Is that so? then it means you could not publish anything, I didnt knew that, so what should you do? I thought just putting a copyright "(c)" notice would suffice like you can copyleft just by saying so, putting the (c) symbol on your publications should do it (I thought) and modifing your material would be ilegal.

I know you cant copyright ideas so someone might take your idea and implement it in a different way and this is not ilegal, however using the same name or distributing your implemetation of the idea is, or is it how patents work . . .
I am confused now, and is something I would like to get straigthened out, this is the reason why I havent published anything about my proyect.

I think potential designers do themselves a serious disservice by not talking about their ideas with others.

I don't want to encourage anyone to be reckless, but think about something:

Let's say you've got THE NEXT BEST THING. But you have no team, no leadership skills, no ability to execute, no financial backing, no way to test yourself, and no chance in hell of getting THE NEXT BIG THING realized.

Two things are likely to happen: You will not grow as a designer, because you never risk challenging your concepts against the minds of fellow potential designers. And THE NEXT BIG THING will either be conceived of by someone else because great minds think alike, or the time for THE NEXT BIG THING will come and go.

I've been designing for 10 years, and I can't count the number of times that I've held an idea close to my chest only to see the game industry come up with my (emphasis added to show arrogance) concept. Half-Life did scripted in game sequences. Rage of Mages blended an RTS with an RPG. I'm still waiting for monsters that knock weapons out of your hand and alien Civilization.

After working in the game industry and seeing how the business functions, I've totally given that up. I blab about everything, because the industry doesn't work the way many think. And testing my concepts against others is the only way I can improve.

The truth is that the majority of our ideas are likely to be bad. We have no way of strengthening our concepts unless we open ourselves to constructive criticism. Only then do we see our ideas with different eyes. A great (and sad) example: My friend thought he had the absolute best idea out there, and kept it to himself until a year ago. He was vastly afraid of it being stolen. Know what it was? The player could be anything from a molecule to a galaxy. =/ That's it. He didn't know anything about design, and had been carrying this around without a decent reality check.

Again, I'm not trying to trick you into losing your ideas. But any designer worth his salt will come up with 3 new ideas and a dozen permutations on them any given day. Whether they're worth anything is another story entirely.


Sorry for the diatribe, I really just want to direct newbies away from doing what I did wrong.


--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

Edited by - Wavinator on June 28, 2001 8:39:23 PM

Brief Design Document:
Petty Fighting

General Information

The whole concept of this game is focused on the multiplayer aspect. Basically this game can be played by 1-4 players, or more online. The idea of the game is to gain more terroity, by taking over your oppenents guarded zones. The game would be set indoors in specially made areas, for example in a warehouse.

Though because this is ‘Petty Fighting’ the players do not use harmful weapons, so no heavy artillery or machine guns. Instead they use less harmful weapons, weapons that would only really irritate the player, allowing you to successfully gain more terroity.

Throughout the battle, power ups and new weapons are scattered around the area, allowing the players to get stronger making it harder for your oppenents to gain more terroity.

Background Story

In the 1 player mode, there are two main teams, these two teams consist of the computer (bully) and ‘you’ the player (geeks). In one player mode this game is all about revenge and ‘you’ the geeks are seeking revenge for all the countless times of being bullied at school. It is now your time to strike back, and the bullies being the bullies are cocky and sly and will never back down to a ‘Petty Fight’ with the geeks.

Objective

In one player mode you must wipe out the bullies. There are six people in each team and once the person loses there energy then the next player steps up. On each level there are tasks which you must achieve, achieving these tasks will not allow you to go on to the next level but will allow you to gain more experience and to improve your weapons and supplies. The only way you can advance onto the next level is by finding a key, which will unlock the next location (level).

In the multiplayer mode you can choose whether or not you are geeks or bullies. You can choose between two styles of game play. 1. To gain the oppositions terroity or 2. Wipe out the other team members.

For game play style one you can choose the specific time limit varying from 3-20 minutes. Once the time is up, the team with the most terroity wins. The terroity is gained when you spray the floor with your team colors spray can.

Gameplay

When you first load the game, the main menu screen will appear. There will be a number of options leading to other options. This is the first screen that will appear the menu screen. Each ‘-‘ means after you’ve clicked on that option these are the next options available.

Menu Screen:

Start
- 1 Player – Choose Location – Choose Players –Weapons View- Shop

- Multiplayer – Choose which style of game play you want - Choose Location – Choose Team – Choose Players –Choose Weapons – Shop - * Choose time limit.

Tutorials – List of tutorials

Options
- Controls
- Graphics
- Sound

Quit

Start – 1 Player

If you decide to choose ‘1 player’ you will then be given the option of where you would like the battle to commence. There are 15 different locations altogether, though only 2 are available, the other 13 you have to unlock. Throughout the game levels, by completing the specific tasks helps you to gain keys, which you need to advance further into the game.

Next you can choose your players. For the ‘Geeks’ there are 10 different characters, all with special moves and they each have a specialist weapon. You can adjust the names to your liking. You may choose 6 players for each level.

Depending on which character you are, you will be able to view your weapon and is specification.

At the start of each 1-player game you are given £5. At the shop screen you may spend your money on ammunition for your players weapons.

