Game looks cool, but I always have mixed feelings about articles like this. On the one hand it helps raise awareness about the game to the people who want to play it, but it also helps raise awareness about the game to the people who are going to send the cease-and-desist letter.
I’m pretty sure devs are fully aware of what’s going to happen which is why they avoided putting their names on the project and included the source code.
Hammer was always going to come down since they included game assets in the build - news articles won’t really change much on this matter,
I don't think it's entirely on the thrill of seeing if they can, it's also a passion project from their love of the original. They put it out there so people can enjoy the game in a fresh way, the way the devs want it to be able to be experienced.
Including a trademarked term right in the title is the thing that gets most fan projects. It's a multiplier for takedowns, it can't get any easier for companies than running a simple script that just searches Itch/Gamejolt/Github for terms and then doing a mass takedown of the results. And that will even catch things with 3 downloads.
Sure user-added* or redone assets could help, but just distancing the name would help a lot more. Having 100% new assets won't stop a takedown if you use trademarked terms (see DMCA's Sky), and the DMCA system doesn't really discourage overstepping unless somebody has the willingness/money/time to take it to court.
*=image detection could be a thing as well though, so be careful with screenshots especially with a logo
Of course, I hope my comment didn’t imply otherwise. Unfortunately even a different title and completely original assets (AM2R?) won’t help much with some companies.
Good enough project will catch their eye sooner or later anyway.
DLed for posterity, so once it’s down I can still share it with those interested in actually enjoying it, rather than letting Nintendo continue to ruin shit like the whiny babies they are.
It’s less Nintendo and more shitty trademark and IP laws.
If you don’t aggressively go after anyone that is transgressing your IP, you can lose it.
IP really needs major and comprehensive reform. It’s not going to happen anytime soon as too much is built up around the status quo, but it really should be done.
Edit: Also, it’s a bit more complicated in terms of IP, but it is relevant to future works.
For example, fictional characters.
Let’s take Mickey Mouse as an example. Steamboat Willie is entering public domain, so the protections on the character as defined in that work is entering the public domain. But characterization of the figure in works still under copyright that have added unique details are still protected.
But the test for infringement of a fictional character is twofold. (1) Can the figure be copyrighted? (2) Is there infringement of unique characteristics?
That second part becomes much more difficult to enforce if you’ve been allowing millions of variations of your protected character when you initial work defining the character is no longer enforceable.
So if LoZ on the NES enters the public domain making ‘Ganon’ as a pig usable by people, but since that game there’s been tons of spinoffs by others having Ganon as a human before Nintendo had Ganon as depicted in OoT, then they’d have a much harder time enforcing copyright on Ganon being depicted as a human even if Ganon as a pig was no longer under copyright.
No lawyer is going to say “yeah, let 3rd parties use your IP willy nilly, I’m sure it will be fine and not bite us in the ass later on.”
For example:
Copyright protection is effectively never lost, unless explicitly given away or the copyright has expired. However, if you do not actively defend your copyright, there may be broader unauthorized uses than you would like. It is a good idea to pursue enforcement actions as soon as you discover misuse of your copyright protected material.
If you have experienced copyright infringement, you have the right to pursue a lawsuit. However, you only have a limited time frame during which to file a claim. This legal principle is called the “statute of limitations.” Ensuring that you file a claim to enforce your copyright within the statute of limitations is crucial. If you wait too long, you will lose the right to enforce your copyright and obtain your deserved damages.
So a fan project that you don’t enforce against for three years which eventually monetizes as competition without infringement trademarks would be a potential concern.
...You realize that none of that is setting precedent, it just means you can't pursue, right? You still can't lose the IP even in the worst-case scenario, and the first example you gave even says that.
Copyright protection is effectively never lost, unless explicitly given away or the copyright has expired.
You seem to just really strongly want to justify Nintendo's actions, which are not the norm across the industry for how IP issues are handled....
Like yeah there's shitty IP laws, and shitty trademark laws, but they don't justify Nintendo's specific reactions.
which are not the norm across the industry for how IP issues are handled…
Go ahead and cite whatever you think the ‘norm’ is then.
Where else do you see publishers turning a blind eye to unlicensed remakes of their games?
The difference isn’t Nintendo being more legal trigger happy, it’s that their stuff is way more often being used in unlicensed ways so they come up more often in stuff like this.
But there’s a ton of examples of the same being the ‘norm’:
-Everything related to Bethesda's mod scene
-The entire Touhou doujin scene, even including sold games/music
-Sonic games which included fans being brought in for sonic mania
-Megaman and Street fighter have huge histories in modding. Pretty sure megaman has an entire fan-game for Zero's orgin story
So...That gives us Bethesda, Sega, and Capcom at minimum for big players, and Touhou pretty much shows you aren't going to lose your fucking IP over this.
No, Nintendo really does just do it more often than everyone else. You don't gain that rep absolutely everywhere just on hearsay.
Bethesda is owned by Zenimax, and an officially licensed mod scene is completely different.
If you want to run the mods for Bethesda’s games, you need the retail software to do so.
I guarantee that if a group was creating a Morrowind remake that didn’t require owning some Bethesda core game that was being modded to achieve that, Zenimax’s lawyers would be quick to be on top of the issue.
It’s not like there’s not examples where Bethesda’s lawyers caused mods to be shut down where it involved redistribution of Bethesda game assets without needing to buy the game.
It’s *less about shitty trademark or copyright laws, and more about Nintendo.
