[IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS

Subject: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Sun May 05, 2013 10:37 pm

Now we're getting very popular, we need to start discussing how Disney will react to our game.

A lot of valid points are made on this reddit page: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1dpffo/small_indie_team_trying_to_bring_star_wars/?sort=new

Please take time to read some of the comments about getting shutdown.

The way I see it, these are the next steps we could take:

Contact Disney and ask them if we can release the game - risky
Carry on as normal and hope for the best (personally, I don't think we can go on as we are) - risky
Get loads of support and challenge Disney - very risky
Go underground now that we've got a big talented team (halting all future updates and covering up old work?) and change our name. Then, when we're ready, change it back to Star Wars: BattleCry and release it on torrent sites or similar - safe option
Pretend we're dead and delete all online profiles while secretly carrying on - safest option but mean on the fans
Make the game totally unrelated to Star Wars and then release a SW conversion mod for it - safe option but more time consuming

What do you guys think?

Additional options:

Make ourselves anonymous on moddb and other sites and create a fake email address so Disney cannot act.

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

I would try to contact Disney when we are close to release. When we have lots of high quality work and results that can convince them that we are worth it.
The gist of it would be: "Yo, we made this game, it is very HQ, very popular, it is ready. We are willing to work with you if you support us."
Remember the Star Wars games license is up for grabs.
If we can get even a 15%/85% profit split with them it would be fantastic.
But I know it is risky and that many of you will disagree.

IMO it seems a bit silly and counter productive to go underground now, after getting lots of popularity and exposure. We should capitalize on it, not throw it away. Going underground should have been done from the beginning.
We should try and contact CryTek for support, try and get contacts in the industry, get some important game news to help us.

Our most important point is to emphasize our commitment, rapid progress (for a free, unpaid mod team, we could be so much more if we were paid, hell I'd quit Uni.)
Think of the future guys: Either we go under and release, then risk getting sued to the end of the galaxy, or....try and work legally, and can say: "Hey, I was part of the team that made that awesome game!", during interviews.

Also, to end on a positive note: Kingdom Hearts came about because the boss of Square Enix met a Disney exec in a lift and voiced his idea to him.

Polygon Smith Posts : 248 Join date : 2012-11-05 Age : 29

Carry on as normal and hope for the best (personally, I don't think we can go on as we are) - risky

For me

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Mon May 06, 2013 6:56 am

Im with Lephnix.

Hey, GUNS! Posts : 117 Join date : 2012-11-13

The smart thing to do for the project would be to contact Disney. Not their legal department but their creative department.

at worst they say no, at good they'd give us their blessing and at best we'd get support from them.

I think it's a lot safer than waiting to get taken down, i'm going to continue working on this project stealth mode regardless.

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Mon May 06, 2013 7:10 am

Deforges wrote:: The smart thing to do for the project would be to contact Disney. Not their legal department but their creative department.

at worst they say no, at good they'd give us their blessing and at best we'd get support from them.

I think it's a lot safer than waiting to get taken down, i'm going to continue working on this project stealth mode regardless.

I agree with this.

Hey, GUNS! Posts : 117 Join date : 2012-11-13

Disney.Interactive.PR@disney.com That's the address if we were to contact disney

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Mon May 06, 2013 7:44 am

Same here,

I will quote Nick Fury here:
'Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. '

I think we should keep going, and react instead of act. Smile

Polygon Smith Posts : 248 Join date : 2012-11-05 Age : 29

I am with Deforges.

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Mon May 06, 2013 9:16 am

I'm with Def orgies.

Posts : 446 Join date : 2012-11-05

Dev orgies sound good.

Posts : 3 Join date : 2013-02-19

I agree with Deforges.

Someone should probably start figuring out what we are going to tell Disney.

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

Guys...we might be totally fucked.
EA just got the SW license.
So now we have the two most copyright fanatic, anti-mod\fan creation companies in the game.

On the 'bright' side.
Might be better to contact EA. We might stand a tiny bit more chance of being sponsored you know. They could be our publisher.
I will sell my soul to EA to keep this mod alive. Razz

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Tue May 07, 2013 8:18 am

Here's the EA story: http://starwars.com/news/electronic-arts-selected-for-multi-year-agreement-for-the-future-of-star-wars-gaming.html

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GUYS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THIS:

Someone sent a letter to Deforges:

Hi BattleCry team! I'm a lowly engineer at Disney Interactive. I'd like to contribute to the project, but I'm sure that'd be a conflict of interest with my employer.

So I can't actively help - but if you need a contact within the company for any reason, please feel free to reach out. I suspect the project will encounter some legal issues in the future, and I don't want to see the project die. You guys would have a lot of support internally, so maybe we can leverage that when the time comes.

You can contact me on Facebook, or email me at jimmie.tyrrell@disney.com

May the force be with you,

Jimmie Tyrrell

If it's true, this is good news.

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

Indeed.
May the Force be with us.

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Tue May 07, 2013 11:02 am

We should wait to see what this guy has to say when he talks to the 'others'
Why it has to be exclusive license ....

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Tue May 07, 2013 11:56 am

Good news to hear from a dev on the inside. Smile

Posts : 10 Join date : 2013-05-09

Hey guys ! I just saw rab's image on Skype and it makes me wonder : at the very bottom of this picture, we can see (c) 2013 by Star Wars BattleCry. All rights reserved.
We should be very cautious with these kind of "trademarks", Disney can sue us with this Sad

I suggest to use "The texts, images and videos present on this website are the property of their respective authors." along with "The Star Wars BattleCry project is a fan-made standalone game project inspired by the Star Wars Battlefront's franchise. It is in no way endorsed by or affiliated with Disney, Ltd., EA Games or any if its affiliates or licensees. The Star Wars name, logo, trademarks and characters are all property of Disney, Ltd."

Or something like this Smile

Polygon Smith Posts : 248 Join date : 2012-11-05 Age : 29

I agree with Praglik, It is very dangerous and we skipped it. It should be fixed ASAP.

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Wed May 29, 2013 7:07 am

Where is this picture?

Polygon Smith Posts : 248 Join date : 2012-11-05 Age : 29

Bottom of the website :

[IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Ac8f2c834274eb099e9269672fba5c0e

Subject: Re: [IRRELEVANT ATM] COPYRIGHT AND NEXT STEPS Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:47 am

Yeah, I'll get Chris to change it.

We could actually explain more about it on the 'about us' page or 'overview' page.