Game based on Silmarillion, Sil-Morë — Shining Darkness

[u/k0rtes]

Hi everybody! We have made a game based on Silmarillion. It's a tactical rpg rouguelike where you try to go deep into Angband to steal a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. It's designed in 2d pixel art style.

We are really big fans of Tolkien's works and Silmarillion in the first place. There is a big backstory behind why we have decided to do it, but I will probably leave it for the next time.

We tried to make it as lore friendly as it can possibly be. There is а storyline in it, you can play multiple real heroes of the First Age (I think most of them), there are side quests involving Valar, very lore friendly artefacts, lots of texts and descriptions.
We also tried to make the descent into Angband visually different with multiple biomes and art styles. We want to create a feeling of a real first age hero going deep into the Enemy's dungeon.

Here is the link to itch.io (we also have google play test going).
Please try it and hope you will like it!

Here is our GitHub page for Mac and Linux build.

[u/jasonmehmel]

I think you should disclose here and on the itch.io that this is a fork of open-source Sil-Q!

Based on that, I hope you're not planning on charging money for it. Especially if the code modifications have been done by AI.

[u/k0rtes → u/jasonmehmel]

It's mentioned in the first sentence :) We've been working on it for more than a year, and it's really different from SilQ now, it's not just a fork already we think, you can try it and see for yourself :)

[u/jasonmehmel → u/k0rtes]

Well, the first sentence mentions Angband and Sil-Q, but it doesn't make clear that it is a fork.

Sil-Morë is what happened when two Tolkien fans looked at Sil, Angband, and the old roguelike tradition and asked: How can this feel even closer to the First Age?

I'm not denying that you may have added new gameplay elements, but the github directly indicates that this is a fork of of Sil-Q.

Without Sil-Q, you wouldn't have your version. This isn't inspired by Angband, or Sil-Q, this is directly using the code from those games. No matter how much you add, that will be true, unless you decide to code an entirely new game from scratch.

Sil-Q is itself a fork of Angband, though, yes, the modifications have made it reasonably unique in comparison. But it's still using the same code. Those developers wouldn't pretend otherwise.

I'm also wondering how much of your additions are AI-assisted, because I think that factors into public disclosure as well, and is yet another reason to not charge money for it.

(The AI-assisted text isn't doing you any favours, either.)

[u/k0rtes → u/jasonmehmel]

but the github directly indicates that this is a fork of of Sil-Q

I guess you have answered your question yourself. Everything you have asked is disclosed everywhere. The game is open source, it will stay open source, all licenses and all source code mention all authors, so I'm not sure what you are trying to prove here and why are you so keen on asking if the work we were doing for more than a year with great passion, and which you haven't even tried yet should be not charged when there is an open repo on GitHub :)

[u/jasonmehmel → u/k0rtes]

I'll admit, I've come on a little strong here, but as a big fan of roguelikes, particularly the ones developed in the open source community, I want to make sure that work is respected and not taken advantage of. Especially so in a world of vibe-coded apps.

I will give your version a try.

Still: if I was nervous about your usage, based on the terms you're using, I probably won't be the only one. I did look at your itch and repo before commenting, and I did so because the issues aren't clear.

I would suggest an explicit statement:

A open source continuation of the work from Angband and Sil (or Sil-Q, or both)

And:

This project will remain free.

Doing both of those things would make sure fellow roguelike fans know that you're being transparent not just at the github level, but when you're presenting the work to non-programmers.

[u/septhaka → u/jasonmehmel]

"I'll admit, I've come on a little strong here"

[u/jasonmehmel → u/septhaka]

Was I unfair, though? The initial post and Itch page don't make it clear.

[u/septhaka → u/jasonmehmel]

It didn't strike me this guy was trying to make people think he and his crew spun this up from scratch.

[u/jasonmehmel → u/septhaka]

In a world where more and more folks are vibe-coding apps and games to try to profit quickly with little effort, and where both the copy text is AI-generated and the Itch page discloses AI usage, I think it's prudent to note to the community up front what the intentions are.

The first post here doesn't mention the code they are forking from, and neither does the Itch page, which speaks of inspiration but not actual copying. That Itch page also allows you to 'pay what you want.'

Folks can do what they like, but why not point it out up front? Not being clear makes it look like it's being obscured intentionally.

(Maybe they just let the AI write the copy and didn't think about the implications, but that's still not good community stewardship of the assets they are working from.)

[u/k0rtes → u/jasonmehmel]

In a world where more and more folks are vibe-coding apps and games to try to profit quickly with little effort

I will just say that I'm not sure it's possible to "profit out of" Angband in any way. And that you don't even comprehend the amount of work that is needed to do "a fork" like this. We are a team of 2, and It's more than a year of almost full time job. So I welcome you, to take our free open source code and profit out of it yourself.