Making a game inspired by a novel?

So I have an idea for a game that I would like to make and ultimately release commercially. The game would be inspired by a book I read as a kid. My question here is what would I need to be able to make this game and release it. As in what sort of permissions should I try to get if any. I would not use any names of characters from the book or anything like that. Just the overall concept. I am guessing as long as that is the extent of my link to the book I should not need any permissions as there wouldn't really be any copyright issues with that as it's not a concept that would be considered unique in the sense that it would clearly be inspired by this novel.

I had originally thought to use the same title as the book but I assume that if I did this I would actually start to run into copyright issues and would need to secure some permissions/rights.

Does anyone have any experience with this that could offer some advice?

I may have some further questions depending on what sort of response I get on this.

Thanks

 

Depends on how similar your concept is to the original. Just changing names is (maybe) not enough. But if you change a few ideas and don't follow the novel storyline and integrate your own improvements i don't see why you can't inspire your idea from a novel.
You would need a permission from the novel author if you are directly using specialized ideas of the novel. For example names and characters and graphics.
If there is no registered trademark on the novel and you are not using similar graphics like in the novel there should be no problem.

You can look up a few sites for these keywords: Copyright, Trademark and Intellectual Property to familiarize yourself with some common issues.
http://www.newmediarights.org/guide...ademark_Intellectual_Property#Whatiscopyright
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/faqs/copyright-basics/

When you have got a first sketch/prototype or even a playable game and want to commercialize your game you should get into contact with a specialized lawyer in copyright. A lawyer can look up in depth and check if there is any copyright which could be a showstopper or what you need to change before you publish your game

 

contact the publishing company of the book to be 100% ok, you never known they might fund it . Do it up front is best, you might not think so but if you complete game then find out they say no as you didn't ask, your work is wasted. Also talking with them might give you ideas to change it enough to not infringe copyright

 

Unless you have some proven track record with handling intellectual property in video games, it's not likely you'd receive the correct permissions to do this. And the legal fees/royalties you'd have to pay to insure everything is kosher is probably not worth it.

There is nothing stopping you from making a game inspired by what ever book you are thinking of. The idea of the book can still be there as long as the essence of the story/characters/locations are totally your own.

Coming up with the who and the why is really fun and easy. But you should really start with the what and the how. Consider skipping the story altogether until you have found a really good hold on your games core. What will make the game fun, what mechanics do you need to ensure it's even feasible to pull off.

Good luck! And welcome to the forums.

 

The simplest, safest answer is NO. Anything else opens you to legal issues. So, be inspired by the book, and the ideas, and then build your own game.

Gigi

 

Thanks for the responses and advice. I greatly appreciate it. After doing some independent research on intellectual property and copyright laws, as well as following some of the links above, I believe I have safely determined that what I intend to do strays significantly from the story, characters, etc... in the novel to allow me to create the game without worrying about any legal issues.

I will not be using the title of the novel for the title of my game, character names really don't come into play, and there is no real story line in my game so I think we are good there.

Thanks again.

 

Good luck!