MUGEN (also known as MUGEN or Mugen) is a game engine developed by elecbyte, initiated in 1999 using the Allegro library. The Elecbyte distributed a beta version that rodavam in DOS, Linux and Windows. This engine allows anyone to create characters (known as chars), scenarios and add-ons (screenpacks) through interpreted text files, and compilations of graphics and sounds, and supports MP3 in the scenarios during the game and add-ons. The engine is powerful and flexible, while allowing the use of features found in any 2D games, as the series produced by Capcom Street Fighter or King of Fighters "series produced by SNK.

1 History
2 Legality of M.U.G.E.N
3 Formats Documents
4 On the use of material from other farmers
5 Limitations of MUGEN

History
From 1999 to 2001, were released several versions of MUGEN for DOS. In 2001 the Elecbyte left of the platform and moved to Linux. During a period of several months the company made a request for donations on the site itself, claiming that to do a 32-bit Windows version they need to buy a compiler legal. The version of Windows 32-bit address the problems of keeping the code in the DOS environment, which caused problems especially for those using Windows XP.

In 2003, then to get enough donations to buy the compiler for Windows, a version compatible with Windows beta was released for those who donated money. This version just leak to the public, but it is a beta had some limitations, such as modes of play and inaccessible limit of only two characters, who have just been removed with "hacks" unauthorized. In the same time the Elecbyte closed the site and did not maintain contact with the public for some time.

As the project has stopped being developed and the source code was never released, some fans started projects of clones of MUGEN as OpenMUGEN, Rhakys and SHUG.

Lately, the site of Elecbyte again open, with an FAQ, talking about the possible return of Elecbyte with the full version of WinMUGEN. They also warned about the incompatibility of the old chars and stages with this new version. Remember that this site is false, since most are not the same people who own the record, nor are persons related to Elecbyte original.


Legality of M.U.G.E.N
Keep in mind that licenses for the use of Elecbyte on the Mugen is expired, and it seems that a new license will never be released. Certainly, any distribution of MUGEN has not been authorized by Elecbyte and therefore is illegal, although the Elecbyte has never taken any legal action, she simply disappeared without any explanation. Many people chose to continue using the Mugen even without a new license. However, creations as characters and scenarios are not part of the license to use the Elecbyte, only the software. So it is an individual choice whether or not the license violates the Elecbyte using Mugen. Elecbyte is not news to the public since 2003 when they claimed that the "crashed" (hit a snag). This, in fact for many people, was an excuse for them having gone around the globe, leaving users and developers without any alternative.

Some people wonder about the leagalidade of mugen characters and stages, which are made with sprites and sounds ripados of commercial games. Some communities rely on a weak "rule in time for launch," where they do not allow creation of very recent games, which is as questionable as the launch of Rom. Communities in Brazil, this does not apply, because if there's a ROM available so there is no problem to use it to create characters and scenarios for Mugen. Nevertheless have no impact on the legality of the material, that was used to avoid pressure from the original copyright holders. But companies like Capcom, SNK and other see it as a Fanart.

The work material has two types of copyrights: the contents of the SFF (sprite format, based on images PCX) and SND (audio format based on WAV) are properties of their respective owners, as Capcom, SNK, etc. The other files, like CMD (command file), AIR (animation file) and CNS (in the states and settings, the file pricipal Mugen) are the property of the author's character, scenery and others. The Elecbyte explained that the reason the codes are based on plain text is just that the creators can learn from each other (similar to the open source free software), even if that is the subject of much controversy regarding the permission (or lack thereof ) among the creators.

Read part 2 visit: http://mugennews.blogspot.com