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[Hangedman]

As my inaugural post, I have an important question to ask for those who have more knowledge of the business side of independent game design.

I am making a moderate-sized game, based upon a particular IP that is owned by a large gaming company.
It is ripe for expansion and has lots of possibilities.
I'm not making it because I can't come up with a novel setting and mechanics on my own, but it's a universe that I love and that begs expansion.
I have no desire at any point to ask anyone to pay for my game. It's entirely being made for fun, and just for the heck of it, as a tip of the hat to the game I love.
Nevertheless, I hope to distribute it to a large number of people free of charge.
Is it still possible that I could cause friction with the company in question? 
If so, do they really have a legal leg to stand on, so long as I do not directly use the copyrighted name/main characters/etc and has no use of any game assets?

Thanks in advance for the advice. 

[jrjellybeans]

Is it still possible that I could cause friction with the company in question? 
If so, do they really have a legal leg to stand on, so long as I do not directly use the copyrighted name/main characters/etc and has no use of any game assets?

Thanks in advance for the advice. 

Yes, you could cause friction with the company in question.

As for your second question *I would think* that if your game even takes place in the same universe as someone else, it could cause a LOT of problems.

These sort of things are done on a case by case basis, however.  Nintendo, for example, I've heard has been particularly harsh with people using their franchise stuff.

Generally, speaking, however, what it sounds like you're doing CAN get you in trouble.  Usually most companies seem to ignore smaller types of games but if your game ever gets popular, if there's any connection to a franchise they own, they can essentially shut you down.

Hope that helps!

[___]

These sort of things are done on a case by case basis, however.  Nintendo, for example, I've heard has been particularly harsh with people using their franchise stuff.

What?  Nonono, Nintendo is perfectly okay with fan games.

We got these: http://www.mfgg.net/ these: http://metroidr.brpxqzme.net/ and even some of this: http://www.shadowsoflylat.net/media.php  I also don't think any of these: http://www.zfgc.com/ would survive either.

Nintendo doesn't kill free fan projects.  They considered a game like Shadows of Lylat to fall under the category of "fan art."

Anyway, depending on the game, you could just release it and disappear into the shadows.  Then it will be on the internet and unstoppable, and at this point you'd be ideally sipping cocktails on the beach somewhere, watching it from afar.

[Christian Knudsen]

Going to chime in here, since my game is exactly what you're describing: a fan game set in a universe belonging to a major company (EA). What I did before deciding to make this game was two things: see how many other fan games set in the same universe exist, how long have they existed, has any been taken down? -- and make my game so that I relatively easily can remove references to the original IP. My game takes place in the Wing Commander universe (more precisely in the Wing Commander: Privateer) universe. A bunch of fan games set in this universe existed before I started work on mine and I'd never heard of any being taken down by EA, so I felt and still feel relatively safe. But if I should be contacted by EA, it wouldn't be much of a task to change the name of my game from Privateer: Ascii Sector to simply Ascii Sector (which doesn't infringe on EA's IP and my url is asciisector.net, so I wouldn't need to change that) and change some names of races, ships and factions. I should be good to go after that. Of course, my game doesn't have real graphics, so the problem would be bigger if you used copyrighted/trademarked character designs and the like, but you could just design your graphics to feel like the original game without actually looking completely like it.

Anyway, my piece of advise is to make your game in a way that all your hard work isn't lost in case you receive a C&D letter from the IP owner.

[handCraftedRadio]

You could try it, but personally, I wouldn't take the chance of going to prison for the rest of my life just for one game.

[Christian Knudsen]

Nobody's going to prison. He's not selling the game. The most he risks is a C&D letter demanding him to stop using their IP, in which case he just removes the offending traits from the game (which is why I advise to make the game in a way that the IP "borrowing" isn't central to the game) and everything's fine.

[handCraftedRadio]

The most he risks is a C&D letter demanding him to stop using their IP, in which case he just removes the offending traits from the game (which is why I advise to make the game in a way that the IP "borrowing" isn't central to the game) and everything's fine.

Followed by a nice little one-way trip to the big house. If you're lucky you'll get a window cell.

[Christian Knudsen]

Let's try to keep this somewhat serious, shall we? Nobody has ever been sent to jail for making a free fan game and nobody ever will.

