4 ms·

Someone ping Fabien Sanglard! Looks so much like his site!

bel8 4mo ago
And his site looks like another thousand, as I'm sure he knows. We consume his site for the content, not for the minimalistic design that exist since the inception of the universe.
- sasas 4mo ago
  It appears the author is leveraging Fabien's branding by copying not only the style of post but more importantly the formatting and style of Fabien's books. Even structurally the book appears quite similar. If you didn't double check the author while skimming this Keen book, you may well be mistaken that it was written by Fabien. I took a quick skim of the content, it looks great - tempted to purchase a copy to support the author for their efforts (and have it sit on the bookshelf next to two other very similar looking books...) but need to sit on this for a while. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Would like to hear Fabien's take on the situation. [EDIT] It looks that the Keen book author copied and pasted direct sections[1] out of Fabien's book's TeX[2]. [EDIT] The git commit history has comments that indicate that Fabien reviewed the book, e.g. "updated all chapters after feedback Fabien" and "Proofread Fabien Sanglard en hardcopy review", so perhaps this is all sanctioned. [1] https://github.com/bsmits74/Keen_White_Papers/blob/master/src/mystyle.sty https://github.com/bsmits74/Keen_White_Papers/blob/master/sr... [2] https://github.com/fabiensanglard/gebbdoom/blob/master/src/book.tex https://github.com/fabiensanglard/gebbdoom/blob/master/src/b...
  - bombcar 4mo ago
    He responds to this thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546779
  - fabiensanglard 4mo ago
    > perhaps this is all sanctioned In short, it is not. I received early draft from bas. While I encouraged him to finish his book, I also told him, in no uncertain terms, that I had released the source code to inspire people and give them a kickstart, but not for them to copy the content. As months passed, I asked repeatedly to remove whole paragraphs he had copy/pasted as is, and drawings he had also copy/pasted. Later, as A.I became more powerful, I used it to compare Wolfenstein 3D and Keen book and noticed a lot more that was verbatim. At which point I told him I no longer wanted to help him in his project. It is cool that someone documented Keen thanks to my framework. But I have only myself to blame for opensourcing the code of my books/website and thinking people would use it as intended. PS: I commented it was a "good idea" to change the cover because originally this was going to be the "Game Engine Black Book: Commander Keen". I did not like that his work could have been mistaken for mine (he also elected to use the same style as my website for his website which only adds to the confusion).
    - sasas 4mo ago
      Thanks for the clarifying the situation. Something did feel a bit off but I didn't want to jump to any premature conclusions. The author has clearly put quite some investment in writing their book, it's a shame and hard to understand that someone would self sabotage by plagiarising the work of others - Especially to someone donating their own free time to initially help out. > But I have only myself to blame for opensourcing the code of my books/website and thinking people would use it as intended. Even if you had not, perhaps this scenario would have still eventuated. Keep up the good work. Any new books planned on the horizon?
      - fabiensanglard 4mo ago
        > Any new books planned on the horizon? I always have projects :) ! Whether I can go all the way and actually ship it is another story.
    - markus_zhang 4mo ago
      Maybe in the future hand crafting code with the help of books is going to be an art. I’m sure some people would love to pay to watch. (Going to do that in 10-15 years when I reach 50/55 to semi retire)
charlietran 4mo ago
Author's note from the book: "...I discovered Fabien Sanglard’s website and began reading his Game Engine Black Books on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Inspired by those works, I wondered whether I could do something similar for Commander Keen: open up the source code, explore the files, and piece together a picture of the overall architecture and the clever tricks used. The style, dimensions, and structure of this book are intentionally similar to Fabien’s Game Engine Black Books, as an homage to those masterpieces. To give it a personal twist, I inverted the title and cover to white."
- fabiensanglard 4mo ago
  > To give it a personal twist, I inverted the title and cover to white. That is a great idea.
  - sasas 4mo ago
    How do you feel about this book mirroring your prior art in both format and structure? Were you consulted beforehand? [EDIT] - I see in the Keen book's source git commit logs that you reviewed and assisted with proof reading beforehand, so may we assume that this is all above board and sanctioned by you?
    - fabiensanglard 4mo ago
      I replied here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550425
  - LarsDu88 4mo ago
    Imitation is the greatest form of flattery! I suppose there's still Quake 3 Arena and DOOM3 to complete the full "John Carmack" early 90s to early 2000s technical overview series. Or maybe something with the Sega Saturn. I heard the Sonic X-treme team worked so hard to make a 3d Sonic game for that platform in the mid 90s that multiple team members had to go on medical leave!
    - 4mo ago
ndiddy 4mo ago
Wow I assumed it was one of his books before I saw your comment. Thanks for pointing that out!