First off, in all of your posts, you really don’t seem to realize that trademark has nothing to do with fan fiction or recreations. Not a single project that anyone has referenced has attempted to mimic Nintendo’s name and brand to sell a product. Zelda is trademarked, yes, so people can’t sell video games with “The Legend of Zelda” name- which has no bearing on this article or the work cited.
Second, the statute of limitations doesn’t go back three years to some arbitrary date, it goes back to when the alleged crime or infringement occurs. So if someone begins selling a TLoZ knockoff game, they have no grounds in court to say something dopey, like “well actually I started thinking about selling Zelda knockoff games five years ago, so even though I just started last month it is out of the statute of limitations”.
Third, from your list of shitty companies making it the norm, try Valve, who actively gives permission for people to mod and remake their games, and even allow the selling of remakes on their own platform. Or try Capcom, a Japanese company who has never attacked a fan game and still has full control over its IPs. But I digress, not being the norm has nothing to do with this.
If the laws surrounding copyright were suddenly and drastically changed today, Nintendo wouldn’t change their stance or their scare tactics. They don’t have to do it, they aren’t losing out on sales from it- and if modders had the ability to stand up for themselves in court, I don’t believe Nintendo would win even a notable amount of cases.
Two: Actually, per Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s supreme court decision, damages are limited to 3 years prior to the suit being filed with no recovery for earlier infringements.
I do see your point, but it's out there now. How many thousands of people just grabbed it, or will, because of the article?
Just like PGP, decss, and countless other things, it will be kicking around at the usual places for anyone who wants it for long time, probably well past the point where anyone cares anymore.
Yeah it kills me when I see someone share something like this in the early stages of development though, like great you just ensured this will never see the light of day
I don’t have too much time to play because of parental duties but every second I have goes to this game now. Looking forward to the next time I can sit down and play a map, solving the puzzle, gaining some resources for meta progression. It is so good.
Kinda. Frostpunk, I felt I had to choose between multiple bad choices. Where this is a bit more optimistic.
It’s more RTS-feeling, where you can CHOOSE to go to that route, and just roll with the punches. And it’s so sweet when your choices line up to the danger.
Superb is right! Absolutely a delight, it’s become something I keep returning to on a regular basis. Each time, just enough balance between “chilled out,” familiarity, and freshness of relevant judgment/choice-making. Definitely helps that the UI is absolutely on point throughout and the music is a delight.
Yeah I’ve tried using the Deck’s trackpads in games. I’m ok with it for an occasional menu, but I haven’t been able to enjoy it enough to use it as a primary gaming input device
I’ve played almost exclusively on my Steam Deck since early access. I’d argue it’s actually easier to play on the Steam Deck with all the hotkeys and whatnot mapped to buttons.
Yeah, I guess I’m gonna dogpile here a bit, but can confirm it’s pretty solid on the deck. I thought I’d hate track-padding, but it’s actually pretty pleasant. Just had to remap a couple things, like wood-cutting & a couple back paddle buttons and it plays surprisingly smoothly. I’ve played on both PC & deck and oddly I’m starting to get to like playing on the deck a little bit better actually.
Ok, yeah I’ve tried trackpadding other games on the Deck and it was a thoroughly unenjoyable experience for me. Maybe I’ll try to push through again with this game
One of the best games I've played in recent memory, even during EA. Extremely polished and well designed, it's worth every cent and if this doesn't convince you I think it still has a free demo you can try.
They have been amazing in terms of updates - regular meaningful updates every 2 weeks, it was amazing to see the game evolve so fast. I hope it means they just had a really good codebase and established workflow rather than they were crunching though.
I played it a few months ago, before 1.0, and honestly the difficulty pushes me away.
I expected for it to get harder over time, yes, but coming straight out of the tutorial I couldn’t “succeed” on the first real game. Pretty sure I had everything on easy too. Maybe it was the second game, either way.
Not everything is important. Not every building needs a person. Not every resource needs to be made. And if you’re angering the forest too much, pull back your wood cutters. Also, don’t open a new area without being ready with ingredients.
It’s a game of delicate balance and keeping your workforce moving, the supplies coming, and fulfilling requests.
I need a solid tutorial vid to get me goin on this one, somehow it’s mechanics fail to click in my brain and I have the hardest time just not dying. Anyone have a lead on that?
This was me too. I know I would love it if I gave it the time but my first few playthroughs didn’t catch me right away. Couldn’t get into the game loop
Did you try it recently or during EA? They added an extensive guided tutorial/story now that gets you through the beginning.
Other than that, the best advice I ever got was not to go too wild with the glade openings, only do it if you need something otherwise you're just raising the hostility for no reason.
Beside each race portrait there is an expanded menu that shows what makes them happy. Referencing this menu is essential to ensure your workers don’t die or leave. I pretty much always get a lumber mill or carpenter asap to help speed up plank production too. Cloth and brick production are pretty essential too, but with planks alone you can at least get everyone housed in the large shelters.
My main suggestion is to set your recipe limits - if you just keep making everything beyond reasonable levels, you run out of materials nonsensically, i.e. “No, I REALLY don’t need 200 brick, thanks, I’d rather have some pottery, just a LITTLE BIT, PLEASE”
I think I love this game so much because I tend to be a macro player in RTS games (queuing up a bajillion actions for each unit)… so being able to set “keep my stocks of these at 20, these at 10” gives me such joy.
pcgamer.com
Gorące