Licensing for game devlopment
Monday, April 15, 2013 - 22:54
I am working on a Randomized Fantasy RPG Game currently and would like to use art from OGA, but I am currently still confused about licensing. Like if I use CC-BY 3.0 would my game have to be open sourced as well? Or just the art? And if it was CCO and another art asset that was CC-BY 3.0 then is it required to have both be CC-BY 3.0? Also what is the requirements for the other licenses?
Note:I know that this has been probably answered before(a lot) but please bare with me :D
CC-BY 3.0 does not require you to release your source, nor does it require all of your art to be open. All it requires is that you credit the author in a manner specified by the author. It does, however, contain an anti-DRM clause that might cause troubles if you want to target platforms that automatically apply DRM (e.g. iOS or Steam).
I used only CC0 so far as a base to create my work, so I can just dump it into a folder and take what I need without caring and if some stuff of that has been proven useful I give credit anyway or show the authors.
For CC0 you don't have to care at all, for CC-BY you would need a credit list with the names of the authors or keep the way of attribution that was defined by the author, but all in all CC0 and CC-BY are safe to use, so you can do a search filter for that.
Thanks for the clarification!
--Jakaeb
i aways wondered about the restriction of releasing in cc-by or cc-by-sa, cc-by is very good, but means you can do a masterpiece and someone else just can stamp his name over it and start selling as it his own. Am i to narrow minded over this?
They can't exactly stamp their name over it, in that they have to continue crediting the original author no matter what.
You can not even stamp your name over CC0 work, because the author still remains the author, you just don't have to attribute him.
What is the policy if people ever do change the 'author' to be them though? Like:http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/100633-RELASED!!-GUI-Inventory-Quest-Spell-s-HUD-for-RPG which was posted first on OGA:http://opengameart.org/content/moderna-graphical-interface
--Jakaeb
Also if I want to modify some art I have gotten from a person but want/need to modify, do I have to ask permission from the author? Then if I post it to OGA do I need to attribute both of us?
--Jakaeb
Everything here on OGA can be modified without asking for permission, just need to credit the author, which depends on individual license.
See, the thing is, what he did there wasn't mere jerkishness. It was an outright violation of the licensing of the asset (that is, illegal). It is up to the artist (or their authorized representatives) to pursue legal action, but if the stolen assets are being hosted on a venue like that generally the admins of the hosting will take care of it if proof is provided.
Re: modifications. If it's freely licensed, making changes to an asset shouldn't be a problem. If it's not freely licensed, I'd make sure it's fine with the artist first. Best to have very clear communication on those things if you don't have the license to clearly define what's allowed (heck, even if it's licensed it's nice to ask even though it's not mandatory).
(edit: yeah, Duion beat me to it.)
Well said guys.
@Jakaeb -
Don't worry, lisencing is confusing at first and it takes time. With OGA, at least you only have a limited amount of lisences you need to know, and after a bit you should know all the trip-ups to avoid. :) I just recently learned and accidently produced a little turmoil on the forums in the process (much discussion :D).
Thank you alll for your Your help on the matter. Very much appeciated!
--Jakaeb
This is a related thread:
http://opengameart.org/forumtopic/anti-drm-waiver