UNITY'S PROFILE

author=kentona
Does anyone else need constant validation that their venture has merit, or is it just me?

From one person who is making a longform game and craves validation to another, your venture has merit!

That's the best I can do right now :P

author=Red_Nova

author=Shinan

author=Irog

author=Avee
In fact, Game Freak are legally entitled to do so:
https://www.pokemon.com/us/legal/

These are rules written by big corporations to claim ownership of art they didn't make. Are these rules legal ?

Fan art in general is a breach of copyright but I guess the copyright holder can be gracious enough to allow people to make fan art as the pokemon company has done there. It's perfectly legal and easier than having to give specific permission to everyone who asks to make something derivative of the stuff you own.

It's true that, in strictly legal terms, using any IP that doesn't belong to you for any purpose is copyright infringement. It's also true that most companies have enough sense to know that going after harmless fan works is a bad idea on, like, every conceivable level.

That being said, I remember listening to a lawyer talk about copyright law a long time ago, and they said that while you can't claim ownership over someone else's IP, no else can claim ownership over the actual work you created. If you drew Pokemon fanart, for example, Nintendo or Game Freak can't come in and say that they own the art you made, only the IP. So, if I'm remembering correctly, I'm pretty sure claiming someone else's fanworks as their own is not the right of the corporations unless there is documented proof somewhere that the person who created the arrangement explicitly agreed to those terms.

Law is convoluted and hyperspecific and goes on a case by case basis, though, so don't bring my name up as evidence if anyone decides to sue Game Freak for copyright infringement XD I'm just not big on trusting corpos following the law just because they wrote a paragraph in a tab called Legal Information.

Yeah totally. There's also an added wrinkle of the whole "how will this hold up in court" part. I still think the kosher and morally in the clear thing would be to ask the fanwork creator for permission, but it's not like the Pokemon company is really worried about losing in court to a fan creator remixing a copywritten piece of music. It sucks for the little guy but thaaaaat's copyright! (or captialism? Or law? Or just our world in general? Dunno)

A term I hear writers use for how people tend to do this is Planner and Pantser, with planners creating detailed outlines before diving into the writing (or game dev) and Pantsers write as they go along (or "by the seat of their pants")

I'm somewhere in-between. I want to have a bare-bones outline of where the story is going (it can even be missing key things like the ending for awhile) and the idea of who most of the characters are going to be before I start in earnest. I'll also list off key locations that need to be in the game. After I have that, I want to make sure that whatever key details of the gameplay I need are something I can get working correctly.

After that, I become more of a pantser, making and writing while I go, but all the while referring back to the bare-bones outline, adding extra details, characters and locations to it as needed.

How long does it take me to actually get started on any game? Like Red said, that depends. It can be a few hours or even just minutes for a quick jam game, and for others it'll be at most a few weeks, tho I often cannot resist dipping my toes in-engine and starting with some mapping, database work or battle prototyping once I have a few ideas down.

I think in the end there is no "right" way to do any of it, just finding what's right for you and works is what's important :D

Top Ten kentona status posts, go! :D

Reverse Longinus, Caliburn in Hell, Twice Damned Dagger, Faustian Armor, Savior Slayer, Scimitar for the Devil, Staff of Baphomet, Muramurasame, Pazuzu's Punisher, The Gun that Sinned Too Much, The Devil Went Down to Gungnir, God Damnsleif, Adam Atomizer, Lævateinn Delux 616, Flamberge Extra Fiery, The Devil's Hand, Hellcalibur, Areadbhair but Even Worse, Baalista, Spork of the Devil