Hi all,
I spent 3 years now to make my a game and bought over 200 assets from the store and other suppliers.
On the other hand in the learning process, I also had downloaded personal use not commercial licensed models sounds and others.
The problem is even though I carefully check the whole project for copyright violations I still may have a little sound or a simple model remained in some part of my game. Which is really not easily detectable in hundreds of files.
After publishing the game what is the risk of these kinds of not licensed project parts?
I really don’t want to mess my thousand-dollar project just because of some junk which even I couldn’t remember when or where I got. And I am also willing to pay for it if the copy-right owner warns me.
But I don’t want my game banned from the store just because of a simple mistake.
You will need to go through all your assets and check which ones you have the right to use. Then put a system in place for tracking assets to make sure you do not have to repeat doing that again. It isn’t a mistake adding assets you don’t have the right to use.
I keep it simple. If a project is intended for commercial release (or even a possibility it might be), I will never add an asset I do not have the right to use. Placeholders assets are simple primitives and my own creations.
If I was to work on a project where I used assets I don’t have the right to release with, I would add “DNU_” to the start of the asset names, meaning Do Not Use. Adding at the start means they appear together in the Project view. I would also put them in their own folder to make sure.
Yeah I also call them biscuits. After 2 years now.
But what about my first year while I was trying to write my code like a man struggling not to drown in the ocean and hold every piece of wood he can.
If you were sloppy and you haven’t kept the books properly what assets you are allowed to use and what not, you can’t save the time, you will need to go through your assets and find out.
Or you can risk it and publish as is, unless it is a central (“hero”) asset, it is a very low risk that the owner would ask you to remove your entire game from publication. You probably can buy the license retroactively or replace the asset on a short notice. But this is the jerk move, go through your assets and make notes. And next time, keep the books.
probably I will refactor it.