Legal question - 3D based closely off 2D art in/for another game?
Hello.
I was hoping that there may be people here that could help answer a question
I have relating to the creation of 3d art, closely based off 2d art you have seen.
What I wish to be able to do is create 3d art that would look very similar in shape
and art direction to 2d art that was made for a 2d game (so there isn't any
existing 3d equivalent). So though it would be based off that art, it is of a different
medium and an original creation in itself.
I'd like to be able to use the 3d art in a potentially commercial game.
Would this be considered copyright infringement if it too closely resembles the
original 2d art?
I was hoping that there may be people here that could help answer a question
I have relating to the creation of 3d art, closely based off 2d art you have seen.
What I wish to be able to do is create 3d art that would look very similar in shape
and art direction to 2d art that was made for a 2d game (so there isn't any
existing 3d equivalent). So though it would be based off that art, it is of a different
medium and an original creation in itself.
I'd like to be able to use the 3d art in a potentially commercial game.
Would this be considered copyright infringement if it too closely resembles the
original 2d art?
Replies
If you're planning to do direct 2D to 3D translations i.e. Cave Story 3D and Bionic Commando Rearmed, then that would probably be considered a no-go, especially if you plan on taking it commercial. Someone put out a Sonic Fan Remix demo a while back that was non-profit with an explicit disclaimer up front that the creator didn't intend to infringe on Sega's property.
Don't you have any game ideas of your own that you would rather create?
If you're just dying to recreate that particular IP in 3d then contact the original owner and make them an offer or get hired by them.
I'd never ever re-create a game, it's common sense for that to be a no-go ^^;
As I described I'm only interested in the ability to create the graphics.
For clarification if it may help as you asked, I am referring to Legend of Mana's
Panorama's - http://imgur.com/a/cKM3S
I would hope to be able to recreate a style very close to that in a manner
which would allow me to build a world with pieces I create - sort of as if
you were building a 3d world with tiles.
@Ben Apuna
Responding to the points you raised:
#With all the effort and resources it takes to actually make a game, why would you want to take the chance that you could end up unable to sell your game? or worse unable to sell + in legal trouble + sued for damages?
Don't you have any game ideas of your own that you would rather create?
To clarify as it seems my intent was misunderstood as I didn't mention more
than the graphics - I'm definitely not trying to re-create a 3d version of a game,
only hoping to be able to use 2d art from it as reference.
I'm a game designer with my own designs, however I lack ability as an artist.
I'm able to create 3d art based off concept art relatively well, however I'm
unable no matter how hard I try to design my own. (I've been trying for years)
Believing has nothing to do with it, nor practise or perseverence, none of
those can fill a gap requiring talent that doesn't exist.
Though I love art designs and I can see how they look good and work,
it's not possible to create my own, and hiring my own concept artists
is of course not an option (sadly money still doesn't grow on trees).
---
So to hopefully elaborate/simplify:
I am wishing to know if it would be legal or illegal/too dangerous to create a
3d environment based on areas/close adapations of the objects in these and
other panorama's from Legend Of Mana - http://imgur.com/a/cKM3S
The game would only use the created 3d pieces to develop original environments,
and would not be any attempt at re-creating the original game.
--
I hope this helped answer questions and provided a better explanation ^^;
It's ok to totally rip the art style, color palette, shapes, etc... Just don't carbon copy the environments or any uniquely identifiable objects from the game. It would be ok if people looked at your game and said "it reminds me a lot of Legend of Mana" but it would probably be bad if they said "I've seen that exact house or room from Legend of Mana".
One side note though. If you're serious about putting a game together and can back that up with a working prototype then likely there are artists here that would probably enjoy working on your game even without money upfront.
Good luck!
Of course I'd never re-create a room with objects in the same location, etc.
However I'd like to know what you would consider 'uniquely identifiable', so quickly
made a rough piece to show how they will relatively look in comparison from the 2D
version to the 3D version and whether it might be too close.
- http://i.imgur.com/kDg2K.png
First on the left is a cutout of something which I would consider uniquely identifiable
because of the image inside it.
On the right side is the reproduction of the 2d doorway in the same style.
Would that be too close to be considered an original art piece that could be included in
a commercial game?
Because if that would be considered too close, it would defeat the purpose of using
those panorama's as reference as I'd be dealing with the same problem of trying to
design something different.
That side note is always a nice dream/goal, to have that kind of support for a project.
I'm always so jelous when seeing indie projects having such great and talented teams
working together in that kind of manner, would be a great experience.
Thank you
I understand the situation you're in and your frustration over coming up with your own designs. Taking something old and making it new and original is a problem that artists face all the time. Think of it as an opportunity to learn about art and become better artist yourself.
I suggest taking a look at what Gameloft gets away with and how they handle "taking inspiration" from the games that they remake for mobile platforms.
In the end though I could be wrong about everything and this is totally ok. Take for instance all the literal cloning that goes on in with games on the appstore without consequence. Perhaps by just going from 2D to 3D is enough.
Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts on this topic.
all similar, it feels much closer than if it were just one or the other.
I tried adjusting the color a bit and simplified/modified the direction of the shading
so it follows enough direction to fit the style but does change how it looks
- http://i.imgur.com/xujAa.png
Do you think that improve things or may it end up at a dead-end afterall?
A shame I haven't been able to learn yet. Some artists make it look so incredibly easy.
I took a look through the mobile store but nothing jumps out at me as something which
they wouldn't have bought the rights to re-create or had been asked to re-create.
Yeah, the amount of literally identical cloning of gameplay mechanics these days sickens me,
it's amazing how many 'genres' of games have developed which is really no-more than
a bunch of developers paying artists to make graphics for a clone, like the 'angry birds'
genre which has developed, even though that game was a simplified clone of another
which I forget the name of.
Even MMORPG's these days feel like someones on the internet going around selling source
code and studios are just swapping the graphics around and renaming spells.
Should stop myself there though before the majority of this post ends up un-related to
the topic at hand xD;
The problem with that is the design of a game isn't really as 'visible' as art so though
cloning of gameplay may be okay legally, it's difficult to be able to make assumptions
based off that to how closely art can resemble another games before your asked more
serious questions than 'this art must clearly be based off [game name]?'.
Yeah, I of course appreciate your opinion greatly and can't thank you enough for your
time and well thought out responses, however it would be more comfortable to be able
to get a second opinion on all of this.
Thanks for your added input
The issue is really whether those 500 other 2d rpgs were by the same company/team/publisher,
and so forth where it wouldn't be a problem. Or whether those were non-commercial or small
commercial games that weren't widely known.
Because in those cases it wouldn't really present a concern or any action against them.
Yes there are many that follow similar designs, but they all still look different with different
ways of shading, different pallets, and so forth.
I've never seen any that closely resemble these particular designs, however if there are
some that do while also being relatively wide-spread and of a commercial design it would
be great if you could name them or add links to be able to compare my situation and
similarity in design with them.