Hi, I am not sure whether the topic is under the right forum and how newbish the question may sound. I am developing a 3d jump and run, and would like to have a similar if not exactly the same camera idea as Mario 64 (follow, switch at 45 degrees; near, far). So my question is whether I would violate some copyrights, or better yet, can something like this be copyrighted? Thanks.

Surely the code that makes the the camera in Mario 64 is copyright, but there's no issue whatsoever with you creating your own camera that does the same thing. If it was illegal for an action like that to be replicated, well... let's just say we'd only have first person shooters coming from id Software :)

Yeah, good point about id Software. :)

Thanks

Schmedly is spot on. While the code that handles the camera is protected by copyright the concept of a camaera that acts in that way isn't.

Thank god the only first person shooters aren't id.

Mario 64 actualy set the bases for that kind of camera angle and has been duplicated in 100s of games so there should be no issue of you doing this.

ID is not my favorite when it comes to stories, so if all fps were id, I would probably die forever. Just kidding.

The only thing that would protect the idea behind the camera in Mario 64 is a patent. I'm not sure if Nintendo would have got a patent on their camera control, so I had a look through the patent database.

I'm not sure exactly what they cover, but it does appear that there are a series of patents awarded to Nintendo and Miyamoto et al for a "Three-dimensional image processing apparatus". There's heaps of these but here's the abstract of U.S. Patent 6,491,585 (there's also a lot of older ones too).

Quote: A video game system includes a game cartridge which is pluggably attached to a main console having a main processor, a coprocessor, expandable main memory and player controllers. A multifunctional peripheral processing subsystem external to the game microprocessor and coprocessor is described which executes commands for handling player controller input/output to thereby lessen the processing burden on the graphics processing subsystem. The video game methodology features camera perspective or point of view control features. The system changes the "camera" angle (i.e., the displayed point of view in the three-dimensional world) automatically based upon various conditions and in response to actuation of a plurality of distinct controller keys/buttons/switches, e.g., four "C" buttons in the exemplary embodiment. The control keys allow the user at any time to move in for a close up or pull back for a wide view or pan the camera to the right and left to change the apparent camera angle. Such user initiated camera manipulation permits a player to better judge jumps or determine more precisely where an object is located in relation to the player controlled character.

Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what these cover. I'd have thought since I've seen third person camera views in many different games it would be fine, but now I'm not so sure.

Howdy,

While the concept itself couldn't be copyrighted, it could certainly be patented.

Whether or not it is is another issue. Maybe searching for something like 'an apparatus for a virtual camera system with two distinct aperature sizes'. I mean, is it just me or do these people find the stupidest names to get patents. Regardless though, I'd be surprised if they did actually have a patent over anything other than the two camera levels. It would also surprise me if someone else hadn't registered [or tried to register] a patent on the concept of a 3rd person follow camera.

That said,

Quote:
let's just say we'd only have first person shooters coming from id Software :)

Is really assuming that ID software had 2 things, lack of precedent, and will to patent. Of which they had neither. MIDI maze would constitute prior use, and John Carmack is quite against all [illogical] forms of patents [and I doubt that anyone at ID would have tussled with him back in the day].

--CJM

You can not patent game concepts.
Now, I don't know if they can patent that camera method, but if I were you I wouldn't worry. I don't care about software patents at all. You can just put the game on some server in Europe and tell the American people that they are not allowed to play the game because of patent issues. They won't care about that, so they will download and play it anyway :)

There's another interesting nintendo patent.

Sanity system for video game
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6,935,954

- James