Talk:Weapons Factory (Quake II)

Did the Reno bros need permission from TF team to make a TF-style mod?
Since IANAL I'm not quite sure how trademark/copyright works in terms of deriving gameplay of one game off another unrelated game's look-and-feel and general playstyle. Did the Reno brothers need to get some kind of permission from the TeamFortress people to make a modification that was "TeamFortressey", or did the nonprofit nature (and third-party nature, since these weren't actual self-sufficient games but rather free modifications built on top of existing games being Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, HL, etc) make things different? I'm wondering, for the sake of a hypothetical situation, if someone were to make an open-source, turn-based strategy game with a TF/WF-style class system with a roguelike interface that IS a self-engined game, if said person would need to get some kind of agreement from either inspirations' producers -- or if gameplay isn't copyrightable? --I am not good at running 00:15, 11 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Well IANAL myself but I think this question can be answered by sheer logic. First, "deriving gameplay" is a pretty vague statement and I don't think it is defined by copyright laws. I think it must be cleared that Weapons Factory is certainly not a copy of Team Fortress, far from it actually. The gameplay is different, the classes, weapons, speed, maps... are all different from TF, apart from a few things (like the classic 2fort map for example). That's about it. The link between the two is merely the "class-based CTF" concept, and even then, TF was far from being only CTF.
 * Secondly, and you said it yourself, it's not even a retail game (the first Team Fortress), it's a mod that already used technology & content from other copyright holders. So I'd say that's a bit far fetched to ask for copyright over it. One great idea (Team Fortress) led to another idea (Weapons Factory)... I'd say that's pretty much how everything is created these days :) Thiste 17:39, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Netcode in WF
"The internet connections at the time and network code flexibilities of Quake II allowed for North American and European players and clans to play in the same competition against each other (which hasn't been possible since)." This needs clarification. --70.142.40.34 12:42, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Some added info and minor corrections for WFUT
Hi, I'm Shane "Col Kassad" Brennan. I didn't actually lead the project although I did some PR stuff which led to people thinking I was the project lead. The true leader (man behind the curtain, if you will) was Jon "Ob1 Kenobi" Rihan, who handled 95% of all the programming.

The team had many members but 99% of development was handled by Ob1 (game programming), Maury "Moose" Mountain III (skins, most other 2D art), Spoon (HUD, initial organization of the mod), and myself (models, animation and maps). Many others helped with stuff we couldn't have done without, such as logos and handbook writing.

Incidentily, Moose went on to work for Epic. I saw him credited somewhere on Gears of War.

I didn't want to edit the article because I'm feel funny about that, being so close to the subject. I appreciate the effort put into this article...

Fixed info for WFUT
Hi Shane, I corrected the info after reading your entry. Sorry about that...only had old web sites to go on which wasn't much. Feel free make any edits that are necessary, I'm actually working on a WF for UT2004 but will try to keep it neutral on Wiki.

Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who worked on WFUT! :) Also saw you doing work for the Quake 4 version.  Hope it turns out great.

MrMaddog 14:00, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Are ANY WF mods currently active and alive?
Are any of the listed Weapons Factory mods still alive and kicking, with an active community of people who still play the game? I remember the last public WFA server went down sometime in 2003, and I'm pretty sure they dropped the ball on the Quake 4 modification (perhaps because of Team Fortress 2?). I keep seeing WF mods for other games on this Wikipedia page and other sites, but all of their forums seem to have the most recent posts being in 2006, 2007...

So what's the deal with the Weapons Factory franchise? Is there anything to look forward to, at all, that will actually be finished sometime this year or next year? --75.165.59.6 (talk) 22:49, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

There is one server that is active off and on still. Check out http://bitblender.net/ for files to download. Just type /connect bitblender.net in q3 console to connect. Gregerg (talk) 08:28, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Notability from a Reliable Source
Based on Wikipedia's Notability page coupled with Wikipedia's Reliable Source page, I believe that there is no question that the entry "Current Activity" falls within Wikipedia's guideline as within the relative significance of Weapons Factory, WFA's current activity is the last and only activity found within the Weapons Factory community and its derivatives. As the Planetice Forums are also the last community-based page surrounding Weapons Factory it is unquestionably a reliable source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Z00s (talk • contribs) 19:52, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The problem here is that it's not Wikipedia's job to cover community events unless these events are somehow notable, and notability is established by coverage in reliable, third-party source. Rather, it seems like an ad by someone wanting to draw in more players or potential new players by telling them where to obtain files and after that where they can find other players. Now, specific problems: As for unofficial fansites, these are normally to be avoided per WP:ELNO, #11 specifically, so linking to the unofficial forum at planetice.net is not appropriate. Furthermore, telling people where and when smalltime community events are scheduled is out of question, too, because Wikipedia is not a fansite, and not a manual. Eik Corell (talk) 21:33, 19 January 2010 (UTC)


 * As the author of the original Weapons Factory mod for Quake II and Tribes, the information posted here looks correct to me. If there's any other information or verification I can provide, please let me know. --Greggreno (talk) 16:55, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

My edits
I've gone through the article again, and the stuff I removed was primarily unverifiable stuff about the community, dead links, content supported by dead sources, and content not supported by a source at all. Eik Corell (talk) 22:03, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Better Source
WF Wiki has much more detail and is well cited. I am sure someone with more time than me could improve this article using this new point of reference. Humbersi (talk) 23:30, 22 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Unlikely, since the link you provide shows the article as it was originally on wikipedia, before it was mutilated over and over by a bunch of stuck up people. And yeah, I'm the original author. Thiste (talk) 12:14, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Can't be used per WP:CIRCULAR. Eik Corell (talk) 23:38, 22 September 2011 (UTC)