Question Confused about copyrights

So I'm a little bit confused about copyrights. The question is not about Unity though. Still, I want to ask if anybody has a clue or knowledge.

1) Can I develop a clone of a game without using their art and other stuff and publish the gameplay? Though it is going to have referring art and very similar mechanics.

2) Can I publish the project on github for study by attributing 3rd party content?

I know people are developing copies of games by just changing the art and publishing them on mobile stores for commercial use. I'm still not sure about it.

By the way, I'm talking about mobile games mostly, not AAA or something

 

Yes. But you have to write it from scratch.

If they use someone else's game without permission, that's forbidden.

That depends on the project. For example, if it includes asset store assets with defaultl icense, then you're not allowed to redistribute those and so you cannot make it a public github project.

 

Right. Just because a lot of people are doing something, doesn't mean it's legal, so you are correct to be suspicious.

If they are actually hacking the build and just replacing art assets, that's a clear-cut case of copyright infringement. If they are developing their own software that just happens to play very similarly, then that's generally allowed.

I'm not a lawyer, so I can't speak with authority on the actual law, I can only speak to the general guidelines that devs share and follow to try to protect themselves. Generally something specific like a specific art asset, script, or piece of music is copyrightable, but a vague thing like a game concept or game mechanic is not. So you can make a game that has similar game mechanics as long as you don't use anyone else's characters, music, art, scripts, etc.

A big company can still try to sue you if they have a particularly distinctive game and yours is too similar. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.C._Munchkin! This sort of thing doesn't happen very often, though.

 

Thanks! I will develop my game from scratch so publishing gameplay or making a tutorial about it should not be a problem! Sorry to hear about the Github though, means I can't fully publish the project. Maybe I can publish the code itself.

 

As far as I know it is true. The game mechanic cannot be copyrightable. That's why some people could make very similar games and sell them.

Your example is interesting. But it shouldn't be a problem since I'm not going to publish or sell my game on any platform.

 

Copyright law defines what rights someone has regarding controlling the copying and redistribution of particular kinds of artistic work that they have created. The original creator of specific kinds of media/work owns the copyright to that work, and they are the person with the right to decide how that work can be copied, in whole or in part.

Game mechanics aren't actually covered by copyright, copyright covers 'artistic' work and media, and although the definition includes software applications as a 'package', and code, neither of those are the same thing as mechanics.
Game mechanics could potentially be covered by patents, eg the Nemesis AI from Shadow of Mordor, but common, longstanding and/or trivial mechanics generally arent, or are exempt because of obviousness, prior history, etc.

If you wish to copy a game mechanic, though, I'd say do not do so by deriving it from some other person's copyrighted code. Its safer to create from scratch. And remember that open source code -is- covered by copyright, and its inclusion may bind you to licensing terms you do not wish to adhere to, or it may be incompatible with other code.

Also note that if you do derive from someone else's work, even that derived work being legal under any IP law does not mean you are protected from being sued, and being in the right does not necessarily mean you can afford to prove you are in the right. If a lawyer sends you a cease and desist, and you cannot afford to contest that, you may wind up having to desist, whether you would have won your case or not.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'attributing 3rd party content'.
If you mean 'including 3rd party content, including code, and stating who it belongs to', then no, unless the 3rd party has given you permission in some way (ie as part of the license, or some separate arrangement) You cannot(*) redistribute without permission of the copyright holder, under their licensing terms, be that in the original form, or any changed version you have derived from that.

(*) there are some exemptions to this called 'fair use' though they're a lot more clearly delineated and restricted than some people seem to think. This includes parodies, quotation for research, and quotations for criticism. There's a lot of wriggling around people try with this, especially 'parody', but historically you actually have to throw a lot of money in court to get away with that in real life.