Sword of Moonlight

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{{Infobox VG series
 
{{Infobox VG series
 
| title                  = Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool
 
| title                  = Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool
| image                  =  
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| image                  = [[Image:Sword_of_Moonlight_Set.jpg|350px]]
| caption                =  
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| caption                =
 
| developer              = [[From Software]]
 
| developer              = [[From Software]]
 
| publisher              = [[From Software]]
 
| publisher              = [[From Software]]
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| first release date    = March 16, 2000
 
| first release date    = March 16, 2000
 
| latest release version = 1.2 (final)
 
| latest release version = 1.2 (final)
| latest release date    =  
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| latest release date    = April 4, 2000 <br/>Add-ons ended April 20, 2001
 
| website                = http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html
 
| website                = http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool''' is a 3D first person RPG maker developed and published by [[From Software]] for the Japanese PC gaming and computing market. The software eliminates most of the technical challenges for users wishing to make a PC video game like [[King's Field]]. It also includes a remake of King's Field which doubles as a sample project. Elements of later King's Field games are not always possible to achieve, even though the resources included on the CD-ROM more closely resemble those of [[Shadow Tower]] with a little extra added detail.
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'''Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool''' is a 3D first person RPG maker developed and published by [[From Software]] for the Japanese PC gaming and computing market. The software eliminates most of the technical challenges for users wishing to make a PC video game like ''[[King's Field]]''. It also includes a remake of King's Field which doubles as a sample project. Elements of later King's Field games are not always possible to achieve, even though the resources included on the CD-ROM more closely resemble those of ''[[Shadow Tower]]'' with a little extra added detail.
  
The original retail price of 9,280 yen[http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html] came with an unfettered license for unlimited use of ''King's Field'' intellectual property. The user created games are able to be freely distributed and or ''even'' sold like any other PC game, royalty free and independent of the original Sword of Moonlight software and its minimal [[EULA]]. As a result, many fan-made games were created with the Sword of Moonlight software and distributed in Japan. In 2008, a fan translated Sword on Moonlight into English which led to a healthy following in the US as well. Several full length games have been produced in the US and many more are currently in production.
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The original retail price of 9,280 yen<ref name="fromsite">http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html</ref> came with an unfettered license for unlimited use of ''King's Field'' intellectual property. The user created games are able to be freely distributed and or ''even'' sold like any other PC game, royalty free and independent of the original Sword of Moonlight software and its minimal [[EULA]]. As a result, many fan-made games were created with the Sword of Moonlight software and distributed in Japan. In 2008, a fan translated Sword on Moonlight into English which led to a healthy following in the US as well. Several full length games have been produced in the US and many more are currently in production.
  
Sword of Moonlight comes with hundreds of resources modeled on King's Field franchise lore, and also includes an advanced tool set which allows users to convert their own 3D models into proprietary Sword of Moonlight file formats. Hundreds of user-created resources are freely distributed on the Internet.  
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Sword of Moonlight comes with hundreds of resources modeled on [[King's Field (series)]] lore, and also includes an advanced tool set which allows users to convert their own 3D models into proprietary Sword of Moonlight file formats. Hundreds of user-created resources are freely distributed on the Internet.
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
  
In Japan Sword of Moonlight in hindsight looks like a short lived phenomenon. Today it is difficult to locate any prominent games produced by Japanese users on the internet or elsewhere. It is generally thought that Sword of Moonlight upon release was a boxed product able to be found on store shelves in select retail outlets. Support for Sword of Moonlight was dropped after less than a two year run due to lack of interest from fans or From Software. Many serious bugs in the software were never addressed by online patches. To this day From Software still sells to Japanese residents old warehoused copies of Sword of Moonlight directly out of their offices via mail order at a discount price.
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In Japan, Sword of Moonlight was a short lived phenomenon. Today, it is difficult to locate any prominent games produced by Japanese users on the Internet[http://www.google.co.jp/][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Sword_of_Moonlight:_King%27s_Field_Making_Tool] or elsewhere. Sword of Moonlight upon release was a boxed product able to be found on store shelves in select retail outlets.<ref>www.rpgamer.com[http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2000/031400c.html] (source: [[Famitsu]])</ref> Support for Sword of Moonlight was dropped after less than a two year run due to lack of interest from fans or From Software with many serious bugs in the software never addressed by online patches.<ref>http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som_dl.html</ref> To this day, From Software will still sell remaining units to Japanese residents by mail order.<ref name="fromsite">http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html</ref>
  
