Dukes of Hazzard:Game Construction Kit

[jamesreg]

Hello Fellow Fans,

I would like to Introduce myself my name Is James Regalado and I am a child of the early 80's-90's period and grew up with all these wonderful shows like the Dukes of Hazzard. I am also a fan of old School PC Adventure Games that dominated the market from the 80s-90's.

I always felt that the gaming industry missed out on a golden opportunity by not licencing many television properties that existed at the time there were so many good TV shows from the 50's-90's that would have made a wonderful conversion to the Adventure Game format and delighted many a fans plus could have done wonders for the Adventure game market.

I have always longed to see some of these old TV shows being turned into fun games that would capture the true feel of the Show they were based off and the Adventure Game style gives you a real ability to play as the character and have interactions that make you feel you are part of that world.

So I have scoured the Internet looking for other like minded people who enjoy both Adventure games and old TV Shows and would like to help make my vision come true and see some projects come to life.

I have assembled a small team willing to help me with the project. When discussing what to create or make here we kept coming back to that it has to fit certain categories.

1) It has to capture the feel of the Show in question

2) It has to provide the mechanics for  all the elements found on the show to be fully realized

3) It has to be pleasing and satisfying to the fans

After giving much thought to all of that we decided against making a full fledged game where we have our vision and someone comes plays it once and its done.

Instead we wanted to provide the tools for all fans to add their mark or vision to it and for many different games to be able to be created with it.

That is why we decided that a "Game Construction Kit" was the best way to go with these projects.

We are in the phase now of drafting up a "Design Document" which will detail out how this will all be put together and be used as the basis to build the project.

What we hope to include in the Game Construction Kit is the following

1) A fully explorable Hazzard Country Town Square. (Complete with outside and indoor backgrounds to all the locations in town) Done in beautifully drawn 2D art which will allow a character to walk around and interact fully with the town square set.

2) Fully explorerable notable locations from the series (Duke Farm, Boars Nest etc)

3) Full character sprites of all the main characters complete with full animations (Walking, Running, Jumping, Fighting etc)

4) Basic character sprites of notable secondary characters or towns folks scattered in the shops and locations with basic editable text to bring the scenes to life as  you explore

5) Full overhead and other views styles 2D Sprites of the General lee and other vehicles found in the show to easily create car mini game scenes.

6) A faked out 3D driving simulation experience done with the 2D experience done in such a way not to distract from the 2D experience.

7) Gui's, Avatars and other elements to choose from.

All of this will be done to create all the assets and ability for an end use to be able to make his own Dukes of Hazzard game already having in place all the Characters, Animations, Driving mechanics, as well as fully explorable town and locations. All they would have to do is have a plot or story and start editing the engine to create their own game or adventure this could be technically used for interactive comics or interactive stories as well.

What I am here today to do is not advertise for a product but to see if those in this community would like to help with the Design Document phase of this process.

I have seen many on here have gathered a lot of great information as to the layout and locations (Seemed to change a lot though the show) Making mapping a bit of a challenge specially if one wants to include everything seen on screen. 

But that is what makes a project like this fun being able to take a lot of peoples ideas and research and put it together and let it be a community effort.

So I ask the other fans here would anyone like to see such a project done and would it be of interest to you? Would you create games with it if it was available to you? Would you play games made with it by others? Would anyone like to participate in helping design this out and get us though the design phase?

Thanks for any input

James Regalado 

[Meadowmufn]

I would love to see a project like that done, however, you're sure to run into licensing issues with Warner Brothers if they get wind of it.

[jamesreg]

I have done several star trek related game projects and never had an issue but they are more free with fan stuff then most other licenses are.

I plan to keep it pretty low key and just release information in like fan groups and stuff like that and not have a full blown website myself.

I also plan on doing releases as torrents vs a physical download site under my control that way if it goes viral or something overnight I can be like yeah I made this little fan thing for fun and then now it has its own life.

Most all these old shows have everything from games, fan art, fan fiction and even fan made episodes and such these days if you distance yourself from any sign of profit, put the proper "fan production" disclaimers and such on it then in most cases they leave you alone. 

In the case of Games most fan games are "mods" of other existing games and those are all over the place. 

This wont necessarily be a mod of an existing game but a "Game Template" in the game engine i'm using so its kinda like a mod.

Any rate I'm going to give it a go and see what I can do with it even if its just pass it around under the table for fans to enjoy not doing it for the attention but for the experience on the Gaming side and the love for games and these old shows.

I'm going to start with a design document for it now it would be fun if others here that has done so much research would share their valuable knowledge as I go.

So I am sure ill have plenty of questions for you all as I go.

I'll share what I do as I go along with this and anyone wanting to contribute in any way please feel free to.

 

 

[countrygirl1986]

I am mostly in agreement with Mufn, so here's my advice as the status of fandoms and fan creations with the production companies are changing: I would consult with Warner Brothers before starting on anything on such a game because they own the licensing rights to the Dukes of Hazzard, but, the only reason I really see them shooting the entire thing down at this point in time is the confederate flag - if you consult them and go through proper channels which would in effect eliminate the licensing issues if they give you permission.

Here's my reasoning - I've been hanging out in the Supernatural Fandom for a bit of time now, and one thing I've become very much aware of is the WB, who produces Supernatural just like they produced the Dukes of Hazzard, and has a hand in Creation Stands Entertainment (I think), has actually begun to fully embrace, support, and encourage fan art, fan creations, fanfiction, etc. In fact, they encourage it in the Supernatural fandom which is amazing (even going so far as to include factors of it in episodes of the show and believe me, you'd have to watch the series to understand it but they have a lot of fan representation on the show by showing different types of fans - the crazy nut job fans who would kidnap a character/actor if given the chance as well as the down to earth fans and both those representations also do fanfiction and such (even going so far as to poke fun at the pairings that people come up with by mentioning them in those fanfiction pieces)... they did it by creating a set of 'books' based off the lives of Sam and Dean Winchester that were written by a prophet) - a lot of people create stuff and go to fan conventions like comicon and sell their creations. Warner Brothers hasn't really given it a second thought provided it goes through a certain set of channels - and these are creations that would actually violate copyrights... like a lot of copyright laws.

To be honest, everyone involved with the show's creation over there trolls the fandom... like seriously... a decent size portion is into some pretty ... ehem... unconventional pairings... and the actors and such play on it at conventions and videos and such... and those unconventional pairings, while not canon, are represented on the show through depictions of fans, as said, writing fanfiction.

Now with the above being said, Warner Brothers has also allowed a series of books based on the Supernatual books to be published by various authors - and I'm not talking companion books - I mean actual honest to God fiction novels.

Like I said, if you really want to do something like a video game for the Dukes fandom, speak with Warner Brothers before you do anything (email would be best most likely but it may take a lot of time for them to get back to you but you'd have documentation to protect yourself). They may take a few royalties, or most of the profits, but they are now a days in the habit of encouraging fan creativity as a way to promote their shows, but if you are honest, and get their blessing, they will most likely be pretty cool with it especially if you don't charge anything for the game. If you do it behind their backs and they catch wind of it - you may find yourself in a bind and lose all your hard work. Also, Warner Brothers may go through one of their divisions, like Creation Stands, to market the video game (Creation Stands may be an independent company that they contract out to). Just explain to them you want to do it as a fan project to promote the company and the show, which may rake in more money for them in the long run.

It's safer to consult them than to not.

[RogerDuke]

Welcome to the HazzardNet James. Anybody who loves the Dukes enough to even think about a project this big is okay in my book!