bel8 4mo ago

And his site looks like another thousand, as I'm sure he knows. We consume his site for the content, not for the minimalistic design that exist since the inception of the universe.

sasas 4mo ago
It appears the author is leveraging Fabien's branding by copying not only the style of post but more importantly the formatting and style of Fabien's books. Even structurally the book appears quite similar. If you didn't double check the author while skimming this Keen book, you may well be mistaken that it was written by Fabien. I took a quick skim of the content, it looks great - tempted to purchase a copy to support the author for their efforts (and have it sit on the bookshelf next to two other very similar looking books...) but need to sit on this for a while. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Would like to hear Fabien's take on the situation. [EDIT] It looks that the Keen book author copied and pasted direct sections[1] out of Fabien's book's TeX[2]. [EDIT] The git commit history has comments that indicate that Fabien reviewed the book, e.g. "updated all chapters after feedback Fabien" and "Proofread Fabien Sanglard en hardcopy review", so perhaps this is all sanctioned. [1] https://github.com/bsmits74/Keen_White_Papers/blob/master/src/mystyle.sty https://github.com/bsmits74/Keen_White_Papers/blob/master/sr... [2] https://github.com/fabiensanglard/gebbdoom/blob/master/src/book.tex https://github.com/fabiensanglard/gebbdoom/blob/master/src/b...
- bombcar 4mo ago
  He responds to this thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546779
- fabiensanglard 4mo ago
  > perhaps this is all sanctioned In short, it is not. I received early draft from bas. While I encouraged him to finish his book, I also told him, in no uncertain terms, that I had released the source code to inspire people and give them a kickstart, but not for them to copy the content. As months passed, I asked repeatedly to remove whole paragraphs he had copy/pasted as is, and drawings he had also copy/pasted. Later, as A.I became more powerful, I used it to compare Wolfenstein 3D and Keen book and noticed a lot more that was verbatim. At which point I told him I no longer wanted to help him in his project. It is cool that someone documented Keen thanks to my framework. But I have only myself to blame for opensourcing the code of my books/website and thinking people would use it as intended. PS: I commented it was a "good idea" to change the cover because originally this was going to be the "Game Engine Black Book: Commander Keen". I did not like that his work could have been mistaken for mine (he also elected to use the same style as my website for his website which only adds to the confusion).
  - sasas 4mo ago
    Thanks for the clarifying the situation. Something did feel a bit off but I didn't want to jump to any premature conclusions. The author has clearly put quite some investment in writing their book, it's a shame and hard to understand that someone would self sabotage by plagiarising the work of others - Especially to someone donating their own free time to initially help out. > But I have only myself to blame for opensourcing the code of my books/website and thinking people would use it as intended. Even if you had not, perhaps this scenario would have still eventuated. Keep up the good work. Any new books planned on the horizon?
    - fabiensanglard 4mo ago
      > Any new books planned on the horizon? I always have projects :) ! Whether I can go all the way and actually ship it is another story.
  - markus_zhang 4mo ago
    Maybe in the future hand crafting code with the help of books is going to be an art. I’m sure some people would love to pay to watch. (Going to do that in 10-15 years when I reach 50/55 to semi retire)

charlietran 4mo ago

Author's note from the book: "...I discovered Fabien Sanglard’s website and began reading his Game Engine Black Books on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Inspired by those works, I wondered whether I could do something similar for Commander Keen: open up the source code, explore the files, and piece together a picture of the overall architecture and the clever tricks used. The style, dimensions, and structure of this book are intentionally similar to Fabien’s Game Engine Black Books, as an homage to those masterpieces. To give it a personal twist, I inverted the title and cover to white."

fabiensanglard 4mo ago
> To give it a personal twist, I inverted the title and cover to white. That is a great idea.
- sasas 4mo ago
  How do you feel about this book mirroring your prior art in both format and structure? Were you consulted beforehand? [EDIT] - I see in the Keen book's source git commit logs that you reviewed and assisted with proof reading beforehand, so may we assume that this is all above board and sanctioned by you?
  - fabiensanglard 4mo ago
    I replied here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550425
- LarsDu88 4mo ago
  Imitation is the greatest form of flattery! I suppose there's still Quake 3 Arena and DOOM3 to complete the full "John Carmack" early 90s to early 2000s technical overview series. Or maybe something with the Sega Saturn. I heard the Sonic X-treme team worked so hard to make a 3d Sonic game for that platform in the mid 90s that multiple team members had to go on medical leave!
  - 4mo ago

ndiddy 4mo ago

Wow I assumed it was one of his books before I saw your comment. Thanks for pointing that out!