What should I do about legal considerations for an indie game? Apologies if there's a bit too much background information here, not sure what's relevant but figured I needed to outline the financial situation to differentiate this from other questions whose answers aren't applicable here. I'm making an indie game, to be sold online (ie, to any country that can use PayPal). My current situation is underemployed unable to find enough work to make ends meet over the last couple of years, I'm now looking to use some of that free time to top up my income by making a little extra money from my hobby. Primarily, I look at is as art rather than a business, but with cash flow and employment prospects limited, I need to make a little money. My question is what should I do about the legal problems that can arise out of selling a game? I've read up general advice on small businesses, so I should be fine with the usual issues like copyright, limited liability and tax it's game development specific ones that worry me. I've also checked the licenses of any libraries used thoroughly (it's all open stuff anyhow). Software patents are currently scaring the hell out of me they might not be legal in my country, but if I'm going to get any sales at all with my small scale project I'm going to have to cast a broad net. As far as I understand, there are so many and so broad or poorly defined, that I can't in practical terms make a game without violating them in at least some countries. The other thing that bothers me is if there's legal issues I've never heard of and wont hear of until I get a nasty letter threatening to take everything. I've obviously searched for related questions here and elsewhere, but had no luck the answers always seem to say either consult a lawyer, or buy expensive legal reference materials whilst well intentioned, given the financial situation outlined above, well this advice isn't really applicable. I have no money, and the total amount I hope to make from this game is less than one hour of legal consultation. Given the amount of researched involved in patents, and the numerous jurisdictions that my sales might come from well, I can't think of a way that sufficient help from a lawyer will ever be within my means. So, given those considerations, can anyone suggest a sensible course of action for such a small scale business that'll prevent me from being shut down, and from losing my creative rights to the game the moment some large company with software patents decides to sue? And further, any other steps I need to take to protect myself against legal problems specific to this industry that general advice sites wouldn't cover?


Is Tetris public domain? is the concept for Tetris in the public domain or is there someone who is still collecting royalties on the concept? I mean, if I were to write a variant of Tetris would I owe somebody some money? Thanks.


Is there a legal option for writing Nintendo 64 games? Recently, I've been looking into developing games for Nintendo 64 emulators, and modding existing ROMs. I wanted to know if there is the possibility for any legitimate tools out there which can be used to write the code for the emulators or if all of that is off limits. I heard that the Nintendo 64 SDK has always been sealed by an NDA limited to the game studios, years ago however, I'm curious about where all the current ROMs that are available came from. Mainly because, unlike discs, cartridges are not typically supported by standard hardware.


How common are game engine bugs, and can I claim damages for them? Are game engine bugs (in popular ones like Unreal and Unity, not some unknown ones) common? I know engines like Unreal, Source and Unity3D are well tested and maintained, but, for example, is there any threat like I create a game, the engine programming is fine, so is everything I do, but I get a bug in the game because of a bug in the engine? And as most of you guys here are game developers, has any one had such an experience? Also, can I take legal action on the creators of that engine incase I am under loss because of their bug?


Can art syle proportions have copyright? I like the art of a mobile game called Battleheart. Is it copyright infringement if I copy only the proportions of his characters? Obviously the clothes, style of the brush, and all the rest of the art will be my own style. The gameplay of the game will be different, too.


Can I name a team with the name of their city to avoid trademark issues? I was wondering, if you want to make a NBA game on smartphones, without the license held by EA, the first solution seems to name your teams with a different name, such as "Chicragro Brulls" (this is just for the example), but would it be possible to just call your team with the name of the city, such as "Chicago vs. Dallas" ? I know the first solution was chosen by Pro Evolution Soccer, would you know any other game that don't use a license?


Is it legal to use car manufacturers' names in a game? Is it legal to use car manufacturers' names in a game? For example to describe Audi's quattro drive system? to display a rendering of an Audi? to include a photo (to which I have rights) of an Audi?


Workflow for accountable file transfers between freelancer and developer I'm an indie game developer and I often hire freelancers for artwork. We sign an agreement to basically state that I'd get ownership of the resources they produce. I'm a fairly picky person when it comes to formalities in these agreements, and I can't find a good system to document file transfers between freelancer and client. What I'm looking for is A way to track a relationship between their email account and mine, and document file exchanges, like a quot timeline quot Freelancer uploaded X file at 16 50 UTC 03 00, download button Freelancer uploaded Y file at 17 43 UTC 03 00, download button Client uploaded Z file at 18 35 UTC 03 00, download button And files are permanently kept in the timeline for documentation purposes it should be impossible to delete an entry (unless both parties agree to delete it). The point of such structure is to quot vouch quot that this person transferred a file at some point and neither party can deny it. Technically, e mail attachments do exactly this. However, if it is a relatively large file, Gmail will ask them to upload to Google Drive. The problem with this is that Drive lets them keep ownership of the file (so if they delete it, I cannot get it back unless I had downloaded it) we would lose the whole quot record quot thing as there will be no guarantee that the file that I have is in fact the file that they uploaded. How we've worked with a few freelancers in the past is that they will transfer a bulk of files (zip) to us using whatever convenient method, and then, in written, state that they have produced and transferred a zip with some MD5 hash. So if it is ever necessary to prove that such a file was given to me by a freelancer, we'd just compute its hash. However that's understandably inconvenient.


How to handle a Google Play game's privacy policy I am trying to release a mobile game (insert obligatory sellout statement for Chunk of Space) on Google Play, and I'm worried about their privacy policy system. Basically, if you mark your game as "directed primarily towards children," you need to include a privacy policy (mostly to adhere to COPPA regulations). Now, my game isn't primarily for children, but because it's made to appeal to all ages, it's likely that I might have children playing it (or, I might have nobody play it. Hooray for insecurity). The question is, do I need to make the app say that it is "Designed for Families," or can I leave that option unchecked? Will the game not be marketed available to children if I do not do so? And if I do need to set that option, how might I go about creating the privacy policy? I know there are several privacy policy generators online, so if you've used one or more in the past, could you recommend it to me? And how would I need to modify the policy to allow children to use it? As for information the app uses, here's a short list Anything needed for Unity analytics, IAP, and ads Anything needed for Google play IAP and ads That's all that I know it uses, although there might be some additional information that each uses, along with any hidden Google Play and Unity stuff.


Where can I find affordable legal advice for game software related inquiries? I am working on simulation middleware which is applicable for game engine implementations. What I would like to do is to make it freely available for use for all non commercial purposes, while at the same time imposing some percentage of royalty on revenue (above a certain threshold) that is derived from my work. Something very similar to Epic's UDK licensing model. To facilitate the use of my software, I plan to offer binaries (static libs) for several platforms, as well as obfuscated source code which I will freely distribute, in addition to documentation of the API. I simply want to impose the restriction that if you try to make money from it, I get a cut eventually. I'm wondering if there are online forums and such where I am likely to find people who are willing to assist me in terms of learning what sort of things I have to do to get things down on the right kinds of documents. So far a site like this seems to be the most promising.


What are the implications of not owning the IP of a character graphic in my game? I'm currently talking with a design studio for the artworks of my game. They are saying they want to still own the IP of their chracter graphic in my game as they want to sell merchandise with my character idea and their artwork. I'd like to know what kind of stuffs should I look out for in such an agreement. Does owning the character graphics mean, later they can come up and say me I can't use it in my game?


Alternatives to the GPL I made a game, and I am currently making a game engine. I want them both to be completely free and open source. What license should I choose? I was reading a bit on GPL, but that seems to be more suited for system code and libraries, AFAIK, as it doesn't permit the use of code for proprietorial software which, in turn, implies that the code can be used in the first place. I can see that, obviously, game engines can be considered libraries, and therefor be used, but what about game code? Is there an alternative to GPL?


Where can I find True Type fonts that are free for commercial use? Possible Duplicate Where can I find fonts for my game? Does anyone know of fonts that are true type and unicode that can be used in a commercial game for free?


Am I allowed to name a game after some song? Just to ask a quick question, which I don't know where to ask If I were to make a game, would I be allowed to call it "Buffalo Soldier some more words "? Since it's a song by Bob Marley I am not sure if this would get me into all kinds of legal trouble because of copyrights, which I obviously want to avoid. By the way, the game doesn't have anything to do with Bob Marley or the music industry. I just thought a game about a buffalo soldier would be nice!


Which open source licenses can address these concerns for an open source game engine? I am on a team that is looking to open source an engine we are building. It's intended as an engine for Online RPG style games. We're writing it to work on both desktops and android platforms. I've been over to the OSI http opensource.org licenses category to check out the most common licenses. However, this will be my first time going into an open source project and I wanted to know if the community had some insight into which licenses might be best suited. Key licensing concerns Removing or limiting our liability (most already seem to cover this, but stating for completeness). We want other developers to be able to take part or all of our project and use it in their own projects with proper accreditation to our project. Licensing should not hinder someone's ability to quickly use the engine. They should be able to download a release and start using it without needing to wait on licensing issues. Game content (gfx, sound, etc.) that is not part of the engine should be allowed to be licensed separately. If someone is using our engine, they can retain full copy right of their content, including engine generated data. Our primary goal is exposure, which is why we're going open source to start with. Both for the project and for the individuals developing it. Are there any licenses that can require accreditation visible to players? Update As per comments, I mean this to be a requirement for either a splash screen or placement in the credits. Not a constantly visible logo. While I'd put our primary goal as exposure, for licensing the accreditation is less of a concern. From what I've read through (and have been able to understand) it doesn't seem like any of the licenses cover anything that is produced by the licensed software. Are there any that state this specifically, or does simply not mentioning it leave it open for other licensing? Are there any other concerns that we should consider? Has anyone had any issues using any of these licenses?


