I''m looking for anyone with a few finished projects under their belt to provide some insight on the following: I''m creating a small bomberman clone in OpenGL, it will be 2D and very basic. I''m programming it for the PC so that I can port it to the calculator (Ti89) so it will have very basic graphics etc. Once I''m done, I will hopefully have a finished PC version and a calculator version. I will probably end up putting the Bomberman clone in a portfolio or posting it on my game dev site (just a personal site). Now, what I''m currently doing is using the gameart from Bomberman 1, off of SNES. I want the people playing the calculator version to feel like it plays just like the SNES version, so thats why I''m using the same graphics (and I doubt I could draw my own that looked decent, and it saves a lot of time). I know I could use the same graphics for the calculator version, because they would be grayscale and on a small platform so I doubt it would be a problem. Now for the PC version, I''m not sure if it would be a problem or not. Does anyone know if Nintendo is touchy about such things (its an old system) and if it says that use of graphics is strictly forbidden or anything? Also, what kind of credit would I give in the readme (which is why I wanted someone who has done this before =)? I would be using the character, enemy and tile graphics. I would do my own splash screens and other graphics (I''m good at graphics, just can''t draw/create characters). Any help you guys could provide would be appreciated. -Phil Crosby www.philisoft.com www.graphics-design.com

Nintendo is one of the worst; very touchy.

There is nothing you can say in any readme or even the program to free yourself from copyright violation. It''s illegal for you to distribute your program if you have used Nintendo''s images.

However, it is completely legal for you to use this program for yourself and your own enjoyment.

Odds are that if you choose to distribute your program, only a couple dozen people will see it and no one will be the wiser. However, if it somehow becomes the next Tetris, Nintendo MiBs may come knocking.

One thing you should check is, was bomberman written by Nintendo, or did another company write the game. Just because a game is released on a nintendo system, doesn''t mean that nintendo owns the copywrites to it. But whatever company made it, is probably as bad as nintendo when it comes to copywrites.


[Insert Witty Signature Here]

If you don''t try to make money out of it, Nintendo( or whoever wrote it) will not go after you, they have better things to do. If it would be the case, you see a lot of tetris cloned author being sued!!!

quote:

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Original post by Gorg
If you don''t try to make money out of it, Nintendo( or whoever wrote it) will not go after you, they have better things to do. If it would be the case, you see a lot of tetris cloned author being sued!!!

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Actually, there have been many free Quake mods that were never released because they used copyrighted material (ie, southpark) and the people who owned those rights threatened to sue.

Find out who made Bomberman and write them asking them permission.


- Houdini

It was Hudson software

of interactive, or something

It was made by Hudson Soft =)

This isn''t really a serious game type thing, just something to hone the skills on a tile engine. I''m porting it to the calculator which will probably be popular, but the only people that will ever see the PC version would be in my portfolio; so, it will be non-profit and for personal use. Thanks for all that replied, you guys have some good advice. I''m gonna go ahead and develop the game using the SNES bomberman''s graphics. I''ll also contact Hudson soft to make sure they don''t care.

Thanks all.

Cya


-Phil Crosby
www.philisoft.com
www.graphics-design.com