Google pulls the curtain on a5teroids
Trent Gamblin

So, a5teroids (one of the Allegro 5 demos) has been on Google Play for a month or two now... but today I got an email saying it's been suspended because of ALLEGED trademark infringement. No surprise, it's Atari claiming this.

There's no doubt that the games are similar... but how ridiculous is this? As far as I'm aware a trademark is a name or image. Atari owns the trademark of the name "Astroids". So what qualifies as infringment? Asteroids are such an obvious target for games... I don't know how they can pull this over (for like 30 years now) and why google bends over for them.

What do you think about it? Should any game with a name resembling "Astroids" be illegal? Again, Google admits themselves that the infringement is only ALLEGED, yet they still stop the game from being download. And for the record, the game was free.

torhu

You could try rereleasing it as 4ndr0iD, maybe they'll think it's so funny they'll let it pass ;D

Trent Gamblin

Yeah, I don't think I can do anything with it without Atari's approval. Atari has to send Google a message giving the Ok. Retarded.

NOTE: It is "Asteroids" that Atari owns the trademark for not "Astroids".

Luiji99

If it's just about the name, then why not simply change it to Meteors or something? Perhaps "Flying Space Rocks 2000" or "Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go!".

Trent Gamblin

Well I'm not a lawyer, but that's what I think it's about. That's what a trademark is right? (serious question)

Thomas Fjellstrom
Luiji99 said:

"Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go!".

Make that "Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go! Alpha Extreme vs. Capcom". And I'm all for it.

That's what a trademark is right? (serious question)

Yup, if its Atari, and its A5steroids, then yes, its about the name. Probably in combination with the game play. If you had a game that was completely unlike Asteroids in every way, you could probably get away with it, but they'd probably send a takedown anyhow.

Luiji99

You trademark words, that I know. I think you can also trademark logos (a bit more generalized than copyrights in such a case) but I doubt that's the problem. Anything else would be a copyright or patent issue.

A5teroids looks "stunningly" like Asteroids, and they could argue in court (hypothetically, not like you'll get there) that the similarity is intended to be unclear as to confuse consumers. Since the whole point of trademark is to avoid confusing consumers, they have appropriate grounds.

So says the legal hobbyist, though. Also I only know about United States trademark, copyright and patent laws. Other countries are out of my range.

Matthew Leverton

http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/609540/947310#target

I agree with Luigi99. In fact, I find nothing ludicrous about the claim of infringement.

AMCerasoli

Yhea, I remembered you had a similar problem with Apple. Thanks for posting that info Trent.

Neil Walker

A bit like microsfot.com, etc.

It's just a demo, call it 'A5 Steroids' or maybe 'A5 Shooting rocks'

Gideon Weems

Let's see the cup as half-full and turn this into a thread for name ideas.

  • A5 Many Rocks A5 You Can Handle

  • A5under (because it means "into separate parts; in or into pieces," and that already covers 75% of the original design document for Asteroids)

  • A5S-TEARING-ROIDS, because that's actually what hemorrhoids literally do.

Luiji99
  • Holy Shit Space Rocks

  • Space Rock Mountain (Now with Less Mountain!)

  • All Space Rocks Must Explode

  • Space Rock Attack Force Alpha-9 Play

  • Comets/Comet5

  • R O C K S

Trent Gamblin

I find nothing ludicrous about the claim of infringement

You find nothing wrong with trademarking the word "asteroids"? I think I'll trademark "teh" and then when people spell it "the" their ass is grass.

EDIT: I think the stupidest part is, all Atari had to do was submit a CLAIM, and also to get the game back in the store ATARI has to approve it. WTF?!

Luiji99

I'm fairly sure the trademark Asteroids applies exclusively to games. In such a case, I think it's a reasonable way of preventing consumer confusion.

Most (if not all) trademarks are context-sensitive.

Trent Gamblin

I still think it's ridiculous. It's like trademarking "Racing" or something. It's an obvious target for games.

Luiji99

Yes, and "Monster" is such a complicated title? Would you be bothered if I released a game titled "Mon5ter" and made in a JRPG?

Trent Gamblin

No I wouldn't.

Thomas Fjellstrom

There are limits to trademarks. But in this case both the gameplay and the name are too close to a long held well protected trademark. They have to enforce it or they lose the right to protect it.

Trent Gamblin

The only title I'd be upset about someone using is "Monster RPG 3".

Luiji99

Mon5ter JRPG 1

So far you're displaying less sensitivity to most corporations, which I commend you for.

The problem with trademarks, though, is that it's all about prevent consumers from being tricked into purchasing one product thinking that it's another. Asteroids might not be a particularly original name, but it's a name everybody associates with one game from one company and, as such, it's in the interests of both the corporation and consumer that this arrangement is not permitted.

