SEERIC'S PROFILE

I believe RPG Maker and similar programs are capable of producing fantastic, unique, and enduring experiences and I love hunting down hidden gems. That being said, I admit to a near-equal love of wonky or horribly broken games and enjoy reviewing games on both ends of the spectrum.

In my opinion, the worst thing a game can be is perfectly average as such a game lacks both passion and a sense of identity.

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Stolen RMN Games on Steam

author=bicfarmer
better than someone making a game page of ur game on itchio containing a 11 MB virus


I think the difference here is that itch tends to be pretty good about taking action if something is reported as stolen, virus-infected or not. At this point it feels like the initial theft is slightly less of an issue than Valve's apparent refusal to take action against Garnudo Games except on an individual basis.

I could understand having some leniency if a developer/publisher has a game with a stolen sprite or song, but if they've already been forced to take down a game because the game itself is stolen I think it's absurd not to ban them from your platform outright.

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

Hey, it looks like Garnudo's version of Island Sky got taken down!

Unfortunately, it also looks like everything else is still up, which seems to indicate that either Garnudo Games took it down themselves to avoid trouble or Valve simply doesn't punish publishers for stealing content beyond removing individual games that have claims filed against them.

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

It would probably be easier to catch them on using ripped sprites since a whole lot of old freeware RPG Maker games have at least some character/environment/enemy sprites (and music) from SNES and NES games. That said, I'm not sure how much that would even accomplish.

When they were called out for using Lufia 2 sprites in "It's good to be a pirate" on the Steam store by people who weren't aware that the game itself was stolen freeware, they left the file the same while changing the store name to "Suzaku Fly VR" and replacing the screenshots. They've done the same thing with "Dragon Knight:Royal quest" and changing the name and screenshots to "Black Hangman" while leaving the file itself unchanged by the looks of things. Suzaku Fly looks to have been taken off sale entirely now (clicking on my link above still leads to a Steam page, but there's nothing to buy), and I assume the same would be true with "Black Hangman".

The other issue is that trying to push such an angle could potentially negatively impact the original developers since at the end of the day they're also using ripped sprites, even if they're not trying to profit from it.

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

I just came across yet another one stolen from RMN. It looks like their game "Black Hangman" is actually the file for "Dragon Knight:Royal quest" with the store title and screenshots swapped. The name of the game you actually buy is still "Dragon Knight Royal Quest RPG" and there's a thread on the Steam page for it where someone was excited to see a "Final fantasy 1-3 Dragon quest type" game. Others in the thread noted the sprites were stolen and later on they note that "they completely changed the game".

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/951810/Black_Hangman/
RMN Page: https://rpgmaker.net/games/7710/

I've also already sent a message to riderx40 concerning the matter.

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

I don't have a device I can afford to deliberately potentially infect with malware, so I can't check how safe these games even are unfortunately.

However, considering they bothered to make a generic template they shoved a few game-specific facts into and they look to have taken their own screenshots (in addition to stealing several from the RMN pages of course), my guess is the full games are present, though that doesn't mean they're free of malware.

It's hard to tell what their goal even is. If it's to make money, I doubt they're making much even with the sheer number of games involved and they're taking some (admittedly low) legal risks to do so. If it's to distribute malware, then it's odd that they would be charging money at all since putting all the games up for free would be far more effective. Of the two, it's probably better if malware is their goal since that's something everyone can flag their games for, not just the developers.

On another note, it also looks like they've been at this since all the way back in September too. Their older games are hard to find connections to since a lot of them have generic names like "break the blocks", but I did make one discovery. The original name for "Infinite road" has been left in the video and one of the screenshots. This is a free Google Play app named "Branches" by BaTatTa. Unfortunately, even though the original game is from 2017, the developer's contact site no longer exists and there is no other contact information given.

Garnudo Games Steam page for Infinite road: https://store.steampowered.com/app/929840/Infinite_road/
Google Play store page for Branches: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.batata.branches

I have to wonder if all of this serves as their way of testing just how much they can get away with. They moved on from stealing app games and changing the names in September to stealing old RPG's and leaving the names intact outside of sometimes adding "RPG" to the end in October.

