Similar… but different enough to get around copyright laws I should imagine! Well noticed though Jeff 
There is one glaring problem with “Mytopia”: where is Mount Doom!? I loved the Imagination network (as pricey as it was, those charlatans!) for those multi-player dungeon adventures: Shadows of Yserbius (spelling?) and Fates of Twinion. That smoldering mountain in the upper right of the Imagination network was my home for at least two seasons of my childhood.
Oh… how I miss casting “Death Darts” on swarms of baddies… =(
pretty good copy.
reminds me a bit of the ‘Downtown’ scene in Magic Cap, though there are no screenshots of Downtown at this following link:
I was a hardcore Sierra fan during its golden age. I remember reading stories in their newsletter about people meeting on TSN and getting married.
This video ad is a must see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKHMIKZZjaY
Not only is it hilarious, but it’s also a technological time capsule. (That Toshiba laptop on that business man’s desk is AWESOME)
WOW! I remember the INN!!
…and being a graphic artist who is constantly parodying logos and such, this new design is MOST DEFINITELY derived from the old Sierra screen. I mean, just a quick comparative glance and I can see that 80% of it is identical to the first one…
…even I try and change things WAY more than that when I’m ripping something off! I certainly don’t need a copyright lawsuit!
Is there someone from the old Sierra version that is perhaps working with this new start-up? or just a former fan/designer stuck in a creative rut?..
The first online multiplayer gaming service? What about CompuServe?
I saw where the developer was discussing that the IP is clear and there shouldn’t be any legal issues…I’m sorry if you have to justify your ‘homage’ then you probably missed the mark a bit.
That second image is clearly derived from the first. Is that a possible copyright violation (assuming they didn’t get the relevant rights), or is this sort of thing legally okay?
From the developer comment linked to above: “all the IP has long been abandoned so don’t worry”
It’s scary that obviously nobody there bothered to consult an IP lawyer. Copyright claims don’t ever get “abandoned” – someone owns the IP, somewhere out there, most likely either AOL or Sierra Online. You haven’t needed to “maintain” copyright claims since the 1960s.
I loved TSN/INN, I was there until the day it was shut down. I had the box copy of Yserbius/Twinion, too. I was a kid as well, and I remember the we-spent-too-much month. Oops.
And yes, bring on Boogers, Graffiti and the 3D Tic Tac Toe!
Hey all you former TSN/INN fans!
Want a blast to the past that you can still play?
Check out the INN Revival project at
http://innrevival.googlepages.com/
and if you don’t know about TSN/INN, check
out the wikipedia details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImagiNation_Network
Shmork - Actually, your second comment about the similarities points out something that makes an argument for a subconscious copy, because why would someone copy trivialities such as these things? They make it look like an “obvious” copy.
When people are trying to avoid accusations of duplication – and usually they are if they’re “copying” something in this fashion – they work to make details different. “Well, yes, we have a Town Hall, but it’s not the same design! And there are no tree stumps anywhere.”
If this is an intentional copy, it’s either the most blatant kind of ripoff (which I do not think anybody intelligent enough to be directing the art could possibly do) or one of those odd quirks of human memory.
I’m not saying it isn’t intentional…merely that it could be accidental.
What about Quantum Link?
a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link/a
My god, what a blatant ripoff! Did they think everyone’d forgotten about Sierra?? I was a Sierra user too back then. I played all their games like King’s Quest and all that. 
I miss the old games, in all their 2D glory. I actually think the game artwork back then was better. Now almost everything is made in 3D and it sucks (what I think at least).
Westwood studios represent.
INN is now back if you want to play for free you can. It is now called INNrevival. You can download the software at.
http://www.mightyseek.com/innrevival-installer
Not to many people know about it so spread the word.
Thanks
Ur
Here’s some uber-trivia for you. The original clubhouse shown on the INN screen was a restaurant called “The Old Barn” that had been converted into the INN offices. And the water tower next to it was real.
I had the imagination service WAY back when…trying to chat on that thing was weird…i want to see some more screen shots from the original
As an employee of the TSN, all the way through the aquisition by AOL and the relaunch as WorldPlay, this tugs at the heart strings quite a bit. I live in Oakhurst,CA where the Old Barn and TSN/INN campus resided. Another friend who was visiting from Oregon was a Sysop on the system (INNRoxy), and she and her husband of 15 years met online. Her husband worked for me as a Workstation Technican, and then was my right-hand man in QA (Where we tested Red Baron II and INNFootball, and the Fates of Twinion). I moved on to become the manager of Online services. Yes, we had live agents who would CALL people to inform them their service had been interupted by a violation of the TOS (Terms of Serviced). You’d surprised what reactions you’ll get from a Southern Baptist Preacher when you call him up to tell him what his son said in the middle of a Boogers match grin. Anyway, the Old Barn is now offices for some sort of Airplaned Technologies firm (Design, I assume, as there is no manufacturing facility their.
We went to take a picture of her now 7 year old son in front of the Barn for them to bring back to Daddy. Sadly, the water tower is mostly overgrown with ivy, and crumbling. I still have a photo of our entire team (128 of us) all around (and some ON) the water Tower which we sent to AOL after acquisition. Our last night on INN was August first, 1999. That’s when AOL turned us off. There were some real honest tears in the office, and around the nation, I’m sure, as the technician in the server room pulled the plug (although he did give us an extra 2 minutes after midnight to say our online goodbyes.
I still have original software in the shrink wrap, and several framed marketing pieces, including the monthly newsletter in boxes here in the garage. It was an amazing time to be in a brave new online world.
CyperPark never made it off the ground — but — although not the same thing, you can see it’s mark on places like Second Life… we were just a little too ahead of our time for what the dial-up networks and modems could handle.
Ah, Memories.
-INNKyle
By the way, did anyone ever attend any of the F2F gatherings? I have flown to Conneticut, Las Vegas, and made many trips to the bay area to meet people I had known online for years… quite an amazing thing. Would be interested to know if anyone here was that big of a fan… uh… geek… grin. I might know your screen name. 