I had problems typing that. It made me feel too capitalistic for my liking...

Trent Gamblin

Sure, ok... I guess I can agree to that. But why is Atari the judge and jury? That's the really f'ed up part... If I change the name and say "Hey Atari, I changed the name so it no longer infringes!", I highly suspect to get no response or "the gameplay is the same" which can't be trademarked, but try explaining that to them...

Thomas Fjellstrom

I don't have too much problem with Trademarks, for the most part they have been handled well to my knowledge. Unlike the patent and copyright systems.

Maybe its because its so easy for the companies to lose their trademarks. I dunno.

Luiji99

I think copyrights are fairly well implemented, though too easy to abuse. Patents get really shitty really fast. MPEG can bite itself.

I also agree that Google's being a little shit by letting Atari control the situation. It's like they're trying to say that big corporations are the legal enforcers of the world and not the courts. At the very least, it should be Google who makes these judgments.

torhu

Anyone remember Lindows?

Luiji99

Wow, they failed miserably. It seems, though, that Microsoft is much more likely to loose in court than most corporations.

<insert conspiracy theory here>

Matthew Leverton

But why is Atari the judge and jury?

Do you have a link to Google's policy? The answer to your question is probably that Google doesn't want you to get sued and more importantly, they don't want to get sued.

Trent Gamblin

I didn't bother looking for their policy, but this is from the email.

Quote:

You may contact Atari, Inc. at <removed email address>. If Atari, Inc. contacts us specifically authorizing your app to be re-published, and your app does not otherwise violate theDeveloper Distribution Agreement and Content Policy, we will reinstate the app

Neil Roy
Luiji99 said:

"Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go!"

;D

OMG I burst out laughing at this. You simply HAVE to name it this, I am certain it will attract people more so than the other name! (still chuckling here) ;D

Edit: Just read the rest of the game name suggestions you made Luiji99, great ones, I had a good laugh. :D

It's like "Pacman", I looked at the trademarks (USA has a searchable site where you can easily check them) and Namco Bandai doesn't trademark "Pacman", they trademarked "Pac-Man" in every case it is "Pac-Man". My game is called "Deluxe Pacman" so I am not changing the name. :)

Look over any games Atari has listed on Google and put forth a request to have them removed due to trademarks. :D

Maybe its because its so easy for the companies to lose their trademarks. I dunno.

I think you're right about that. I once heard many years ago by 3DRealms, while chatting on their forums a 3DRealms rep came into a conversation about something and told us that by law, they are forced to defend their trademarks or they will loose them. Something like that anyhow.

Specter Phoenix

Atari, lost their balls and back out of the game console business so now they want to keep their name by bitching about stupid things. Come on! A5teroids is free and nothing more than, well basically a tech demo to show what Allegro 5 is capable of doing. Love how the companies are more worried about free projects than they are about projects looking to land money.

Thomas Fjellstrom

Atari, lost their balls and back out of the game console business so now they want to keep their name by bitching about stupid things.

If you want an interesting read, go look up the history of Atari. The company called Atari is not the original company. There is very little left of it, if anything.

Specter Phoenix

Yeah I'm aware of the history of Atari (talk about a head spin for all the company changes). Love how Bushnell is still there even with all the companies buying it and changing names left and right though.

Luiji99

;D Atari died and its identity was stolen.

NiteHackr said:

OMG I burst out laughing at this. You simply HAVE to name it this, I am certain it will attract people more so than the other name! (still chuckling here)

Edit: Just read the rest of the game name suggestions you made Luiji99, great ones, I had a good laugh.

Thanks. :D

NiteHackr said:

I think you're right about that. I once heard many years ago by 3DRealms, while chatting on their forums a 3DRealms rep came into a conversation about something and told us that by law, they are forced to defend their trademarks or they will loose them. Something like that anyhow.

Yep. If you don't enforce your trademarks, they're automatically lost. In fact, in most jurisdictions if you don't use your trademark for more than five years you lose it, too. Trademarks are the least maintainable forms of data monopolization compared to patents and copyrights.

Specter Phoenix said:

Stuff about balls.

Yeah, corporations are more likely to pick on free projects than commercial ones because commercial ones have money at stake and, thus, a much higher chance of taking it to the courts.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Luiji99 said:

Yep. If you don't enforce your trademarks, they're automatically lost. In fact, in most jurisdictions if you don't use your trademark for more than five years you lose it, too. Trademarks are the least maintainable forms of data monopolization compared to patents and copyrights.

