Protecting your ideas

I see a lot of posts on ideas and game design, also I'm starting to look for paid collaborations.
How do I make sure my "precious" idea is not stolen?
I have little programming skills but a very clear project, with game mechanics well planned,
and a clear idea of the "feel" of the game.

is my concern naive?

 

I think your concern is valid. It's very easy to see all of the copying going on in game development. Granted, this is generally because of money being made from the original. Flappy Bird made a lot of money so a bunch of people copied the idea and created clones. Same for many other games. I don't think it is limited to copying proven game ideas. The "new" ideas are the ones that have the potential to be a great success (as well as crash & burn). I think it is quite possible you could meet someone who is an experienced developer (or at least more experienced than you) who is capable of quickly bringing a new idea to market in the case of a brilliantly simple idea. And I think it is also quite possible to meet someone who is already working on one or more games of their own yet is missing that "certain something" to really make them stand out... in this case they may borrow an idea from you to add to one of their existing games.

What you could do is have the person sign a non-discosure agreement that of course covers them not applying your ideas to any of their projects as well. Beyond that I guess just tread carefully and try to find someone with a good reputation at least the best you can.

Keep in mind that even the greatest idea needs to be implemented very well to make it work. I see retro games this way. There was a good amount of creativity with the ideas and environments and so forth for old NES and similar games but the execution often sucked.

 

I think it's important to realize that your idea isn't as precious as I you think it is. Neither is mine. Neither is anybody else's... ideas are cheap. Any half-decent designer has more great ideas than he (or she) could possibly implement.

As @GarBenjamin says, there is a lot of copying these days, but the copycats don't lurk on forums watching for idea write-ups... they simply look at what's in the top 10 best sellers at the moment, and shamelessly clone those.

So I think the risk of someone stealing your idea and implementing it sooner/better than you can is quite low. But, if it makes you feel better, then yes, have the folks you work with sign an NDA.

 

As @JoeStrout says, your idea is not worth a dime. If your existing game is a success, it's likely to be targeted by others.

Assuming you already have a game, you would need to add new features regularly in order to leave no room of innovation for competitors. This would discourage cloning/stealing ideas. Even if someone does clone it, it wouldn't be as successful as yours unless they introduce something you don't have.

A bright example is how Angry Birds became a massive success even up to this date. They had an idea of mechanics from a flash based web game. Angry Birds targets wider audience and took an advantage of a still growing mobile market back in 2009. Apart from that it had a fun and cartoonish atmosphere, which attracts people up to this date.
The game is still improving, adding new birds and making spin-offs from movies and cartoons, leaving no opportunity for competitors. There are clones but they fade quickly, buried underneath other unsuccessful apps.

 

thanks guys that's what I supposed
I have a lot of experience in the music scene and some guys think their song is too precious to be previewed to professionals.
but a good song is not only about the melody, you need proper sound, good mixing and good production AND promotion.
I thinks that's the same with games
I'l just go ahead with my game concept and let's see

 

If it's any comfort, I've been doing this for YEARS, and I have never once seen someone steal a game idea (not counting clones of already successful games).

 

If you want to protect your idea from your collaborators you can have them all sign NDAs.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to steal my idea so I can threaten to sue them all over the papers and internet.

I don't care about protecting the idea, I just need a publicity boost.

 

Its a bit silly to think your favorite idea(s) are something someone else would want to steal.

Most people who are in to game development have their own ideas they want to implement, and far too many of them to actually complete. The same goes for Triple A studios. They have a bunch of games they just sit on because they don't have the time to actually implement them. Hence why you will never see any of them complain about "stolen ideas" .

If you could copyright / patent an unimplemented idea the world would be a very different place. Innovation would be nonexistent! Loads of people at the time had the idea for the telephone; yet few had the technical expertise to invent it /pull it off. If the first person to file a copyright/patent on an unimplemented idea had done so it would never have come to be!

Lastly let me repeat/paraphrase something a good game developer said pretty recently (the lead dev on the Elysian Shadows project Falco Girgis): even if someone wants to steal your ideas, and does that it doesn't make them any more successful than you will be. Because at the end of the day you are still the innovator and they are the copycat! They can copy you all day while you can do flips twists and other cool changes to your vision. You will always be one step ahead of them regardless of how accurately they copy you and your ideas.

Food for thought.

 

Is the idea good? Doesn't matter as long as you follow the formula.

Spoiler: No

did you forget to give Grayson a hand?

That's a scary thought indeed.

 

You actually can't patent ideas, not in the sense we are discussing them in this thread.

You can patent inventions. These don't actually need to be implemented to patent.

 

Sorry I thought I remembered something I saw directly on the US patent website. It said (according to my shotty memory) that it is indeed possible to patent an idea.

I just visited the websites FAQ section; and it indeed not legal to patent an abstract idea. Which is a relief!

Man I was thinking an unimplemented idea and an idea were not the same thing -.- brain fart lol

 

You can't legally protect your game idea but can copyright the expression of your idea. I would guess that most people who say they have an idea would expand on that as the OP has saying the game mechanics and feel of the game are well planned.

