Hi Charles, Yes and no. It all would depend on how closely your version of the game resembles the game you wish to copy, and how anal compulsive the original developer is about his/her copyrights. As you know sometime soon I plan to launch my own treasure hunting series called Tomb Hunter with a Lara Croft type character named Angela Carter. If I came out with a game called Tomb Raider, used Lara Croft, Dr. Von Croy, etc Edos Interactive could slap a copyright infringement law suit on me. However, since I changed the characters name, the name of the game, purchased my own game music, used my own sound effects, it is enough changes that Edos can't take me to court. They might figure out I am making a Tomb Raider game under another name, but there are fair use provisions in the U.S. copyright laws that says certain ideas, concepts, and characters can't be copyrighted. For example, a main character such as Lara Croft can be copyrighted because she has a specific name, ocupation, physical appearance, nationality, etc. In other words she is detailed enough to be considered a unique person under the law. The more detailed a character the more rights his/her creator has in holding a copyright for that character. However, many of the enemies Lara fights are pretty generic bad guys such as wolves, snakes, spiders, tigers, mummies, and so on. These characters can not be copyrighted, because they fall under the fair use provision of the US. copyright laws. Thus any wolf character, skeleton, tiger, etc is considered to be public domain territory. As for where to learn to program you know where to find me. Smile.
Charles Rivard wrote: > I'd like to start game production, but need programming knowledge and > experience. It'll take time. I have a few ideas on games I want to produce > or improve upon. I'm not sure on copyright issues. For example, what about > pretty much the same game as someone else's, but a totally different aiming > method? That one just might cause problems, wouldn't it? > > -- > Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, > Jesus Christ, and the American Soldier. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