You can also lose the right to enforce your trademark if it becomes part of "the vernacular". That is it becomes a common term for many similar products.

Luiji99

Well, in reality enforcing your trademarks isn't an explicit requirement. It's an implicit requirement to prevent it from becoming the vernacular.

Also, thank you for using that word. It was bothering me that I couldn't remember it.

Trent Gamblin

If anyone doesn't have balls, it's Google.

I had a similar issue with Youtube literally this week (or at most late last week.) I had a random stupid video I made in some video editing software with a really crappy rendition of the Super Mario Bros. theme playing. Some GERMAN company contacted Google saying it was their copyright (Nintendo IS Japanese right?) Google put ads on the video with the money going to this phoney company. I changed the music, still ads. I faxed Youtube (impossible to contact Google or any of their companies, the WORST) about it but so far they haven't done anything... Ok, I just looked it up, it was September 1st when I sent the fax, so over 2 weeks ago. I didn't get a response. So ya, Google has no balls whatsoever. I then removed the video...

Luiji99

It's true. Google lacks testicles. They've made this abundantly clear.

weapon_S

That YouTube story is messed up. But the thing that strikes me the most of the A5steroids story, is that you are surprised :P

Neil Walker

I'm thinking of trademarking the name Scrolls :P

Tobias Dammers
weapon_S said:

But the thing that strikes me the most of the A5steroids story, is that you are surprised

Indeed. I wonder how this could go unnoticed for as long as it did. It's obviously a very similar name, easy to be confused, and the products are really really similar, definitely in the same market. Every single requirement for a trademark violation case is met.

Specter Phoenix

The thing I keep finding funny is that according to the Allegro demos it is A5teroids, but several times I've seen it called A5steroids (find it funny because that is the only thing confusing me is which one it is). Either way I can't fathom how a person would confuse Asteroids (Atari) with A5teroids (way better graphics IMO). Though, I think the scientific community should go after Atari seeing as Asteroids were around way before Atari's game ;).

Neil Roy

"Meteor Shower" or perhaps "Meteor Shower Super Fun Go" ;)

I simply have to make a new game with a ridiculous name like that. ;D

Neil Walker
NiteHackr said:

"Meteor Shower Super Fun Go"

You might get more downloads if you called it "Golden Shower Super Fun Go"

Neil Roy

You might get more downloads if you called it "Golden Shower Super Fun Go"

Hmmm, now you're giving me ideas! :D

Arthur Kalliokoski

You could bisect the objects into two pieces, and call it HemiRoids!

Neil Roy

"Another Lame Lawsuit Evading Game Rename ..." I can't think of a word for "O".

J-Gamer

operation? (makes it sound official IMO)

Luiji99

I like games with titles like "South Park Tower Defense Let's Play Go," "Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution" and "Ultimate Robotoru Super Alpha Z."

alehbeer

Now you get to have an advertisement for Allegro and "A5t3riods: Not Atarted, OR: Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go!" on the Asteroids wiki page. Now every time someone wants to know more about asteroids, they get to find out about allegro!! In fact, the reference citation could even point to this thread. :P

Tobias Dammers

Make it reasonably satirical. Parodies are usually exempt from trademark and copyright: mocking something is not a trademark infringement. It'd have to be very clear that it's a parody though, doubt you'll get away with it.

torhu

Killer Comets on Steroids®

Tobias Dammers

Your Head A Steroid
All Your Base Are Belong A Steroid
...you get the gist.

Peter Wang
Specter Phoenix

Cosmic Space Patrol..Wonder if that is an example of game being changed after the manuals and such are made. I remember one fighting game had alpha screen shots that showed a character that was later removed from the game. Can't remember what games have had boxes that claimed their were modes that had been removed before release, but the box was never corrected heh.

Trent Gamblin

It could be made a parody... the asteroids start small and get bigger when you shoot them. D:

J-Gamer

You could make it so that the asteroids destroy each other, while you have to evade them, sometimes shooting them(making them larger) to make sure they hit each other. Just an idea, don't know if this would be any fun.

Trent Gamblin

Might be worth a try. I'll make note of it, don't have time to do it right now. Thanks for the idea. :D

Luiji99

This shit's getting interesting. If I get the time first I might try to make these modifications myself!

Mordredd

I really don't why you're accussing Google of having no balls. Apple is sueing more then half the industry because they have a design patent on flat devices with rounded corners. A5teroids is a clear entire gameplay copy with a single letter changed into a number in the name.. Of course they put it down immediately. Go drop Atari a letter and don't moan about Google..