Some of the games are also likely asset flips, such as Click the Business appearing to be an unmodified version of the tutorial project from this Unity asset store item: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/idle-clicker-business-tycoon-simulation-94393

Oh, and one final bit of weirdness that I've discovered. One of their games is called "Suzaku Fly VR". It doesn't have a video, but the screenshots look like it's a game where you fly an eagle through portals or something. However, the Steam label for buying it says "Buy It's good to be a pirate RPG" and, sure enough, "It's good to be a pirate" is an old game on RMN. I have no idea if the file tied to this game is the eagle game or the RPG, but it's safe to say that it it's not the RPG then they have that one too and likely plan to try selling it in the near future.

Garnudo Games Suzaku Fly VR page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/951280/Suzaku_Fly_VR/
It's good to be a pirate RMN page: https://rpgmaker.net/games/1292/

EDIT: I just found another one from September, Energy Nodes, this time from the iOS app store.
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/935030/Energy_nodes/
App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id871041093?mt=8

It also looks like the screenshots from "Suzaku Fly VR" are from a Google Play game called "Eagle VR Flight Simulator", which isn't even currently on the Play store anymore (though I did see a download for it on at least one site).

Even if these aren't all RMN games, it's probably best to try to track them down since they're still games being stolen and we might be able to get in touch with at least one more developer concerning the matter.

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

Oh, it looks like that Reddit thread has also caught another game, Orpheus, so that brings the count up to 11. This one's not for sale, it's just listed as Coming Soon with screenshots matching the RMN game in question and, like the others, it's an older game (uploaded to RMN in 2013). So far it also looks like Ocean remains the only exception to the other pattern of "small, more obscure games by inactive developers with no contact information outside of RMN".

Garnudo Games:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/959960/Orpheus/

RMN Page:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/4890/

Stolen RMN Games on Steam

I'm not sure if it will matter but, just in case it ends up helping somehow, at least 6 other games also look to be stolen from here by Garnudo Games. Here are the ones I've noticed in addition to the ones already listed.

Garnudo Games Steam Version:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/959940/Inside/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/955850/Three_Treason_Theories_RPG/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/954900/The_Blight/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/955820/Stationary/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/954930/Slimes_RPG/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/955770/Lost_and_Found_RPG/

RMN Pages:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/4333/
https://rpgmaker.net/games/6740/
https://rpgmaker.net/games/4788/
https://rpgmaker.net/games/6977/
https://rpgmaker.net/games/6670/
https://rpgmaker.net/games/6551/

It seems like they strictly stuck to games with a "Date Added" of 2014 or earlier. It's bizarre that they were seemingly careful about picking old games, yet they didn't even bother to change the names beyond sometimes sticking "RPG" at the end. Perhaps they figured nobody would notice for a while as long as they stuck with older stuff mostly made by inactive developers. I doubt they were betting on Valve being so apparently apathetic about the situation at any rate.

How are things going for the MOG events?

I've played around a bit with LMMS as far as music goes, but I've been pretty busy the last month so I haven't had much time to actually make anything. I should have more free time though starting around this weekend so I definitely plan to at least make something for both parts of the event before the deadline.

[Poll] M.O.G. Multipart Event - pared down?

I'm definitely on board for this version of the event. I have no faith whatsoever in my ability to make any songs/graphics which aren't utterly atrocious and my schedule's going to be somewhat busy in the near future, but it's still a fun and meaningful way to get some practice in.

[Poll] M.O.G. Multipart Event - pared down?

I'd definitely participate (free time permitting) if we were to do the two-part event since it's pretty close to what I had suggested. I'm terrible at both drawing and creating music, but I still wouldn't mind at least attempting to make a few enemy and/or character sprites and maybe even a terrible song or two (though I wouldn't even know where to begin with a tileset). Plus, I think it would be very interesting to see how everyone utilizes the different assets created by the community in their games, especially since there would be such a mixture of styles and intents amongst the assets.
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