About copying sprites and copyright..
Author
I have a small confusion regarding art and usage.
I have seen sprite sheets of various games, mostly snes games tought. Isn't that illegal? to extract the sprites from a game and then distributing it? would it be illegal if I used those tiles in a freeware or in a commercial game?
It IS illegal when you use somebody elses stuff without his express permission.
Still, most companies don´t care about fangames or hobby stuff. At the latest, try to make a commercial product with somebody elses artwork, and chances are good to run into mayor, very expensive trouble ...
Still, most companies don´t care about fangames or hobby stuff. At the latest, try to make a commercial product with somebody elses artwork, and chances are good to run into mayor, very expensive trouble ...
Author
So using a sprite sheet from a known character in a hobbyist game is illegal, but I won't get sued?
If that's so, I'll probably get away of using some famous character art without permission, even if everybody does it XD
If that's so, I'll probably get away of using some famous character art without permission, even if everybody does it XD
It's illegal and you might *still* get sued.
They might not notice, might not care or might ask you to remove them.
Better to bite the bullet and use your own sprites, uncopyrighted ones or ask
permission.
They might not notice, might not care or might ask you to remove them.
Better to bite the bullet and use your own sprites, uncopyrighted ones or ask
permission.
I highly doubt that they could sue you unless youve made money off of their product, or the traffic from that product. At most, if they feel the stuff youre using is benefiting you somehow, and not them, theyll make you take it off the Net.
Yes, it is illegal. I don't think so it is a big deal about fan games.. I can't believe that Nintendo will bother if you use the graphics for a fan game releasing freeware.
Author
Alright no sprite sheets from other games XD Actually I'll ask first, but I'm 99.999% sure that they will just ignore my message.
Thanks for clearing this up.
Thanks for clearing this up.
Quote:Original post by BrutoMemo
Yes, it is illegal. I don't think so it is a big deal about fan games.. I can't believe that Nintendo will bother if you use the graphics for a fan game releasing freeware.
Actually, Nintendo is one of the companies that almost certainly will bother you about it (if they notice your game), especially since they're planning to re-release thier back-catalogue with the Revolution, meaning they have a definate interest in protection thier copyrights and IP.
The game sprites in question concern those from the game of Terranigma, from Quintet.
The game was released back in 1995 on 20th of October for the SNES.
But the information on this company is very limited. And the only thing i got was a website in japanese that is suposedly the quintet mainsite. http://www.quintet.co.jp/
Maybe anyone has a more promosing lead to contacting Quintet?
[Edited by - TerraHero on September 25, 2005 10:05:43 AM]
The game was released back in 1995 on 20th of October for the SNES.
But the information on this company is very limited. And the only thing i got was a website in japanese that is suposedly the quintet mainsite. http://www.quintet.co.jp/
Maybe anyone has a more promosing lead to contacting Quintet?
[Edited by - TerraHero on September 25, 2005 10:05:43 AM]
It's a common misconception that a copyright holder can't/won't sue a project that "doesn't make any money".
Lets take for example a Dragon Ball Z Quake 3 mod that was in development a few years back. After the first "beta" release of the mod to the gaming community they were contacted by funimation. Who informed them that they were working in cooperation with infogrames on a DBZ game that would be too similar to their mod. They could not allow something "free" to be distributed and compete with their $50.00 Dragon Ball Z fighter comming out in a few years. So they sent along a cort order to stop. In effect halting the production on the MOD.
All you need to do in order to get sued is to simply make a product that in someway remotely competes with the copyright holders intentions. And that is enough to get you sued.
Another miss-conception is that they can't take what you don't have (I.E. Money). In numerous court cases people have been fined a large ammount and are required to turn a percentage of their checks over to the people they've dammaged. This happens all the time.
The bottom line here is that using the copyrighted sprites for development is fine. But before your games done with find an artist & replace the sprites with something origional. You'll be saving yourself alot of grief and hassle in the future.
Lets take for example a Dragon Ball Z Quake 3 mod that was in development a few years back. After the first "beta" release of the mod to the gaming community they were contacted by funimation. Who informed them that they were working in cooperation with infogrames on a DBZ game that would be too similar to their mod. They could not allow something "free" to be distributed and compete with their $50.00 Dragon Ball Z fighter comming out in a few years. So they sent along a cort order to stop. In effect halting the production on the MOD.
All you need to do in order to get sued is to simply make a product that in someway remotely competes with the copyright holders intentions. And that is enough to get you sued.
Another miss-conception is that they can't take what you don't have (I.E. Money). In numerous court cases people have been fined a large ammount and are required to turn a percentage of their checks over to the people they've dammaged. This happens all the time.
The bottom line here is that using the copyrighted sprites for development is fine. But before your games done with find an artist & replace the sprites with something origional. You'll be saving yourself alot of grief and hassle in the future.
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