[mona.adele]

Let's try to keep this somewhat serious, shall we? Nobody has ever been sent to jail for making a free fan game and nobody ever will.

Probably wouldn't happen, but theoretically if he sells/distributes more that $1,000 worth of the retail version of the original game product within 180 day period the publisher could try to get the feds involved. I can't think of any incidents where it's happened, but THEORETICALLY the possibility is there.

The lawyer in me says avoid doing it at all costs, and legally I'm obligated to advise against it. You're risking trademark, trade dress, unfair competition, counterfeiting, and copyright infringement claims out the wazoo, and lawyers, we ain't cheap. Also keep in mind that many companies aren't satisfied with you simply removing the infringing content... they'll demand the minimum (or if the drafter of the C&D is a real hardass, the maximum) statutory damage for each infringement.

That being said, I'm not your lawyer, and you're going to do what you want regardless. Just know that there ARE risks-- I can't tell you realistically how much more likely your game is to get noticed on the game company's radar than any other fan game out there because I have no idea what property you're using or how good your version is. The catch-22 of covering your ass (e.g., asking permission) is that you by default put yourself on their radar. That being said, if they don't respond with a "no" or don't respond at all, you have at best permission or at worst a plausible waiver/laches defense. Some game companies are cool with it, but if they say "no" you know you're picked the wrong IP.

[Craig Stern]

The lawyer in me says avoid doing it at all costs

You have a lawyer in you??!!! Did you swallow him or her intentionally? That's false imprisonment, you know.

[mona.adele]

The lawyer in me says avoid doing it at all costs

You have a lawyer in you??!!! Did you swallow him or her intentionally? That's false imprisonment, you know.

I call him mini me.

[Christian Knudsen]

You should really call him Kuato, though...

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

it should be fine in most cases. barkley: shut up and jam probably had over a million downloads or something, and it's about as fan-gamey as you can get. i'd only worry about it if you ever intended to sell any *other* games besides that one, because technically if you make a fan game and sell a completely different game, your fan game serves as advertisement for the game that you are selling. in other words the main thing to worry about is that you may forever close yourself off from being able to sell games, since you'll be forever associated with the fangame and anything commercial you do with games will be suspect/dangerous. but if you don't intend to sell games one day, by all means make it, we need more good fan games (there are so many bad ones).

[Christian Knudsen]

That's an interesting perspective. But what if you make a commercial game some years later and sell it from its own website that has no reference to the fan game you made? Seems kinda odd that just because you made a fan game at one point, you'd be cut off from the world of commercial games forever...

[bateleur]

The reality is, if you use someone's IP they might ask you to stop. Sometimes you can guess whether they will or not, but it's never 100% either way.

If you are making no money they will basically never ask you to do anything other than stop distributing what you have made.

[mona.adele]

The reality is, if you use someone's IP they might ask you to stop. Sometimes you can guess whether they will or not, but it's never 100% either way.

If you are making no money they will basically never ask you to do anything other than stop distributing what you have made.

Oh they'll ASK for more-- any copyright/IP/in-house attorney or paralegal who has ever drafted a C&D will demand either statutory damages or actual damages based on an accounting of copies distributed. And if you have a day job they will sometimes put pressure on you to get that money, or submit it to a pet firm that specializes in collections. Never assume that companies will ignore the fact that copyright and IP law lets you squeeze people like a sponge for the slightest violation.

This is, incidentally, something indie developers should keep in mind as well if they see obvious rip-offs of their game on the 'net. If you're a smaller dev and don't have the cash flow for an attorney's hourly rate they may be willing to take it on contingency.

[Christian Knudsen]

Just ask good old Dr. Langdell!

[Hangedman]

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I've decided to transpose. Keep the same idea and mechanics as I planned, but rename EVERYTHING so there is no brand connection whatsoever. Just a similar idea and general mechanics. No asset use whatsoever.

However, I plan to make a world editor, so in theory, some nefarious person could create the world from the original game... 

[mona.adele]

Just ask good old Dr. Langdell!

I kind of worry that asking Langdell anything will expose me to litigation, threat of litigation, and a demand for damages. So cheers, but I'll refrain. 

[Christian Knudsen]

I believe saying his name three times in a row while looking in a mirror will also do that...