I think maybe people are taking "idea" too literally as well as devaluing it more than necessary. First, the idea is probably the most critical step in the creative process. The idea is what gives us Flappy Bird, Minecraft and what brought us Breakout back in the day. If everyone has no problem coming up with great ideas then I'd ask why do we see so much of the same thing on the game markets? Clearly there are a lot of games being made by developers who had no idea of their own. However, their games are sometimes turned into a unique expression in their implementation. Which is excellent. No problem with that. That is not always the case though and often a developer just borrows from this game and that game to try to create a new game experience.

Again, I am not knocking that. It is a completely viable approach. But still there is a difference in that some people can truly envision something that does not exist such as the cases I mentioned above or Tetris or whatever. In the other case the idea is for the execution or expression of an existing idea. So I don't agree with the ideas are a dime a dozen, ideas are worthless line of thinking. I would agree completely with an idea that is not expressed (acted on) is completely worthless. There is a difference.

Anyway, I think what people sometimes mean when they say "I have an idea" is they actually have a design. They have the game world planned out, the enemies, obstacles, goals, rules and ao forth. Perhaps they have sketches of the characters, the world layout and so forth. All of this is an expression of their idea and I think this is what they may be referring to and are concerned with someone getting.

I know if I say I have an idea that is not some 3 second thought that popped into my head but something that started with a rough concept and was iteratively refined into basically a sort of blueprint. So it seems likely some of these people with "ideas" also have a design. Although it is worthless if it never is taken beyond that stage you cannot take it beyond the conceptual stage until you first have that. And I think many people can honestly say they spend a lot of thought trying to come up with that initial idea. Not everyone sits around with a flood of awesome ideas that can be turned into great products games or otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if a person could write and sell many copies of a book "Awesome Video Game Concepts: Volume 1".

 

Your specific idea is not going to be stolen. Stealing your idea means I have to implement it. That is never easy.

That said, you might have a general idea that could be "modified" in order to make one's fortune. For instance, Terraria is based on Dig-Dug, and various other games, just mixed into one common shell.

So, your concern isn't naive - just temper that concern by choosing what you put out there. However, don't live on ideas alone - build some prototypes, and show that you do. Beat everyone else to the punch of making that awesome game.

 

My ideas are all awesome, and if I live to be 1000, I still won't get to make them all. So, if anyone wants some ideas to steal, I've got plenty! Lest the world be deprived of my creative genius

 

Does anyone have any experience with NDAs?

 

I've signed a few, if that counts.

I would suggest consulting with a lawyer. These things have to be worded pretty carefully and in accordance with your countries labour laws. An agreement that is not enforceable is not worth having.

 

Yes, I have experience with NDAs. Companies will enforce them, however, NDAs have an end date i.e. they're limited in time and are not open ended as most indie developers think, if you get someone to sign an NDA - duration forever -, that won't stand up in court. However, you will not have the money to try and enforce it anyway.

Most people have no problem signing NDAs until the game comes out or an end date is stipulated (and it should be) and most people are honest anyway. If a project collapses then you can't really expect someone to keep stumm about an idea from then on. However, if there are key mechanics in your design which you believe are of value and you wish to keep to yourself, you work on them and plug them in later and don't tell anyone about them until the game is so far advanced that it's own momentutm will take it to completion..

Developers seem to believe that by getting someone to sign NDAs protects their intellectual copyright from then on, but this is not really what NDAs are for, they are time limited and will cost to be enforced, and if they are not legally sound they are a waste so it is really simply an act of good faith amongst poeple soon hopefully top become friends.

Sometimes a potential collaborator makes all sorts of demands about changes to a NDA, about getting them examined by lawyers etc. In my experience anyone that makes these sort of demands will be a problem down the road and should be avoided like the plague. Between individuals they are simply an act of goodwill and can sometime be a red flag as to some guy's character, other than that they're not much use.

Signing one with a company is another matter entirely, if you break that with a company like Penguin books, or Sony it will empty your bank account trying to defend it.

 

The signing of NDAs over the internet? Would one have to print it out sign it and mail it?

 

Depends on the jurisdiction. Some countries allow digital signatures on binding agreements.

 

Angry bird stole castle crasher.... but it took them 10 months of marketing effort to hit big... before that it was a game among any other on the App store.
Flappy bird is also a clone... and was burried in the apple store for 12 months like angry bird.
None of this two game were successful because of their idea. They were successfull because a buzz happen. (with a media snowball effect)

Your idea value is closed to nothing.
Idea can be stolen, and even a NDA can't protect you from that!
But that's not a problem because they will stole you a something not very valuable

You've got a problem, when they stole you a full fledge, well balanced game, which is 95% of the real work after you've got the idea...

 

www.docusign.com is a site I've used before. Pretty good for eSignatures.

 

Ironically enough thats what I've been doing all day today, Im just on lunch at the moment, but yeh I've been trying to implement digital signatures into Office