Non-traditional marketing makes importing a copy of Sword of Moonlight an especially challenging task, and due to this the product remained an enigma to collectors and curious parties alike for the larger part of the decade following its initial release. Once the de-facto embargo inevitably broke, the limited number of imported copies were in short order themselves copied, and shared, and translated into English. During this period ''[[Diadem of Maunstraut]]'' emerged as the first full-featured user made Sword of Moonlight game in the ''King's Field'' mold. Diadem's author would later produce ''[[Trismegistus]]'', a puzzle game reminiscent of From Software's ''[[Echo Night]]'' series.
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As a niche title even in its home region of Japan, Sword of Moonlight remained an enigma to non-Japanese collectors and enthusiasts for the larger part of the decade following its release. Being unable to establish grey import channels through friendly Japanese parties, community conscious fans began circumventing the shutout of online auction companies in Japan by use of private brokers based out of the country. The limited number of hard copies so obtained were in short order themselves copied, and shared, and translated into English.<ref>{{cite web|author=Author |url=http://agetec.yuku.com/topic/2371/ |title=Release Notice |publisher=Agetec.yuku.com |date= |accessdate=2011-04-6}}</ref> During this period, ''[[Diadem of Maunstraut]]'' emerged as the first full-featured user made Sword of Moonlight game in the ''King's Field'' mold. Diadem's author would later produce ''[[Trismegistus]]'', a puzzle game reminiscent of From Software's ''[[Echo Night]]'' series.<ref>Diadem of Maunstraut official homepage[http://www.kings-field.com/som/dom/]</ref><ref>Trismegistus official homepage[http://www.swordofmoonlight.com/Trismegistus/]</ref>
  
 
==Present (2011)==
 
==Present (2011)==
  
Unofficial open source software exists[http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/] which effectively eliminates all bugs from the tool chain and the games produced with Sword of Moonlight. The same software extends the tools and games in new and novel ways. For example, ensuring compatibility with modern and future Windows operating systems and display drivers. Furthermore additional apps have been developed in order to supplement features never realized by official Sword of Moonlight add-on content.  
+
Unofficial open source software exists<ref>http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/</ref> which effectively eliminates all bugs from the tool chain and the games produced with Sword of Moonlight. The same software extends the tools and games in new and novel ways. For example, ensuring compatibility with modern and future Windows operating systems and display drivers. Furthermore additional apps have been developed in order to supplement features never realized by official Sword of Moonlight add-on content.
  
 
Through the same extension mechanisms games are able to obtain modern standards in terms of graphical and professional presentation, and hardware acceleration. New games are touted to be in development on a regular basis. Related websites are putting in place infrastructure for collaborative development and resource management anticipating a new generation of games.
 
Through the same extension mechanisms games are able to obtain modern standards in terms of graphical and professional presentation, and hardware acceleration. New games are touted to be in development on a regular basis. Related websites are putting in place infrastructure for collaborative development and resource management anticipating a new generation of games.
  
 
Sword of Moonlight has been transformed into a multilingual platform with complete Unicode internationalization including multi-font (hybrid) character sets and online facilities providing wiki-like localization.
 
Sword of Moonlight has been transformed into a multilingual platform with complete Unicode internationalization including multi-font (hybrid) character sets and online facilities providing wiki-like localization.
 
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==References==
 +
{{reflist}}
 
==External Links==
 
==External Links==
 
*[http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html From Software website]
 
*[http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html From Software website]
  
[[Category:Sword of Moonlight]]
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{{King's Field series}}
 
[[Category:Software]]
 
[[Category:Software]]
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[[Category:2000 video games]]
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[[Category:From Software games]]
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[[Category:Japan-exclusive video games]]

Revision as of 14:07, 10 July 2011

Template:Article for deletion / dated

Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool
350px
Genres First person
Action role-playing game
Game development tool
Developers From Software
Publishers From Software
Platforms Windows
First release 1.0
March 16, 2000
Latest release 1.2 (final)
April 4, 2000
Add-ons ended April 20, 2001
Official website http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html

Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool is a 3D first person RPG maker developed and published by From Software for the Japanese PC gaming and computing market. The software eliminates most of the technical challenges for users wishing to make a PC video game like King's Field. It also includes a remake of King's Field which doubles as a sample project. Elements of later King's Field games are not always possible to achieve, even though the resources included on the CD-ROM more closely resemble those of Shadow Tower with a little extra added detail.

The original retail price of 9,280 yen[1] came with an unfettered license for unlimited use of King's Field intellectual property. The user created games are able to be freely distributed and or even sold like any other PC game, royalty free and independent of the original Sword of Moonlight software and its minimal EULA. As a result, many fan-made games were created with the Sword of Moonlight software and distributed in Japan. In 2008, a fan translated Sword on Moonlight into English which led to a healthy following in the US as well. Several full length games have been produced in the US and many more are currently in production.

Sword of Moonlight comes with hundreds of resources modeled on King's Field (series) lore, and also includes an advanced tool set which allows users to convert their own 3D models into proprietary Sword of Moonlight file formats. Hundreds of user-created resources are freely distributed on the Internet.

History

In Japan, Sword of Moonlight was a short lived phenomenon. Today, it is difficult to locate any prominent games produced by Japanese users on the Internet[4][5] or elsewhere. Sword of Moonlight upon release was a boxed product able to be found on store shelves in select retail outlets.[2] Support for Sword of Moonlight was dropped after less than a two year run due to lack of interest from fans or From Software with many serious bugs in the software never addressed by online patches.[3] To this day, From Software will still sell remaining units to Japanese residents by mail order.[1]

As a niche title even in its home region of Japan, Sword of Moonlight remained an enigma to non-Japanese collectors and enthusiasts for the larger part of the decade following its release. Being unable to establish grey import channels through friendly Japanese parties, community conscious fans began circumventing the shutout of online auction companies in Japan by use of private brokers based out of the country. The limited number of hard copies so obtained were in short order themselves copied, and shared, and translated into English.[4] During this period, Diadem of Maunstraut emerged as the first full-featured user made Sword of Moonlight game in the King's Field mold. Diadem's author would later produce Trismegistus, a puzzle game reminiscent of From Software's Echo Night series.[5][6]

Present (2011)

Unofficial open source software exists[7] which effectively eliminates all bugs from the tool chain and the games produced with Sword of Moonlight. The same software extends the tools and games in new and novel ways. For example, ensuring compatibility with modern and future Windows operating systems and display drivers. Furthermore additional apps have been developed in order to supplement features never realized by official Sword of Moonlight add-on content.

Through the same extension mechanisms games are able to obtain modern standards in terms of graphical and professional presentation, and hardware acceleration. New games are touted to be in development on a regular basis. Related websites are putting in place infrastructure for collaborative development and resource management anticipating a new generation of games.

Sword of Moonlight has been transformed into a multilingual platform with complete Unicode internationalization including multi-font (hybrid) character sets and online facilities providing wiki-like localization.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som.html
  2. www.rpgamer.com[1] (source: Famitsu)
  3. http://www.fromsoftware.jp/main/soft/som_dl.html
  4. Author. "Release Notice". Agetec.yuku.com. http://agetec.yuku.com/topic/2371/. Retrieved 2011-04-6. 
  5. Diadem of Maunstraut official homepage[2]
  6. Trismegistus official homepage[3]
  7. http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/

External Links