Game Development Community

Using pre-made material in game design. Is it legal...

by Ethan Groves · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 11/19/2006 (3:18 pm) · 3 replies

Instead of just having plain text in my game design, I was wondering if it was legal to use screenshots of other games to illustrate various points and give a better feel for what I was trying to communicate. I will give proper credit to all of the screenshots, and will not try to pass anything off as my own. My question is, could this lead to trouble?

I'm not exactly using any of their content. I'm just saying, "This is similar to what it should look like."
NextNext Thread
PrevPrevious Thread
More from Game Design and Creative Issues


Torque Owner Gareth Hewes
#1
11/19/2006 (9:23 pm)
I don't know the red-tape issues, but I would avoid it. I would say that your best bet would be to draw it out yourself (or have your artist, if you have one, do it). It will make it easier to see the main points that you are trying to point out, and also not lead to people expecting something out of your game, just because they are familiar with the game you are referencing (you know, like they see a screenshot of a game, they may expect your game to match the quality and style, etc.)

Torque 3D Owner James
#2
11/20/2006 (3:33 am)
From my perspective, if this is your Design Doc or pitch, I think it's legitimate to use screenshots from other games that illustrate features you plan to employ. To say "this feature is like the camera rotation in Splinter Cell", I think quickly gets your message across. But again be careful not to be misleading with the images. Your crediting them clearly will go a long way to this.

Misleading them into thinking the quality of the game will match of the referenced game images... well, I should hope so :)

Style... just be clear what is and is not your game style when using these images and you'll be fine.

Sketching your own or what have you is an option if you can draw but if you can't, cobbling together images using photoshop or [ fav. image editing software here ] can be useful too.

If in doubt, have someone look it over. If you have the slightest inkly it could cause you trouble, take the images out. If you've done a good job writing your document, it will stand on it's own :)

Good luck!

Torque Owner Ethan Groves
#3
11/20/2006 (4:18 am)
Thanks guys, I think you both have some valid points. I don't want to be misleading, so I'll be careful if I use anything. The main thing I was worried about was legal issues. As I stated originally, I only wanted to use the material to aid my communication of various ideas.