Lemma Soft Forums

Somewhere (a while ago) I saw that someone said they use sims 2 pictures (building houses or rooms then screenshotting them) for their visual novel backgrounds. Maybe they filter them or use the outlines or maybe they just throw a light filter on top. Would this be considered copyright? What about the older versions that no longer have support from EA games? like sims1 and sims2?

What would really happen in that scenario? Anyone have an idea.

I would err on the safe side and not use such things for commercial games. It would probably be copyrighted considering that artists made the art assets used in the game and you are taking them without any attribution.

So what if they gave credit to the game in the credits? Even for a commercial game? I feel like it's hard to find these things out then the next thing you know, you have a lawsuit on your hands hahah

Even giving credit to Sims 2, you are still using copyrighted art.

It's a bit more murky than using a piece of concept art since that has a distinct "creator" and a piece of 3D art nobody really knows who made it from the staff on the credits. But it still is copyrighted by the company that made the game.

I doubt anyone would really care if it was a free game, but with a commercial game it'd be bad form to use it. Unless it was so heavily modified as to be unrecognizable.

"Giving Credit" has nothing to do with whether you have the rights to use something or not.

If someone gives you permission to use their work in exchange for credit, then that's fine. But they have to actually give you permission.

And yes, game developers HAVE been caught trying to use screenshots from other games in their work. Look up the infamous "Limbo of the Lost".

papillon wrote: And yes, game developers HAVE been caught trying to use screenshots from other games in their work. Look up the infamous "Limbo of the Lost".

Or, just this week, Naughty Dog got caught using concept art from Assassin's Creed in a video game trailer, and got in trouble.

Basically, it's never okay to use someone else's work, or even a part of someone else's work, without them giving YOU (specifically YOU) permission.

You can use things as reference, as long as you use multiple references and the end result cannot be confused with the original. So basically if you wanted to lay out a room in the Sims to get a general feel for perspective and layout but then drew the sofas etc using other references from a google search and combined different elements so that when people look at your image they can't say "hey that sofa looks a bit like the Sims". If you showed your image and your reference image to a person on the street, would they be able to recognise the similarities? If so, then it's probably not legally good enough. But then I'm not a lawyer so don't take this as legal advice!

There is an old thread I started discussing the Sims as background art which you might find interesting here.

Yeah, I wasn't necessarily wanting to do it myself but I was playing sims and I remembered someone posted their 'idea' of how they build rooms on sims then put a filter over it for their backgrounds and everyone was like 'oh thats a good idea!'

I think I know what VN you're talking about. When you're a tiny, free project, EA is unlikely to do anything (or to know, for that matter)-- but that doesn't exactly make it right, either. ESPECIALLY if you're going commercial. Then it's just a huge no-no and you probably will get into trouble.

If you want to have a base for your backgrounds, you'd have better luck looking up SketchUp models and asking its creators for permission... At least those aren't corporations, and you can most likely get in contact with them more easily. There are other alternatives to actual games screenshots.