No NDA buddy. Why would you want one?
polycounter lvl 18
so lets just say SOMEONE .. (not me 
) has a casual game. that someone has been in contact with a CERTAIN distributor.
that distributor suggested that the procedure is to send them over a demo build to have a look at and give feedback on, and if they decide to go forward with it, THEN they'll sign an NDA.
sounds.. iffy... to me man.
not that that someone is me.
) has a casual game. that someone has been in contact with a CERTAIN distributor.that distributor suggested that the procedure is to send them over a demo build to have a look at and give feedback on, and if they decide to go forward with it, THEN they'll sign an NDA.
sounds.. iffy... to me man.
not that that someone is me.
Replies
I'm no expert, but it sounds shady to me, too.
LOL i love you.
and i am, don't worry. but i also wanted to hear what you guys said.
thanks for the replies so far..
pffft don't listen to Rick. The Interwebs knows all!
(especially unrelated forums!)
Offer a game play video where they don't need to sign an NDA.
Offer to fly there and do a live presentation w/ a playable demo that they can play where they don't have to sign an NDA. Have it on a laptop you own, ready to go.
Does this stop them from running with the idea? No. But at least they don't have any original working content from you guys.
I'd shy away from presenting them a playable demo on DVD or FTP without them signing an NDA and hoping for the best. If they burn you and take your idea and run with it, it will do nothing but burn your ambition to try again within this industry. You've been fucked before John - lets not do that again, ya?
It's not until you're in the concept submission phase of this process do you want to give them a playable demo they can toy with on their own. Generally, part of this process has legal outlines involved that can save your ass.
I'd also seek legal advice, especially from lawyers with game industry experience. Living in Vancouver, that shouldn't be hard to find.
Anyways, don't even bother until proper legal advice is taken. This just sounds plain fishy.
-caseyjones
1. Forget the shady "distributor"
2. XNA
3. Steam
4. Profit
My advice would be for you to think of what's the worst that could happen. Are they going to rip off your idea? Probably not. And if your idea is that easy to rip off you probably don't have much that is bankable.
I'm guessing if you press the issue of the NDA, they'll just blow you off, but, AGAIN, what do I know?
I have some decent hands-on experience of what I had written in my last post.
If they say they don't want to have a similar game in development and that is why they won't sign one, call bullshit. Most standard NDA's have clauses that call out the preexisting IP and concepts are exclusions. If they claim they don't know what is in development, call bullshit again. Every publisher knows what is going on in their kitchen.
If they push back on your friend, tell him he can walk away from the negotiating table. If it's a casual/indie publisher, you don't have to worry, there are many MANY publishers with funding at the moment. It's not like the mainstream arena right now with the Big 3, and most casual portals and publishing houses know this and will want to see the game.
Either way if you or your studio doesn't come from a somewhat renown dev background you're going to have to bend your back to them to certain degrees... you can seek legal advice but you know this industry crosses that 'code' on frequent occasions (especially towards indies).
Erm... XNA is unlikely at best to give any amount of profit as right now the odds of a game made in XNA getting a public release aren't very high, Xbox Live is incredibly tough for small indie's to get onto, and steam is restricted to games that Valve give the go-ahead to, which tend to be games that are backed by decent publishers or studios that Valve has a history with.
Banking on getting a casual game on either Live or Steam by yourself to profit is not a good idea. A better idea is to get a publisher who has dealt with distribution and has pre-existing connections, getting a good royalty deal, and letting them handle that. Atleast in my experience at a couple of indie companies.
Also, one thing to keep in mind with this is that because the game is already created and you (likely) have back-ups dating back in its production, along with proof that it was indeed you who made it, it is already copywrited under your name by law. If you were to show it to a publisher and they were to, for whatever reason, try to steal the idea, I'd imagine you should have a strong case against them. If they were to go blabbing about the idea... awesome? Free advertisement!
Anyways, that should all be taken with a grain of salt, given that I've not dealt directly with publisher/NDA stuff.
That said, here's a quote from Brian Tinsman, a Lead Concept Aquisitions Rep for Wizards of the Coast (or was, it's from his book, I dunno what he does now).
From his "Top Ten Reasons Games Get Rejected"
"...
5. Game is submitted without required legal forms or with inventor's own legal forms: If the company asks you to sign a disclosure and you don't, your submission goes right in the trash. Asking a publisher to sign a confidentiality agreement usually has the same effect. This is like stamping "I don't understand the procedure" on the front of your submission.
...
Take from that what you will, and it may be different in the card/boardgames stuff than in video games, but it seems that it is possible this company may be following a procedure?
Anways, good luck with it John. Like everyone else said, talk to someone who's used to this shit.
Adam - this is good advice. kisses! -- and *gasp*. fucked? me? never. meh, i was happy about the layoff. seriously. it hurts to get dumped, but it was for the best.
Jesse- WHEW! ah thanks man. we've been looking for someone like you. whats your mailing address? hahaha
Elysium - it's a PC game that we're planning on distributing.. where ever. i emailed steam but i haven't heard back from them. i'm going to make up a vid and send them a link.
Ajax - that's some fine advice. many thanks.
Kovac - same to you man. cheers!
i mean it, he's watching.
he's fucking watching all of you
Xna Creators Club allows you to commercially distribute games. There is a peer review process, but you set a price before you submit it. If it passes peer review, it goes directly to Xbox LIVE Marketplace:
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/submit_detail
I am going through this process now. It's not difficult. Have you seen some of the the crap they sell on there?
adamBrome is correct in that they don't have a DLC option in the framework. I'm not entirely sure if that will change with Xna3 but it's in the rumor mill.
If they took your game and copied it or started to distribute it without your permission, you'd go after them based on copyright infringement, not on an NDA violation. If you're not in a position where you can legally establish your ownership of the copyright to the material, then you shouldn't be sending it to them regardless of whether or not they sign an NDA.
Not saying you should accept their refusal to sign one, though. That seems kind of ridiculous; it's not like signing a piece of paper is a huge inconvenience... and it's not like a non-disclosure agreement is asking them to accept some sort of huge legal liability.
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/XboxLIVECommunityGames
I'm not saying straight out avoid publishers. If you have luck getting one with a good deal, that doesn't want you to transform your game with one of their existing licenses...all the best to you. Just pointing out the other options. Last year a group of developers and I fished around for publishers/investors. No luck. Not sure how things are now with the economy. As a result, a friend and I left, and have been playing around with XNA. There is lots of crap going through the XNA channel. For an experienced developer and artist...it can lead to something rewarding. Or, your game simply isn't fun or appealing to most. Steam and Wiiware are strict. But if your game is fun and well refined...it's worth a try. It's a gamble. Good luck.