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Posts
Robercletzon
10
Robercletzon
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CloseI would like to know how to use famous characters without infringing copyright laws, in case I could use a character like Batman but would have to change what in him to get to use it?
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
You can't.
You don't own the rights to Batman, so it's impossible to make a game with Batman in it without violating copyright laws. Fan games are not legal.
You don't own the rights to Batman, so it's impossible to make a game with Batman in it without violating copyright laws. Fan games are not legal.
Only thing you can do if you use rips is credit and cite everything you use and never claim they're your own assets. And absolutely never sell it.
Failing that, just make Original Character Not-Batman.
Failing that, just make Original Character Not-Batman.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
The "no copyright infringement intended" statement doesn't change the fact that you're infringing on someone's copyright.
This is the way to go. Make a spiritual successor to Batman or whatever character you want. You get to flex your own creativity muscles, fans will recognize the tribute and, most importantly, you aren't infringing on copyright.
Just make sure you're making a tribute and not a rip-off.
author=SgtMettool
Failing that, just make Original Character Not-Batman.
This is the way to go. Make a spiritual successor to Batman or whatever character you want. You get to flex your own creativity muscles, fans will recognize the tribute and, most importantly, you aren't infringing on copyright.
Just make sure you're making a tribute and not a rip-off.
slimeborgi
106
You could make a batmanish type hero. Give it a twist and it's yours.
It's been done before what's more is you can sell that character. Superheroes/villians are heavily stuck this category.
Look at Deadpool and then look at Slade/Deathstroke.
The former came after the latter and it's way more popular from what I've seen.
All that matters is if people like the character you made.
It's been done before what's more is you can sell that character. Superheroes/villians are heavily stuck this category.
Look at Deadpool and then look at Slade/Deathstroke.
The former came after the latter and it's way more popular from what I've seen.
All that matters is if people like the character you made.
Robercletzon
10
The characters i want use is this:
The first is based in Mario, but i already changed it, i wanna know if i can use? It is transformed in rpgmaker2k character.
And the second one is Super Twins, but i will change the monkey colors and dress.
But i want the power of change to other animals and water to ice and other powers.
What is an rip off?
And the RTP characters from rpg maker i can use?
The first is based in Mario, but i already changed it, i wanna know if i can use? It is transformed in rpgmaker2k character.
And the second one is Super Twins, but i will change the monkey colors and dress.
But i want the power of change to other animals and water to ice and other powers.
What is an rip off?
And the RTP characters from rpg maker i can use?
Rine
1378
The first one is still far too similar, everyone can tell its Mario.
The best way to do homage is making them an expy, meaning basically use an original design with an overall theme that is very similar to the original. Probably the best example I can think of is Sentinels of the Multiverse. Every single hero is a reference to a super hero, but with X. So Legacy has the powers of superman, but he gets his passed down from his family (hence the name) instead of the sun. Wraith is female batman, but with a more obvious ninja theme and no animal imagery. Tachyon is female scientist flash (But honestly, much better designed).
Like they said previously if you cling too close to the designs, credit them, and don't sell it.
The best way to do homage is making them an expy, meaning basically use an original design with an overall theme that is very similar to the original. Probably the best example I can think of is Sentinels of the Multiverse. Every single hero is a reference to a super hero, but with X. So Legacy has the powers of superman, but he gets his passed down from his family (hence the name) instead of the sun. Wraith is female batman, but with a more obvious ninja theme and no animal imagery. Tachyon is female scientist flash (But honestly, much better designed).
Like they said previously if you cling too close to the designs, credit them, and don't sell it.
Robercletzon
10
author=Rine
The first one is still far too similar, everyone can tell its Mario.
The best way to do homage is making them an expy, meaning basically use an original design with an overall theme that is very similar to the original. Probably the best example I can think of is Sentinels of the Multiverse. Every single hero is a reference to a super hero, but with X. So Legacy has the powers of superman, but he gets his passed down from his family (hence the name) instead of the sun. Wraith is female batman, but with a more obvious ninja theme and no animal imagery. Tachyon is female scientist flash (But honestly, much better designed).
Like they said previously if you cling too close to the designs, credit them, and don't sell it.
Thanks, i dont sell the character, i want sell the game...
Well and if i dont sell the game, but instead accept donations for making the game?
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
author=Robercletzon
Thanks, i dont sell the character, i want sell the game...
Well and if i dont sell the game, but instead accept donations for making the game?
It's practically the same thing. Just make your own characters with their own traits and sell that. You don't need it to be Batman.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
If you want to use Mario legally, you need to purchase a license from Nintendo. This will cost you several hundred million dollars, and you will need to be the CEO of a company that Nintendo has a great deal of respect for and isn't in competition with.
