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Hello, and thank you for visiting.
I've been exploring mods and add-ons for Gunship with other fans for about 3 years now. In
my opinion, it's a remarkable piece of work. From what I gather, the reasons for
Gunship!'s poor reception originally was mainly due to Hasbro management, not MicroProse
software.
For whatever reason, I think that one of the most detailed, immersive, reliable sims ever
made was prematurely abandoned by it's Owner and fans alike.
That was then. This is now.
Can a revised or expanded Gunship! still succeed?
In the pages below, I've presented three possible expansion packs for Gunship, plus
examples of things fans have said they would like in a second Patch. These are all
ambitious projects, and while some of this could be done by fans with exisiting resources,
this could take a long time, and may never be as polished as the original release.
As you know, restarting any closed software project is extremely difficult for many
reasons, but mostly it all boils down to Money. With money, you can obtain the T3 (Time,
Tools and Talent) without which a project cannot succeed.
I've had an idea floating around for sometime now about the nature of fan-built sim/game
add-ons. Most are fairly high-quality, are done without the help of the product's owners,
and most are done for free.
Is this a way to get the T3 needed to expand Gunship! ?
Sponsored Charity-ware
Consider this scenario:
Gunship, having passed through the bargain-bin and bundle pack stage is no longer making
money for it's Owner. The market, (and it's past performance), do not make corporate
support for developing an updated version likely. It's development team has largely
scattered. But what if professional-grade patches and expansion packs could be developed
at no or nominal cost to the Owner, then made available as reasonably priced ($20 ?)
download-only products?
These expansion packs can be developed by small groups of qualified, volunteer fans
consulting with any willing members of the development team. Everyone involved would work
for free, with the understanding that when the finished product is sold, most of the money
(80%?) would be donated to an established, international charity selected from a list by
the buyer. The Owner would receive the balance of the purchase price, as well as income
from a new wave of sales of the original title caused by new expansion packs drawing the
attention of new buyers. This arrangement could benefit everyone:
The main difference I am proposing, is that in order to produce products people are
willing to pay for, the volunteer team would most likely require some support from the
original developers, and some access to original development tools, documentation and
perhaps code. This would all be covered by a new NDA between the Owner and the individuals
involved.
Although I am proposing this idea in terms of the future of Gunship!, (which I believe may
be may be a good test case), clearly it would apply to any sim or game title with enough
interested talent available. Currently, one group is
trying the Charity-ware approach with a few limited software offerings, and I believe
they are on the right track. Expanding this idea into the sim/game enhancment area may be
very successful and benefit everyone involved as well as many, many others who are not.
Thank you for your attention, and I hope you will consider these proposals. If you
consider them worthwhile, your advice on how to proceed would be very welcome. A
Guest Book related to this topic is here if you
would like to exchange comments that way. This page is not linked to any to any other, and
only those I invite are aware of it.
Click below to view proposals
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