schep
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It was suggested over here that hold authors can draw custom floors on top of the backgrounds in JtRH for the effect of an image with transparent bits. This would be really useful for putting markings on the floor or whatever. But just to be clear about it, does this mean that:

1. The 'ordinary floor' tiles (and possibly a few of the other decorative tiles) can be considered public domain,
2. The copyright holder(s) give special permission to use floor images as the background of an image only for purposes of importing resulting images into a user-made hold,
3. The Caravel team would prefer that hold authors use different graphics for the background floor when such an effect is desired, or
4. Something else?

This question is probably a bit on the nit-picky side, but I would always rather be clear on copyright issues than charge into a misunderstanding.

ErikH2000
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schep wrote:
It was suggested over here that hold authors can draw custom floors on top of the backgrounds in JtRH for the effect of an image with transparent bits. This would be really useful for putting markings on the floor or whatever. But just to be clear about it, does this mean that:

1. The 'ordinary floor' tiles (and possibly a few of the other decorative tiles) can be considered public domain,

No, we have to avoid confusion about this. None of the graphics distributed in either the demo or full version of JtRH are public domain.

2. The copyright holder(s) give special permission to use floor images as the background of an image only for purposes of importing resulting images into a user-made hold,

This is possible. If you would like permission to use the Foundation tileset in your hold, send this e-mail to usefoundation@caravelgames.com:

"My name is your name and my CaravelNet/forum name is your forum name. I would like permission to distribute the Foundation tileset with my hold(s) as a special image floor. I'll only distribute the image embedded in the hold. I understand that this permission could be revoked later at Caravel's discretion."

And then I would reply back saying "yes, go ahead". This e-mail requirement is so people will understand the limitations before using the graphics. We really don't want the graphics being spread around like they are open for any use.

This question is probably a bit on the nit-picky side, but I would always rather be clear on copyright issues than charge into a misunderstanding.

I appreciate your nitpickiness. It is entirely appropriate.

-Erik

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schep
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This sounds like a useful thing to keep in mind, so thanks for the info.

But for the specific situation I'm working with right now, I think I'd rather not change part or all of the level to Foundation. So this time, I'll just either try to come up with a floor in the Gimp that looks good with Deep Spaces' walls, or restrict my changes to replacing entire tiles.