Hi there,

before working with 3DGS 7, I've been developing 2D-Games using a tool called "RPG Maker". In that community, producing games which use the characters, scenario and resources (like music, sounds and so on) of a commercial game can be seen quite frequently, these games are being produced by fans of the original game and are therefore called "fan-fic"s. Now I wonder how the legal situation of these games looks like. After all, you are (ab)using resources which are not yours, so basically you're breaking the copyright. However, these games always have a line like "Characters, scenario, music and other resources (c) Nintendo" (for example) in the credits roll. Does that change anything? Does the fact that all these games are totally non-commercial change anything? Or could one still be sued by the owner of the copyright?

Greets,


Alan

for non commercial works, i dont think its a problem because you as the developer are not seeking compensation for the project. if there were any money made, then the owner of the copyrighted material is due said money. its like creating something, but getting paid for it without actually having to do any of the work,lol. we all dream of getting free money. the difficulty is, if the project is really that good, then you might have to change names and looks of copyrighted material, and you would be better off. there are hundreds of zelda clones, re clones, halo clones. imitation is the highest for of flattery, and legal.

hm, NO, even if it is not a commercial work, you can get really big problems using things from others

being a halo/zelda/re clone is something else - youcan do that, directly using files(models/sounds/2d art) from a copyrighted game is something else.

it is not legal in anyway.

Hm, so using the setting of a game is no problem as long as I create the resources myself? That's how I understood your answers so far...
Well, currently I'm working on a fan-fic as well. The only thing I would like to use from the original game (as far as resources go) is the music. Of course, one could claim that if I use the soundtrack I'm also sharing out the music together with my project for free, but look at youtube for example. Especially for the project I'm working on there are almost *ALL* tracks available for free to listen at. If it would be illegal for me to use them for a non-commercial purpose, then how illegal must youtube be? I don't think that anybody ever sued the guys there for uploading the game soundtrack. Or is it just the fact that the producer does not really care about what happens to resources which are older than... 6 or 7 years now?

Thanks so far

Alan


PS: It might sound ridiculous, but what do you think how high my chances are to get a positive response if I actually *asked* the developer whether it would be okay if I used the soundtrack of the original game? After all, today they do not make any money with it any more, the OST-CD is not being produced anymore since... years!

Youtube now removes audio off videos that use copyrighted sources. In the long run you should probably just steer clear of using anyone else's resources, even if they are ancient. You might think it is harmless, but might think twice when presented with a law-suit lol.

@DJBMASTER: Of course I don't want that, this is why I've been asking questions about this topic in the first place ^^


Well, I see... Under these circumstances I will not use the original soundtrack. But does anyone have a link to a website where you can get good tracks for free? I don't know of a single one so where do you guys get the music for your game from, do you all have a paid musician in your team?

@Alan - you could ask the copyright owner for permission to use the original. They might be open to the idea.

If you are looking for free resources, here are a couple of links where you might find something of use:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/1...-sound-effects/
http://www.indiegamemusic.com/index.php

If you have the funds and are looking for something original you can contact musicians like:
http://www.myspace.com/artimusbena or
http://www.3peakaudio.com/index.php