SC2Mapster

Let's say I had an idea for a game I wanted to make that would be a re-creation of an old game. An attempt to bring a classic back to life. Let's say the game is dead and has been abandoned by the game company that made it. Let's say I wanted to use some sounds from the game, and (remixed) soundtracks from the game in my new map.

Let's also say I intend to enter it in the Rock the Cabinet contest, so there's no hoping that the usage of copyrighted material will slip under the radar.

Would it be possible or would my map just get banned right away? Would the game being abandonware help any?

I don't want to say what game it is, because I want it to be a surprise.

the game itself would be no problem aslong as it is created with blizzard assets and doesnt have a name with copyright.
the soundtrack is most likely protected by copyrights and you are not the owner. therefore you are not allowed to use it.

i am more curious about assets that are freely available and have a 100% free licence (i.e. fonts). i wrote an email but didnt get an answer yet.

Unfortunately, the game I'm thinking of is not a Blizzard game. So no assets from the old game allowed?

What about remixed soundtracks? Does that become fair use if you mix or remix it?

EDIT: My idea for the soundtrack is to mash it together with Starcraft 2 soundtracks so the music is hybridized between the old game and Starcraft.

@Amaroq64: Go

i am not even sure if assets from WoW are allowed. read the offcial rules, number 8 states that you may not use anything you didn't create by yourself.

Ah, gotcha. Thank you for the responses.

That complicates things a bit. Though I already suspected they'd be complicated like that.

Quote from Alevice: Go

Soundtracks are usually under the copyright of the copmposer. You might want to email him/her. Sound effects are a different ordeal. In general you might want to find out the copyright holder and contact them and ask for permission, explicitely stating that it is for a PROFIT contest

even if it is 100% free to use for whatever purpose, the offical rule number 8 prevents you from using it (as i read it, i am not a lawyer).

if i will ever get an email response i will post it here regarding this matter.

E-mail response:

Hey Funky, 

You can use any assets from WoW games.
You can use fronts or other free assets as long as this statement is true, as listed in the rules.

You hereby warrant and represent that (a) you own all rights to all Entry Materials submitted by you; and (b) all such Entry Materials are original works of authorship on your part and have not been copied, in whole or in part, from any other work and do not violate, misappropriate or infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right of any other person or entity.

my questions were:

Dear Traysent,

i have some questions regarding the use of items from external sources.
Is it permitted to use models from WoW?
Is it permitted to use fonts that are freely available and also free to use ( in any way, so there will be no copyright infringement)

Rule number 8 is a blanket statement that is very likely written so broadly purely because it allows Blizzard to throw out any map using any form of content they don't like without recourse. It's like how bouncers at a bar are allowed to throw out anyone they perceive as a possible troublemaker, or how police officers can fine any driver they perceive as possibly being any kind of danger to others.

That said, the rule is likely written by a hired lawyer who has no idea how map-making works, as it is inherently contradictive: it states that "you hereby warrant and represent that (a) you own all rights to all Entry Materials submitted by you...", but the Custom Game Acceptable Use Policy states that "Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title and interest in and to all Custom Games...". Or to put it plainly: Blizzard claims ownership of anything you create in the editor, but requires you to only submit maps you have ownership for. Meaning that technically seen, nobody could ever submit anything to Rock the Cabinet.

Either way, I do not expect Blizzard to enforce this rule very strictly. It's meant to stop people from straight up dropping Dark Souls or Call of Duty models into their map. If you grab the soundtrack from some obscure 20 year old niche-game, Blizzard is not going to know or care. Unless the original composer (or whoever owns the copyright to said soundtrack at this time) writes them a letter, in which case they'll probably disqualify you without further thought. So really, what it boils down to is common sense. Ask yourself: if you were Blizzard, would you consider the content in your map fishy enough to dig a little deeper and possibly disqualify it? And if you were the original owner of whatever game you recreated, or whatever assets you've used, would you bother contacting Blizzard about the usage of your assets should the map in question win first prize (worst case scenario)?

In your case, I think the following questions are relevant:
-Does the original developer of the game still exist?
-If not, have the rights to the game in question passed onto another big publisher? (Say, EA)
-Is the person who created the soundtrack for the game still alive and active in the business?
-Are the remixes of the songs from the soundtrack done by someone else than you?
-If so, are they recent?
-And does whoever made them play StarCraft II and/or follow the StarCraft custom map scene?
-Are the game elements in question and the soundtrack famous enough for the average 30 year old gamer to instantly recognize where they are from?
-Are the possibly copyrighted elements you use prevalent enough in the map for someone to notice them on the first play through?

