Question regarding DCMA avoidance

Help and Feedback Art Design Support
#1

Hi there,

So my game just recently got a DCMA strike. It was essentially a fan-made Lunch Lady, you can view the gamplay here:

Me and my partner want to pursue doing a revamped version of it, because so much work went into it.

However, I don’t want this to happen again. I am curious as to what I can get away with as far as another DCMA claim goes.

Would revamping the entire map, changing the AI character, and just in general making things look less like the actual game, be enough?

You can’t copyright a game idea, but it does scare me not knowing how far away I need to be in order to be safe.

I can’t lie, the game is basically a replica of it, so it makes sense.

But I do need advice in terms of understanding how close we can get without infringing on the OG game maker’s rights.

Thank you all.

1 Like
#2

Do not use any Copyrighted or Trademarked names or images.

They can’t get you for a version of their game with names that are changed sligthly, but for example I used the name Formula One in the title of one of my places. It didn’t have anything in it that would be even remotely close to a DMCA issue other than models I’d made of Formula One cars. Someone at Formula One must have heard about it and got the place shut down. It wasn’t even a popular game, just a suspension test place I made for fun.

Anything that can make you Robux by product sales or Premium Payouts from players just playing your game can be a reason why they’d get upset and DMCA you because you are making money off their copyrighted material since Robux can be DevExed into cash.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for the insight. That’s so unfortunate.

Do you think it would be safe to remake all the assets so the map is totally different, a new entity, and other visual changes?

I don’t really know what’s far enough away to be safe from another strike. The concept would remain the same, but it would no longer resemble a clone.

Technically speaking, ‘ripoffs’ can exist right? I think where I messed up was everything made in the game was intended to look like the actual game.

I do need clarity in this though, so I can know how far away I need to be in order to be safe. Like for example, would continuing to use school maps be pushing it, despite them being made totally different from the actual game’s maps?

1 Like
#4

I’ve seen plenty of examples of places that get past it by for example by making a realistic model of a Toyota, but calling it a Royota or something ‘close enough’ to not be copyrighted.

Using a map that’s built different is probably fine enough, as long as it isn’t using assets from the original game.

2 Likes
#5

To my understanding you did essentially make a 1:1 replica of Lunch Lady so it makes sense to be taken down. However if the models and such you made were all your own that’s fair enough, those are your assets. The issue to me is the game being a ‘blatant’ copy and paste of the original so due to this you were striked in regards to basically copying it. If you made the game about a serial killer who did it with maps a bit different you’d most likely be fine. You can’t really just copyright an idea so it’s more to do with the game being a replica - if you change aspects of it such as the ‘lunch lady’, map design and such you’ll probably be fine as it’s just seen as making a different type of game inspired by Lunch Lady.

TL;DR - Don’t make assets that blatantly copy someone else’s work alongside a majority of the gameplay.

3 Likes