Yes I am aware of the frivolous yank lawsuits
People don't know their rights so companies will sue at anything. Though most of the time people don't get sued but just threatened to remove said items !
From what I understand from all this is that you cannot make 1:1 copies of a game and use their assets, obviously, however, if your game is same concept and substantially similar, you can get warned.
Example, if I were to make a game, give it a new name, but the game is a pac man concept where my character goes through a maze and eats dots or whatever.... Even though I have a new game name, I draw my own circle and triangle, my own dots or whatever and I don't copy the maze 1:1, I draw my own maze........ I would still be warned by namco. Whether my assets are all hand made or not.
Also it's never about protecting the bloody customer, who are you kidding mate - this is all about corporate greed and the fucking money ! Companies look for their own monetary interest first, they don't give 2 shits about customers' protection. If they see that a fan game/clone game is amazing and gain grounds, popularity/virility (
) even if FREEWARE, they will peruse it !
Mind you ,it all depends on the company. Some companies actually encourage clones/fan games, like LucasArts for example, its founder himself said publicly, that they support the fan community, providing you don't profit from your work.
Other companies like Nintendo, Namco, Atari, EA, etc, are categoric..... And even if you were to make a penis going through a maze instead of a circle (yeah that would be TKG's type of pac man clone lol) NAMCO would probably find SOME way to claim something........
So the SAFEST bet is to always contact the company you want to be inspired from and make a clone from, and get a written permission and approval FIRST. Of course most of the time you will be rejected and told no, or asked to pay licencing fees
Right now even an indie developer is fucked either way, because it's likely your game will always be similar to something out there and everyone is after the old money grab, the greedy tossers.... it's no longer about your rights anymore but your wallet
