Fanmade game copyright?

[scorlight]

Hello friends!

I've seen many fan made games about Attack on Titan and Kuroko no basket sold on the Internet. I want to make one like these too but since I'm the only one in the project, I'm thinking of borrowing:
1) Screenshots from the film for the game bg (will be adjusted through photoshop)
2) The story, of course, the game is a fan work so the characters, setting and some main events will be like the origin
3) Maybe some short parts of the actors' line for better sound effect for the game (if I can find a way to do it)

Yeah, I wondering it it's ok to make a FREE game like that with donation for the drawing, coding and writing effort?

Appreciate all help ;;;v;;;

[SundownKid]

It will violate the copyright regardless of whether you ask for money or not. The mere fact you are using the IP of whatever it is, is a violation of copyright.

But donations should raise less alarms then trying to charge money for it, because companies will try to target anyone who profits directly. So the best way is releasing it for free and taking personal donations for your work in general unrelated to the VN

[Tyrantauranox]

You have to get permission in writing if you want to avoid violations. I'd say it's pretty unlikely they'll go for it, considering that they have official games out for the IP. The existing fan games run the risk of facing takedown orders and/or legal action, but might get away with it for a long time, depending on the IP owner(s).

[Mammon]

Technically we should never condone fanfics or say that it is okay to make but practically it's so unlikely that they'll even find out or care, that saying you shouldn't do fanfics comes down to an ethical standpoint rather than legal reprocussions. Not only are you talking about making a VN that's unlikely to sell more than a hundred copies even at a low price, it's an English product of a franchize made in Japan. Even in the astronomical event that anyone involved with those companies sees your product, hiring lawyers for counteractions would be more expensive than what they can gain from a lawsuit. Only when the fanfic becomes large or well-made (like the Pokemon Uranium game that came out recently and got pulled just days later) is there a real chance of such reprocussions. And even then it tends to be a message asking you to remove any ways to download your product before they get to any actual legal actions.

Am I saying you should do it? No, I'm not and even in the paragraph above I never really said otherwise. While there are plenty of fanfic stories of all franchises out there, it immediately becomes more risky once you also use their art and sound. If you were to use original art and sound it would be slightly better but still my answer would be no. It would be a better and safer move to change your story into something original not relying on any previous franchise.

But as I am saying you shouldn't do it, I might be coughing something that suspiciously sounds like 'fair use'. Trademarks may seem absolute when it comes to copyright enfringement but there are ways around it in reality. Take for example abridged series, they use footage from an anime directly to tell an alternative version of that anime plot. When a company responded upon this with copyright claims and got YouTube to ban videos and even entire accounts, various abridged series spoke up and actually got this reversed for their series based upon the Fair Use agreements. As long as they did not gain money through advertisement on their videos (so Patreon, Kickstarter and related merchandise are fine) and added a disclaimer to list the companies to whom the franchize belonged to, the companies cannot claim copyright enfringement as easily as one might think. Opening with 'Support the official release' does help a lot in these cases.

[KittyWills]

If you do a fangame, you're much more likely to get away with it if it's not for sale. And it should all be original; ignoring the copyright issues, no one is going to buy a game that's just a screenshots of an anime. That's going to look way cheap. =/

"Fan" anything is a slippery slop as it is.

[JayBlue]

"Fan" anything is a slippery slop as it is.

Wow, so would that include fan art, fan fiction, and music remixes?

[Zelan]

"Fan" anything is a slippery slop as it is.

Wow, so would that include fan art, fan fiction, and music remixes?

Yup. I don't know if anyone here ever frequented Fanfiction.net at any point, but that site had a list of creators who did not want fan works of their stories.

[scorlight]

Thank you all for the advice ^^)

I don't think asking for writing permission will work since the actual author/film director of the origin is a global celebrities.... I can't reach them ^^' Besides, like JayBlue said, tons of fanworks didn't get any permission at all, like in Our Own Archive website..

Nope, the game doesn't include any ethical nor politic view at all. You're right about the art and sound danger, I'll try to at least cover the bg, change the soundtrack and give up the voice thing OTL But those fanworks which were accused are commercial ones and famous ones? My game is free for all and I optimistically believe that it's not going to be famous *ouch* ;;;v;;; It's the original story but the story will change based on the players' choices (more than half of the game script won't be anything like the original). Just to make sure again, it's fine if I carefully add the credit for the franchize and ask for donation for making the game, right?

[indoneko]

I'd say just make your fan game as you want and regret it later when the official takes it down, than wondering for the rest of your life and regretting for not making it.

As for the donation... fanworks are ideally made out of love, not for the money. You could, however, use your game to promote your site/service (for example, art commission) and gain some money from there.

[Mammon]

Nope, the game doesn't include any ethical nor politic view at all.

Whoops, you must have misunderstood me, I was never refering to ethics or politics within the game itself. I meant with ethical that making a fangame of a size like most games around Lemmasoft would be so small that the problems with fanfics are more an ethical to the player and their audience than a legal matter with the original owners, and with political that you as an English writer in an English forum would have an additional buffer against a reaction from the Japanese because there would be a language and geographical barrier between you. The Japanese, unlike Hollywood franchizes, would have to deal with both their and the western laws, work internationally, hire translators to even reach you etc.

