Yo Frankie!
Encyclopedia
Yo Frankie! is an open video game made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation
, originally scheduled for release in August 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, Big Buck Bunny
. Like the Blender Institute's previous open film projects, the game is made using free software
. Yo Frankie! runs on any platform which runs Blender
and Crystal Space
, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X
and Microsoft Windows
.
The project started February 1, 2008, and development was completed at the end of July 2008. Due to technical delays, the actual DVD release date was postponed to the 14th of November. Since December 9, the game is available to download.
The name "Yo Frankie!" refers to the game's protagonist, Frank. It was suggested by Ton Roosendaal
, and selected by a community vote.
The game is licensed under either the GNU GPL
or LGPL
, with all content being licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0.
The initial decision to use Crystal Space over Blender's own in-built Game Engine was due to the perceived need to create a more "serious" game platform. The development team later partly reversed this decision, by making a new version of the game playable on the Blender Game Engine. This allows artists and level designers a more rapid workflow than rebuilding for the Crystal Space engine on every change (what in Blender Game Engine can take 2–5 seconds to export, in Crystal Space can take up to a minute).
There are two versions of the game on the DVD, one with the Blender Game Engine, and a version with Crystal Space. The Blender Game Engine version of the game is titled "A Furry Vendetta", while the Crystal Space version is titled "Furry Funny Frankie". Though some of the assets for making the levels and the characters are shared, the gameplay differs between versions.
who was the antagonist
of the film Big Buck Bunny, or Momo, a monkey created especially for this game.
Blender Foundation
The Blender Foundation is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender, an open source program for three-dimensional modeling....
, originally scheduled for release in August 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny is a short computer animated film by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation.Like the foundation's previous film Elephants Dream, the film was made using Blender, a free software application for animation made by the same foundation.-Overview:Work began in October 2007...
. Like the Blender Institute's previous open film projects, the game is made using free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
. Yo Frankie! runs on any platform which runs Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
and Crystal Space
Crystal Space
Crystal Space is a framework for developing 3D applications written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein and others. The first public release was on August 26, 1997. It is typically used as a game engine but the framework is more general and can be used for any kind of 3D visualization. It is very...
, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
.
The project started February 1, 2008, and development was completed at the end of July 2008. Due to technical delays, the actual DVD release date was postponed to the 14th of November. Since December 9, the game is available to download.
The name "Yo Frankie!" refers to the game's protagonist, Frank. It was suggested by Ton Roosendaal
Ton Roosendaal
Ton Roosendaal is a Dutch software developer. He is known as the original creator of the open-source 3D creation suite Blender, as chairman of the Blender Foundation, and for pioneering large scale open-content projects...
, and selected by a community vote.
The game is licensed under either the GNU GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
or LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
, with all content being licensed under Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution 3.0.
Technology
As with previous "open" movie projects, the game is partly designed to promote the open source modeling and animation tool Blender. The modeling, animation and level design were done in Blender. The game itself is rendered with both Blender's internal game engine and the Crystal Space 3D engine, using Python as a scripting language.The initial decision to use Crystal Space over Blender's own in-built Game Engine was due to the perceived need to create a more "serious" game platform. The development team later partly reversed this decision, by making a new version of the game playable on the Blender Game Engine. This allows artists and level designers a more rapid workflow than rebuilding for the Crystal Space engine on every change (what in Blender Game Engine can take 2–5 seconds to export, in Crystal Space can take up to a minute).
There are two versions of the game on the DVD, one with the Blender Game Engine, and a version with Crystal Space. The Blender Game Engine version of the game is titled "A Furry Vendetta", while the Crystal Space version is titled "Furry Funny Frankie". Though some of the assets for making the levels and the characters are shared, the gameplay differs between versions.
Plot
In the game, players assume the role of Frank, the sugar gliderSugar Glider
The sugar glider is a small gliding possum originating from the marsupial family.The sugar glider is native to eastern and northern mainland Australia and is also native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.- Habitat :Sugar gliders can be found all throughout the northern and eastern parts of...
who was the antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the film Big Buck Bunny, or Momo, a monkey created especially for this game.