Hey,
I am currently thinking of starting to make a game. For the start I thought about programming some pokemon multiplayer game, which is like pokemon but just multiplayer.
I am just afraid of some issues with nintendo when I finished it and let people connect to the server and play it. Do you think its illegal to do that? And do you think nintendo will even care about that? Well for example there are tons of free servers out there for every kind of game and it seems they dont get any law problems from the original creators.
Please enlighten me
Don’t infringe on any of Nintendo’s trademarks and you’re fine. Game rules are not copyrightable.
but their content, isn’t it?
I think as long as you write all the code yourself and make your own sounds, textures and data, and dont use any names they made up, you will be fine.
Well you won’t be able to sell it. But don’t worry about it. People make clones all the time. clones are awesome! Go for it!
If Nintendo ever sends you an email of any kind you should be proud of yourself!
well yeah if they sue me for 5k euros ;D
Like I said, don’t infringe their trademarks and you’re all clear. This includes “Pokemon”, “Pocket Monsters”, or any highly similar names, as well as the names or pictures of any Pokemon characters. The rules you can clone as much as you want.
well then this idea seems to die because I think I am not that creative to create my own monsters xD
there still could be a blue pikachu^^
I visited StabYourself’s booth at GamesCom 2 weeks ago and just goes to show you that you can get away with a lot if you dont sell it
but ideally, make your own assets
If you don’t intend on selling it nobody will care. You think mario clones make their on graphics?
Making a pokemon game is difficult and a great learning experience. Let alone making it online. Take http://pokemon-online.eu/ for example. They use pkmn graphics within the game and nobody cares.
I am not going to sell it or make some big money with it^^
I will just put up some website, and let people play on the server. Maybe add some donation for people that like it and want to support it, but still giving them nothing in exchange, everything is only voluntary
Yeah, I can’t say that is entirely true. If you go around creating things without developer’s permission it could end up landing you into big trouble. I know for a fact that Nintendo, Blizzard, and Disney are pretty strict with using their content. I have also heard some cases in where Sega has stamped down on copyright infringement.
Definitely, don’t try and pull any money if you are dabbing in this. Don’t try and sell, and don’t look for “donations”. Even though it is rare when they do it, you don’t want to be the next victim.
It is great for learning experience and getting great ideas. Also, you can probably use the code to create a nice spin-off. Great for learning purposes, but stay away from trying to get any funds period.
normally, this is very depend on case and country, if you dont take any money and they still want you to stop, they would send you a cease & desist note and not fine you any money - but it has happened
If you just want the gameplay/mechanism, clone it. Clone it like there’s no tomorrow!
However you need to use different sprites, sounds, and “words” (no pokeball, pokemon, pikachu, etc)
Nobody will care. Use their graphics. That’s why there are sites like http://spriters-resource.com/ and http://tsgk.captainn.net/ so that you can make your won fan games.
There are thousands of fan games and clones using ripped sprites.
It’s not completely true. An artist who worked with me a few days used a model looking like the typical alien, Sega sent me a message on my former blog, one of its employees demanded me to remove it from my game whereas TUER is completely free of charge and open source. Yes some game programmers infringing copyrights have never been sued but if I were you, I would rather use graphics under free licenses and I would respect the right of paternity. Don’t try to use famous contents on which you have no right. I’m not a big fan of copyrights but I’m not a big fan of people who just want to reuse existing contents without respecting the conditions set by their authors. For example, I really hate people trying to reuse my “creations” under CC BY-NC-SA or CC BY-NC-ND on commercial websites with tons of ads.
Note that in order to not infringe on copyright… you can’t have anything in the same “likeness”. ie you can’t just give something a different name, but the art is still recognizable as one of the original characters… Furthermore they have probably trademarked the characters as well.
As for the not selling… you are still infringing and they can sue and win and it can still cost you a lot.
YMMV depending on how popular it is. However typically if its not commercial you get a cease and desist letter first. If you comply with that, it won’t cost you anything but your pride.
Edit: added the not.
I’m in the same situation, sort of. My game project is based off of DooM. I’m making all art assets, and the style is very different from the original game (It’s a top-down adventure/shooter closer in style to the classic Zelda games)… But still the characters are the same (Chibi-Cyberdemon is still a Cyberdemon)
As has been said, the ip owners can shut you down if they want to, so you’d better plan ahead.
In my case, I’m using DooM simply because I want to work on the game mechanics without spending too much effort designing original sprites, characters or a setting (And because I love the DooM games and setting), but I’m fully prepared to remove all DooM references and do my own thing, while keeping the game core intact (In fact that’s the long term plan).
If you really want to make the game, go ahead, but know that it could get a C&D letter at any time. If that’s fine with you, then have fun!
a letter would be no problem I guess
Oh, and to be safe (And not anger the lawyers if they ever come across your game) make sure to make it abundantly clear that you are not challenging their IP ownership in any way, by adding a “Characters © Nintendo” disclaimer, or even stating “This is a fan game, no challenge to the ownership of the IP is intended or implied”.
Might seem silly and unecessary, but everyone does it for a reason.
Something I’d like to ask, though… Regarding my DooM-Based game… I actually went ahead an wrote to ZeniMax/IdSoftware about it. Not that I expect a reply (I doubt it’d be in a publisher’s best interest to publicly support such a project), but I’m wondering if stepping up and telling them what I’m doing was a good idea, or if I’ve just drawn attention to my project that will guarantee I get a C&D letter. :clue: