General
What is The Legend of Mazzeroth?
Where did you get the name 'Mazzeroth'?
I think I found a bug. What do I do?

Releases
What platforms will LoM be available for?
Why is there no official Linux release?
What about unofficial Linux releases?

Development
What software do you use to build LoM?
Will you provide me with a compiler/IDE?
How can I join the Development Team?
What if I'm a beginner?
Where do I sign up?
What if I want to submit only a Map/Mouse Pointer/Graphics/Etc.

Licensing
What License is the Software released under?
What License is the Content released under?
Why two licenses?
Can I use LoM for Commercial Interests?
How can derivitive open-source software have any commercial value?
Do you offer alternative licensing?

General

What is The Legend of Mazzeroth?

The Legend of Mazzeroth is a 3-part project with the ultimate goal of producing a fully functional set of software to run a persistent 2D online world (MOG).

More clearly, LoM is broken into three parts each of which will be built in sequential order.

Part 1 - Online Persistent World: The first (and current) part of the project will focus development on an online persistent world with server software designed with flexibility and scalability in mind. This part involves developing a map editor and other content tools, the client and the various programs that will operate together as the server.
Part 2 - Redistribution of Game Client Code as Game Framework: This part of the project is now known as NAS2D and is considered its own project.
Part 3 - Single-Player RPG: The final part of the project aims to use the framework code to build an oldschool style RPG which will serve as the back story for the MMO.

Where did you get the name 'Mazzeroth'?

The project leader came up with the name Mazzeroth years ago when he was still a kid in high school back around 1997 when LoM was first started. It is not a play on Warcraft's 'Azeroth' and having a reference in the bible is pure coincidence as he has no religious affiliations of any sort (and, in fact, detests them).

I think I found a bug. What do I do?

Found a bug? Awesome! We love it when users find a bug and we love it even more when users report them! We can't improve LoM without your help because we can't always think of the different ways that users will interact with LoM.

So, now what? We've set up a special page on our website to help us track and manage bug reports and other things of that nature. Click here to get to the LoM project's issue tracking page. From there you an view and submit bug reports. For the time being users don't need to register or log in to submit bug reports. This may change in the future depending on if and when abuse of the bug report forms occurs.

Please remember when submitting bug reports to include as much information as you can including steps to reproduce the error. Also be sure to look at the current list of bugs to make sure that you're not reporting a bug that's already been reported.

Releases

What platforms will LoM be available for?

LoM is being developed with cross-platform capabilities in mind. The idea is to release both the game client and server software so that it can be built and run on all major platforms including Windows, MacOS X and BSD.

Why is there no official Linux release?

Very simply, we have no full-time Linux developers. There are various other reasons that no official Linux releases will be made available. However, LoM has been tested on Debian-based kernels and does work provided that all necessary dependencies are available.

As a note, LoM provides no make files. However, we do provide a Code::Blocks project that is [usually] up to date which can be used to build Linux versions of LoM.

What about unofficial Linux releases?

We will gladly accept user provided Linux releases of LoM however these will not be supported like the Windows and Mac versions.

Development

What software do you use to build LoM?

The following Compiler's/IDE's are used to build LoM's Client, Server and Tool Programs:

Windows XP/Vista/7: Microsoft Visual Studio 9 (2008, project package includes pre-built libraries).
MacOS X: XCode (universal project with framework binaries included).

Will you provide me with a compiler/IDE?

We don't condone copyright infringements so we will not provide you with commercial compilers/IDE's however we will be happy to help you obtain and set up freely available compilers if your platform doesn't ship with them (i.e., if you're running Windows).

How can I join the Development Team?

We've had a lot of potential team members come and go with various skills and levels of work ethic. For the most part, we've had people come in saying they wanted to help only to leave days later. We've lost a lot of valuable time because of this and so we're now requiring an application process in order to be considered to become part of the Development Team.

For the most part, all interested parties will be accepted however we do demand a level of respect and at least some dedication of time. Everybody involved in the project so far has donated considerable time to the project and we expect nothing less.

What if I'm a beginner?

Don't be afraid to apply because you're a beginner. As long as you're willing to learn and put in time and effort you should be in good shape. Keep in mind that several of our current team members started out as beginners.

Where do I sign up?

To begin, we have a sign up form. After filling out the form and submitting it you should here from us within a day or two.

What if I want to submit only a Map/Mouse Pointer/Graphics/Etc.

We have several requirements and standards that we need to adhere to in order to ensure a high quality end-user experience so while we appreciate the enthusiasm and the desire to help we can't include user created content in the official content packages.

If you're interested in submitting content for inclusing in the official content packages, see the How can I join the Development Team? section. We're always looking for new members!

Licensing

What License is the Software released under?

The source code for The Legend of Mazzeroth is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL) license. This includes any LUA scripts as these are considered part of the source code.

What License is the Content released under?

The Content (all non-source code related materials including, but not limited to, graphics, music, maps, sound and artwork) is released under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution license.

Why two licenses?

The programmers have all agreed that the source code should be made available via the GPL. This allows everybody to use the source code for whatever means they see fit provided they make any derivative works also available under the GPL.

The Content, however, is creative work given to us by the generous authors who created the work. We do not want to force our Content Authors to release their creative talents in a manner that would allow for unfair commercial exploitation without requiring some form of compensation. This license and its terms, however, can be waived provided the appropriate permission is obtained from the Author of the work.

Can I use LoM for Commercial Interests?

Yes.

The source-code for The Legend of Mazzeroth can be used for commercial interests provided the terms of the GPL version 3 are adhered to. Essentially this means that any derivitive works based on The Legend of Mazzeroth must also be distributed under the terms of the GPL version 3. However, any of the game data (outlined above) is not available for use in commercial products without explicit written permission from their original authors.

How can derivitive open-source software have any commercial value?

Distributing the source code under the terms of the GPL does not restrict you from selling a product based on the source code. We are requiring that any source code you develop using LoM's code as a base be redistributed under the GPL as well. This does not require the Content from being distributed under another license.

Example 1 - MMO, Free to Play, Pay for Perks: In this scenario, anybody can download and install the game and play for free. They can even download the source code and compile it themselves (e.g., compile on a system that no binaries exist for). However, they still need to register an account and they still need to Pay for Perks so to speak.
Example 2 - Commercial RPG: LoM's source code is flexible enough to allow for single-player modes. In this case, a game is developed with commercial intentions. The source code is distributed free which allows anybody to compile the code. However, without the game data (the commercial part of the game), there is no game to play. In this case, users would purchase and play said game under whatever license. The source code, however, would continue to remain under a GPL license.

Do you offer alternative licensing?

In simple terms, it depends.

We're not opposed to offering LoM's code under different licenses and we have, in fact, already offered it under other closed licenses to several other projects. It doesn't hurt to ask -- we're reasonable and flexible and we'll try to work something out with you.

Table of Contents

General

Releases

Development

Licensing