Trent Gamblin

Glad to have input from the resident Google/Linux fanboy. Did anyone mention anything about Apple? Does a5teroids violate anything LEGAL but the name "Asteroids"? If not, why can't Google just let me change the name. Giving the case over to Atari is completely ridiculous and absurd in every way, if you can't see that you're blinded by your silly new love for Google.

Mordredd

Glad to have input from the resident Google/Linux fanboy.

Always glad responding to the leading a5 ork.

Quote:

Did anyone mention anything about Apple? Does a5teroids violate anything LEGAL but the name "Asteroids"? If not, why can't Google just let me change the name. Giving the case over to Atari is completely ridiculous and absurd in every way, if you can't see that you're blinded by your silly new love for Google.

Atari is the copyright owner. Since they own the copright, you have to ask them for permission - that easy. What part of that do you not understand?

edit: To be more specific: A copyright is not only held on EXACT names, but also similar names, ie. if the name is intended to make a third party think your game has to do something with the copyrighted name.

Trent Gamblin

Atari is the copyright owner. Since they own the copright, you have to ask them for permission - that easy. What part of that do you not understand?

Ok, let me break it down for you since you clearly don't understand the situation...

1) No copyright was violated
2) A TRADEMARK i.e., the name "Asteroids" was violated (CLAIMED to be violated actually, but I won't dispute that)

Do you understand now youngster?

Now let's examine Google giving the case over to Atari. Now let's look at this as if it was a court case. Google, the judge decides that you have violated an Atari trademark. Minor offense. So the judge decides that Atari is now going to judge the case from this point on... wait, what? Ya, that's what's happening here.

Luiji99
  • This is a trademark issue.

  • There are no claims of copyright infringement, but at this point this design has been used so often it's probably wouldn't hold up in court.

  • Apple wasn't mentioned, and you're talking about patents now. We never brought those up.

  • Semi-related tidbit: you cannot copyright game play in Germany.

  • We already understand the system of similar names. Mr. Gamblin just believes that A5teroids is different enough (which I disagree with, but I think we've gotten past this stage).

  • I love Google products, such as Chromium and SparseHash, but I refuse to condone this type of behavior. Trent's court analogy functions the best to explain why.

  • I also love GNU/Linux, but I don't see how that fanaticism is relevant, Mr. Gamblin.

  • A5 ork? What does that mean?

  • At a certain point I question whether you, Mr. Dawid, actually payed much attention to what happened in this topic, or have the necessary amount of knowledge to debate on it ( copyright != trademark ).

And now I smiley to avoid offending anyone because that actually works. :)

Thomas Fjellstrom

Now let's examine Google giving the case over to Atari. Now let's look at this as if it was a court case. Google, the judge decides that you have violated an Atari trademark. Minor offense. So the judge decides that Atari is now going to judge the case from this point on... wait, what? Ya, that's what's happening here.

Somewhat OT, but Google's done what with copyrights on Youtube. Even the appeals tend to be handled by the complainer.

alehbeer

I think I read about something similar which went like this make the claiming company, Atari, give a hard-copy list of all its problems, fix them, forward to google, and make Atari review them in 15 days. around a month or less. Requiring a deadline or they forfeit their claims might get their lawyers to write up enough so you can comply with their complaints like that article talked about. If I can remember it I will post it from a year ago - the thread I found it in had something to do with fabrication, game pieces, and I want to say bikes of all things. This is not advice though

Arthur Kalliokoski

In other words, Trent's position is that Google is impressed with Atari's size relative to himself, and decides that since Atari is so big, they're in the right and Trent is just a little scammer?

Trent Gamblin
Luiji99 said:

We already understand the system of similar names. Mr. Gamblin just believes that A5teroids is different enough

On the contrary, I have no doubt that the name is too similar. It just never appeared to be a problem early on when this was just a PC demo for A5, until Atari got involved. I would have no problem changing the name.

EDIT:

alehbeer said:

make the claiming company, Atari, give a hard-copy list of all its problems, fix them, forward to google, and make Atari review them in 15 days. around a month or less. Requiring a deadline or they forfeit their claims might get their lawyers to write up enough so you can comply with their complaints like that article talked about.

That sounds like a reasonable thing to do.

Mordredd
Luiji99 said:

A5 ork? What does that mean?

Refers to a person that's always nice to you. Just like an ork. ;)

Quote:

At a certain point I question whether you, Mr. Dawid, actually payed much attention to what happened in this topic, or have the necessary amount of knowledge to debate on it ( copyright != trademark ).

Well, I experienced a similar case when our band covered a Bon Jovi (classic) song and posted it on youtube. Regarding german law, you are basically allowed to do this, but that law does not apply here. So the producer contacted me and they took the video down. We left with an agreement that if I put a link into the video description that links to the Bon Jovi site and they would release the video. I think there is a similar solution here.

