Comment by networked | Hacker News Reader

Comment by networked | Hacker News Reader

Cool fonts, and an interesting post. I kind of want the top-right fake game in https://chevyray.dev/blog/creating-175-fonts/old_previews.pn... to be real. It has a "Wonder Boy in Monster World on the GBA" vibe I think is nice.

I have noticed that the license doesn't allow you to use the TTFs in open-source software, which is something to keep in mind.

> Licensed Content may not be distributed to third parties as standalone files or in a way that unreasonably permits the recipient to extract the Licensed Content for use separately and apart from the Work for Distribution.

> Licensee may not distribute the Licensed Content in any library or reusable template, including but not limited to game templates, website templates intended to allow reproduction by third parties on electronic or printed products.

> Licensee may not distribute Licensed Content in a manner meant to enable third parties to create derivative works incorporating Licensed Content.

To me, a non-lawyer, the last clause reads like it unambiguously forbids it.

https://github.com/ChevyRay/pixel_font_megapack_license/blob...

If you like platformers, give Celeste a try. The scene in that mockup is a reference to an opening scene from that game.

Oh, I didn't realize. Thanks for telling me.

I have played the original Celeste for PICO-8 (now called Celeste Classic). I plan on playing the full release eventually. The screenshot actually reminded me a little of an earlier game by Maddy Thorson, An Untitled Story. I think it is the way the mountains are drawn in the background and the thick outlines.

A link to play Celeste Classic: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2145.

TIG Wiki page for An Untitled Story: https://tig.fandom.com/wiki/An_Untitled_Story.

If you like Celeste, check out Studio Pixel [0]. His most recent game Kero Blaster (mobile) is excellent but Cave Story is the classic. Tight controls, retro aesthetic, imaginative levels, very well executed.

[0] https://studiopixel.jp

Cave Story is a game I looooooved many many years ago and it warms my heart to see it ported to so many modern systems. I got my roommate playing it one night and she was hooked.

Funnily enough, Celeste uses big, anti-aliased text, which beautifully contrasts with the pixelart.

Hmm, it definitely doesn't allow you to distribute them as open source (or CC or whatever) but I don't know that I'd agree that it forbids you from shipping them with something that's otherwise open source.

Though clearly the intent is that these be used more in the final product stage of the kinds of things that are more rarely open source, games vs. engines or templates.

I found myself thinking about a different copyright corner-case when reading the post and this question: the fact that typefaces aren't copyrightable in the US. Fonts are, as computer programs, but typefaces (and so also fonts that are simple bitmaps) aren't. So this workflow goes from a non-copyrighted source, (the original tilesheet) to a copyrighted output (the TTFs) and also back to a non-copyrighted output too (the output tilesheet/atlas).

You have a point! You may be able to legally distribute binary builds of a work that is open-source except for these fonts, as long as the open-source parts aren't copyleft and the fonts aren't part of the source distribution. I should have said the license didn't allow you to distribute the TTFs with your open-source code and assets. Sorry for probably overstating the case.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protecti..., typefaces also aren't copyrighted in Japan and South Korea but are in Germany (for no more than 25 years) and the United Kingdom (also 25 years). So bitmap fonts from classic 8- and 16-bit video games should be in the public domain in all of these countries.

> I have noticed that the license doesn't allow you to use the TTFs in open-source software, ...

This was supposed to be "in open-source software projects".

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