Installation 01, a high quality, fan-made multiplayer game set in the Halo universe has officially gotten the blessing of 343 Industries and Microsoft provided the project never makes any money. The game's Project Manager and Lead made a post on the game's blog detailing a Skype call made with some of the higher-ups at 343.
Here's the excerpt:
Installation 01 has been maintaining a level of contact with 343 Industries over the past several months. We initially reached out to a company representative and spoke with him about getting into contact with Microsoft/343's legal department to answer a few inquiries we had about the legality of our project. This representative has acted as a kind of liaison between our team and 343 since then, and we have maintained a level of transparency with 343 Industries (through our contact) regarding Installation 01's plans, the scope of the project, our goals, and how we as a team aim to meet and support those goals long-term.
Over the past few months, we've shared details of our development plans with 343: our release schedule, planned content, and more. Up until very recently, this was a one-way street, with us sending them information and them thanking us for maintaining contact and keeping them informed. This changed recently. 343 Industries gave us an opportunity to participate in a call with a few company higher-ups to engage in a meet-and-greet and involved discussion about the future of our project. They also gave us an opportunity to ask a lot of questions about the ongoing legal status of the project.
We are happy to announce that the outcome of the call was both incredibly informational and very positive! Through these interactions we have been ensured that Installation 01 is not under imminent legal threat, provided we remain non-commercial in nature and scope, and continue to follow Microsoft’s Game Content Usage Rules to the letter. We are now able to say with certainty that Installation 01 will never be accepting donations. We also will not be selling i01 or Halo related merchandise. This is to keep a respectful distance between us and Microsoft’s intellectual property. It is also important to note that these rules and assurances from 343 are specific to Installation 01 as a project, and should not be interpreted to apply elsewhere. Through ongoing communication with 343 Industries we hope that we, as a fan project, can continue to be a positive driving force within the Halo community.
Installation 01 is built as an homage to classic Halo and is looking to fill a niche that the PC gaming community hasn't seen since 2007 with the rather problematic Halo 2 port. The developers have maintained a strong stance that they are sticking close to Microsoft's guidelines of Game Content Usage. While the game emulates Halo's art style, every asset has been hand made from scratch, so they are not pulling anything that either Bungie or 343 have ever created.
If you haven't seen the game in action yet, I encourage you to check out the game's Multiplayer Q&A Trailer below:
Source: [Installation 01 via NeoGAF]