Version Not Final, Does Not Represent Actual Game Footage? Just curious about this. Frequently, a lot of gameplay videos from big studios have small subtitled text at the lower part of the screen, reading something like Pre Alpha Gameplay Footage not Final Game Footage not Final Pre Alpha, Game here is not final Is there some sort of reason they do this? Is there some sort of legal ramification that they need to go through by adding this? I have especially seen some gameplay vids whose titles are "Alpha x.x.x", yet still, in the video itself, it always something like "footage not final, game may change".


What resources can I use to determine if the name of my game violates any copyrights or trademarks? I'm a indie hobbyist game developer. How do I check that I'm not infringing any copyrights or trademarks when I release my game? I'm not making megabucks so it's not financially feasible to get professional legal help for each game. I asked recently if I can reuse the name of an old arcade game (Crazy Balloon), but this got me thinking about future games where I might not even be aware of something similar that existed before. So, are there any tools or resources that you can recommend to check myself (due diligence I think it's called).


How or when to add a copyright notice in published games? I've seen lot of videogame title screens show a copyright notice together with the company name. I'm about to publish my game and I am looking for possibilities or requirements on how or when to add such a copyright notice (including date or year published). Does it apply to both indie game makers and larger companies?


Are references to other games considered an infringement of copyright? My team frequently reminisces about the games we grew up with in the 1990s, and we'd like to include references and Easter eggs that pay homage to this decade and that will invoke nostalgia or even make players smirk. One example would be a character calling out another character "Dude, why on Earth are you hiding in a stupid box?" (a reference to hiding in cardboard boxes from Metal Gear). Think of it as being similar to when the characters from Bad Company 2 teased the snowmobile level from Modern Warfare 2. Would these sorts of references be considered copyright infringement? As far as I'm aware, this falls under parody and fair use, as it is neither used to capitalize on a specific game element (like basing our gameplay on people hiding inside cardboard boxes) nor does it directly reference a game character. To me, it seems more like paying homage to the companies making those games. Of course, when the time comes, we will consult with a lawyer and are willing to go as far as asking direct permission from the copyright owners. But until then, I'd like to be informed on the topic.


Licensing (or similar) for my fan game? For the past 8 years, I've been working on a Pok mon fan game. It's been awesome, well received by players, and I'm very proud of the community we've built. But, as with all things "fan game", there's always that looming grey cloud of "will a C amp D arrive tomorrow?" Now, I've taken some steps to ensure we're as respectful as possible towards Nintendo's property We stay as true as possible to the source material. While we have added our own variants and original characters ("Fakemon"), we've made great efforts to keep them consistent. We make it clear that we are a fan game, not affiliated with Nintendo, and that it is entirely unofficial. I also include a link to a shareholder Q amp A (Q14) where Satoru Iwata confirmed that they are not interested in treating people like myself as criminals. Our game concept is original. It's not a clone of any existing game, and I like to think it fills a nice little hole for fans of the series. I (briefly) met C level people from Game Freak and Nintendo, including Junichi Masuda and Tsunekazu Ishihara, and given them "business cards" for our game. However, it wasn't a formal meeting, rather they were signing autographs at the Pok mon World Championships, so for all I know I was probably just some fan and they didn't pay much attention to the card (they've got enough to do already, right?) But, all that being said, we're still unofficial, using intellectual property that doesn't belong to us. My friend and I quit our jobs to work on this game full time. If we do get shut down, we're going to have to seriously struggle to put our lives back together. So for now, the game has mostly been kept "under the radar", with basically zero marketing and only word of mouth of players to keep it populated. The biggest thing here is that I want to give back to Nintendo. Thanks to them, and to my project, I've made incredible progress as a developer, designer and just as a person in general. As mentioned earlier, my biggest fear is that one day they'll shut us down. And we'd have no choice but to do so. But it's been 8 years now... So I'm trying to figure out what options I have, if any. I think what I want to do is to reach out and ask about some kind of licensing, but I don't want to draw too much attention. I don't want to lift my head over the parapet only to have it blasted off, you know? I'm not looking for Pok mon GO levels of attention, or even Magikarp Jump. (Our single server would melt either way I'm working on it!) Just some way of having actual "permission" to do what I'm doing. I expect the answer will probably be along the lines of "IANAL, get one", but what kind of lawyer would be best? And any insights or advice besides that would be helpful too.


Using name of real products in games My friend and I are creating a Computer Tycoon game. We're using graphics cards and other real CPUs in the game. So can we use names like GeForce 210 in the game without issues? Also, if the above doesn't work, can we just change a little bit in the name like LeForce and will that work?


Licensing Theme Music from other games As part of my game, I thought it would be fun to make a hidden level that pays tribute to Mario Bros (one of the earliest games I ever played). It would be themed in that way with 8 bit graphics and question mark blocks and completing the level would say "Thank you but the princess is in another castle" or such. For the sound track, I'm thinking of just overlaying the standard mario theme music by playing it on a virtual keyboard using a different instrument timing or something. My question is, am I legally safe? I'm not using anyone else's actual music, I'm just playing the same tune in a different way myself. Do I have to get licensing for this?


Can I use my self made piano version of a popular copyrighted song as my game background music? I am making a game, the theme of the game is kind of romantic, and I, myself, have made a piano version of a modern pop song that would fit with that theme. The song in question is still under copyright, and I'm not the owner of the copyright. Can I use it as a background in my game? Would there be any legal issue regarding copyright IP etc?


Is it illegal to use a commercial song in your game (that you intend to sell) If I were to buy, say this song http www.youtube.com watch?v 3fumBcKC6RE, strip find get the instrumental, and use that instrumental in a game I'm making, as a theme, say for a recurring boss fight, and then sell this game, would this be illegal? This is hypothetically speaking.


Is it legal to imitate a game without publishing it If you're developing a game that's very similar to a game that's already published, both the game mechanics and the graphics but you're not publishing it, instead you're keeping it in your own computer. Is it legal to do so?


Does using an licensed game engine prevent you from open sourcing a defunct work? I'm curious as my previous company is asking us (people who developed the game) on what to do to the game since it's no longer financially viable. My suggestion was to open source it so people can still enjoy the game at the same time it could at least be improved. But we did use a licensed Torque engine which was mostly recoded reworked. Not sure if their license allows for the move though. (Also not sure if this is an appropriate question to ask here)


What to consider legally when cloning an old game? Possible Duplicate How closely can a game resemble another game without legal problems I'm going to make a game in the form of a 100 free Android phone app that will be basically a clone of an old arcade style NES game, but with a few modifications to make it better. Now the game I am inspired by was released in 1985, so I'm not exactly shitting bricks about being sued, but I just thought I'd ask on here first about what kind of legal considerations developers go through when copying others' games.


How do I publish to Google Play if I'm under 18? I've finished my first Unity and want to release it on the Google Play store but can't because I am under 18. The main issue is that Google Wallet requires you to be over 18. How could I work around this?


legal disclaimers and lisence type for a free multiplayer browser game I have created a multiplayer browser game. The game is completely free (donations are welcome) but I would like (a) to protect my concept in some way. (b) to provide legal notes that the user should accept before registering. In some games (i.e. Travian) there are legal notes such as Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy. Should I include things like these? Where can I get create such legal texts? I can barely afford hosting, not to mention a lawyer to write all those things for me. What should I do? Chris


Questions on the legal protection of games and their parts (assets, sounds, title) we started new pirate game, and I just want to ask some questions about rights. So I am new in game dev, I guess there are a lot of answers, but I guess professionals can advise something for first steps. So we started some things like concept arts sounds we are working on the name of the game (just use temp one for now) we develop some models of ships and characters I have question what's my step to protect everything I listed above. Do I need to protect everything separately? Do I need to register a game somewhere? Can I use my already made domain and subdomain for the game? Or do I need to register unique one domaine.


Is a game based on a specific cellular automation a copyright infringement? If one creates a game which is based on some cellular automation algorithm like Conway's Game of Life or Langton's Ants would that be a copyright infringement? Are such famous algorithms protected by intellectual property rights, or as long as they aren't mentioned by their official names, the actual effect they create is free to be used?


Using real football player photo in a trivia quiz game, is it legal? I don't know whether this question was already been asked before, but my team is currently developing a trivia quiz game about football (soccer not NFL). And we want to put player's images or club emblems as part of the questions and answers. My question is, is it legal? Or should we just put text without the images? Please your help is much needed. Thank you.


