What does a developer do if they find their game being sold online by a company they never signed a software contract with and who has never paid the developed any money and has no intention of even replying to their emails?

He learn.

Look under L in the yellow pages.

Grrrr,

I''m serious guys. My game Powball is being sold by on-line websites illegally:

http://www.softdepia.com/games/arcade/powball.html

People are actually buying the game and the money isn''t going to me.

How would you feel if your game was on sale illegally? Surely there''s something that can be done?

Metallica once asked "What can we do if our songs are downloaded illegally?"...

The short answer is that there is plenty you can do, but it''s a matter of whether you have the time/resources/energy to actually do it.

They have a link to the author''s site. Is that your site? If so, you could make sure that you expressed your displeasure on your site.

Also, if we give them the benefit of the doubt - have they ever actually sold a copy? In other words, an you prove that there are actual damages? It looks like they are mirroring tons of shareware. I agree, it''s a bit suspicious that they offer to sell it, but are they selling it? Try buying it and see what happens... A real fight will cost you more than 19.95 anyway...

Author, "Real Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in DirectX", "Focus on Curves and Surfaces"

The website it links to (Lomaxsoft) isn''t mine, it''s a website in Germany who''s selling it. Yes I know they actually do sell copies, it gets downloaded to whoever pays the $19 or whatever for it.

Powball was originally published by Australia''s Spectrum Pacific Publishing in about ''97 who sub-contracted out to other publishers like Lomax. But I got about 200 UK Pounds ($300) in total royalties and according to the paperwork, none of that money ever came from Lomax. 2 years later Spectrum Pacific closed the software contraact and paid the last of the pathetic royalties to me and Lomax never took the game off of their website. They are pocketing all the sales and either passing it on to Spectrum Pacific or keeping it themselves. Neither company will co-operate, knowing there''s nothing I can do. I re-released the game as Freeware in 2000, urging people not the buy the game anywhere it''s for sale.

But it seems that the sales of Powball still go on and Lomax have put Powball on to more websites recently like the Softpedia website. They don''t reply to my emails.

Since being ripped off by publishers I''ve been a poor man and given up games programming (sob sob). So how can I afford even the cheapest legal battle? There must be something else I can do.

I would dearly love to hear of anyone elses experience with publishing shareware to third party publishers.

quote: Original post by ant-man
Since being ripped off by publishers I''ve been a poor man and given up games programming (sob sob). So how can I afford even the cheapest legal battle? There must be something else I can do.

Yes, use the money and energy to make another game instead of giving it to a evil lawyer, who will sue you back if you loose.

quote: Original post by xaxa
Yes, use the money and energy to make another game instead of giving it to a evil lawyer, who will sue you back if you loose.

Thankyou, good plan xaxa I'm working on that right as we speak.

Any suggestions as to how I release my next game without being ripped off by publishers again? I don't believe I should make all my games freeware or release them as open source, especially while other people are trying to sell some really pooly made games for near commercial prices.

[edited by - ant-man on December 31, 2002 3:44:57 AM]

[edited by - ant-man on December 31, 2002 3:46:28 AM]

check your family dude, friends of family, find a Lawyer that is know by the family, theres a link to a lawyer in every family, really. The reason to do this is, becuase they will more likely do you a "free" favor. Im sure if you show the THREAT of a lawsuit, via a phone call from a LAWYER, they will be more apt at coming to the negotiation table, as a lawsuit is very costly to both parties.

quote: Original post by ant-man
Any suggestions as to how I release my next game without being ripped off by publishers again? I don't believe I should make all my games freeware or release them as open source, especially while other people are trying to sell some really pooly made games for near commercial prices.

Either self publish, or go to a reputable publisher like Dexterity Software. The best thing you can do is ask developers that are currently signed up with a publisher if they're happy with the publisher. Oh by the way, that Softdepia site is using RegNow.com as their payment processing service. You should definitely be able to get a response from them. If anything you could cripple Softdepia by cutting RegNow's support.

[edited by - FenixDown on December 31, 2002 1:32:22 PM]