legal stuff
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/legal stuff
| ||
| if i was making my own version of final fantasy or another licencesed title and distributing it free would i get in trouble? |
| ||
| Yes. Of course. Such things are copyrighted. If it was an obvious rip-off. However, to make an original RPG with your own levelling/abilities system, original character names & story/plotline, original title and bearing no real resemblance to an existing product, you'd be okay. Depends really what you mean by 'my own version' |
| ||
| could i get away with the title final fantasy something(not a number or previous title), chocobos, and well that would be about it. |
| ||
| Doubt it. Final Fantasy is a dfinite no-no, and Chocobos are most certainly a registered trademark. If you really want to make a tribute game, you're probably better off writing to Squaresoft or whoever and asking permission, although (no offence), unless you offer flattering quality, they probably will insist you dont associate anything with them or their products. |
| ||
| You can't use the name Final Fantasy for any pretty much any arts. You can usually use a name in a different genre, for instance, I could write a movie called "Painkiller" and not get in trouble if it's nothing to do with the game. However, there are Final Fantasy games, movies, books, songs, etc. So pretty much - no way. In fact, even using character graphic sets generated by CHARAS are illegal, as 99% of the graphics there are ripped from other games. Chocobos are a trademark of Square Inc. and one that (like the title) will be enforced. Be original, make your own RPG. The final fantasy "look and feel" of the game and combat system in FF 1-8 are NOT copyright, so if you like the old RPG games you can make a game that looks and plays similar, but even using the combat system from 9, 10 or 11, could land you in trouble. +BlackD |
| ||
| Call it Nightmare on Oak Street... no wait that would probably get you in to trouble too! ;) Just give it a working title and go for it. Develop the thing THEN givce it a name. You will probably be inspired by something unusual you do while coding the game or developing the plot of the game. THAT will spur your title! -RZ |
| ||
| thanks for the advice. |
| ||
| one more thing, i've seen many copies of tetris and other remakes of older games around, like the guy(sorry cant remember your name) who did the dizzy remake(did he ask permision?) i've seen many remake games, so are they all mostly ileagle, does that make such things as space invaders(like the community project one)against the law cause that just seems plain stupid?. would anyone care anyway? |
| ||
| Have you ever seen Breath Of Fire IV? (Playstation One RPG) It is a cartoony-looking rpg with loveable, multiple characters, sidequests, skill & ability levelling routines, turn-based combat, loads of spells, items and hidden powers and secret bitz and fun subgames plus an awesome plot to boot - (perhaps the other BoF games are similar, but Ivve never played those so cannot comment). My point is, that if BoFiV could easily be a FF game, yet it infringed no copyright legislation. You can do the same. Basically make a FF-style game but without Chocobos, a guy called Cid and a little fluffy thing called a Moogle/Mog. ------------------------------------------------ A lot of remake games are allowed because the companies that own copyright realise they are no longer selling under that brand, and give permission. The Dizzy Remake was for the retro remakes competition. Nobody would like their 'cash-cow' products to be imitated and given away free. ("Do ya wanna new watch?") |
| ||
| so if i had an original rpg and in a town theirs an arcade playing games like (but named difrently) space invaders, arcanoid, astro lander, so on and so on, would i piss off the companies that origanaly made those games. |
| ||
| Nah. There's professional games that do that (GTA:SA for one; Anachronox for another). So long as the graphics aren't ripped and the gameplay isn't an exact duplicate you're fine. |
| ||
| Unless you are (for some reason) massively successful and spawn a retro craze with everyone downloading your game and paying to register et al. THEN you might hear from the lawyers! -RZ |
| ||
| My point is, that if BoFiV could easily be a FF game, yet it infringed no copyright legislation. You can do the same. Basically make a FF-style game but without Chocobos, a guy called Cid and a little fluffy thing called a Moogle/Mog. Umm.. dude - that's because it's made by Square. They don't have to be afraid of violating their own copyright..... :P |
| ||
| Just something I was wondering about a while ago, I may be a bit off topic, but not really. If, in the credits at the ending of my game, I would put, for instance, "Thanks to Squaresoft" (not that I want to do that, but let's just assume I want to do that because I had fun with their RPG's and that inspired me to make my own) - would that be violation of their copyright/trademark? And what if I would put their logo next to that thank you message? Just wondering :) |
| ||
| Using the name in that sense would be fair use. Using the logo would not be, as it is unnecesary to the usage. For more on fair-use, see my newly posted (and hopefully sometime STICKY ;)) copyright FAQ just for Blitz guys.. http://www.blitzbasic.co.nz/Community/posts.php?topic=43172 |
| ||
| You could make a game obviously based on FF if it was clearly a parody. |
| ||
| You could make a game obviously based on FF if it was clearly a parody. Sigh.. I JUST covered that in point #9 of the FAQ. LOL. Great minds think alike I guess. :) |
| ||
| Umm.. dude - that's because it's made by Square. They don't have to be afraid of violating their own copyright..... :P Okay Alundra then. Or Jade Coccoon. Jeez get the point - no need to be so darned pedantic! I was trying to help grindalf. Where did you get that info from by the way, becasue it never mentions Squaresoft at all in the manual, on the inlay or whilst playing the game. (Admittedly I never saw end-credits because my SavedGame got erased just before the very end and I never bothered starting again since...yet ;) ) |
| ||
| Breath of Fire isn't a square game, IIRC, it's made and published by Capcom. |
| ||
| the first breath of fire was made by capcom and published by square(i guess because capcom was worried about how the public would recieve it as their main title was street fighter 2 and they had never done rpgs) but that was a long time ago(super nintendo) |
   |