Will I ever own the game I make?

#1 We never own it. You own the code that accesses or modifies the V12. For instance, say you develop a killer sort routine (lame example, I know) or awesome AI routines. You own that code.

You own your Intellectual Property. If you want to make a book, movie, or comic out of your characters, you can.

As it stands right now, we get the electronic publishing rights to your game for five years. You own everything else.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#2 Actully in the license agreement it says the game is copyrighted to you guys for 5 years! i'll edit this post with a quote from the license.

#3 > You own your Intellectual Property. If you want to make a book, movie, or comic out of your characters, you can.

So will section 6b of the license be updated to clarify this? As it stands, the license is fairly widely open to interpretation, and there should be no doubt as to who owns the IP rights to the game.

Cheers, John

#4 Section 6b says we have the electronic rights to the product for five years. Section 6a states that you have all rights not called out in the agreement.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#5 So GG will have first dibs on electronically distributing any games developed with the engine. If you choose not to distribute it, is the developer then legally allowed to pursue other options?
Thanks guys.

#6 No. We will publish all games if they meet certain criteria regarding number of bugs, installers, etc.

Please look through the FAQ responses in the General section. There was significant discussion regarding this issue.

We will be updating the FAQ to make is more clear as well.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#7 I missed the 5 years bit. That is the answer to my question :)

I think some IP updates are appropriate though. Always good to be clear :)

#8 So if it doesn't meet the requirements that you (GG) set forth, the game gets shelved no matter what. In other words if we spend two years of our lives on it and you don't like it, it will never even see the light of day. Right?

#9 We will not be making content judgements, other than it can't be X-Rated. However, if you make a buggy game, we won't publish it. If you make a game that does not install correctly, we won't publish it.

Those are the only things we have been able to come up with so far that would keep us from publishing a game. This issue has been gone over in depth in another thread. I can't remember where it is, so search the forums.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#10 Can't be X-Rated??? Whoa there, there goes the whole MMOSF - "Massively Multiparticipant Online Sex Festival" I had planned!

But seriously, I haven't yet read anything anywhere stating the rated content of the game being a limiting factor, and if that is the case it needs to be clarified in the contract, er license agreement. If the ESRB is going to be dealt with (ugh, shoot me now) I'd like to know before hand.

X-Rated limitation makes sense (In the US in this current socio-politcal environment. But then again look at Yahoo!), it's just a first amendment/freedom of art kind of thing. This obviously does not apply to those outside The States in quite the same way.

#11 I really don't want to get into a big content debate, so I'll be careful here. Our games will not be rated by the ESRB unless they are taken to the box, but that would be covered by the publisher's contract that picks up the distribution. We have stated multple times that X-Rated content will not be published, and it will soon be added to the FAQ. It is my feeling that it does not need to be in the EULA.

Jeff Tunnell GG