Set up indie game studio (UK) how? I am UK based and am looking to set up my own game studio essentially, just myself working from home, looking to build casual game apps. I want to ask you guys what steps or process i need to go through and do to make this happen, specifically the legal side of things. Will be great to hear from those who have been through this themselves! Need to register with HRMC as self employed is the only thing i know i have to do but what else? Do i need to register trademark my own company studio name? If so, where do i do this and does it cost money? Or can i just simply start using a name as is? Do i need to also do this for any games apps IP i make? Or is copyright automatically assumed? I gather acting as sole trader is more appropriate at this stage? At what point, if ever, should i consider moving to an actual limited company setup? Is it wise to open a new bank account solely for this business? I think my plan was simply to 1. Find a suitable domain name and create website based on my company name assuming available and different enough from similar competitor names 2. Register as self employed with HRMC 3. Sell my game on app store And thats it! Is this ok or do i need consider other stuff as well such as the questions above? Thank you for reading and any advice you have!


How not to break licence laws? I have an idea for a game. Also I have almost everything worked out considering coding. What interests me the most is how can I know if that game can be published. As it would be for iOS and android, these markets are of the geratest interest for me. I found on apples store something similair to what I would make and it's published by some big game developer. How can I be sure I am not breaking any laws when publishing the game? Can I make a game like board game 'Risk'? I don't have any knowledge considering licencing. This game would be avaliable for free, with an option to donate, so money isn't my objective (but it won't hurt)


Will my "Block Buster" game infringe on the Blockbuster (movie rental) trademark? I'm developing a small puzzle game called "Block Buster" and I was wondering if there will be any collision with already existing "Blockbuster" (movie rental company) registered trademark. Does the space or case difference in the trademark mean something? Or is there any difference in that Blockbuster is a movie renting company and I will just be selling a game? Do I really have to change the game's name?


Copyright notices on a web game portal I notice that for several games on Kongregate, the copyright notice either uses the author's handle name (login name), the name of the group that produce it or a domain name. Are all those valid copyright notices?


Help with legalese for an HTML5 contest This contest looks pretty interesting but I'm having some concerns about the wording in the rules Once submitted, a prize winning Submission becomes the exclusive property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. You expressly agree that by entering into the Contest any rights you may own in respect to a prize winning Submission shall be transferred to Sponsor by means of this Agreement. You shall be obliged to perform any measures necessary in order to vest any intellectual property rights in the name of Sponsor in case required by any law or regulation. In such case, Entrant shall at Sponsor s first request execute any deed or transfer or such other document as required in that effect. For the avoidance of doubt, Sponsor shall have the exclusive right to make any kind of sequels, spinoffs, changes and translating the prize winning Submission in any language , all in relation to the exploitation of the prize winning Submission on any kind of media now known or hereinafter developed, without territorial or time limitations. The responsibility to implement localizations made by Sponsor in up to 19 languages will be that of the developer. So it sounds like they get full IP rights, but I can't read this law stuff. Anybody have any insight? Much appreciated!


Would making a satirical version of someone else's character get me sued? Licensing the rights to a popular character is definitely a hard process. Rather than licensing the rights to (insert hero here), what if I were to make a satirical version of the IP owner's character(s) like Spaceballs did? What sort of legal trouble could I face for making a satirical rip off of a character?


Showing "Please buy" screen to pirates I recently saw this and this, and that got me thinking When publishing a commercial game without DRM, would it be a good idea to upload a slightly modified copy of the game that shows a screen like this at startup to, say, The Pirate Bay Hello pirate! Looks like you downloaded this game from The Pirate Bay! That's okay, but Making a game costs time and money. If you like the game, please buy it so we can continue to update this game with new content! You buy it for only xx.xx at www.example.com! In the meantime Have fun! Press Enter to continue And then continues to the title screen and from there is identical to a legal copy. The point is that it will probably (very, very, VERY high chance that it will) be uploaded sooner or later anyway, so this may decrease the harm. Would that be a good idea?


Using real football (soccer) names from the past? Is it legal to use really old names in a manager style game? It there an expiration on name license rights?


Can i use the same name for a spell in my game that already exists in another game what does trademarks and copyrights contain. how similar can a name be to a name that already exists.


List of all games names? Is there any list of game names anywhere, so i can choose a name for my game and avoid (legal) conflicts with other games as much as possible?


How do you fully publish a game under your name, under 18? This has been a week of stress in trying to get things done correctly. It's all tied with keeping things legal and making sure I don't lose out on benefits of any kid. I have just recently finished up a game and now adding the final touches into it so I can make some sort of income. I am incredibly sorry if I asked this on the wrong site. I felt that this is still relative to game development because it is the final step of developing your game preparing yourself for distribution. If there is a better site to ask, or if some one has experience in this field please notify me. Problems I am having I do not own a company, but just about every service I am trying to make use of is asking for a company name I do not know where I can find straight facts about owning, buying, or even keeping up with a name. I am using my full name to publish my works because I read that in similar words, every one was born with a trade mark known as their name. I can not afford a company in the first place, I read some where that this can cost from 150 and higher. I have no income like said before and the only way I can think about making money as of this time is through my games which apparently requires me to already have at least a couple hundred dollars or more. I don't know the most efficient and cheapest way to acquire a Tax ID I don't know where I can read up on this subject, and apparently I am finding that I need an actual company name again and I'm not entirely sure I can just use my name. I'm not sure if there is an age limit on this, and as I currently stand I don't even have a documented signature. This also costs a couple hundred dollars as I have read and I have no money. I have no a clue what steps I should be taking for any of this. I just want to publish games I make without feeling like I'm losing my hard worked time. I want to be able to publish games without feeling I did something illegal. I'd like to be able to have advertisers host on my game so I can make little revenue from people who can't afford buying full games. Edit In Detail I am currently trying to publish games to the google play store for android entertainment applications. I am trying to use the advertisement service known as "mopub" http www.mopub.com . This is more like a linker than a direct advertiser that way you can get more benefits of multiple advertisers through your game. I am living in the U.S I don't want to quit making games because of issues like so. I can't publish my games right now if I don't have a legal representative name or a way to make money and not have others steal my rights of owner ship to the games I create.


Intented name for my game already exists as a book title I have found that the name I have planned for my game have been already used for the title of a book. After checking the trademark database, this is the description they have used "Paper Goods and Printed Matter" Would I be infringing the trademark if I use the same exact title for my game ? (Looks like the owner wanted to trademark the same name as a videogame in 2006, but they didn't complete the proccess Abandoned failure to respond or late response)


Can I use popular classical music as my game's soundtrack? Can I use popular classical music in my game as a soundtrack? I'm concerned about copyright protection. I don't plan to make money off of my game. Will I break some law if I do that?


Will using similar exact name to a current Marvel superhero name for your game be a problem? I have heard that the word 'superhero' is trademarked by marvel and DC and thus we can't use superhero as part of the name of a game we develop. But I wonder do they also have exclusibe rights to all the names of their super hero characters? For example will people get in trouble if they name their games 'premagneto', 'superwolverine', 'exbeyonder' or 'the cyclop'?


Can I take a finished game based on a licence to the holding company? Ok so I went through 11 pages on here and have done a decent amount of Google searching, but found nothing specific to my question. I'm working on a game based on a movie. For the purpose of this I'm going to use a different movie as my example. Let s say I'm making a game based on "Driving Miss Daisy" (because why not?). Now I've seen plenty of questions about taking an "idea" to a company (both game and rights holders) and trying to get funding but I have no reputation and this is a side project at this point so that's probably not a good idea. But let s say I work on my "Driving Miss Daisy" game for a year or so and at some point call it "finished". It has good art, co op, a campaign, and achievements (because, why not?) all made 100 by me and me alone. Does anyone know the process or the likelihood of me going to Warner Bros. and their games division with some kind of deal splitting profits if they allow the release or help with it etc etc. Even if I hear "There s no way, Driving Miss Daisy the Game , while awesome, will never see the light of day", I'll probably keep working. I just wanted an idea of what kind of outcome could come from this and this is a different situation than I've generally seen asked. Like I said, most are about getting money for the development itself or trying to re release old games that have been abandoned. Thank you to anyone who might have information about this.


Is it legal to use car manufacturers' names in a game? Is it legal to use car manufacturers' names in a game? For example to describe Audi's quattro drive system? to display a rendering of an Audi? to include a photo (to which I have rights) of an Audi?


Where can I find True Type fonts that are free for commercial use? Possible Duplicate Where can I find fonts for my game? Does anyone know of fonts that are true type and unicode that can be used in a commercial game for free?


Is a programmer liable for copyright infringement in other people's mods to his games? If a programmer (P) releases a game, and a modder (M) releases a game modification which includes copyrighted content, can P be held liable for the copyright infringement in the mod?


Purchasing a TV show adaptation rights, how does it work? Basically, I was thinking about a game based on a TV show, just for fun, and ended up thinking "well, it's not like it can be made anyway". Or can it? In the present situation, developing a game by myself ourselves on my our free time, and then using crowdfunding to purchase the rights is not that crazy, if the show is really popular... and the rights not too expensive. Purchasing the rights of the whole show is obiously a sh!tload of money, but what about adaptation rights? What is the range of price it can be? Is it a percentage of the full rights? Does it depend on the kind of adaptation (novel vs. toy vs. game)? ps if it can help answer, I was thinking about a MLPFIM retro RPG. Please don't laugh at me.