Trent Gamblin

I think there is a similar solution here.

There may be. I'm still trying to come up with what to say to ATARI regarding this. Yes, I'm complaining too much but the circumstances are silly.

Tobias Dammers

The situation is simple.

You have a product which likley violates someone else's trademark. Normally, this would be an issue between you and Atari, the trademark owner, and it could be settled either through an agreement between you and Atari, or, failing that, in court, where a judge (or jury) would decide whether this was an actual infringement or not, and how much you'd have to pay Atari in compensation.

However, Google now comes into play, and they have their own business at stake - they are acting as a trader, basically re-selling your product under the same name. This means that they, too, might be considered trademark infringers if they keep selling your game, at least if they knowingly continue doing so. To protect themselves from such a situation, they are proactively withdrawing your game to cover their own ass; they are not judging anyone, they are simply playing it safe for themselves, and I bet their terms of service explicitly allow them to do this (which is why you can't take them to court over this).

If you were offering the game through your own sales channels, Atari would have to go at you directly, and you would get a chance to defend your case in court (although in this case, this would be a rather theoretical chance, because you'd be destroyed in court).

Trent Gamblin

Yeah, I'd get destroyed. Because there aren't a million (literally?!) other free Asteroids clones out there that Atari hasn't gone after. The only reason they go after games on Google Play is because they know Google will pull them no questions asked.

And let's be realistic here. Do you really think ANYONE is going to confuse Atari's product with the Allegro 5 demo game?

Thomas Fjellstrom

And let's be realistic here. Do you really think ANYONE is going to confuse Atari's product with the Allegro 5 demo game?

Probably not. But they don't have the luxury of not going after people using their trademark. They have to or they lose the right to protect it.

Trent Gamblin

I seriously doubt they've gone after many of those 1 million clones out there. They never went after a5teroids until it was on Google Play. They make a show of it, but they only do it when it's convenient.

Tobias Dammers

That's because they don't have to go to court; they only have to scare Google into thinking they might take them to court. Removing your game from their site doesn't cost Google much: worst case, they lose a few dollars of revenue (let's assume $100). Not removing most likely doesn't cost them anything either, but there is the odd chance (let's assume 10%) that Atari decides to take them to court and wins, and when that happens, they have much more to lose (let's assume $10,000 plus the same in legal fees; I have no idea what these things cost, it's probably much more). So the calculation is something like $100 lost with 100% probability vs. $20,000 lost with 10% probability; -$100 * 100% = -$100, -$20,000 * 10% = -$2,000. You'd be a fool to pick the -$2,000.

On the Atari side, the calculation is practically zero cost (the amount of work it takes them to file a complaint at Google, let's assume 15 minutes worth of a lower-management type employee, say $25) for a likely success (Google removes the thing no questions asked), vs. not doing anything (zero cost, guaranteed failure), vs. taking you to court directly (say 90% chance of success, but possible $10,000 in legal fees). Doing the math:

Option A - likely success, 100% chance of $25 cost = -$25.
Option B - guaranteed failure, 100% chance of $0 cost = $0.
Option C - likely success, 10% chance of $10,000 cost = -$1,000.

So, depending on how much they like their trademark, they can decide to leave it be and risk losing the trademark, or go with the cheap and safe route for enforcing their trademark.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Thomas Fjellstrom

I seriously doubt they've gone after many of those 1 million clones out there. They never went after a5teroids until it was on Google Play. They make a show of it, but they only do it when it's convenient.

They don't have to go after all of them. They just have to show they made a reasonable attempt at trying to protect their copyright.

Luiji99

Trademark. We're talking about trademarks. When Atari starts whining about copyright let's get into that, but I feel we should avoid diluting the discussion until then.

They didn't go after A5teroids largely because they had no idea it existed. You really think Atari browses the 'net for tech demos that resemble their games?

Thomas Fjellstrom
Luiji99 said:

They didn't go after A5teroids largely because they had no idea it existed. You really think Atari browses the 'net for tech demos that resemble their games?

They will browse app stores for sure. Then send a batch of takedowns.

Mordredd

Afaik Google uses kind of an automated recognition system that - once above any rights infringement probability - informs the owner holding the specific rights. Then the owner of that rights has to take legal action. I am not sure whether Google closes content instantly or not.

Luiji99

Mr. Fjellstrom: when it was just a demo it wasn't available on Google Play...

Thomas Fjellstrom
Luiji99 said:

Mr. Fjellstrom: when it was just a demo it wasn't available on Google Play...

Sure but we're not talking about the demo. This thread is about the android version.

Luiji99

I know we're not talking about the demo.