If you want to use Mario illegally, all you need to do is put him in your game. The term "illegal" is slightly misleading since you can't be arrested for it; it just makes it legal for Nintendo to sue you. Nintendo isn't going to sue a small-time hobbyist who doesn't make any money. But as soon as you make a dime off of your work, you will get sued for billions and billions of dollars.
If you want to use Mario illegally, all you need to do is put him in your game. The term "illegal" is slightly misleading since you can't be arrested for it; it just makes it legal for Nintendo to sue you. Nintendo isn't going to sue a small-time hobbyist who doesn't make any money. But as soon as you make a dime off of your work, you will get sued for billions and billions of dollars.
Fan games are illegal.
Only if you're stealing an idea, and not giving proper royalties where they may apply.
A game license will cost hundreds of millions of dollars...
Market shares, perhaps, but an independent license would cost between $50 and ~$2,000. A corporate license can cost a lot more, but at that point, it's likely you'd be asking to have the support instead because that usually comes cost free (though there are exceptions and I'm looking at you MICROSOFT).
As soon as you make a dime off of your media...
Only if they have definitive proof of anything. And there has to be proof of a profit made (talking about the documents here) before a magistrate will even consider it, and sometimes, not even then.
Mario is a well-known, well-loved character (though there is about an equal share of those who hate him - can't win 'em all), and this is something that Nintendo of Japan has recognized and has been recognized for; those that create fan-based content (the comic and TV show were both fan-based content originally as was the live action movie) are not necessarily going to be sued or DMCA'd or whatever (just don't be stupid with your fan project).
Actually, that rendition of Mario looking a bit more masculine and 'westernized' would probably impress some at Nintendo of Japan, but just don't show it to the Greedy Nintendo of America.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
They don't need to have any proof of a profit being made to sue you. All you need to do is use Mario in anything at all without permission. You definitely don't need to be making a profit for them to sue you. They just don't have enough time to bother giving a shit if you're not making any money.
An uh, no, you can't buy a license to make a Mario work for $2000. All kinds of TV and movie studios have repeatedly offered them numbers in the hundreds of millions of dollars, which Nintendo has consistently refused, because of the damage they're worried it could do to the brand. To make a lunchbox or something you could do it somewhat more cheaply, but not by much. To make a game there is no price; the only way to make one is to murder Shigeru Miyamoto and wear his flesh as a skinsuit as you go into work every day at Nintendo of Japan.
An uh, no, you can't buy a license to make a Mario work for $2000. All kinds of TV and movie studios have repeatedly offered them numbers in the hundreds of millions of dollars, which Nintendo has consistently refused, because of the damage they're worried it could do to the brand. To make a lunchbox or something you could do it somewhat more cheaply, but not by much. To make a game there is no price; the only way to make one is to murder Shigeru Miyamoto and wear his flesh as a skinsuit as you go into work every day at Nintendo of Japan.
Sometimes you dont even need to make money off of your fangame for it to be taken down, it just needs to garner enough attention for corporations to find a problem with you infringing on their property (like "Another metroid remake" or that pokemon fangame that also got shut down, or Chrono resurrection).
Rine
1378
Most companies are more worried about brand dilution than anything else. There's a reason Pokemon GO has such a wonky combat system. They are worried if you can get your Pokemon fix in a free to play game, people won't buy the original (probably nonsense, but a legitimate concern).
Fan-games fall right in there, and most only avoid problems by being small and going unnoticed.
Make no mistake: Under current legal precedent, you do -not- have any right to make a game with characters that still fall under copyright. You have some rights under Fair Use to use them in certain very limited contexts (Usually just footage for critique and the like), but even that is an affirmative defense, not an outright 'right'. It sucks that currently copyright extends for basically forever, but it does.
If it falls into the public domain, you can use it all you want though, as long as you don't infringe too much on someone else's more recent take. (Cinderella is fine, Disney's Cinderella isn't).
Besides, never understood the urge to just copy someone else's character. Getting inspired, sure, but use your creative juices to design something that's -yours-.
Remix, don't reuse.
Fan-games fall right in there, and most only avoid problems by being small and going unnoticed.
Make no mistake: Under current legal precedent, you do -not- have any right to make a game with characters that still fall under copyright. You have some rights under Fair Use to use them in certain very limited contexts (Usually just footage for critique and the like), but even that is an affirmative defense, not an outright 'right'. It sucks that currently copyright extends for basically forever, but it does.
