ROLL BOSS RUSH (PSX)

[rainwarrior]

Does producing an NES cart come with the same legal risks? If so how does a game like Battle Kid Fortress Peril get produced and not have any legal risks?

1. The game code is original. (The NES did not really have any kind of official SDK, there wasn't a need.)

2. All characters, art, music, etc. is original and not derivative of someone else's intellectual property.

2. As far as the hardware, anything to do with the NES that was patented has already expired. Not sure about the PSX, thought it might be old enough too now?

Note that patent expiration applies mainly to hardware devices. Software (including SDKs) is usually covered under copyright, not patent, so it doesn't expire nearly so quickly.

[isufje]

Would releasing an original game using the Yaroze dev kit be legal?

[Drew Sebastino]

First off, how would they know you're using it if you were, and second, what exactly is a dev kit?

[isufje]

It was a special PlayStation package consumers could buy for making games.

As far as how would they know... i believe in honesty so you would know what I'm using.

[tepples]

Besides, they'd know by the libraries that get linked in.

The safest route is to use zero Sony code.

[rainwarrior]

Would releasing an original game using the Yaroze dev kit be legal?

The Net Yaroze would have come with a licensing agreement for its software. If you own a Net Yaroze and are covered by that agreement, then yes, if not, then technically no (unless it has some kind of permissive public licensing).

Practically speaking I doubt anyone would come after you for Net Yaroze or even using pirated official SDKs. I don't think you really have much to worry about, even if you were illegally using their code. This is mostly an academic discussion, IMO.

I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character, if anything, but I doubt even that would come up.

First off, how would they know you're using it if you were

Compiled libraries like an SDK provides are relatively easy to search for in the executable binary. Even if it's not a library, figuring out if someone is using your code is not really that difficult a problem if you have access to the executable.

The difficult problem is really just knowing which software to look at. It's probably not worth anybody's time to be checking PSX homebrew binaries and analyzing them to see if they're using your code. Usually when it's found, it's because of some external tip-off. Maybe somebody who knows tells you, or maybe you find an old forum post discussing it, or maybe you're just really familiar with how your code worked and you see some quirk of behaviour when you're playing the game and you know your code must be in there.

[tepples]

I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character

Unless you make like Vic Tokai and replace Roll with something like Francesca, an "original character" (DO NOT STEAL :p ).

or maybe you're just really familiar with how your code worked and you see some quirk of behaviour when you're playing the game and you know your code must be in there.

Which is how it was discovered that the Wii version of Pajama Sam was using ScummVM. And that's illegal because Nintendo forbids use of copylefted software such as ScummVM on its platforms.

[isufje]

I think it's far more likely that you'd get nailed for using the Roll character, if anything

Unless you make like Vic Tokai and replace Roll with something like Francesca, an "original character" (DO NOT STEAL :p ).

I'm not asking on behalf of Roll Boss Rush but rather an original game i have yet to program... i was just wondering on the legality of buying and selling a game programmed with the Yaroze libraries and the issues related to such.

[MottZilla]

You could get in trouble for copyright infringement if you use the Yaroze libraries. If you want to be totally safe legally you would need to use open source libraries or ones developed by yourself. Using the official SDK and libraries could get you in trouble. However it's entirely possible you could get away with it.

But when you talk about a freeware game as you have now with Roll Boss Rush, it's very different. Using the official SDK isn't likely to get you in trouble. There are lots of freeware/homebrew things out there that either use copyrighted SDKs or characters/artwork that belong to someone else. The worst that might happen is a cease and desist letter.

[isufje]

Does anyone here have a PlayStation 1 game dream sequel that they wish existed? Just asking because I have a few:

1. Vagrant Story [probably a prequel]
2. Azure Dreams [sequel]
3. Megaman Legends [next gen sequel unfairly canned by capcom ]
4. Cotton [the playstation never had an exclusive cotton game]

[tepples]

Dance Dance Revolution Konamix 2 (U) using the 5th Mix (J) engine rather than the 4th Mix engine that Konamix used.

That'll become doable sometime in July 2018, which is 20 years after the priority date of US Patent 6,410,835.