I seriously doubt they've gone after many of those 1 million clones out there. They never went after a5teroids until it was on Google Play. They make a show of it, but they only do it when it's convenient.

This is what I was responded too.

Schyfis

I'm entirely unsurprised by this. Remember the time Atari went after this site?

A website... about actual asteroids?

Thomas Fjellstrom

Sometimes lawyers have to justify their high pay. They have to do something. ;D even if its incredibly stupid.

Trent Gamblin

I would like to see that hold up in court :P.

Obviously the owner didn't give up the domain, so Atari was BSing.

EDIT: I removed a5teroids from my site anyway. Not worth risking my business over, at least until I can rename it. Do you think it'll be a problem for Allegro?

Matthew Leverton

The bundled demo should definitely be given a different name, not that I expect them to ever do anything about it.

Luiji99

Super Space Rock X-4 Fun Time Go!

weapon_S

start small and get bigger when you shoot them.

Call it "Hemorrhoids"? :-X "Hemorrhoids in SPACE!"
"Cosmic Space Hemorrhoid Relief Squad x4 Fun Times Allegro 5 GO! GO! GO!"
"Unnamed Teenage Riot Cosmic Space Patrol"
;D Name giving should not be left to me

Neil Roy

Interesting story that is somewhat related.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120923/22100820477/another-judge-blasts-copyright-trolls.shtml

Call it "Not An Asteroids Game" ;)

Thomas Fjellstrom

YAAG[1].

References

  1. Yet Another Asteroids Game
Trent Gamblin

Ok, got word back from Them. All they want is the name changed so that it won't be confused Asteroids®. So fire some serious names at me. I won't consider anything with "asteroid" or "hemorrhoid" in the name.

Mordredd

Allegroids.

Trent Gamblin

I think "roids" is out, sorry.

Mordredd

Hm. Then what about "T.I.N.A."? (This Is Not Asteroids)

Arthur Kalliokoski
Trent Gamblin

I like where Arthur is going, but it needs some... some Luigi99.

Hmm it may be best not to even mention asteroid related things in the title... I will lean toward suggestions that do not.

Mordredd

Maybe something like that?

- Starlight Mayhem
- Comet Ultrablast
- Gigapower Cannon
- Lightspeed Laser

Trent Gamblin

Once I get some suggestions, I'll pick 3-5 and get people to vote on them. The name will probably be for the Allegro 5 demo too.

Luiji99
  • Super Kuiper Belt X-4 Fun Time Go

  • Hyper Space Travel Explosions Alpha 7

  • Allegro: A Space Shooter

  • HOLYSHITROCKS

  • Rocks in Space [1]

  • Triton: A Space Survival Game

  • Dragon B5ll Z [2]

[1] I'm thinking like Lost in Space with that one.
[2] :P

Arthur Kalliokoski

They don't have to be rocks, they could be fragments of a wrecked spaceship or something.

Trent Gamblin

They have to be rocks, unless you can draw something else that looks just as good as the ones in the current demo. :P

torhu

Crocs vs. Comets (need to alter the game accordingly, of course ;D)

LennyLen

A Game With Rocks In It (And Other Things)
Blow My Rocks

Trent Gamblin

I wasn't going to post any, but I got a good one!

- Allegro Rocks

Ok here's some more off the top of my head:

- Dirtballs
- Space Balls (ok I may get sued for that one too)

- 2012: Odd C++ Space Game

Thomas Fjellstrom

2012: Odd C++ Space Game

Heh.

2012: An Allegro Odyssey.

Trent Gamblin

If I use the 2012 thing, I fear their attorney (the guy who emailed me back) may reprimand me. :(... but I'll still consider it. :P

Matthew Leverton
torhu said:

Crocs vs. Comets

Alex the Allegator (sic) in the ship would be sort of cool.

Trent Gamblin

I don't think a top down view would be recognizable. He could be put in the UFO easily though, but then the name doesn't work without modification.

Matthew Leverton

Perspective doesn't matter.

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Trent Gamblin

Yes it does. Try rotating that 360 degrees. :P

Zelda isn't an overhead view. It's 3/4.

Matthew Leverton

Rotate the screen. 8-)

Edgar Reynaldo

Add in mineral pick ups to score after you blow the space junk to bits, and call it Astral Miner.

Trent Gamblin

That's a pretty good idea. Don't like the name relating to Asteroids at all though, just to be safe.

Then there may be issues with Space Miner. I note their app on the app store has a fat ™ in the name. It's not a ® though.

Luiji99

They don't have to be rocks, they could be fragments of a wrecked spaceship or something.

They have to be rocks, unless you can draw something else that looks just as good as the ones in the current demo.