If it falls into the public domain, you can use it all you want though, as long as you don't infringe too much on someone else's more recent take. (Cinderella is fine, Disney's Cinderella isn't).
Besides, never understood the urge to just copy someone else's character. Getting inspired, sure, but use your creative juices to design something that's -yours-.
Remix, don't reuse.
Shinan
4314
author=Mirak
Sometimes you dont even need to make money off of your fangame for it to be taken down, it just needs to garner enough attention for corporations to find a problem with you infringing on their property (like "Another metroid remake" or that pokemon fangame that also got shut down, or Chrono resurrection).
Or even on this very site. Marvel Brothel.
zeello
40
Drawing fanart is considered perfectly acceptable, so I don't see how game making is different from that. I had even considered making a game starring Pokemon.
By the way, someone did use Batman in a game and nobody complained about copyright infringement back then:
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/16862/?p=50#posts
Also relevant: (old thread from long time ago)
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/17929/?post=639626
Also relevant: (recent thread from page 1 of this forum section)
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/22707/
By the way, someone did use Batman in a game and nobody complained about copyright infringement back then:
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/16862/?p=50#posts
Also relevant: (old thread from long time ago)
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/17929/?post=639626
Also relevant: (recent thread from page 1 of this forum section)
https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/22707/
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=zeello
Drawing fanart is considered perfectly acceptable, so I don't see how game making is different from that.
Yeah, here's where the water starts to get a little murky. On a strictly legal front, fan art isn't okay either. Hell, even cosplay is considered copyright infringement. At the end of the day, you are using an IP that doesn't belong to you. That's all it takes to infringe on someone's copyright.
However:
You are totally correct in that they are generally considered acceptable. 99% of companies led by people with functioning brains will not try to shut you down for your fan art or cosplay (as long as you're not selling it or claiming the characters as your own). The obvious reason is the free advertising. Most of the time, fan art, cosplay, etc. is done purely out of love for the IP. Companies realize this and choose to only go after people who are trying to claim these IPs as their own.
But there's one key difference between all of what I just said and fan games: Fan games have the potential to lead customers AWAY from the original works.
A picture of Mario likely isn't going to stop someone from buying a Mario game. A Mario fan game, on the other hand, provides an incentive for someone to play that INSTEAD of buying a Mario game. Ironically, the better a fan game is, the more likely it is to get shut down. That's why Another Metroid 2 Remake and Pokemon Uranium were shut down. A turn-based RPG with 16 bit assets that just happens to have Batman characters in it likely isn't even a blip on Warner Bros' radar.
How LIKELY a fan game is to influence customers towards or away from buying an official game is up for debate, but overall irrelevant in the eyes of the law as it is currently written. The point is that anyone using someone else's IPs is infringing on their copyright.
TL;DR: Acceptable? Yes. Legal? Not at all.
Right, because it makes fiscal sense to bring every violator to civil justice, but then you're bankrupt...I think there are five, maybe six companies who royally screwed themselves that way...
My friend has the right idea by going the Anti-Copyright route...
Fan games are just an extension of the love the creator has for the original work and/or is looking to improve upon an idea. In general, innovative people like that land jobs at some point.
But when I think of the best way to create something fan based, modding is the best way to go, like the New Threat mod for Final Fantasy VII, many of the mods for the Elder Scrolls games (including one I won't mention publicly), or armor mods for the Megaman X series (palette/character/stat mods), among others.
I've played a few fan games in the past that actually led me to play the original works (and this is true for a lot of gamers).
My friend has the right idea by going the Anti-Copyright route...
Fan games are just an extension of the love the creator has for the original work and/or is looking to improve upon an idea. In general, innovative people like that land jobs at some point.
But when I think of the best way to create something fan based, modding is the best way to go, like the New Threat mod for Final Fantasy VII, many of the mods for the Elder Scrolls games (including one I won't mention publicly), or armor mods for the Megaman X series (palette/character/stat mods), among others.
I've played a few fan games in the past that actually led me to play the original works (and this is true for a lot of gamers).
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=Reapergurl
Right, because it makes fiscal sense to bring every violator to civil justice, but then you're bankrupt...I think there are five, maybe six companies who royally screwed themselves that way...
Fan games are just an extension of the love the creator has for the original work and/or is looking to improve upon an idea. In general, innovative people like that land jobs at some point.
I... didn't say or even imply otherwise. In fact, I actually said most companies recognize the value of fan works. But OK, I guess?
The question in the OP was how to use other IPs in a game without violating copyright law. The answer is you can't. Whether or not this stops Robercletzon or anyone else from going ahead with their projects anyway is their choice.
