Actually, Some Guy, ROMs and Napster have nothing to do with this. ROMs are the actual copyrighted games, not games written from scratch based on copyrighted ideas. And people used Napster to distribute the actual copyrighted music, not music made from scratch but based on copyrighted lyrics. Those two are stealing, not copyright infringement.

~CGameProgrammer( );

Come on, the bookmarks were an example The fact remains, regardless if the company cares or not, distributing anything that makes use of copyrighted material is copyright infringement and is illegal. If you do it, you do so at your own risk. My whole point is I hate seeing people spout off false information like it''s a fact. Everytime this question comes up someone says "It''s okay as long as you don''t charge money for it!". This is completely inaccurate and just plain wrong. So if BalAhan makes a Star Wars game, he should at least understand that it is legally possible for LucasArts to sue him. Will they? Highly unlikely. But again, that''s not the point.

GamesToGO: The Console Gamer''s Paradise

This sounds like a case for "Don''t Sue People Panda"

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Original post by Aldacron

Come on, the bookmarks were an example The fact remains, regardless if the company cares or not, distributing anything that makes use of copyrighted material is copyright infringement and is illegal. If you do it, you do so at your own risk. My whole point is I hate seeing people spout off false information like it''s a fact. Everytime this question comes up someone says "It''s okay as long as you don''t charge money for it!". This is completely inaccurate and just plain wrong. So if BalAhan makes a Star Wars game, he should at least understand that it is legally possible for LucasArts to sue him. Will they? Highly unlikely. But again, that''s not the point.

GamesToGO: The Console Gamer''s Paradise

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I agree with you completely. I don''t know where these little ''yes, this is legal'' type rules get made up but the best place to get the real answer is a lawyer.

It''s true that there are many little games using copyrighted material and this could give people the impression that it''s okay, but in these cases those copyright holders have simply decided that this is not a threat to them. That does not mean that they can''t change their mind about it and it doesn''t mean that it''s legal. The fact is if you make a Star Wars game then you can potentially get your ass sued. The reality is that it wouldn''t go this far and the usual ''cease and desist'' order would be issued though.

Look at it from the point of view of LucasArts (or whoever does hold the trademarks/copyrights). I am sure that if someone is pushing a game out that is just as good as their own and they pay a huge royalty some to the real license holder then they are going to be pissed about it. It doesn''t matter whether that game if for sale or some homebrew freeware thing, the fact is that it could affect their sales and they''d have a right to stop you doing that.

If you do want to do something like this then first consider what you want to do with the result. If you want to keep it for yourself and play it yourself...it''s still illegal and technically whoever has a problem with that could say that if you didn''t program it for yourself you might have bought their game, which of course is an unlikely thing that they''d do for against one person. They may still have an interest in stopping you though as they could not be sure the game would never be released, even if by innocently giving it to a friend. If you do want to release it properly then start consulting with your lawyer now...and listen to him.

Now let''s move on, shall we?

BalAhan: You want to make a Star Wars strategy text game, right? You''ve known all this time that''s sorta-kinda-illegal, but now you really know that it is all out wrong. There is no excuse for it and they can stop you if they want.

So don''t make a Star Wars game. Make something else. If you ever have to scratch your head and think about if something is illegal or not, then it probably is. What really is the sense in making something illegal?

Make your strategy text game but place it something of your own creation. Sit down and brainstorm brand new ideas. If anything, you''ll get more respect from everyone.

Some people would like to say, "But I''m not good at thinking up ideas, I don''t like to write, Wah! Wah! Wah!" Whiners. Don''t be like them. Just sit down and do your own thing. More than that, think up your own techniques on getting them done. If anything, you''ll feel a whole lot better that you did.

I did think up an origional idea for a game like this. I just wanted to do both. See I''m a Starwars fan, and I''ve played and liked games like Monarchy or Earth 2025. I just think that a game like that using Starwars would rule. Especially when this type of webgame can bring so much just from the community in terms of RPing and such, if there were a Starwars game like this out there, I''d be all over it, but there isn''t, so I wanted to make one, but I probably won''t know, thanks for all your input. It''s like the fact that no Starwars RP game has been made (for the console at least, and I think the comp too), and I feel that Starwars has such potential for a great RP game. Ahh well... I guess LucasArts should just hire me.

Hey People, do some research before you claim straight something illegal, especially when it involves copyright law. If he made an original game with an original story set in the star wars universe with no content from the movies , he would break absolutely no copyright law. The use of the names goes under "trademark" law, and some non - commercial uses enter the "fair use" provision. Though any pictures or quotes from the movie would be considered infringement, unless they were used for educational purposes. Well the best thing to do if you really want to make a fan created non commercial Star Wars based game that was text only, is write someone in lucasarts in charge of that on how you could go about that. The worst that could happen is they say no or you will get no response at all. As for being sued, it is highly unlikely no matter what anyone here says.

Another thing a storm trooper was an elite nazi soldier. Star wars rips so many ideas off its not funny, though it''s probably not obvious unless you are from Middle eastern Europe.

Yes, the Nazis should sue Lucas Arts for ripping of their "ideas" ;-) C''on...

Tim

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glvelocity.gamedev.net
www.gamedev.net/hosted/glvelocity

Tons of people draw pictures based on copyrighted material and distribute it for free, and no one seems to think that''s illegal. So if that''s legal how could a free video game (which is basically just a moving picture that responds to input) of copyrighted material be illegal? How does the government draw fine lines between all these things and how does anyone know for sure how a court would rule in stuff like this?