What if the spaceship was made of rocks?

EDIT: Er...I didn't notice page 5. A nice dosage of context.

weapon_S

Once I get some suggestions, I'll pick 3-5 and get people to vote on them

\o/ New vote on main page!
Edit: Let's see if I can come up with at least one serious name. I like "Allegro (5) Rocks". "Debris Buster" has a nice ring to it IMHO.

Thomas Fjellstrom
weapon_S said:

\o/ New vote on main page!

Then I vote for CmdrTaco.

Neil Roy

Then there may be issues with Space Miner. I note their app on the app store has a fat ™ in the name. It's not a ® though.

Hmmm, how about... Minecraft! XD OR... Space Craft.

Space Prospector (or Space Prospects)

Cosmic Salvage

Cosmic Prospector (that has a certain ring to it)

Or sometimes simpler names are best, "Cosmic" if it isn't already in use.

Schyfis

Meteortari Blasteriods.

Or, just Meteor Blaster.

Thomas Fjellstrom

Cosmic Protector?

Trent Gamblin

Not too shab.

EDIT: Ok, here are the 3 choices to vote for, in no particular order:

Allegro Rocks
Meteor Blaster
Cosmic Protector

I vote for Cosmic Protector.

Edgar Reynaldo

Well, of the three, I vote for Meteor Blaster. Haha, how about Blasteroids?

Luiji99

I vote Cosmic Protector.

EDIT: Does Cosmic Defender have a better tune?

Trent Gamblin

Cosmic Defender sounds ok too but you're too late! Besides that, it sort of sounds more like a "war" game, where in the demo you're protecting not really defending (except maybe the ufos).

Neil Roy

Cosmic Protector doesn't sound like any other game that I can think of of that type, so it gets my vote.

Notice it doesn't even have the letter 'A' in it anywhere either. ;)

Luiji99

Yes, but it does have an E, O, R, S and even a T!

weapon_S

you're too late!

??? I am missing something here.
Oh, there's a vote post. I vote "Allegro Rocks". [Suddenly everybody changes his mind about voting "Allegro Rocks" ;D ]

Trent Gamblin

The voting has already begun.

EDIT: Looks like I'll go with Cosmic Protector. Thanks everyone.

P.S.: Wouldn't refuse a good logo. :)

EDIT2: Please nobody work hard on a logo until I've confirmed the new name with Atari's attorney.

Derezo

I made a script.

A few examples:
Abhorrent Comet Smasher
Bright Sphere Cannon
Alert Rock Wrecker
Chaotic Milky Way Fragments
Dirty Galaxy Bomber
Aggressive Stellar Quest
Frisky Galaxy Smasher

....
I needed an easy win tonight.
[edit: Ha! I was on page 1 and didn't realize I was way late.]

weapon_S

Interesting script. It seems pretty varied; what did you use?

Please nobody work hard on a logo until I've confirmed the new name with Atari's attorney.

Can I work on a picture for Google Play? ;D

Trent Gamblin

Yes you may. :P

EDIT: Atari approved the title "Cosmic Protector". :)

Neil Roy

EDIT: Atari approved the title "Cosmic Protector". :)

Get it in writing. ;)

Trent Gamblin

I have it in email, good enough :P.

weapon_S

It needs some more work... ;D
[old pic is old]
But I did get the idea right, right? ;D

Trent Gamblin

Slick, Allegator style. I like it. :)

weapon_S

"Style", right... ;D
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Thomas Fjellstrom

I'm not sure I like how she's wearing allegator skin. Poor Alex :(

Arthur Kalliokoski

I'm not sure I like how she's wearing allegator skin.

A young blonde was on vacation in the depths of Louisiana. She wanted a pair of genuine alligator shoes in the worst way, but was very reluctant to pay the high prices the local vendors were asking.

After becoming very frustrated with the "no haggle" attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the blonde shouted, "Maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator so I can get a pair of shoes at a reasonable price!" The shopkeeper said, "By all means, be my guest. Maybe you'll luck out and catch yourself a big one!" Determined, the blonde turned and headed for the swamps, set on catching herself an alligator.

Later in the day, the shopkeeper is driving home, when he spots the young woman standing waist deep in the water, shotgun in hand. Just then, he sees a huge 9 foot alligator swimming quickly toward her. She takes aim, kills the creature and with a great deal of effort hauls it on to the swamp bank. Lying nearby were several more of the dead creatures. The shopkeeper watches in amazement. Just then the blonde flips the alligator on its back, and frustrated, shouts out, "Damn it, this one isn't wearing any shoes either!"

Thomas Fjellstrom

:D

Derezo
weapon_S said:

Interesting script. It seems pretty varied; what did you use?

Very simple javascript. You could view source and change the nouns/adjectives pretty easily -- perhaps to prevent a Salty Space Mission.

type568

AROX (Allegro Rocks)

Shorter, better.

torhu
type568 said:

AROX (Allegro Rocks)Shorter, better.

No, because you would have to explain what it means.

Trent Gamblin

Wait, how can she breathe in space?

Matthew Leverton

Really? That's your question?

Where did she learn to drive? Totally unrealistic. >:(

torhu

And how did her right eye get so big? Or is something that we just don't talk about?

bamccaig
weapon_S said:

"Style", right... ;D

Is that an original work? It's really good! :D

torhu

"Raiders of the Lost Asteroids - with Tits" ;D

Luiji99

I change my vote to that last one, even if it's too late and that would get you in trademark shit again.

This woman can breath in space. You can't explain that.

Felix-The-Ghost
Trent Gamblin

I just committed the name change to Allegro git. I added a new (sort of cheesy) logo and removed every reference to "a5teroids" except in the change log.

weapon_S

She is not yet in her ship, so she's not in space yet >_> I tried to make an extreme/warped perspective. (Otherwise I couldn't get her face, chest and ship all in the picture.) Life support was in the planning, but alligator[1] skin and boobs took priority.

bamccaig said:

It's really good!

Thanks :-[

Derezo said:

Very simple javascript.

Derp :-X I guess the perceived quality comes from the care with which the words were picked.

Download link gone.

:o I hope I have back-up.

References

  1. Notice the "i"; no harm done >_>.
alehbeer

So is this image going to be the game menu screen?

weapon_S, I like it but that eye and hair is really bothering me. Any chance I can draw over it / edit it or would that be out of line? The T-shirt was a great idea.

weapon_S

Sure go ahead. I could provide you with the xcf, if you'd like. (Outlines colors and background in separate layers.)

alehbeer said:

The T-shirt was a great idea.

;D I laughed out loud, when I had finsihed that.

alehbeer

Cool. let's see that xcf.

weapon_S
Luiji99

My only problem with her is that her nose seems to pushed in. Would you perhaps make a version of her with an extended one for us to compare, please? :-X

Karadoc ~~
torhu said:

And how did her right eye get so big? Or is something that we just don't talk about?

That's her left eye. And yes, she's somewhat sensitive about it. (So I've heard.)

Schyfis

Seconded on the left eye size. Its size should be consistent with the size of the left goggle eyepiece, given the perspective!

Love it otherwise.

Trent Gamblin

I think when I first looked at it, it looked good. But then when I looked at it some more and started to scrutinize it, the left eye looked too big.

LennyLen

I think when I first looked at it, it looked good. But then when I looked at it some more and started to scrutinize

it, the left eye looked too big.

So you were looking somewhere other than her face at first? ;)

Trent Gamblin

I highly resemble that comment. >:(

Luiji99

Do you mean resent? :P

LennyLen

No, he meant what he said. Look the line up if you're unfamiliar with it.

Luiji99

Ah. Funny thing, the only data I could find on this phrase comes from Urban Dictionary.

weapon_S

I added a new (sort of cheesy) logo

Show?
Someone asked where her nose was.
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With all the comments I tried a little overhaul. I actually thought her left eye was the right size; the perspective wasn't consistent in other parts. (But in some parts it is ;D )
{"name":"J09ZJ.png","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/f\/9f8f32e36f460cfa77a615ff927a09c1.png","w":640,"h":520,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/f\/9f8f32e36f460cfa77a615ff927a09c1"}J09ZJ.png[1]
Much more depth, n'est-ce pas?
I liked the the other face better...
alehbeer, what are you up to? I don't want to steal your thunder.

References

  1. imgur funks up xcf apparently. Here's a link to the xcf.
Trent Gamblin

This is my amazing logo:

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Luiji99

That last logo makes me think of the song "Relax" for some reason...

alehbeer

I started it. I'm figuring out keyframes. Does it have to have that perspective with the arm? I think it would be more natural to have her relaxing that arm on the edge of the ship.
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Note: I have the GRE this month, but by the end of first week of Nov I'll animate her. I want to have her putting on the goggles and the title screen fall onto screen.

weapon_S

You're animating it?! :o

alehbeer said:

Does it have to have that perspective with the arm? I think it would be more natural to have her relaxing that arm on the edge of the ship.

I think the perspective is something that makes it interesting. When drawing (and especially animating) I recommend a good dose of 'bluffing' you know how the perspective actually works. Oh, crud her arm can't reach there :-/

Luiji99

She looks really scary in that last pic.

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