Using a template
Mooseface
Member Posts: 13
Hi, I'm new to this and have come across game salad as a way to build an idea.
My question is.
Say I brought a template, and built / published a game based on that template but obviously with some modification to make it my own and change the persona of the game. But keeping the same function / gameplay style.
Would the maker of the template have any hold over the game I have created?
Many thanks
Comments
You'd be best off checking with the developer incase they have any special limitations on their template. But as a general rule I'd say no, once you purchase most templates I've ever seen you are purchasing the right to do with them as you see fit.
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
@jamie_c is right. You should check with the author, but in general, copyright doesn't cover an idea (template), it covers an EXPRESSION of an idea.
A template is really a METHOD of doing something, which would be covered by a patent, which actually has to be filed and approved and is subject to prior art (did the method exist before).
Copyright covers an EXPRESSION of an idea. That's why you can have 3284723984723 match 3 game, from bejeweled to candy crush and it's fine... but heaven forbid you copy a SINGLE GRAPHIC from any of them. The graphic is considered an EXPRESSION of an idea and is automatically copyrighted (technically) the moment it is created.
So, technically, if you took a template and changed all the graphics and sounds and music, you would have (according to the copyright office) a new EXPRESSION of an idea. All of your sound and art and music would be covered... just not method.
Even Software Patents, which IMHO should NEVER have been allowed, have gotten hit on the Supreme Court level and now federal courts are taking a much harder look at their validity... as long as we're not talking about East Texas.