Commercial Games

[manny.p]

I may one day want to make commercial games, but if so i want to avoid all the copyright laws and stuff.

1. i see theres a windows download for AGS with no mp3 support for mp3-licence mix ups, but what if i want to make my music in mp3, my own music, are there still mp3 licences i have to agree and pay a little contribution for?

2. the same with general midi's, is there a licence i have to agree with to use them in a commecial game

3. font's, what font's am i allowed to use, i just want the standard font, it that totally free, can i use it for commercial use

4. and user written plug in's can i use them, without getting mixed up with any law suits, am i allowed to use them without paying a fee to use them?

5. also how can i find out if a name, like a games company name is copyrighted?

6. and any other disputes

thnx in advance manny.p

[Privateer Puddin']

1) just use .ogg

2) midis are fine as far as i know

3) the standard font i would think is fine but remember - will some one be willing to pay when the creator hasn't put the effort in to make it stand out?

4) ask the author of the plug in

5) think of something mega - original

[manny.p]

1. well i have got a company name, but i want to know if it may already be copyrighted,

2. and is ogg good compression?

3. on other thoughts i probably won't use plug ins at the moment,

4. oh an does ags support ogg,

5. oh yeah also, what good free .mp3 or .wav converters to .ogg are there?

[Privateer Puddin']

i wouldnt suggest it if it didnt

whats the company name?

[Ishmael]

.ogg is well compressed, in my opinion, and of cource AGS supports .ogg! Why else would you have been adviced to use it?

I had an .ogg converter somewhere sometime....

http://www.audio-converter.com/index.html <-- There's one

[Pumaman]

It doesn't matter whether you made the MP3's or not, you have to pay for using the MP3 compression format in your game if you release it commercially.

There is no fee for the MIDI format, but if you use somebody else's MIDI tunes, then you would have to speak to them about licensing.

Read the AGS licensing page for more information. Using the default speech font would be illegal.

Basically, if you're considering releasing a game commercially, it should all be your own work. People won't settle for anything less.

[Volcan]

Hi Pumaman


Speaking about commercial games, did you get royalties
from the authors of the adventure of Fatman?


Volcan

[Cerulean]

Company names aren't copyrighted, they're trademarked. You can search databases like http://tess2.uspto.gov/ for existing trademarks to avoid coincidences, and then if you've got the money you can register the business name you choose.

This won't necessarily protect you if a company who thinks they're more important than you wants to sue you into the ground, and in today's legal system nothing will. But you're likely to escape notice as long as you don't call yourself "Apple Microsoftware" or something stupid like that.

[ratracer]

BTW, how do you deal with taxes, receipts, and the accountability business (especially, because most of your games will be exported)?

[Migs]

BTW, how do you deal with taxes, receipts, and the accountability business (especially, because most of your games will be exported)?

Hire an accountant.

[Pumaman]

Speaking about commercial games, did you get royalties from the authors of the adventure of Fatman?

No, I am not currently requesting royalties on commercially-sold AGS games.