How common are game engine bugs, and can I claim damages for them? Are game engine bugs (in popular ones like Unreal and Unity, not some unknown ones) common? I know engines like Unreal, Source and Unity3D are well tested and maintained, but, for example, is there any threat like I create a game, the engine programming is fine, so is everything I do, but I get a bug in the game because of a bug in the engine? And as most of you guys here are game developers, has any one had such an experience? Also, can I take legal action on the creators of that engine incase I am under loss because of their bug?


What to consider legally when cloning an old game? Possible Duplicate How closely can a game resemble another game without legal problems I'm going to make a game in the form of a 100 free Android phone app that will be basically a clone of an old arcade style NES game, but with a few modifications to make it better. Now the game I am inspired by was released in 1985, so I'm not exactly shitting bricks about being sued, but I just thought I'd ask on here first about what kind of legal considerations developers go through when copying others' games.


Cloning a Game Dev diary while using original assets I'm currently cloning a game and still using the sound and graphic assets of the original. I know that I may not distribute those assets but what about publishing a video of my progress as part of a dev diary, is that allowed? Thanks.


Adding actors musicians famous people in a videogame Let's say I want to make a videogame with several famous characters in it, you can't copyright a name and a face, right (I'm talking about names and surnames, not branded ones)? How does it work? Are there any royalties to pay? To whom? If there are royalties, can I get away by making my names similar to original ones?


Would making a satirical version of someone else's character get me sued? Licensing the rights to a popular character is definitely a hard process. Rather than licensing the rights to (insert hero here), what if I were to make a satirical version of the IP owner's character(s) like Spaceballs did? What sort of legal trouble could I face for making a satirical rip off of a character?


Set up indie game studio (UK) how? I am UK based and am looking to set up my own game studio essentially, just myself working from home, looking to build casual game apps. I want to ask you guys what steps or process i need to go through and do to make this happen, specifically the legal side of things. Will be great to hear from those who have been through this themselves! Need to register with HRMC as self employed is the only thing i know i have to do but what else? Do i need to register trademark my own company studio name? If so, where do i do this and does it cost money? Or can i just simply start using a name as is? Do i need to also do this for any games apps IP i make? Or is copyright automatically assumed? I gather acting as sole trader is more appropriate at this stage? At what point, if ever, should i consider moving to an actual limited company setup? Is it wise to open a new bank account solely for this business? I think my plan was simply to 1. Find a suitable domain name and create website based on my company name assuming available and different enough from similar competitor names 2. Register as self employed with HRMC 3. Sell my game on app store And thats it! Is this ok or do i need consider other stuff as well such as the questions above? Thank you for reading and any advice you have!


Am I allowed to name a game after some song? Just to ask a quick question, which I don't know where to ask If I were to make a game, would I be allowed to call it "Buffalo Soldier some more words "? Since it's a song by Bob Marley I am not sure if this would get me into all kinds of legal trouble because of copyrights, which I obviously want to avoid. By the way, the game doesn't have anything to do with Bob Marley or the music industry. I just thought a game about a buffalo soldier would be nice!


Can i use the same name for a spell in my game that already exists in another game what does trademarks and copyrights contain. how similar can a name be to a name that already exists.


Legal issues around forming an international game dev team A friend and I have been wanting to collaborate on a mobile app game. It's a 'start small but dream big' kind of venture, where neither of us has much experience, but we're hoping that if we succeed, we could build on it and become a proper full time game dev studio in the future. The main issue here is that we're both from different countries, and neither of us wants to risk personal liability in releasing a game without having first formed a LLC. I know the odds of ACTUALLY being personally sued for damages are very low, but it's just not a risk that we want to take. There seem to be a lot of problems with forming a LLC when both people are in different countries, though. There are multiple laws against having a co founder, director, or even an employee being someone from a different country. How do game dev teams or studios consisting of people all around the world get around this problem?


When should I talk to a lawyer about intellectual property for an indie team? Let's say you have a team building a decent game and all is well technically and people wise. You feel pretty sure you'll get to a product that can be sold. How does an indie studio (with good practices in this domain) typically manage the IP, esp. trademarking and copyrighting? When's the right time to do this, early or later?


What constitutes satire? For business reasons, I would like to know what constitutes satire in a game. Also, is there a better place to ask questions like this on the business side of game development?


Where can I find affordable legal advice for game software related inquiries? I am working on simulation middleware which is applicable for game engine implementations. What I would like to do is to make it freely available for use for all non commercial purposes, while at the same time imposing some percentage of royalty on revenue (above a certain threshold) that is derived from my work. Something very similar to Epic's UDK licensing model. To facilitate the use of my software, I plan to offer binaries (static libs) for several platforms, as well as obfuscated source code which I will freely distribute, in addition to documentation of the API. I simply want to impose the restriction that if you try to make money from it, I get a cut eventually. I'm wondering if there are online forums and such where I am likely to find people who are willing to assist me in terms of learning what sort of things I have to do to get things down on the right kinds of documents. So far a site like this seems to be the most promising.


Which open source licenses can address these concerns for an open source game engine? I am on a team that is looking to open source an engine we are building. It's intended as an engine for Online RPG style games. We're writing it to work on both desktops and android platforms. I've been over to the OSI http opensource.org licenses category to check out the most common licenses. However, this will be my first time going into an open source project and I wanted to know if the community had some insight into which licenses might be best suited. Key licensing concerns Removing or limiting our liability (most already seem to cover this, but stating for completeness). We want other developers to be able to take part or all of our project and use it in their own projects with proper accreditation to our project. Licensing should not hinder someone's ability to quickly use the engine. They should be able to download a release and start using it without needing to wait on licensing issues. Game content (gfx, sound, etc.) that is not part of the engine should be allowed to be licensed separately. If someone is using our engine, they can retain full copy right of their content, including engine generated data. Our primary goal is exposure, which is why we're going open source to start with. Both for the project and for the individuals developing it. Are there any licenses that can require accreditation visible to players? Update As per comments, I mean this to be a requirement for either a splash screen or placement in the credits. Not a constantly visible logo. While I'd put our primary goal as exposure, for licensing the accreditation is less of a concern. From what I've read through (and have been able to understand) it doesn't seem like any of the licenses cover anything that is produced by the licensed software. Are there any that state this specifically, or does simply not mentioning it leave it open for other licensing? Are there any other concerns that we should consider? Has anyone had any issues using any of these licenses?


When do I need to ask for permission to recreate an old game? Possible Duplicates How closely can a game resemble another game without legal problems Legal issues for a quot fangame quot of a commercial franchise? I want to do a mobile version of an old game I used to like called Bow And Arrow (video, game). There's a project already port it in Ruby. I'm wondering if I can do a remake of this game. Do I have to get permission from the creator, or does it only matter if I use the same resources (graphics and sound)?


Can I use someone else's music midi? The music in question is not exactly owned by the other individual either, as it's simply an arrangement of a game's soundtrack as a midi or music sheet. Am I allowed to use these in my videogame? Should those persons be given credit or should it go to the original composers of the track in the original video game? Should I ask for permission for the authors of the rearrange? What if the file and site list no author? What if it lists an author but I have no means to reach and ask?


Using modified copyrighted music in non commercial games Background I'm making a retro style game for both fun, and an unofficial contest. I have bought a song, song X. However, I then found notation for song X, and all the instruments. So basically, it's a program recreating song X in a sense. I took the notation, and used another program to make it sound like a chiptune does (just for the fun of it, and it sounds good P). However, I would like to use this in my game. It's non commercial, but is this allowed? I would've said yes, because I'm not actually using the original, copyrighted song. I think the main point is can I Use the music with no reference to the author Use the music with a reference, since it's non profit. Not use the music at all since the melody and rhythm is copyright.


Legally possible to re create remake an old game? Recently I started remaking an old game on Unity. Basically I want to remake an old RPG that was released for Playstation 1. I'm not ripping anything from the old game, all the assets are being created by me. I'm creating everything from the scratch, music, 3D models, gameplay however I will keep the (copyrighted ?) names, I will try to create the characters and maps levels as they were in the original version of Playstation 1 but with better graphics. I'm not planning on selling it or adding in on a platform like Steam (for obvious reasons, copyrights etc), just giving it for free. But I wanna know when I will finish the development, can I share the game on public with other people so they can download it? Can the company that made the original game sue me fine me because of copyrights reasons even though I'm not planning on selling for money? tl dr Remake an non profit game of PS1 from the scratch, can the company that holds the copyrights of the game sue me fine me?


Showing "Please buy" screen to pirates I recently saw this and this, and that got me thinking When publishing a commercial game without DRM, would it be a good idea to upload a slightly modified copy of the game that shows a screen like this at startup to, say, The Pirate Bay Hello pirate! Looks like you downloaded this game from The Pirate Bay! That's okay, but Making a game costs time and money. If you like the game, please buy it so we can continue to update this game with new content! You buy it for only xx.xx at www.example.com! In the meantime Have fun! Press Enter to continue And then continues to the title screen and from there is identical to a legal copy. The point is that it will probably (very, very, VERY high chance that it will) be uploaded sooner or later anyway, so this may decrease the harm. Would that be a good idea?


