I just finished playing Chrono Trigger again (yes I play the same amazing game multiple times; so ****ing what?), and then I recommended the game to my girlfriend, who doesn't really finish games that often (I'm totally gonna make her finish, no matter what). Then I remembered that Chrono Trigger had inspired a couple of notable attempts to re-create the game in 3D, each one shut down by Square-Enix for legal issues. Fans monitoring the progress of these projects were outraged, and several petitions and letters to Square have been sent on behalf of the "Cease and Desist" letters to these projects.

When I found the Web-Page dedicated to CR's discontinuation in 2007, and I near screamed "YES" with utter joy only to find out that it had been killed. As fresh new member to the CT:R forums, I participated in petitions and letters to Square; stupid and pointless...yes I see that now.

Anyway; we're not here to talk about Square's stupidity (I do not blame the game creators), but about Zeenbor; the guy that had started with the ambition and idea of re-making one of the most successful JRPGs of it's time, and one of the most cherished today.

Interview with Zeenbor

Going back to my story, as I was searching the net for the Ressurection project and relived my shame for Square once again, I found this article that interviewed Zeenbor. His story in a nutshell was:

Zeenbor: CT is awesome; I wanna make it 3D. *Finds help*
Zeenbor: Shit...not much help, and I think I need to learn more before I attempt this. *Joins DC Studios*
Zeenbor: Alright I think it's time for a challenge! *Goes back to CT: Resurrection Project for development on 6th generation consoles and recruits new members*
Zeenbor: *Launches website and gets 1 million unique hits* WOAH DUDE! That's pretty awesome. *Recruits more members*
Zeenbor: ...Wtf? Cease and Desist? Is this a joke? *Confirms that the letter isn't a joke and sheds a manly tear*

The article goes on and talks about how in the end, he used Chrono Trigger as his motivation to broaden his skills. Sure the C&D bummed him and a lot of fans out, but he gained a lot from the experience.

At that point this got me thinking about an article I read earlier:
The Complete Guide To Not Giving A ****

And then I remembered what my developer friend told me:

"Most people sit around and are like, "Wah wah wah I wish I had done more stuff." No. Not me good sir. When I want something I go straight at it as fast as I can. When I die I want to be able to safely say I went for all my dreams and have no regrets."

And my conclusion is this:

Follow your dreams, and **** everything else, just like Zeenbor did. Nowhere did he mention worrying about legal issues or anything else like that. This website, dedicated to learning how to develop games, is made for people who have an interest or a dream of becoming a game developer. We can all be the best we can be; potential beyond that we dream of can be reached if you have a solid conviction of becoming a game developer by any means, whether you're in charge of character development, artwork, or programming, if you let nothing stand in your way.

Of course there are smarter approaches to Zeenbor's story, but had he really cared about the Cease and Desist beforehand, perhaps he wouldn't have learned to do what he did, in the way that he did, which in my opinion, was one of the best learning experiences for him. Now he's planning other projects with members of the CT:R team (don't know the details on that), and with the experience of the sad outcome of his last project. Do I think he's got a good chance of being successful? Absolutely.

If you're one of those people that play games a lot and come to these forums seeking help, then study for a while, then stopped, and started again, then stopped immediately after, and continued the cycle of procrastination and somehow found yourself back on these forums maybe looking more important than you really are (Me), then get your head out of your ass and make a game; the world awaits your vision and creativity.

This has nothing to do with Game Design. Welcome to the Lounge.

What's wrong with "follow your dream, as long as it's legal"? The "*** everything else" sounds pretty juvenile to be honest.

Of course there are smarter approaches to Zeenbor's story, but had he really cared about the Cease and Desist beforehand, perhaps he wouldn't have learned to do what he did, in the way that he did, which in my opinion, was one of the best learning experiences for him.

Sounds like he's a motivated and talented individual, I'm sure he would have found some other project to work on.

If it has TM in the name and someone uses that, they must either license such use, or the trademark owner is required to take legal action to enforce their trademark. If they do not, they lose it.

This is similar to jumping off a cliff. If high enough, you will kill yourself. Ignore such facts at your own peril.

It could have ended worse. A while back, someone decided to help a buddy with a small business, so she sent out an advertising mail to a bunch of people in her address book. Bam - court ordered fine arrived next week for unsolicited advertising. Case was clear cut, it was spamming as per law. Similar story with a startup. They decided to deliver curated content, news/feed reader, etc.... Founded a company, started advertising, took a loan, .... After a few months, someone pointed out they are committing copyright violation of most obvious kind. They got lucky and could shut down before anything worse happened, minus the wasted loan. The type of violation in question was same that got megaupload shut down, even though it didn't involve obvious pirated content or content typically associated with piracy.


When listening to motivational success stories always keep in mind that everyone celebrates winners, but losers vanish never to be seen again. Combining survivor bias with cargo cult, especially when it involves brands with global reach can be dangerous. Same for laws, ignorance is not an excuse.


Following your dreams is fine. But there is a difference between procrastination and recklessness.

Number of legal mines in software/tech/information industry became a real problem many years ago. Which is why innovation in most fields died off, or is populated only by either very shrewd or very uninformed.

This has nothing to do with Game Design. Welcome to the Lounge.

I figured it would be moved but I had no idea where to put it at the time since it was 2am and my brain barely had enough energy to post what I did. And yeah Zeenbor would have found a way but a sketchy experience like this always sounds like the funnest and rewarding way to learn, especially when you can get away with it the way he did =p

This is similar to jumping off a cliff. If high enough, you will kill yourself. Ignore such facts at your own peril.

When listening to motivational success stories always keep in mind that everyone celebrates winners, but losers vanish never to be seen again. Combining survivor bias with cargo cult, especially when it involves brands with global reach can be dangerous. Same for laws, ignorance is not an excuse.

Following your dreams is fine. But there is a difference between procrastination and recklessness.

Yes I agree with you; there are smarter more productive ways of doing what he did, but that's really beside the point. Nowhere am I suggesting that one should ignore the laws and do what he pleases, and nowhere am I suggesting that one be juvenile on their dream path. What I am suggesting is that one simply finds a direction and keeps moving forward, taking on the challenges and demands that come their way. I believe that anyone capable of creating a game is also capable of reading all the material on my original post completely; that alone should help them understand what happens when you reference or use copyrighted work with your own.