Game works, what is next ?
Hi folks, first I'd like to thank the community here for all the awesome arts available. I'm a french student in computer science, currently doing a master's degree, and even though I have good results doing the actual game, I'm not skilled enough (or at least I didn't learn it yet) to make good graphical resources myself. That's why it's a relief to be able to count on such a wide collection.
I just registered myself because I'd like to ask for some advices about the project I'm currently working on during my spare time. I started it in march 2018 and have been steadily working on it ever since (a smooth victory considering my previous failed projects, due to lack of motivation in the long run).
To be brief, a renowned company once upon a time made a team versus team fighting arena game where you build up your team on a budget, to then try to fight other players in 1v1 matches against the team they built. Each team is composed of several characters, which can be equipped with spells and equipments, giving them stats and/or habilities to use during the fights. The company unfortunately shut down the game due to the playerbase being too low, but I absolutely enjoyed this game, and from what I can see online, it's the same for a lot of people, which is why I wanted to give it a second chance.
Without wanting to be presomptuous, I'm having good results programming it from scratch in Java (Java 8 - JavaFX), and I'm close to a stage where I find it refined enough to be called an "alpha" and to be distributed for test purposes. I'm here asking for advices because I'm kind of lost considering my options for the post alpha steps. Here are some more informations about the game to help you :
- I'm not really looking forward to making money out of it, or maybe as donations which I would put back in the game entirely, to pay someone to make assets, for example,
- I don't want to put too much money on the table, being my first concretized project, but maybe in the future if I have good feedback which motivates me to,
- I'm apprehensive about legal issues that might occur. I already did a lot of research about the licences, for example to be able to give back due credits to those I use resources from, but I don't really know if I have to protect my work, or how I should (if I need to).
- I tried to reach local universities students in 2D animations, but got no answers yet (it's been few weeks, but it's summer) except a group of students that needs a project for their master's degree and that may accept to help with music and sound effects.
How do you think I should look for feedback ? Should I be broad about the media I could use, or should I keep it "under control" until it's fully developped ?Do you have leads I should look into for resources to give my game a good look before putting an alpha stamp on it ? I'm especially having troubles to reach people able to make sprite-based 2D animations. Thank you in advance, Gown
I think you should have a plan to eventually use consistent media and have some idea of the approximate specifications for such media (dimensions, frames of animation, etc), but accept broad stand-in media that may be used in the interim; better to have something you can demonstrate even if it isn't the final version of the assets.
As for legal issues... it sounds like you want to protect your work. If this is a closed-source game, you'll need some proprietary license, but also you'll want to avoid GPL licensed assets (depending on how you incorporate them; there are ways to have a closed source project that uses GPL art, but it's weird and I am not versed enough to advise on this). I would strongly recommend creating an art collection and adding any assets here on OGA that you plan to use in your game. This will automatically track the proper licensing and attribution that you'll need for giving credit in your game.
NOTE: Before that, though, there is a potential licensing issue with the original IP you're using. Even if a company cancels a project or even goes out of business, that does NOT mean the copyright is expired or public domain. If the any of concept, characters, code, or assets you're using for your own remake are derived from the original game, it is very likely your project will end up getting a Cease and Desist right around the time you're going gold. Be sure this game is either a) not using any of the original games stuff and could be considered inspired by the original, but in no way a derivative of it, or b) you have explicit permission to create a remake of this game or the game's IP has been explicitly placed in the public domain.
--Medicine StormHi Medicine Storm,
Thanks for your reply, I'm adding few informations to clear any interrogations.
I'll be creating an art collection for sure, as I've been tracking every art used manually and it is not the simplest way to go, indeed. Thank you !
@Gown: keep in mind CC-BY has an 'anti-DRM' clause that effectively prohibits distributing CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, etc. licensed works on platforms that use DRM (eg. Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, iOS, and possibly Steam, Andriod, etc).
Many artists are either unaware of, or don't care about this provision, so if you contact the artist directly they may agree to let you use the asset on DRM'd platforms. Additionally, there is a forum thread here on OGA where many OGA artists have publicly granted an exemption to the 'anti-DRM' clause for all their works on OGA.
As for getting testers, I would setup an itch.io page for the game. You can keep the game private on there until it's ready for public release and in the meantime you can setup a private link to share alpha builds with potential testers. You might even be able to do a private comment section for getting feedback. Then just post around asking for willing testers. I'm sure you'll get one or two bites if you post on OGA.
https://withthelove.itch.io/
Thanks, withthelove ! You pointed out few points that answer problems that are up ahead. Itch.io is a fantastic website to be started with considering controlled releases. Bonus point on havin useful informations about licences, especially on proprietary licenses that MedicineStorm mentionned on there.
I tried to make a quick Java Applet out of the application, but can't figure how to make itch.io to run it. I guess I'll stick to a simple download page for now. Thank you for pointing out DRM clauses as well