Can I use fictional city country names from public domain fiction etc. in a potentially monetized browser game? I'm currently developing a browser game with a focus on economy, trading and industry. For that I'm building a fictional world with countries and cities. To avoid political drama within the games player interactions, I'd like to avoid using real countries that currently exist are recognized. I tried to come up with several fictional country names, but I'm reaching the limitations of my creativity where they are still OK sounding... My questions are now... Can I use fictional countries e.g. from movies comics etc (e.g. Sokovia from the Marvel universe)? Maybe with slight adjustments? Can I use older country or empire names (e.g. Babylonia)? Maybe also with slight adjustments. Can I use city names from the real world? I need a lot of them, so coming up with thousands brings me to my limit and there may probably be overlaps without me knowing. Based on the following question that should be fine, also since they have nothing to do with the real life equivalents. Do I need licensing to use real city names in my game? What about using planet or galaxy names which are public domain (or how are they protected, if at all)? I found some generators in the internet which are helpful to a certain degree, but I'd rather write my own to be honest. Since the game might be monetized, are there any licensing issues involved? I'm pretty new to this from a legal perspective. Another thing are the fictional company names the users can choose. I guess I can set certain restrictions there to exclude real world companies and provide a "report" button for real companies to request the removal change to be on the safe side. Thanks in advance PS Since I also needed flags, I already found a nice generator, in case someone is interested https www.reddit.com r vexillology comments 4ha19q flagmaker 20 ?st jb6e4qyk amp sh c1544079


How or when to add a copyright notice in published games? I've seen lot of videogame title screens show a copyright notice together with the company name. I'm about to publish my game and I am looking for possibilities or requirements on how or when to add such a copyright notice (including date or year published). Does it apply to both indie game makers and larger companies?


Is It Okay To Use Real Designs In My 2D Game? Cars and Weapons I am making a 2D mobile game that includes cars and weapons (like GTA let's say). I am using real car and weapons designs to make 2D images, however, I use made up names for the both cars and the weapons. Is it still copyrighted? For example Traffic Racer and Traffic Rider. In the games, the car models are exactly the same as the real ones, but there is no logo nor name in Traffic Racer. In Traffic Rider, you can clearly see BMW in the game (both the design and the logo). Because of these examples, I think, my situation should be okay since the game is not even 3D.


Is it legal to imitate a game without publishing it If you're developing a game that's very similar to a game that's already published, both the game mechanics and the graphics but you're not publishing it, instead you're keeping it in your own computer. Is it legal to do so?


Does a pong clone called "Ping" infringe on any copyrights or trademarks? Long story short, I made a retro Pong clone and submitted it to the App Store as my first app. It survived for a bit, but I eventually received a message from Atari tell me to remove it. There was nothing more than that, I just took it down, and they made no other demands. Since then, it has remained removed. I have become a much better programmer now and would now like to re create my original app and upload it again. However, I'm afraid that something of the sort would happen again. Is remaking the game itself against any laws? If not, would using the name "Super Ping" instead of "Super Pong" be legal?


Conundrum with quality and virus reports is our game releasable? I've just got done talking to the CEO of our independent game studio about one of our projects nearing completion. We're considering canning the whole project for a number of reasons There are partly, some quality issues. Combat can be fun and in depth but for the most part you can get by with mashing buttons. It leaves the feeling that the advanced combat was really tagged on just to add something. When in reality a lot of work went into it. The game didn't end up as envisioned. It's become really a mindless combat game when originally story was planned to be important. Now the story is rather nonexistent. And probably the biggest issue. Rather recently we've been getting reports from testers that the game is being reported as a virus(in a few cases). We looked into this and found it's the way the engine was made. We're using a 3rd party engine and while originally the maker was very approachable, he's become rather unreachable and apathetic to our problems. Me and him have talked a long time on this and we lean on it not being releasable. This would also though be a very big hit to the lead programmer who's put in a considerable amount of time on this, nearly a year. What ramifications would happen if this is released? I'm told it could get on steam, and I'm thinking it could be pulled and really hurt our image. Also I mentioned we could be backlisted by our publisher if they consider the virus issue to be deceiving them. Could we be sued? Would you consider it releasable? I think this is a very important decision every game studio might have to make one day and I'd really like as much input as I can get. Thank you edit Also it might matter that we have another version of the game already being made for html5 which is being developed in house with our own custom engine. We're thinking of just focusing on this and learning from our mistakes.


How do I protect my rights to my game on the web? My small games all have different gameplay. I want to showcase them through the internet. However, I'm worried about them and their concepts getting copied. How can I protect them? Also, if I have to openly display the code to the open source community, how can I make sure I get credit for my work.


I am creating a Tetris clone on Khanacademy, will I get into trouble? For those don't know, Khanacademy is an education site that also has lessons on simple computer programming and allows you to publish your own games that are made on the website.


Copyright notices on a web game portal I notice that for several games on Kongregate, the copyright notice either uses the author's handle name (login name), the name of the group that produce it or a domain name. Are all those valid copyright notices?


Purchasing a TV show adaptation rights, how does it work? Basically, I was thinking about a game based on a TV show, just for fun, and ended up thinking "well, it's not like it can be made anyway". Or can it? In the present situation, developing a game by myself ourselves on my our free time, and then using crowdfunding to purchase the rights is not that crazy, if the show is really popular... and the rights not too expensive. Purchasing the rights of the whole show is obiously a sh!tload of money, but what about adaptation rights? What is the range of price it can be? Is it a percentage of the full rights? Does it depend on the kind of adaptation (novel vs. toy vs. game)? ps if it can help answer, I was thinking about a MLPFIM retro RPG. Please don't laugh at me.


Could I get in to trouble for "rickrolling" users in my commercial game? Not sure if this question is too stupid but, theoretically speaking... Could you get into trouble for using something like Application.OpenURL in a commercial game to rickroll a player or would that be legally okay? (sorry this question is really stupid)


What is the proper, legal way to make a derivative video game? I want to make a game derived from an existing game. That game is owned by a live company. How do I go about contacting the rights owners correctly and negotiating for the rights to the content?


License for a casino game with virtual money (chips) Do I need a specific license for operating a casino game (lets say poker Hold'em or video slots) that players are supposed to play with virtual money (chips) only? I am speaking about games like Zynga poker, Poker Deluxe, Slotomania and the hundreds other similar games on iTunes or Google Play. Players start with a certain amount of chips and if they run out they can rebuy a bundle of coins to keep playing. The users may not exchange those collected virtual funds (chips) for products or services, or cash out for real money, but just keep on playing for a fun. Do I need any license for operating such a game?


Are there any good ways to know if a resource is patented trademark or illegal to use? This is something that I worried about for a long time. While making games, it is hard to tell for sure if any of the resources are copyrighted unless a person is clearly aware that they are to a like to an image that have known in certain work done. I wanted to make a 2D MMO, that in certain ways might be similar to "Pok mon". I did not want to make an illegal game, but it is just that there are certain elements that I want in the game which are similar to those in "Pok mon". I also wanted to possibly sell the features of it, if the project succeeds and works out all well. What exactly are some ways that I can find out for sure if images that I am using are illegal to use or not. The element which I am worried about in the game which I was planning to make was about creature battling and summoning. Thankfully, game concepts cannot be copyrighted, but I did not want to take or use images that were exactly like those in "Pok mon", and I wanted to make a game that is very different in many ways. I might have wanted to use creatures in a similar cartoon fashion that is used in "Pok mon". This has been somewhat of a concern, to me, though as about the legal issues possibly.


Is a warning about IAP in freemium games on iOS required? When I launch the successful iOS game "Clash of Clans", right in the beginning I get the following message in an iOS info pop up "Clash of Clans is free to play, but you can speed up your progress with in app purchases. If desired, purchases can be disabled in the general settings of your device." What's the reason the developer shows this message right in the beginning? Is there any legal obligation to do so?


Do you need special permission to personify companies as characters? in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series a number of human characters are personifications of games companies ie. Compa Compile Heart Red Red Entertainment Tekken Namco Falcom Nihon Falcom Cave CAVE Interactive IF (Iffy) Idea Factory Nippon Ichi chan Nisa Nippon Ichi Software Nippon Ichi Software America I am wondering if the creators of Hyperdimension Neptunia had to get special permission licences from companies to personify them in the game? (ie. a developer personifying Valve or Square in their own game)


Implementing an existing (but out of print) game electronically One of my favorite games is the old Avalon Hill class, PanzerBlitz. I would like to implement it electronically, and have a couple questions related to that Would I be in legal trouble if I do this? (note this is not for sale or distribution) How would I go about implementing the hex grid and piece database most effectively (each piece has a variety of 'factors' (movement, carryability, attack, defense, unit type)? The game play and mechanics are already well defined in the written rules so I'm not writing the game from scratch just programming it to follow the board game.


To what extent it is legal to declare support of third party commercial products' assets? Is it legal to say that MyGame supports other (specific) games' textures, sounds and models? I'd like to get involved into an open source game project and implement support for Quake's weapon models (for example), but the owners of the project don't know about the legal aspect of it, so I'm asking here.


