Question about license of 'default game' and its graphics

[jonask]

Hi,

I want to know what license the graphics of the 'default game' are under. I have done some derivative work on a few of the mouse pointer graphics and want to know how I can and should license these.

// jonask

[selmiak]

It's all based on Sierra games, so you either ask them or, as AGS has been using these for years and noone cared, you stop worrying about some pixely mousecursors. This is no binding legal advise

[Calin Leafshade]

Any art assets made by CJ are likely to be considered public domain. He's never expressed any kind of enforcement over them which would essentially reduce his copyright claim to nil.

The only potential sticking point is the default font which is copyrighted by sierra but again, lack of enforcement means their claim is also likely to be nil.

If you're really anal about licensing and stuff then the actual answer is that both are unlicensed and thus proprietary by default and shouldn't be used.

[AGA]

The art assets were drawn by CJ, 'inspired' by Sierra (i.e. not direct rips).  I believe the same is true of the fonts, although I can't guarantee that.

[Scavenger]

The fonts are uncopyrightable, being bitmap fonts. Only scalar/vector fonts are copyrightable, as computer programs.

I wouldn't use the default Sierra font, not because of any copyright concern, but because it's pretty overused.

[jonask]

Thanks for all the replies! I updated my license paragraph to this:

The 'speech' font is ripped from 'Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers'.

The 'normal' font and the original mouse images are created by Chris Jones.

All other source code and images in this repository are created by Jonas Karlsson and licensed under the CC BY 4.0 License. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

From this page http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/ags/legal/ it says that the normal font is freeware, but what that really means is up to interpretation. It would be nice if we could have a permissive freely licensed default assets base. Maybe we can ask CJ to "properly" release the art to the public domain?

Also, if someone wants to download my "improved" icons, you can get them here: https://github.com/karjonas/insanityjam2/tree/master/images/mouse_icons

// jonask