maker 2000 Pro Edition” or something like that, and you got on the Board of Directors. These people need a smart, talented, and hard-working artist like you around to keep ‘em straight!

Outcome B:

You were ranked: Bizarro Miyamoto

___________________________________________________________________________

EA sucks! They laughed off your threat of a lawsuit over Mirror’s Edge, and released the game anyway, despite your totally legitimate trademark claim on Mirror’s Spore, which proves that they’re stealing ideas from you. You feel down. Your first major loss! But wait! You’re about to redownload your favorite app, iFart, when you notice a new top-seller, and it’s called EDGE. This is your lucky break, you’re back in the game, it’s the final countdown! This lawsuit could save your historic game development career! Sue ‘em or don’t?

Outcome A: (suing)
(placeholder) "The year is 2010. This is Tim. Things didn't end so well for him. Tim now lives the life of a bum on the streets of Los Angeles. After Tim attempted to sue Mobigames, mainstream press started to take an interest in what had happened and Tim was made the laughing stock of the entire industry. Tim ended up losing the rights to the trademark Edge, his wife left him for a guy who still had a Wikipedia page going strong and Tim took up drinking, and eventually lost his house. If only Tim had chosen differently..."

You were ranked: Ollie, the Magic Bum

Outcome B: The Conscience Fairy stops you for one split second: “Hey! LISTEN! You don’t need this. Your trademark is intact, and you’ve got money! Just stop, all this litigation is about to push you over the edge!” You consider this advice good, but decide to sue the fairy for using the word “edge”. The fairy settles out of court for a hefty sum of money earned from extracting kids’ teeth, and you retire from invasive litigation for good. A bunch of indie game people make a silly choose-your-own-adventure lampooning your career.

You were ranked: Langdell the Litigious, Lord of Douchebagia

[raiten]

No more interested artists? Come on, this is the most effortless way of sending a digital kick in the crotch to Langdell you'll ever see. If he pisses you off, why not participate?

[Melly]

Just dropping in, curious of how this is going. Guess it won't be in the compo, which is a shame. still, I'd love to see if finished. :handthumbsupR:

Good luck!

[kavs]

I started working on my slide, but after working on it for a while I just wasn't feeling it and I scrapped it. I'm going to do something in vectors to stick more to my terrible style.

[raiten]

Well, if enough people are interested, I'm ready to do it, but with only one or two artists, it's going to be hard. Just warning you Kibble, you might be wasting your time.