Yo Frankie!

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title = Yo Frankie!


caption = "Yo Frankie!" DVD cover
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developer = Blender Institute
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license = GPL, Creative Commons
series = Big Buck Bunny
engine = Blender Game Engine - Crystal Space
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released = September 2008
genre = Platform
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platforms = PC - Mac
media = Online Download, DVD
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"Yo Frankie!" (code-named Apricot) is an open source computer game by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, originally scheduled for release in August 2008cite web|url=http://www.yofrankie.org/?page_id=8|title=Yo Frankie! - About|work=Apricot Open Game|publisher=Blender Foundation|accessdate=2008-08-18] . It is based on the universe and characters of the open source 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!" will run on any platform which runs Blender and Crystal Space, including Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

The project started February 1, 2008, and development was completed at the end of July 2008. It is currently going through production, and a finalized product was initially expected at the end of August. However, the intended release date could not be met. No new definite release date has been set.

The name "Yo Frankie!" refers to the game's protagonist, Frank. It was suggested by Ton Roosendaal, and selected by a community votecite web|url=http://www.yofrankie.org/?p=259|title=Name Announcement|work=Apricot Open Game|publisher=Blender Foundation|accessdate=2008-08-18] .

The game will be licensed under either the GNU GPL or LGPL, with all content being licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

Technology

As with the open movie projects, the game is partly being designed to promote the open source modelling tool Blender. To this end, the modelling, animation and level design are being done in Blender. The game itself will be rendered with the Crystal Space 3D engine, using Python as a scripting language.

The 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 the game playable on the Blender Game Enginecite web|url=http://www.yofrankie.org/?p=194|title=Last 6 weeks: CS & Blender focus|work=Game Engine Discussion|publisher=Blender Foundation|accessdate=2008-08-18] . 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 will be 2 versions of the game in the DVD, one for the Blender Game Engine, and a version for Crystal Space. Though the assets for making the levels and the characters are shared, the gameplay will differ between versions.

Plot

In the game, players assume the role of Frank, the sugar glider who was the antagonist of the film Big Buck Bunny. In the film, Frank and two cronies are seen killing butterflies and terrorizing a bunny. The film ends with the bunny exacting revenge on Frank, tying him to string and flying him as a kite.

The Blender Game Engine version of the game will be titled "A Furry Vendetta", while the Crystal Space will be "Furry Funny Frankie", with subsequent episodes expected.

ee also

* Elephants Dream
* Big Buck Bunny

References

External links

* [http://www.yofrankie.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.yofrankie.org/?p=328 Video of the Blender Game Engine version of "Yo Frankie!".]