Copyright infringment....

[Gulshog]

Is anyone thinking about taking a classic story and making it with RPGM3? Like Lord of the Rings, for example? The legality of this is obvious, I was just curious if anyone had stories that they loved, and were thinking of making them into RPG's?

[marcus]

Re: Copyright infringment....

It's not like we're selling our games. Technically speaking, any fanbased work off a previous intelligent material is considered violating the copyrights but the companies seriously don't care (or atleast appear not to) unless you're causing a fuss over it like when Nintendo shut down that one con artist who was making Ocarina of Time 2D or when square canned that Chrono Trigger project.

I really don't think EA (who now holds the rights to make digital media based off the books) will do a double take when they see that such a small community has made a game based off their material.

As far as basing material off copyrighted work, my first game for rpgm3 was going to be a remake of Ultima or Rings of Power (the longest console rpg ever and a very underrated game) but I decided to make an original game instead (WHERE U FIGHT TEH MYTHIKAL BEEST!!)

[Cenobite]

Re: Copyright infringment....

Is anyone thinking about taking a classic story and making it with RPGM3? Like Lord of the Rings, for example? The legality of this is obvious, I was just curious if anyone had stories that they loved, and were thinking of making them into RPG's?

I am actually going to try and turn the BATMAN comic HUSH into an RPG...But probably for either RPGM1 or RPGM2 because the look of RPGM3 is too medevil for a Batman story. And for RPGM1 I could just draw my Characters...hmm..i'll do that

[Manji]

Re: Copyright infringment....

or when square canned that Chrono Trigger project.

a 3d chrono trigger...mmmmm.

[Rodak]

Re: Copyright infringment....

I plan on making no less than 2 copyrighted character / worlds adventures.

For RPGM3 I have The Ballad of Smeltin' John planned. It is an original character, but the story is set in Piers Anthony's Xanth world (read the trilogy... it's only 27 books... he said he was never very good at math and thought that a trilogy was three to the third power books) (he just started the second trilogy...). Xanth is light-hearted and silly fantasy full of puns. Almost too many puns. But since that is impossible, the puns just count as very large in number.

I do plan on writing Piers and telling him what I am doing. He is known for actually reading and responding to fan mail.

But my dream game would probably best be made on XP. Looney Tunes vs Aliens will be my masterpiece. If I ever make it. I plan on scanning original model sheets (OK, reproductions of actual model sheets) for the Wabbit (and friends) and photos of the Alien from the first movie (I never liked the later look) to make sprites.

As for copyright issues, so long as nobody is making any money on it, the worst they can do is issue a cease and desist order. They can only sue for money lost, so we are relatively safe. Or so I thought.

Then I read this (in this very thread):

Technically speaking, any fanbased work off a previous intelligent material is considered violating the copyrights but the companies seriously don't care (or atleast appear not to) unless you're causing a fuss over it like when Nintendo shut down that one con artist who was making Ocarina of Time 2D or when square canned that Chrono Trigger project.

I missed both of those events. Would somebody please summarize what happened? That sounds relevant. I truly believed there could not be an issue so long as no money changes hands.

Thanks in advance to whomever posts that.

Peace.

[marcus]

Re: Copyright infringment....

For almost 2 years there was this sleezy guy named Daniel Barras who owned this site oot2d (it's been shut down so it's now up for sale) and was making a 2d remake of ocarina of time using a mixture of original sprites and link to the past sprites. The game's engine began in gamemaker and he started posting these crappy tech demos of it at gamingw (I remember because it was around the same time I became a moderator). The premise was that the tech demos were very basic and featured simple things that anyone skilled in gamemaker could program in a few minutes but none the less he would create doctored screenshots and "pretend" to be continuing the game. Even worse, he hyped his "fake game" so much that it started appearing in COMMERCIAL MAGAZINES like EGM and Gamepro. The last straw was when he started accepting donations and actually got SEVERAL THOUSAND dollars. Eventually, Nintendo was like "NO" and told him to stop or they would unleash their massive army of lawyers.

Chrono Trigger Resurrection has a less glorious story, but basically a team of skilled game makers were creating a completely 3D recreation of their 10 favorite scenes from Chrono Trigger (it wasn't the full game or anything). The game was BEAUTIFUL (especially from a group of amateurs) but because Nintendo had shut down Daniel Barras' site about a month earlier, Squenix followed in suit and ordered these guys to shut down their site. Sad too. These guys were sincere and weren't profiting AT ALL (not even from donations).

To put it simply, these companies own their respective trademarks (all of them) and using their likenesses is breaking that trademark. Generally speaking, a company won't care if you're doing something non-profit or fan work but if your work rises in popularity then they begin to take notice. I can't speak for a company, but the way I see it, they want to preserve their image. Imagine if someone played Ocarina 2D thinking that it was an accurate reflection of the real Ocarina? That could hurt sales (impropable, but money is everything). It's not fair but understandable.

[NikisKnight]

Re: Copyright infringment....

I suspect you'd be entirely safe in making non-video stories into RPG Maker. You're not competing or fooling anyone. Current video games may be a hassle, but only if you hyped it up big time. Lawyers probably won't be scouring RPGM Pavilion Downloads sections.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: Copyright infringment....

wow those gamer designers who did that chrono trigger where good. a damn shame they where unable to finish their project. i wonder if they still did it on their own?

[Valkysas]

Re: Copyright infringment....

fun fact. if you're doing a parody, you can use any copyrighted or trademarked material and characters in your work. but it has to be a real parody, not a serious game being called a parody to get around the law.

This loophole is the only reason things like excel saga exist.

[WilliamKirk]

Re: Copyright infringment....

I'm boycotting SquareEnix for this, who's with me?!!

[Cenobite]

Re: Copyright infringment....

fun fact. if you're doing a parody, you can use any copyrighted or trademarked material and characters in your work. but it has to be a real parody, not a serious game being called a parody to get around the law.

This loophole is the only reason things like excel saga exist.

If this wasn't true, FAMILY GUY would have been cancelled after their first season or mid season.
"Thanks Jeritol!"

[Manyak]

Re: Copyright infringment....

While on the topic of copyright infringement, would it be illegal if I used sounds from an existing game?

[RPGD]

Re: Copyright infringment....

Not if it was a remix of the original content.

[Pandacon]

Re: Copyright infringment....

It's not so much that companies want to kick down their fans (ex. Chrono Trigger 3D thing) it's moreso if they see this, and they don't fight it, they could lose the rights to their property.

[snake storm]

Re: Copyright infringment....

my big games will be original but the one i'm working on on right now...i don't even think the company that made the old genesis game even exists anymore. which is a shame. sega released it over here but the company that made it was called westone.