Hi! We''re making a clone of an old game I played very much on the Spectrum, "Xeno". It''s not very famous, but I think it''s very fun. (Don''t confuse with "Xenon" ) We''re naturally changing graphics, ambient, sound, but gameplay and game design are more or less the same of the old one. The question is: if we would try to sell the game as shareware (sure, changing the name), could it be a problem? Were we breaking the law? Copyrights? Sure, there are many clones of several games and all is ok, but I have some doubts! Thx! Bye Bye F104/NA

Technically speaking, you cannot copyright a game concept, or gameplay mechanics. In practice, this has not always held up... there are certainly instances where big game copanies have forced a similar product off the market with legal threats.

Maybe a better question is who owns the game and are they still around? If not, I wouldn''t worry about it. Clone away. I certainly don''t have any moral problems with it.

As always this is a complex question with a lot of potential problems. At first glance it would seem that you will avoid copyright issues by "changing graphics, ambient, sound, but gameplay and game design are more or less the same of the old one."

The potential problem is in the later part of your sentence. If you mean that the level designs will be copied, attack paterns etc then you could run into trouble. Just changing the graphics doesn''t alter the fact that the level is the same so you have to be careful there. Other than that you will probably be OK. Also if the person who owns the copyright does not care then you will get away with it anyway. There are lots of clones of Pac-man out there as Namco do not seem to pursue them too strongly. Nintendo on the other hand seem to pursue quite strongly.


Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

I''d have to recommend you atleast *try* and get permission with a simple email to the publisher or developer... it won''t hurt and they may actually say yes, provided certain terms and conditions are met.