For each of those questions you can answer with 'Yes', add, say... 12% chance that your map will get disqualified. Past that point, it's up to you to decide whether you're willing to take the gamble with the odds you're presented.

According to the quiz you posted at the end, I would have a 48% chance or being disqualified. :P (Developer still exists, or at least the publisher does. The guy who made the soundtrack also did Fallout 1 and 2's. Game elements would be prevalent. The sounds of buildings constructing and such. And anyone who played this game would recognize it instantly, though the game itself would kind of be a tribute to the original.)

I was looking up the guy who made it, and I was like "Oh shit, this guy did Fallout soundtracks too. Yeah that might get me in trouble there."

Edit: The developers only made the one game, but they shut down after.

To reiterate, you are allowed to use any assets from Blizzard games.You are not allowed to use any assets, including sounds, that you don't own the rights to. If you wanted to use assets that you don't own the rights to, you would need to reach out to the original creator to obtain those rights.

By the way, pretty sure those who are using assets from other games they don't have permission from, and ask about it in this thread, then end up using them, have about a 100 % chance of getting disqualified. So uh yea, there is your answer again Amaroq64.

Quote from MaskedImposter: Go

@Deadzergling: Go

But they'll never catch people who cleverly disguise their name like FunkyUserNarr, lol.

Actually, it is still FunkyUserName, his name is just getting clipped in a really interesting way to make it appear to be FunkyUserNarr . Besides, a more clever username to be sneaky with would be Amaroq65!

Anyways, you guys be careful, as you will recall one of the top 10 last time got booted out of the last RTC for clearly using Nintendo CR music. Blizzard might not catch you, but sore losers will...

I don't have an entry for the competition but last year one of the finalists (IIRC) was disqualified for exactly those reasons.

Imagine if you were a business releasing this product and ask yourself "Will I get sued?". In the case of using another games soundtrack without first clearing it with the copyright holders then the answer is "YES! I will get the pants sued off me". If you use music which you create or have permission to use (for example google "open source music" or "copyleft music" or any other related terms) then the answer is "NO, I will not get sued".

It doesn't matter if you think nobody will notice and that maybe you can sneak under the radar with it. That is still unprofessional, morally questionable and it is unfair on the other competitors and against the spirit of the competition.

" ... you own all rights to all Entry Materials submitted by you ... "

Question, does owning the rights to something mean that you're like the exclusive owner person of it? Like, is simply asking for permission to use something not enough, you have to actually like, ask the person to transfer the rights to the assets to you? Or does owning the rights to something just mean that you're allowed to use it, like multiple people can "own" the rights to it, just by asking if they can use it?

Quote from finiteturtles: Go

Imagine if you were a business releasing this product and ask yourself "Will I get sued?". In the case of using another games soundtrack without first clearing it with the copyright holders then the answer is "YES! I will get the pants sued off me". If you use music which you create or have permission to use (for example google "open source music" or "copyleft music" or any other related terms) then the answer is "NO, I will not get sued".

Just a little nitpicking: you won't 'get sued' over any of this. Sued is when there's damages involved and the rights holder somehow wants those damages compensated. It's about larger sums of money or other things lost. If you wrongfully use music someone else owns the copyright to and they find out, you'll get a cease-and-desist letter and a slap on the fingers. Maybe a fine. If they'd immediately try to take you to court, regardless of where you are around the world, the judge will simply tell them "*so why didn't you even just ask the guy to stop what he was doing before bringing him here?*" and tell them to stop wasting his time. And fine them.

Quote from finiteturtles: Go

It doesn't matter if you think nobody will notice and that maybe you can sneak under the radar with it. That is still unprofessional, morally questionable and it is unfair on the other competitors and against the spirit of the competition.

This is debatable though, and that's kind of the point. The aim of the OP isn't some sneaky attempt to rip off an original product, down to the soundtrack, and then sell it as his own, but he wants to recreate the old game as a sort of a homage to it. It's like the Starmon project: it's clearly based on Pokémon, but the idea is to pay respects to that title and make a bit of a 'StarCraft equivalent'. Nobody on that team is going to claim the whole concept is their own idea or something like that. The issue is that copyright laws get in the way of these kinds of homages, and that is kind of sad. Case in point: all the franchises out there owned by big publishers (like EA) which do not do anything with them anymore, yet still prevent people to be enthousiastic and make their own shit related to it.