Pre-development advice?

Say I liked a certain game in the 90s that involved solving different puzzles. Now I wanted to make a game based on just one of those puzzles. I wouldn't be copying any of the storyline or characters. Would this still be copyright infringement?

 

Based on your description, no. If you are not copying anything, the copyright - a person's right to copy - is irrelevant.

However, it is possible that the puzzle itself is copyrighted or otherwise protected. This is a complex subject, and you should really consult an attorney about it, but before you do that you should do a little research and see whether this puzzle is commonly found elsewhere - especially if it appeared anywhere before the game you're thinking of. If the game you're duplicating didn't invent the puzzle or change it appreciably, then you have established prior art and no intellectual property claim is likely to succeed.

Again, I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, and you should get both before you make any business decisions.

 

An example of the difference.

You can't copyright mechanics- ie. any puzzle solved by filling in spaces with alphabetical letters & numbers, being determined by the answers to printed statements. (crossword puzzle)

But you CAN copyright a particular crossword puzzle - ie. copy the puzzle out of the New York Times publication of 12/12/12.

 

However, you can patent them, if they're sufficiently new and different. And you can trademark names, which is why everybody has to call their Tetris clone something else. So there's a potential legal minefield there, but it's not copyright.

 

I agree that a patent is your more likely problem. Fortunately patents generally are issued for 20 years from the date initially filed. So you are unlikely to have patent issues today for any puzzle game developed before the middle of 1997.

I am not a lawyer

 

Thanks again for the discussion and advice. When I share a prototype of the game I'm developing, I'll appreciate more specific comments. However, I'm pretty sure my game doesn't violate any copyrights or patents now that I've made it significantly different from a game from the 90s.

Two other related questions: First, I want to use marbles as images in my game. On Pinterest there are hundreds of pins of marbles. Can I use these images in my game (for example, on a smaller scale and edited)? Should I ask permission from every single owner? Should I not even bother?

Second, there's Shyamalan's movie "Split". The storyline for my game is a character with multiple personalities, but the genre has nothing to do with a horror movie, nor are any of the characters the same as the movie. In fact, I haven't even seen the movie, just the trailer. Is there any problem with naming my game "Split"?

 

It is much, much safer and easier to actively seek out free images.

Not really, no.

 

cdarklock, you are very helpful! Thanks for the relevant advice. Do you ever collaborate to make games? I'm developing a game for Android, and soon I want to release a prototype with sandbox mode so anyone who wants can get the feel for the puzzles. I'm working alone so far, but am looking for collaborators.

 

Not really, no. I'm hard to work with. It's rare that I meet anyone who can put up with my S***.

 

A follow-up

Fair enough.Follow-up questions: Do you have any tips for finding collaborators? Can you recommend any other forums? I'm guessing no one will even be interested unless I release a prototype. Have there been cases of ideas being stolen/copied before official release?

 

Never really had any luck doing that anywhere, but there's a forum for that here.

Yeah, but I wouldn't worry about it. Usually people working together are doing it because they couldn't do it alone.

 

If you're worried about outside sources (non-collaborators) grabbing your prototype and copying it, that's also somewhat unlikely because working on our own projects is kind of a matter of pride.

And however awesome your prototype is, it's obviously going to be very little compared to the real game, so if someone did copy it they'd only have a tiny portion of what you have. And if they tried to build off of what you had, there's no way they'd create something the same way as you.

 

Good points.

 

The more money you're willing to throw around, the easier it will be to find help.

 

I feel satisfied that my prototype is playable and looks decent. Here's a link if anyone is interested. I appreciate feedback and am looking for collaborators.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m98ulmeyawct6hu/Split Prototype.apk?dl=0
(If you dl'ed within the first hour, I fixed the link.)

BTW, I'm developing this game using a different SDK. Although the forum rules don't prohibit this type of sharing, I don't mean to be out of line. I use and like Unity, too, which is why I come here.

 

A screen-shot.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k0787p9uxc7wd4w/split screenshot.jpg?dl=0

 

hi,


i havent played your game, so i cant comment on that.

but based on your screenshot i would propose:
- change your background to something more neutral. the current background takes away too much attention from your game.
- i also think that the background behind the gameBOARD should be different then the gameSCREEN background. also for clarity.
- and maybe choose simpler images for your marbles. they have too much detail in them, which is lost because they are rather small on the board. because of this they apear a bit "gritty". google for "flat style marbles svg" to see examples of cleaner marble examples.

also:
i think your game will improve if you make your own marbles. and you get a better matching overal look and feel of your game. and it will be yours! no copyright issues.

And a marble is REALLY easy to make! Even if you are bad at graphics, you can do this! I promise!

I suggest to use Inkscape for this. it's free, multiplatform and very good.

There are many tutorials on how to do this in inkscape. just google "inkscape tutorial glass button" and use a round shape instead of a square.

It should only take you 1 or 2 hours to make a great marble. And then you make copies of the same marble, just changing the colors. In 2.5 hours you're done with all of them!


Good luck!

 

Thanks for the feedback. Since this is just a prototype, I was going for a sandbox look, and had originally put grass as the gamescreen background. I might go back to that. And I'll see if there's a subtler sand background for the board.

As for the marbles, I actually did make all the marbles using paint.net. I agree, when small they look gritty and show no detail. That's because they are large images that are being shrunk. Thanks to your suggestion, I saved them as smaller dimensions with paint.net and there's a noticeable improvement.

A new screenshot.

 

No.

 

yes, it's less gritty now.

But I dont understand. Why do you take an image with so much detail, when you only display them so small?
Nobody will ever see that guitar or ship. So why put it in?

Also, instead of bitmap images, you would be better off with vector-based images. Because they resize much better and have clearer lines and shapes. (see my inkscape remark from last time)

I made a VERY QUICK mockup of some vector based buttons to show an example.
These were badly made in 5 mins, just to show an example. Use better ones in your project.

simple vector based marbles:

view of your game with those marbles:



as i said: i know my quickies are very ugly,

but i think you can see that the playing field for the player is a lot clearer and gives more rest to the eyes.
and the distinct colors and symbols on the markers are much clearer to see.
on this example you see the star very clearly.

in your example it's hard to make out what it is. a star? a cross? just some dust?

in conclusion: vectorize and simplify

 

On the playing field it's not so important to distinguish the detail, just the different colors. The reason the marbles are also high-res is because the image on each marble will lead to a different puzzle. For example, the guitar is part of a music set leading to a different music-based puzzle. Some marbles will be just generic, others ´part of a set.

When you touch a marble in the Inventory (to the side, not on the actual playing field) it is shown in more detail. This is shown in the first screenshot link (a fire marble). So there's a balance between the small marbles on the playing field, and the high-res marbles that come into play in the storyline and lead to other puzzles.

While this is just a prototype, I do plan to create more puzzles. The sandbox with marbles is just the introduction.

I'll take into account your suggestions. When I have time I'll try out some other sand backgrounds and also clean up the marbles, then post a screenshot.

If you have any thoughts about the gameplay, let me know. Basically, I'm hoping to to find out if the gameplay is intuitive or too hard to figure out. And if you tap the About text, there is an explanation. Also, I'm hoping someone else will want to contribute other sandbox levels with the marbles in a different arrangement. My target platform is the Kindle Fire, but I want to know if it's playable on other platforms as well.