When I use a font in my game, do I have to include its license in the credits? For example, if I use this font from Google Fonts https fonts.google.com specimen Open Sans This font is licensed under Apache License 2.0 But regardless of the license, if it allows commercial use, do I have to include a notice or the license in the credits? (assuming that I didn't modify the font)


Can I use someone else's music midi? The music in question is not exactly owned by the other individual either, as it's simply an arrangement of a game's soundtrack as a midi or music sheet. Am I allowed to use these in my videogame? Should those persons be given credit or should it go to the original composers of the track in the original video game? Should I ask for permission for the authors of the rearrange? What if the file and site list no author? What if it lists an author but I have no means to reach and ask?


About to release a free game on Google Play Store, any legal considerations I should take into account? I will release in the next few weeks a small free game on the Google Play Store. I was wondering if there was any important legal aspects I should consider before release. Here's a few infos I'm doing this alone. There's no code graphic assets gameplay concepts I would like to protect in particular. I don't have any issues with people copying something from my game. I'm not sure right now, but maybe I'll add the possibility to make a small donation (so there will be IAP in a sense). I'm using a music track from http opengameart.org . The author has specified that it wasn't necessary to credit him, though I would like to.


Can I sample audio sources from others without asking? As the title says, would it be considered legal if I take a part of an audio source (any media like music, dialog, video, etc.) to use in a project, whether it is for commercial or non commercial purposes, without contacting the owner creator of the asset? As an example, Earthbound used this technique to create unique and memorable soundtracks.


Having Your Own Copyrighted App Automatically After Publishing I have a question regarding for the game app and in business. You see, I decided to publish an app to Google Play. When I published it, does this app automatically declared that this app is copyrighted or copyright protected by the publisher and creator like me itself or not? If not, does it have to seek something or required to register this app for copyright authentication via online or at office or not?


Legal issues around forming an international game dev team A friend and I have been wanting to collaborate on a mobile app game. It's a 'start small but dream big' kind of venture, where neither of us has much experience, but we're hoping that if we succeed, we could build on it and become a proper full time game dev studio in the future. The main issue here is that we're both from different countries, and neither of us wants to risk personal liability in releasing a game without having first formed a LLC. I know the odds of ACTUALLY being personally sued for damages are very low, but it's just not a risk that we want to take. There seem to be a lot of problems with forming a LLC when both people are in different countries, though. There are multiple laws against having a co founder, director, or even an employee being someone from a different country. How do game dev teams or studios consisting of people all around the world get around this problem?


Is it OK to use player supplied music in my game? Is it copyright infringement if I create a game based around music beats but allow the players to use their own mp3 files?


what is the legality behind "openMW" ( an open source implementation of morrowind) knowing bethesda those people probably sue hard....yet there is an open source implementation of morrowind which is actually quite good. but that question remains, what is the legality behind all of this? is it legal to distribute a free open source implementation adaptation of a videogame?


Using modified copyrighted music in non commercial games Background I'm making a retro style game for both fun, and an unofficial contest. I have bought a song, song X. However, I then found notation for song X, and all the instruments. So basically, it's a program recreating song X in a sense. I took the notation, and used another program to make it sound like a chiptune does (just for the fun of it, and it sounds good P). However, I would like to use this in my game. It's non commercial, but is this allowed? I would've said yes, because I'm not actually using the original, copyrighted song. I think the main point is can I Use the music with no reference to the author Use the music with a reference, since it's non profit. Not use the music at all since the melody and rhythm is copyright.


FOSS games using original assets, is it legal? Can I make a game that uses the assets of another game on the users' computer, without legal issues? For example, I make a game that requires the user have game X installed, and I use the assets of game X in my game. The assets of game X would not be distributed with my game. I realize it will be hard for companies to check, but can you use the assets for other purposes than originally intended (playing the original game)? As a more concrete example, is playing a game like OpenXcom really legal, when you own the original game?


Marching Cubes Legalities? I know this isn't a "Is this legal" website, but because Marching Cubes is definitely a large subject in game development, and isn't really about a specific graphic item, it would pass... To the point! Does anyone know whether Marching Cubes is allowed in a commercial game? If so is there anything i must do? Credit to someone company etc? Cheers.


Can I use models of real cars with logos removed to avoid copyright infringement? My friends and I have recently started making a video game. We were going to make it an open world simulator, but can't figure out if using real cars with the real logos is copyright infringement. How can we stay on the right side of the law here?


Copyright and patents on game design and names? We all know that each game has elements from another game but when does one cross the line of copyright? I have a view particular questions about this since this "line" is very vague. While looking for a name and Googling it usually return some kind of old or unknown game already with the exact same name. Can i use this name? And what about a name like Diablo, since Diablo is the commonly used name for the devil there cannot be a patent on this afaik. So would a different kind of game named Diablo be allowed? Let's say i want to make a game of mechs like in Mechwarrior. Obviously the mech designs have copyright, the name as well since i suppose. But am i crossing any rights if i make a top down tactical squad game that include mechs of different designs names and call it Clash of Steel? I understand there are not much lawyers here, but how could anyone create a game these days that does not cross the lines of copyright. Like the Mechwarrior example, there are plenty of games nowadays even movies that use this concept. For what it matters Mechwarrior could have ripped the idea from the Gundam anime series. With so many titles coming out each week including the indies it is next to impossible not to infringe into someone copyright.


How not to break licence laws? I have an idea for a game. Also I have almost everything worked out considering coding. What interests me the most is how can I know if that game can be published. As it would be for iOS and android, these markets are of the geratest interest for me. I found on apples store something similair to what I would make and it's published by some big game developer. How can I be sure I am not breaking any laws when publishing the game? Can I make a game like board game 'Risk'? I don't have any knowledge considering licencing. This game would be avaliable for free, with an option to donate, so money isn't my objective (but it won't hurt)


If I release code under GPLv3, can I specify what parts of users' code can be released under a new license? I have a few questions about what users of my engine could copyright in their own project. The way the engine would work would be that it would be a standalone program in Java that would load all of the scripts assets data from a folder that the game takes place in. The code could be written in Python or compiled to Java. Onto my questions, the code that they write would access some parts of my engine through Jython, and so I assume those would have to be released under the GPL. But what about the rest of the game other than the code? Like could they copyright their own art? I guess what I really want is that modifications of the code of the engine must be released under the GPL, but projects created using my engine can be released under any copyright, as long as they obey they distribute the engine itself under the GPL.


Issues using real names in a soccer player game Is illegal to use the real player and team names in a game? When I say game could be and desktop, mobile or fantasy game. If is illegal, is ok to change a little bit names? Instead of using Messi could I use Messsi (or something similar)? All gambling and statistics soccer websites have permissions to use those names? Thanks!


Implementing an existing (but out of print) game electronically One of my favorite games is the old Avalon Hill class, PanzerBlitz. I would like to implement it electronically, and have a couple questions related to that Would I be in legal trouble if I do this? (note this is not for sale or distribution) How would I go about implementing the hex grid and piece database most effectively (each piece has a variety of 'factors' (movement, carryability, attack, defense, unit type)? The game play and mechanics are already well defined in the written rules so I'm not writing the game from scratch just programming it to follow the board game.


Tetris Copyright Issues? I am making a Tetris clone with a new idea but I won't use the Tetris or Tetriminos name in the game I will refer to them as Tetrominos. Will there be copyright issues if I release this game? Does the Tetris company own the right to produce "Tetris" games?


Sever side physics simulation and client 'inputs' send rate in a fast multiplayer game I am building a very tiny first person multiplayer game. I'm just aiming to get the basic rights client side prediction and reconciliation entity interpolation. I have read many articles on these topics but I have a question that I can't find answer for. Consider the following problem There's a queue on the server where the client inputs are stored (movement keys camera vectors) Server runs the physics simulation 60 times per second. This means that each input from a client will be simulated for 16.6 ms. Now, consider that I have two clients one with a beefy computer able to run the game loop 100 times per second, and a slower one that is only able to run it 30 times per second. My game will send the 'client inputs' packet to the server on every iteration of the game loop. This means that the 100 fps client will send 100 packets, while the 30 fps client only 30. What this means is that the fast client will get more simulation time on the server, since each input is simulated for 16ms. So the fast client will move significantly more than the slower client. What is the appropriate way to design the 'client input' packet send rate? What is a solution that ensures that fast clients and slow clients receive an equal or roughly equal amount of simulation time? Thanks for your time!


Single player game into Multiplayer game I developed a Single player game in Flash (Tic Tac Toe) and in the Multiplayer mode i will be able to do both player playing on the same system with out network. I would like to extend it and make it enable to play the Multiplayer game for two player playing it online. How i can be made give me some ideas , How test the Multiplayer game playing along with different computers(I do not have internet connection in home). How I able to change the single player game into Multiplayer game , any minor changes required or I have to change the code base completely. In which way i can make it possible.


Why do console versions of multiplayer games support fewer players than PC versions? source http answers.yahoo.com question index?qid 20111205162848AAb1sl9 64 Players on P.C ( 32vs32) amp bigger maps with more vehicles amp buildings. 24 on Consoles ( 12vs12) ( It was planned to have a 32 player limit, but was later reduced to 24). Why does the console version have a maximum of 24 players? Is it hardware related? One of the reason was that players can host games themselves. If thats true its very sad that you cannot play 32x32, because one or two guys want to host games.


How do I maintain game balance while promoting interaction between dead and alive players? How do you motivate players to be content with randomly selected roles that are often complex to play and differ drastically in playstyle (AND to stick around till the end of game)? Some background Town of Salem is a more diversified and polished version of the popular "party games" such as Mafia and Werewolf. There are about 30 roles with offensive defensive supportive investigative specializations, assigned to players at random. Most of all, many roles have unconventional abilities that provide incentives for any player to stay engaged during each stage of a game session (i.e. early game initiative, mid game, and end game) For example Medium can chat with dead players. The catch is that the names of such dead players ("out of play") are anonymous to Medium. In this sense, it provides a greater flexibility in player contribution overall with a strong emphasis on mid and late game . Players are motivated to keep deducing and cooperating until the game is declared over (as opposed to sitting back once they are out of play) knowing that their intel can affect the outcome via Medium regardless of how early they were killed off. I am also interested to see examples from multiplayer games in the same genre.


In what kind of variable type is the player position stored on a MMORPG such as WoW? I even heard J. Carmack quickly talk about it... How a software can track a player's position so accurately, being on a such huge world, without loading between zones, and on a multiplayer scale ? How is the data formatted when it passes through the netcode ? I can understand how vertices are stored into the graphic card's memory, but when it comes to synchronize the multiplayer, I can't imagine what is best.


What freeware frameworks and tools to choose if I want to build a game like Farmville or Club Penguin? Say I like to experiment with multiplayer games and I do not want to reinvent the wheel and build yet another game server. I don t mind configuring and writing wrappers and adapters (both in c and java) for the server. What server does Farmville use? Is it Java or C based? What isometric flash engine do they use? What other examples can I look into to learn the subject? Thanks.


Can I use sdl net2.0 with cocos2d x? Can I use sdl net2.0 lib with cocos2d x? And how it cconects to each other. Or analog lib to use?


Randomly generated maps in Multiplayer I am currently trying to get randomly generated maps work in multiplayer but I have so many difficulties trying to figure out how. How do other games implement this(Minecraft, Terraria, Don't starve)? My current solutions are as follows. Generate the map client side and verify(Hash?) This is the least bandwidth intense but the algorithm needs to be EXACTLY the same as the server side and it is the easiest to exploit. Generate Server side and transfer to client This method will ensure that the players all have the EXACT same map, but it it very resource intensive for the server and requires a lot of bandwidth and increased loading times.


How is shot synchronization implemented in multiplayer FPS? I'm building a 2D multiplayer shooter game. I have singleplayer working and started working on multiplayer part (server code,...) and there is one thing I just can't get my head around. When player shoots someone, who is moving, and he has high latency ( 200ms or something like that) how to synchronize it with the other client? I thought that the shot vector could be sent relatively to targeted player (so when he would recieve the info about the shot, he could animate the shot hitting him). Problem is, shots can destroy enviroment or hit other players. So when I shoot a target and there aren't any obstacles, he gets hit and the packet about shot hitting him gets sent. 200ms ( other player latency) later, other player recieves the packet, but in that time, he moved behind an obstacle. Problem rises a) If the obstacle is destroyable by the shot, clients will have different map (shooting player will have map with obstacle, while the other player will have the obstacle destroyed) b) If the obstacle can't be destroyed, other player will either complain, because he got shot through impenetrable obstacle or the shot will be shot, so shooter will think that target got hit and target won't see any hit. I just can't find a better way to solve this. Any ideas or examples how other games did it?


How can I find an optimum set of colors for 10 players? I want to give each of 10 players a unique identifying color. Is there an optimum set of colors for this? How do I create one? Every set I've come up with contains colors that are too similar. Update I was asked below what this is for (fair question). Now I can tell you Windwardopolis and the colors worked great.


How to detect and prevent abuse (botting) of online game API? I have been ocassionally working on a game idea in my free time. The gameplay and content renders it to be implemented as a online multiplayer game built with well established web technologies. You should know that it falls into the strategy and simulation genre. That means No running around with characters or similar but only atomic actions (regarding client server communication) like "build thing A on location X". At one point I realized there is a huge problem having a browser based front end relying on a REST API back end makes it a more than excellent target for bots. While automation is desireable for business it is poison to a game which is about fun. I experienced it first hand in a browser game in the past were the most successful players were bots which subdued everybody. From my current point of view I do not see any possibility to protect against bots when building a multiplayer online game based on a REST API. Exception Making it open source so everybody can host his own instance for private groups or even just oneself (to not get annoyed by jerks with bots). Is there any way to differenciate between an honest player who just set an alarm for the next possible action and a bot automatically taking every chance on appearance of it? Besides such show stoppers like captchas. If not, I would think about another technology stack which makes it at least much harder to mess with client server communication (proprietary encrypted binary protocol in a native code client). Edit Thank you, your answers are inspiring but also made me realize that specific countermeasures cannot be made by going further into details of the game. However, that would be too much for a question on Stack Exchange. So I just want to point out the most important points Players are exploring, developing and managing whenever they want to. Their businesses still run fine when they are offline (it is a peaceful game, no weapons involved). Only expansion and progress need the players action. Those actions are limited by time is one of the key resources (like in EVE Online skill training). All processes in game require it. There is no point in being online 24 7. The average player should be successful already with spending not more than an hour every day in one or two sessions (roughly, the concept is still in development).


How can I make actions that effect the position of another player appear responsive when my game server is authoritative? You are playing as Lucio in Overwatch. You boop another player and they immediately get booped away. It feels really responsive. But the server hasn't actually registered the boop yet. By the time your command reaches the server, that player might be in a different location and the result of your boop might be completely different. If we needed to wait for a server confirmation, we wouldn't see our boop for, say, 200ms. (assuming 200ms RTT.) You are driving around in PUBG and see another player. You drive your car in to a player who is running around on foot. They appear to immediately die or at least get bumped away by the impact. You hit the player where you saw him but he is actually somewhere else on the server (you may have actually missed him!). If our game does not respond immediately, we would see the other player clip in to your car as they continue running, then, say, 200ms later they would die or get knocked around (again assuming a RTT of 200ms) How are situations like these resolved? It seems like the result is simulated locally (prediction) but the outcomes could be so drastic that an incorrect prediction could result in a lot of confusion. (Running over a player who isn't actually in your way, booping a player to your left off a cliff, but they are actually in front of you and won't fall down the cliff)


how should a server handle client actions? So I've just started trying to make a multiplayer pong game and I have read a lot of different ways to code the connections. However, I read somewhere that you should have the inputs sent to the server queue up and then the server just processes it at fixed intervals. However, if this is done, how does the server know, process, and send accurate data based on the time the action was sent? Because if the data is just queued up, if something happens like 100 ms after another but the server processes them at the same time, wouldn't that mess up the synchronization of the game? Should the server instead be coded to handle the client actions immediately even if it costs a lot of cpu etc in larger games?


SQLite Query from unknown table based on known column value single query I'm working on a database to back up my online TCG. It's currently SQLite, but I'm going to transition it to a MySQL database later. Currently, I have three distinct types of cards with their own unique fields. For example. However, all cards have a single uniqueid that I use to refer to them. TABLE cards CARD ID as INT CARD TYPE as INT TYPE ID as INT TABLE creature cards CARD ID as INT TYPE ID as INT NAME as TEXT FLAVOR as TEXT ATTACK as INT DEFENSE as INT ELEMENT as INT FLAGS as INT MANA COST as TEXT TABLE spell cards CARD ID as INT TYPE ID as INT NAME as TEXT FLAVOR as TEXT SPELL TYPE as INT ELEMENT as INT MANA COST as TEXT TABLE mana cards CARD ID as INT TYPE ID as INT NAME as TEXT FLAVOR as TEXT ELEMENT as INT I'm trying to figure out how to build a query that will allow me to get all fields from a specific table without knowing the table I need to pull from ahead of time. Basically, I want to be able to supply CARD ID, query the cards table, and use the CARD TYPE and TYPE ID to return the row from creature cards where CARD TYPE is 1, spell cards where CARD TYPE is 2, and mana cards where CARD TYPE is 3. I'm currently doing this through two separate queries and doing the logic on the backend, but I'm wondering if there's a way to get the data all in one query, because my queries can be quite time consuming. Would it just be better to jam all card fields into one table, rather than keeping them in three separate tables?


How can I keep a consistent number of players per match in a continuous multiplayer game? Fortnite Battle Royale is an example of a non continuous multiplayer game. 100 players join a game which has fixed start and end times. When there's only one player remaining, the game ends. Agar.io is an example of what I like to call a continuous multiplayer game. Players join in and die out, but the game goes on forever. How would a game developer design a system to split players into different groups when there're too many online to fit in a single game? Let's say a game has a limit of 10 players, and 50 players are trying to join. The server will split them up into 5 separate groups. New players will be sorted evenly into these groups to replace players who died. When the player count increases past the global limit, new games will be created to fit them. The problem arises when the player count decreases. The system needs some way to seamlessly delete extra groups of players that are no longer needed. How can that be done without A) interrupting games to merge players together or B) block new players from joining into the group(s) that require deletion and waiting for everyone in it to die (which will be a bad experience for the last few players). Agar.io obviously has a player population management system that works, so how do they do it?


