I want to put hitmarkers in my game, call of duty style. Is that legal to publish on the App Store for free but with ads? Does anyone own the rights to hitmarkers or something like that? If im not allowed to, is there a work around? Like making the hitmarker a triangle instead of 4 diagonal lines. Thanks in advance.
by hit marker, do you mean cross hair>?
reticules are fairly standard, it would be hard to see how a standard looking one could be copyrighted since game makers were probably copying what was in sights anyway in the real world. Now, if you copied a really unusual/stylised one then you would probably have an issue
No. For example when you play Call of Duty and shoot someone online, you get a disconnected X Mark in the middle of your screen showing that you made a hit. Not necesarily a kill, but a hit. You also hear a thud sound.
I never said reticules. Hitmarkers. Ill link a picture and a video
Vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwuefGKENh8
Notice in the video that when he shoots, a little X appears in the middle indicating a hit.
to me that just looked like a targetted reticule so you could tell when you were going to hit them. If you can find the same thing on games from different publishers then you may be ok but from what I could see (I nearly had a seizure with how fast everything moved) it wasnât anything special. If you are really worried you would need to have a copyright attorney or someone investigate it, or you could just do it & publish & change it or take it down if you receive a cease & desist letter.
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I highly doubt anyone owns the rights to hit markers. I wouldnât worry about it.
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Alright guys thanks. If anyone else has anything to say about this please do. More opinions/facts the marrier.
Youâre talking about a pretty high-level feedback mechanism. As long as you donât copy the implementation from someone I think youâll be alright.
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reminds me of the golden child
âThey got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcsâ
I believe that was Coming to America. 
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Curse old age. I was just happy I remembered something from so long ago
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I remember this one time at band campâŚ
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I dont believe you can copyright mechanics
What did you do to the flute 0_0
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You can patent game mechanics. Whether theyâre defensible in appeal is another matter.
BTW,
ret¡i¡cle -ËretikÉl/ noun. A series of fine lines or fibers in the eyepiece of an optical device, such as a telescope or microscope, or on the screen of an oscilloscope, used as a measuring scale or an aid in locating objects.
ret¡i¡cule - ËretiËkyoÍol/ noun. a womanâs small handbag, originally netted and typically having a drawstring and decorated with embroidery or beading.
Due to misuse, reticule is now grudgingly accepted as an alternate spelling of reticle, but in my mindâs eye I still see a purse floating in the middle of the screen. [Edit: Forgot to give videogames credit for teaching me the word âreticule.â Thanks, Infocomâs Plundered Hearts (erm, it was my sisterâs copyâŚ)]
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Itâs funny to see the first handful of people think that âhit markerâ was reticle. Then I felt like the isolated loser in the forums actually familiar with the call of duty franchise.
In my opinion, itâs probably fine to copy because thereâs no depth to the mechanic. 1 hit = 1 hit marker & 1 thud. Air strike hits several people, you get several thuds and hit markets (see : cod4). Itâs like trying to patent recoil or battle logs that show âkilling name * gun icon * victim nameâ for players killing each other.
Their best case to argue that you took their hit marker would be if you used the same sound and color for the effect, and even that seems like it would be a stretch.
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One word substitution that annoys me the most is when people use the word rouge when they meant rogue. I can understand most common errors people make such as then versus than, youâre versus your, or there versus their.
But those situations where people seem to insist the word is rouge annoy me because the correct word is almost always visibly used on the sites theyâre incorrectly using it on. If something is right in front of your face youâd think you would learn the correct one.
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Yea Iâd think everyone here knew what a hitmarker was. Itâs always present in the most popular game of all time⌠lol. But I suppose to be a game developer, you donât need to be a gamer. Anyways, thanks for your opinion. Much appreciated.
Be advised that such mistake may also root from fast typying. If you press u a littel bit too aerlyâŚ