Let's say hypothetically that I had a fully realized and functioning game using a well known IP (a character from Nintendo or from another company, for instance), where the game is finished and wouldn't have any development time, would they entertain the idea to release it?   It would be made with their characters so I would have no right to it (in the case of money) but would they entertain the idea if they found it good and fresh.?  I have seen answers to this question saying a definite no for they were presented an idea of a game and not a completed product. And I know most people would want compensation for there time, but if it's already done and bug tested, play tested and polished, would they entertain the idea if they found they wouldn't have much to do on their end and I would not seek any rights to the design?
121066
It seems like Niantic did just that. If someone were to create their own game(Pokemon, hypothetically), how would they, if at all possible, sell that game to Nintendo or at least make a royalties deal? Or any other game, for that matter?
57876
What with  today, possibly this is a good time to ask: who actually owns the copyright to questions, answers and comments submitted to StackOverflow and relatives?  Over in , we have the OP reaching the conclusion that SO owns the copyright and is licensing it under CC-Attribution-Sharealike, with no apparent confirmation or denial from staff, and in  we have a moderator asserting that Jeff owns the copyright to SO content.  As I note in a comment on the latter, though (which was met with deafening silence), I'm failing to find any evidence that this is the case.  I've looked for any kind of terms of service I may have agreed to indicating that I am signing over ownership of my words when I hit submit, and I can't find one.  Certainly the fact that I'm agreeing to CC-Attribution-Sharealike licensing is clear enough, but it seems to me as if I am retaining copyright while agreeing to those licensing terms, and S[OFU] is using what I have written under that license.  What's the deal?  Did I forget about something that I agreed to in the signup process (and if so, why can't I find it afterward)?  Do the owners and administrators of S[OFU] believe that they own copyright to the UGC?  Just what is going on here?  Edit as to why this matters (from answer comment thread): If I retain copyright, I can also choose to license the original content to other parties under other terms (such as using a zero-requirements license, using an attribution-required license without sharealike, etc). If SO has the copyright, I can't.
83940
When something of yours is deleted (answers, comments, questions, Area 51 proposals) it would be nice to get some kind of notice other than just not being able to find it anymore. You receive notices for everything else that can be done to something of yours, and often relating to something of yours, so why not this?  I've never had anything moved that I know of, but if that doesn't send you a notice I'd say it should too.  If you don't know that this has happened, then one might be tempted to think there was some user or software errors and just post again.
116638
Currently, one of my players brings his 3DS to the table. He picked up a new game, and insists that he's "just grinding," and that he's paying attention (and to his credit, for the most part he is), but he then complains that his character doesn't have enough screen time. To his credit, his character has only been given scrap plot points up until the most recent session, during which I was figuring out how something important in his backstory would tie into the plot. My current hopes are that one of the following occurs in regards to the distraction.   He finishes the particular game and no longer brings it to the gaming table. I've provided enough plot threads for his character (who, comparatively, is removed from the other characters) after the recent session that he might be engaged and willing to dig into the same overarching story with the other players, which is now connected to their goals.   However, I don't think that this will change anytime soon. I may be wrong, but I would like to be prepared as to handle this. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it is the first time it has been intrusive. The other players aren't happy with this, acknowledging the issues stated. The primary issue we have is that it keeps him from listening to and engaging other players' important character moments, something they do diligently for his character. How can I bring him back to immersion and away from his distraction?
42068
This is a legal question and I want to know if I can continue the way I work in a commercial environment. This is not about if I can blatantly take images from the web and use them as they are.  What I do is mostly icons and iconographic imagery where in the end no one can tell if I used an image that doesn't belong to me as a starting point.  Here is an example.    See, technically I stole.  I'd like to know if this is perfectly okay and counts as a new work or if it's sort-of okay because I might not get into legal trouble. Or maybe I should be really careful.  I actually don't know.
53257
A search on google for "iphone developer" turns up loads of websites which have "iphone" in them, a trademarked name by Apple.  So I'm led to believe that having a domain such as iphonedeveloper.com is ok? Well, you're still using Apple's trademark, but it would be hard to brand yourself otherwise. You're an IPHONE DEVELOPER... right?  Well, what if I want to provide a website where users pay to get a list of the best offers from Ebay? I might have a domain like ebaydeals.com (I don't... i'm just speculating!).  Now I've heard that places like Ebay are really hot on the trigger and fire out emails to people who register domains like that straight away. But whats the difference?  In both cases I'm making money from the trademark, effectively, so is it just down to how lenient the company who owns the trademark is? Or are there rules? Is there a specific "line" you don't cross?  Thanks
47453
Last week I wrote a , and I noticed that no one has answered it nor comment it (it only has one comment). Maybe my question is too broad, too complex or too strange, I am not sure, because it's my first question on the site and my first time making a game, so I'm not sure how to explain it. But the important thing is that I posted the question 8 days ago, and I still doesn't have an answer. Also, I don't know how much time it usually could take, but I never saw a question that didn't have an answer in less than 4 days (without being downvoted or closed), so I am starting thinking that maybe I shall delete my own question. Shall I delete it? Actually the question doesn't have any answer, and maybe it would never have one, so it's just trash. It takes space in the site, making the search of other questions on the site slightly more difficult and it doesn't provide useful information. Does it have any positive use on Stack Exchange?
78952
I would really like to hear how other independents generally approach marketing their game with limited resources. I know how critical marketing is since I've seen it first hand on several fronts. I've been part of teams that didn't put an ounce of marketing into their project and didn't come close to meeting expectations. I've also poured a lot of time into visiting forums to discuss our previous title which resulted in minor bumps over time.  I really think  is doing some amazing grass roots marketing with the way they are managing their community around their Blog. They've massed a following that is willing to pay (far in advance) them for their game before they finish it to help support them. That's awesome.  But how many people are really willing to divulge such information that early? Should that be a concern? Should I start talking about my next project before I really have anything implemented?   What has worked for you? I would be particularly interested to hear how people approach Apple's iTunes store. I believe we're looking at around 33,000 games on the store these days.
109763
I'm creating the UI for a web application which will mainly run on Macs. So my goal is to preserve the look and feel of Mac OS. But since I don't use Apples Frameworks I'm not allowed to use their UI design. So my question is: how closely am I allowed to copy their design without violating copyrights?  Do you think this is still legitimate?
42929
I need to incorporate other people's work into my game project. I must admit (with a little embarassment) that I am almost completely ignorant about copyright. I only have a vague idea of what it is, what it protects, or what it means when I see Ⓡ or © or ™. Since English is not my native language, reading all those Wikipedia pages full of legal jargon only gave me an headache.  I'm looking for images (sprites, backgrounds, UI elements mostly) and sound. I intend to publish the game (Google Play and Flash/HTML5 game websites, maybe the iPhone App Store). I don't plan to "sell" it directly, but I do intend to insert ads and/or in-app purchases.  I will most likely need to edit the content before including it in my game. Probably just scaling/rotating, but the greater degree of freedom I have, the better.  So, what should I look for, to be sure I have the rights to use the media I find the way I need to (like "royalty free" or "copyright free")? In which cases do I have to ask for "permission" to use that media, and how? Like, send the owner of the site an e-mail?
11417
I've looked through a few of the questions about the licensing of posts on SO, but haven't found any really satisfactory answers. Can an answer be used in an open source project (with an MIT license)? I'm not looking to simply cut and paste, because I would need to modify the snippet to suit my project and also because the answer is in a different programming language. Also, if the answer can be used, how should it be credited? Should it just be a link to the SO page? Should it include the user name? Should the user be contacted?
15446
I am preparing slides for a short (10min) talk at the group meeting. The talk is about a fairly serious piece of (pure) mathematics, and it so happens that there is a very relevant one-panel webcomic. A thought appeared to me, and got some support from my fellow PhD students, that it would be cool to include this comic, perhaps at the final thank-you-for-your-attention slide.  I am probably not going to do it, so I'm asking mostly out of curiousity: Would this be a bad idea to go ahead and include a comic on the final slide?   Note: The comic is genuinely funny (based on a sample of 6 non-randomly selected students). It is not - as far as I can tell - offensive in any way. It could come across as somewhat silly.
105142
I'm starting to write a book on . Since I've been contributing on this tag for a long time, I had the opportunity to read &amp; answer several interesting threads on Stackoverflow related to this technology.  I would like to discuss some of the interesting cases published on Stackoverflow in my book, and I wonder if I could use the images and code shared on those threads in it.  I'm hoping somebody from StackExchange could clarify about the copyright status of the material shared on Stackoverflow questions/answers.
27739
Situation: a long time client (at this point I've done consistent work for them for about two years) just messaged me saying they do not want me to bill them for the last design I did because it was not what they wanted. However when explaining the project they said I could have creative freedom.  Is this a normal thing for clients to not pay for a project and then expect you to do it over? I get edits and things like that but expecting you to not bill them for what you already did and just starting over? Do you expect a client to not pay for a design they don't like?
54725
Is it okay to use Unity 3D programming and gaming software to create mobile game apps for Android and iOS? I am using a free version of Unity 3D and planning it to sell my current game app I've created by publishing it to Google Play. I also use this method for earning money by setting as a free app with ads on it.   I saw some developers relied on using free version of Unity 3D to create games and published it via App Store or Google Play. If it does, should I have to pay or share contribution to the Unity development team for earnings since I use the free version in order to rely for producing several game apps for business?
121967
As we all know, the inclusion of LGBT characters has been a mighty controversial topic in recent film and literature (). Some love it with every fiber of their being, while others absolutely detest the very thought of it. Now, keep in mind that I am not here to start a political firestorm nor am I here to preach my own personal beliefs regarding this, I'm simply asking the question: will the inclusion of LGBT characters decrease potential sales?  In our game, a pseudo-'90s JRPG, one of our main story writers added two  (of a civilization with heavy Roman influence, but with different laws), both female, married. Originally hailing from an area in which LGBT relationships are looked down upon, I was quick to note that it may be too much controversy, but it truly depends on where you live—for him it was almost completely normal.  As I see it, we have three choices.   We can keep the characters just as they are. We can keep the characters, but only imply their relationship. We can alter the relationship entirely, changing one to a male.   Right now, our main goal is to satisfy the general public while still strongly appealing to those who actually played JRPG's such as Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy back in the day. Which of these three options should we choose to best enhance our sales, or, if it's not up there, what is the wisest way to go about doing this? I am looking for facts and data if possible and/or applicable.  EDIT: Our target audience is Everyone! Like we said, we’re aiming to satisfy the general public while still appealing to those who played JRPG’s back in the ‘90s.   EDIT II: Wow. Every almost answer here contained a wealth of information, and I'd like to formally thank all that contributed. I will be using the information from just about all of these answers, and I'm sure may others facing this issue may as well.  EDIT III: If you have comments that aren’t answers or you’d like to further discuss this, please refer to the  as opposed to commenting. Thanks!
111730
I am thinking of making a site which will have a forum. I already have a lot of users (in an old forum, which I want to renew).  I like the Stack Exchange concept (voting, reputation, etc).  Can I build one of my own on my site? (I don't intend to copy any source code, just the concept itself.)  Is the concept patented or otherwise legally protected, or is it free to use?