Hi William, It really comes down to being creative. If you absolutely must base your game off of something you know then do it in a way that doesn't infringe upon an existing copyright. Here is an example. You all know I love Tomb Raider. Those games are among my favorites. However, I can't just exactly rip the sounds and music, and use Lara Croft because those are copyrighted by Edos interactive. The way I got around that restriction is by changing the name of Tomb Raider to Tomb Hunter, and created my own character called Angela Carter. In Mysteries of the Ancients you are doing much the same things as in Tomb Raider, but it doesn't infringe upon any copyrights and is legally a separate game. Edos Interactive doesn't have an exclusive ownership on that type of game just the sounds, characters, etc under the Tomb Raider trademark. You see how that works? Now, obviously some games are harder than others to create. Star Wars is pretty specific and can't easily be watered down to a generic game the way Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones can. However, if you look at it many games can be cloned in such a way that doesn't infringe upon any copyright. Aliens in the Outback, Troopenum, etc are all enspired of Space Invaders but are also very quite unique. DynaMan was enspired by Packman, but is also unique in its own right. Shades of Doom was enspired by Doom, but also is unique and not exactly Doom per say. So it can be done. You just need to learn where the legal lines are and avoid them by changing this or that to suit the legal requirements.
Cheers! On 3/27/10, william lomas <[email protected]> wrote: > hi all, how can we seriously make our own games with b.g.t. > half the ideas ahve probably already been used and copyrighted so aren't we > stuck? > We can't even do our own spinoffs like classics such as sonic etc. so what's > point? > Half the ideas most of us will ahve are probably based on games we have seen > our sighted family or friends playing > > > william lomas > follow me on twitter: > billbow_baggins > > > > > --- > 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]. > --- 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].