My game is free for all and I optimistically believe that it's not going to be famous *ouch* ;;;v;;; It's the original story but the story will change based on the players' choices (more than half of the game script won't be anything like the original). Just to make sure again, it's fine if I carefully add the credit for the franchize and ask for donation for making the game, right?

I'm not sure if Pokemon Uranium was commercial, I've heard that Nintendo's reaction to it and other bigger/well organised pokemon fangames is unusually strict and aggressive compared to most companies' actions against fangames but I don't really know the details. But even in this case it came down to a mail saying 'We're Nintendo and we don't want your fangame to be around. Please remove any links to downloading it.' If the makers of the fangame hadn't obliged more aggressive measurements would have probably be taken, but that was the end of it. (Though nothing is truly ever gone from the internet)

Do not take my word on face value, I do urge you to look into these things yourself, but from what I know not asking any money for the game directly would resolve a lot of the risk of your game being pulled. Do not assume them to agree to it, jus assume that your game will not be worth their time this way. Maybe go to YouTube's agreements and Ctrl+F the words 'Fair Use' to get their definition of what is and isn't allowed? If there's any large medium that works with fanfics and international copyright, it's them so they should have the most defined legal-speak about it. I'm not sure if a suggested price in itch.io does pose legal issues but I know that profit from a patreon of the developer cannot be claimed when they made a non-commercial fangame.

I still think that making an original game would work better than a fangame though, could your story work if you were to take your ideas and remove/replace the canon events with ideas of your own? Alternatively you could look around for open source stories, plenty of franchizes DO allow fanfics to be made. Take for example Fallout and Skyrim, Bethesda legally allows people to mod their games and add downloadable fanfic stories of their own within the original game. I personally also wrote some fanfiction for a game called Blight of the Immortals because they didn't just condone it but even offered a sum of in-game currency for writing more 'lore' of their story and I wanted that ironhelm scribe achievement they give to the top tier fanfics . If Fanfiction.net has a list of companies that don't want fanfics, maybe they've got a list of Open Source franchizes too? Or make a fanfic of a game from around here, plenty of Lemma's would not just be approachable but even be enthousiastic about it.
It just seems like a waste to me to risk having your game removed/banned because you went with something popular, especially considering many people won't even like fanfics compared to original games.

Edit: I looked it up out of boredom, YouTube even offers amateur-language videos and such for understanding their copyright rules, Wikipedia has a lot of stale text about previous cases but some solid info among it. Might want to check those out.

[SundownKid]

"Fan" anything is a slippery slop as it is.

Wow, so would that include fan art, fan fiction, and music remixes?

Trying to stop all fan works is like trying to plug a tiny hole in the Titanic. Once you release your media to the public, people will do whatever they want, no matter what you as a creator want. Legal action is generally reserved for the biggest offenders, people who try to profit off of your IP (think unauthorized T-shirts or selling a fangame for profit).

Trying to sue every last fan creator is not only impossible but in bad form and will damage your reputation as a creator and a company. It's like taking people who are trying to hug you and punching them in the face.

I also think fan works are an important source of creative expression, many people use them as inspiration before jumping to making original stories.

[JayBlue]

As for the donation... fanworks are ideally made out of love, not for the money. You could, however, use your game to promote your site/service (for example, art commission) and gain some money from there.

So use fanwork to advertise yourself, and make money from your own original work.

Trying to sue every last fan creator is not only impossible but in bad form and will damage your reputation as a creator and a company. It's like taking people who are trying to hug you and punching them in the face.

Sadly, it feels like Nintendo is punching a lot of people in the face.

[Sonomi]

I gave an answer to a similar question recently. In short, you may not have any issues at all. Or you could have a copyright dispute later on. It all depends upon the wishes of the original authors, which is why it is usually advisable to attempt reaching out to them.

I am not against fan works, to be sure. Zelan mentioned fanfiction.net and I am most definitely someone who used to read stories on that site. Fan art is nice too, as it was often featured in Shonen Jump (a weekly manga magazine). In both cases, it seems that the creators involved were on board with this.

But to make mention of a well known example, cease and desist requests have been issued for free, fan-made Pokemon MMOs. These were brought about by the copyright holders, notably against the idea of creating a MMO version of the franchise. Keep in mind that Nintendo has always encouraged friends to play together locally. Even Pokemon Go is largely a community experience. I do not feel creators are wrong for not wishing others to take their work in a particular direction...

Fan work is beautiful, an indication that your audience has a great appreciation for what you have created. At the same time, fans should also take the feelings of the creators into account while expressing their enthusiasm.

Mammon's idea could be an option for the OP. You could make something original that's inspired by something you like.

[scorlight]

Yeah, it is more complicate than I thought @@
Thank you for your help again, everyone I just found out how to contact the represent company of the owner of the origin Hope they will reply soon, I'll post the answer of the case here after I received their email

[Zelan]

Fan work is beautiful, an indication that your audience has a great appreciation for what you have created. At the same time, fans should also take the feelings of the creators into account while expressing their enthusiasm.

Seems like you've already found your answer, but I'd just like to say that what Sonomi said pretty much sums up my opinion on fan work (and it seems to be an opinion that many people share).