Start – Multiplayer

The first screen decides which style of game your playing whether it is 1. To gain the oppositions terroity or 2. Wipe out the other team members. If you choose option 1. The * becomes an option later on.

In multiplayer you can only play the levels, which you have unlocked in 1 player mode, so if you decide to play multiplayer first you will only be able to play in 2 areas.

This time for character selection you can choose between either the bullies or the geeks. After choosing your preferred team, you then go onto the next screen where you can then choose your favorite 6 players of your selected team.

This screen the weapon choice screen is different to the screen in 1 player mode. You can choose which weapon you use and can use any weapon that your selected team uses. Each team has 10 special weapons, which vary to the other teams. Though throughout the game special power weapons can be picked up or bought in the shop.

If you decide to play the time styled game you can choose from 5 different time schemes. These are:

· 3 minutes
· 5 minutes
· 10 minutes
· 15 minutes
· 20 minutes

Tutorials

In this section you can learn the basic controls and use of all the weapons. You have a choice of tutorials, which are:

1. Locating the flag (this helps the player get to grips with the basic controls).
2. Weapon Selector (this helps the player get to grips with the different weapons).
3. Target Practice (this helps the player improve on their target practice).

For each of these tutorials you will start with a random chosen person. For tutorials 2 and 3 you are given all of the 20 weapons except for the power weapons. In tutorial 1 you are not given a weapon.

Options

In the options section you have 3 choices. You can redefine your controls to your liking. You can choose the music you play to and choose the volume of sound and music. You can also change the resolution of the game play and for slower machines you can adjust the amount of detail used.
Teams:

Geeks: Players 1-10 – not named yet

Bullies: Players 1-10 – not named yet

Weapons:

Geeks:

Player1 - Spud Gun

Player2 - Rubber Band Gun

Player3 - Rotten Eggs

Player4 - Small Water Pistol Player5 - Water Bombs Player6 - Yo-Yo Player7 - Boomerang Player8 - Giant Party Poopers Player9 - Rubber Dart Bow and Arrow
Player10 - Marbles

Bullies:

Player1 - Sling Shot Player2 - Gooey String Player3 - Moldy Tomatoes Player4 - Itching Powder Player5 - Rubber Dart Gun Player6 - Custard Pies Player7 - Pea Shooter Player8 - Unknown Player9 - Unknown Player10 – Mouse Trap

Depending on the player’s power of weapon at the start of the game reflects on how their other abilities will affect game play. For example if they have quite a powerful weapon which is a good point, to level it out they will need to have some kind flaw. So for example they might not be able to run as fast as a person who has a weaker powered weapon who can run faster.

Super Weapons

Paintball Gun
Tennis Ball Gun
Glue Gun
Custard Pie Catapult
Shop and Prices

Potatoes = £1 each – 10 shots out of one spud
Rubber Bands = £1 – 20 rubber bands
Rotten Eggs = £1 – for 4
Water Bottles = £2.50 for 1 litre (1 canister full)
Extended string (yo-yo) = £1 per foot
Party Poppers = £1 – for 10
Rubber Arrows = £2.50 – for 5 arrows
Marbles = £2.50 – for 50
Clay (sling shot) = £2.50 for a big ball (10 shots out of one ball)
Gooey String = £5 – for 1 can
Mouldy Tomatoes = £1 – for 10 tomatoes
Itching Powder = £2.50 – 2 bags
Rubber Darts = £2.50 – for 10 darts
Custard Pies = £2.50 – for 3
Pea Shooter = £2.50 – for bag of 50 peas
Mouse Traps = £5 – for 8 traps

I hate to burst your paranoia bubble, the odds of someone stealing your idea outwrite, is astronomically small. My point, creating a game takes 2 years(more or less) using the time of several creative people.

The reality is that someone could read your idea and be inspired to create a game with some similar aspects. But due to time lines, man power, and other factors, chances are remote that the actual implementation would be all that much like your idea.

Game creators are arrogant people about their creativity. Stealing someone else''s idea would be an insult that they don''t have creativity of their own.

Game ideas really are a dime a dozen, and not worth stealing. If I have the tenacity to dedicate 2 years of my life to creating a game, I think I have the ability to come up with an idea on my own.

I would not worry about displaying your game idea to anyone. You just might inspire people to join you in actually turning your idea into reality. That''s really what it''s about anyway, isn''t it.

When I see stuff like this, I always remember something I read on CliffyB''s site


-Ryan "Run_The_Shadows"
-Run_The_Shadows@excite.com
"Doubt Everything. Find your own light." -Dying words of Gautama
//BLATANT PLUG
My manic new web journal! Warning: Some ''adult'' language used, not suitable for anyone without a sense of deep-thought and cynicism

Yes, don''t worry about people stealing your ideas. If you have a super dooper algorithm that renders 10^100000000000 triangles per frame or an encryption routine that goes from 4mb to 4kb then yes, keep a tight lip on it. But with an idea for a game, no one is likely to steal it, especially in the amateur scene (sorry if I offended anyone there by labelling us as an "amateur" scene ). Because people here started developing games to realise their own visions, and I''m sure pretty much everyone here has at least 10 games that they themselves would desperately love to see the light of day - so why bother making someone else''s game?