Race condition implementing World Boss System in Web Browser MMO using PHP I am trying to create a world boss system using PHP. But I am having a problem with how to account for all the damage while updating the health of the boss in real time. The current damage process is as follows Get boss' current HP from database. Reduce the HP based on the calculated damage. Update the boss' HP to database. Example Player 1 (P1) attacks the boss. Calculated damage is 10. The boss' current HP is saved to variable boss hp which is 100. It will now be boss hp 10. Which is 90. The boss' HP in database is then updated. Now, imagine two player attack the boss simultaneously... P1 attacks the boss. Calculated damage is 10. The boss' current HP is saved to variable boss hp which is 100. It will now be boss hp 10. Which is 90. Before P1 updates the boss hp in database, P2 also damages the boss. P2 saved the boss' current HP to his her own boss hp variable which is 100 at the moment. P2 also performs step 2. boss hp 10. Which is also 90. P1 now updates the boss hp in database ( 90). P2 also updates the boss hp in database ( 90). The boss hp should be 80 but the damage of P1 has been neglected since P2 updates the boss hp last. How to avoid this problem?


How do you get a multiplayer only game to reach critical mass? Say you have a multiplayer only game in which players are randomly paired head to head against a random online player... How do get such a beast off the ground? You need enough players online at all times such that any random player game request will be paired with someone else's request. Chicken and egg ... You need players to play but without players to play no players will play! How do I reformulate the problem to make this work? This happened to me a while back and I haven't come up with anything useful since. https github.com fictorial Rock Paper Scissors World Masters iOS


Client side prediction for movement? How would client side prediction for movement work? From how I understand it, the player inputs "Move Forward" and the character on the player's computer instantly starts to move forward. It also sends the input to the server along with a framestamp, say frame 100. The input arrives at the server on frame 110. The server knows that the player started movement on frame 100 so the character would've moved forward for 10 frames. On the server, the character moves forward 10 frame's worth then the result is sent. The official state is received and since it nearly matches up with the player's gamestate, the transition is smooth. My concern is about how this would look on other people's computers who don't have knowledge of the input only gamestate. How is 10 frame's worth of movement smoothed out when the other computer hasn't started moving the character forward 10 frames earlier?


Synchronizing "token" between players(multiplayer) I am implementing the multiplayer(client server architecture) of a game, and I came to doubt about entities common to players. I understand how to share information such as the position of the players among themselves. However I am caught up in the logic of how to do for the common entities between them. Imagine Two players and a chicken, how would you share the position of the chicken between them? because it needs to move, and can not move in different places in the two clients, the two clients should see the chicken in the local place, but if I send the position of the chicken of one client, and also the other, there may be conflicts. What should I do. Choose one of the clients to be the "master" who will send the chicken position to the other players? How do they handle this in online games? I am thinking of doing the following I can not imagine the calculations being done on the server working properly, I will use the example of the hens, my hens would have an AI maybe too complex to stay on the server. I thought the following, one of the clients of the update area, as it is a big map, the clients are receiving updates being in chunks of the map, then one of the clients would be the master (the first one that entered the channel) , the others would just listen to it, the "master" client would then send to the server the chicken positions states and the server would send to all the clients enrolled in the channel the chicken position status. It works similar to a "token" who is at the top of the channel users list is going to deal with the chicken's calculations. advantages Less work for the server to handle. Disadvantages Poorly trained players could change the position of the hen and make the game experience unpleasant. What could you do to avoid this disadvantage?


(web game) text based combat system shows progress to client instead of give a report at the end I am developing a text based multiplayer RPG using React and dotNet core. The fight logic is handled on server side. Basically what fight() does is a while loop that iterate 100 times in each iteration the characters attack each other actions are stored in a string list a winner is determined either at the end of the while loop or one's hp is below 0 write the fight result and rewards into database send response back to client with the combat log (that string list) This is what the fight() basically does. Players clicks fight and get the result and the report instantly. I would like to make the fight more engaging to the players by showing the fight's progress in each round (and add time interval between rounds). I don't know how to achieve this. I would appreciate any ideas you share. I could let the client side see a quot replay quot of the fight using the response from the server, but that's not what I want. Maybe this is something other idle games are doing. I don't know since I don't have much experience of game developing.


Testing Multiplayer Browser Game on Single Computer I am writing a multiplay browser based game and am running into an issue with playtesting simple interactions. When a browser window loses focus is stops running requestAnimationFrame calls. This effectively pauses the state all visuals when focus is lost. I would like to have two instances of the game running at the same time. I could playtest in one window and observe how a thirdparty would see those actions in another window. Right now I am only able to toggle between the two windows and see teleportation like behavior as the client state catches up to the new server state. I am not sure how, without setting up a second computer, I might test this. Anyone have any experience with this or any advice?


PHP Browser Game Private Messages? First off, I'm asking this question here because gaming and messaging are intimately connected. Why win if you can't gloat? Nevertheless, I won't be offended if this needs to be moved to overflow. I need a PM system for my browser game, which already has a user and authentication system (To clarify the game already has a user system). Specifically, I'm wondering if a PHP library already exists that I can use to save some time. Better yet, if anyone knows of a nice Codeigniter library for messaging, that would be perfect. I already have a good idea on how I would approach this if I have to write my own, but it seems like something that would already exist in a robust form (despite my failed Google searches). Requirements Messages can be sent to individuals, multiple users, and guild mates (which is essentially just multiple users with server side selecting who to target). Users can reply to individual or all recipients Messages appear in sender's outbox and receiver's inbox. Utilizes some 2 table design to handle marking read deleting messages on a user by user basis Messages are semi threaded. I.e. I won't necessarily have them appear in the GUI as threaded, but previous messages should be included at the bottom of a reply. Maybe better to say, previous messages are identifiable and accessible. (This, I'm not yet 100 sure how I would design if I write my own. I.E. whether to include the text of the previous message into the new message or somehow remember the previous message's database ID to link later) Technology in Use PHP, Codeigniter, Javascript, JQuery, Ajax, Sqlite Note I have seen that there are some similar questions on overflow, but they were very little help in the answer department. Otherwise, people were looking for either chat boxes or more umm.. like social media site threads, which I find a bit different than something you would find in a game.


What freeware frameworks and tools to choose if I want to build a game like Farmville or Club Penguin? Say I like to experiment with multiplayer games and I do not want to reinvent the wheel and build yet another game server. I don t mind configuring and writing wrappers and adapters (both in c and java) for the server. What server does Farmville use? Is it Java or C based? What isometric flash engine do they use? What other examples can I look into to learn the subject? Thanks.


Anti cheat How secure is the client? Let's say, theoretically, that I'm developing a first person shooter with, of course, a map with things like walls. In the client code, the player is obviously halted upon collision with these wall objects. The server, however, only receives the player's location coordinates. Without some sort of data encoding in the client, the player could easily read the network communication to the server and send false coordinates to the server, allowing them to go wherever they wanted. My question is, is there a way to encode this location message to the server before it exits the client binary such that it would be extremely difficult for someone to read? Even by someone who disassembles the code to try and break the encoding? Or do all player collisions have to be detected by the server?


Handling increasing numbers of users (server) For this post, we'll assume my game is multiplayer chess as it essentially requires the same functions. User logs in to the server and requests a game the server provides a simple matching service and once done, they start the game. They get 30 seconds timed by the server per turn with 6 players in each game and however many spectators (probably very limited). I would like to know how you would scale this. I've considered two options Option 1 1) Main server to handle login match making (which regardless of user numbers should be a fairly easy task) 2) Start new Node servers for each game that close when the game ends. I'm not entirely sure how this could be implemented yet. (i.e. would the user connect to the main server still and the requests just be passed to the new server or would the user change connection to the new server and then back again when done? changing connection would reduce the load even further and as the two servers won't require communication between them, should be fairly simple) Option 2 Have 1 Node server and somehow scale it. Suggestions input? I'm planning on hosting on Amazon AWS and am well aware that the chances of my game even warranting this level of detail are probably nil but I'm taking this as a learning opportunity. Thanks.


How can I prevent cheating in a distributed multiplayer game? A problem I've been thinking about recently is how it might be possible to create a multiplayer game without a centralised game server. Is it possible to distribute "server" responsibilities across players? I feel like it would be too easy for modified hacked clients to change the multiplayer experience, are there any ways around this?


Why do console versions of multiplayer games support fewer players than PC versions? source http answers.yahoo.com question index?qid 20111205162848AAb1sl9 64 Players on P.C ( 32vs32) amp bigger maps with more vehicles amp buildings. 24 on Consoles ( 12vs12) ( It was planned to have a 32 player limit, but was later reduced to 24). Why does the console version have a maximum of 24 players? Is it hardware related? One of the reason was that players can host games themselves. If thats true its very sad that you cannot play 32x32, because one or two guys want to host games.


How are multiplayer mods created? How do you make a single player game into a multiplayer one? For example SA MP San Andreas Multiplayer and the new Just Cause 2 Multiplayer. Before making the mod, did they need permission? How did they even know what to code without having the games source code? I have some ideas but I have no idea where to really start.