No, a moderator can move it @hahasamian;
Videos on Youtube showing your work is generally okay - what you cannot really do is give the software to anybody.
I was thinking of an engine that makes something like the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog, but with a different character to avoid copyright issues. I would post such a project up for download, perhaps so people could make their own Sonic games if they wanted.
I feel that replacing characters would not be a good solution for my fan-game ideas, however, because my ideas specifically calls for certain characters. Simply getting copyright permissions might be a much better solution. I might just need to learn some legal lingo…
Okie dukoo
Understood.
(Actually, he DID post a Chao garden project for download, but that doesn’t work anymore; the download is supposedly not there.)
Okay, since you guys seem to know your stuff on copyrights, what if I made Toontown on ? I feel it would be really cool, but it might have copyright problems. What do you think?
Just make your own stuff and maybe stop ripping off other peoples work.
Also please, stop with the multi posting and use the edit funktion or answer everything in one post right from the start. Someone mentioned that earlier and you actually did it once and then you went back to the spamming approach. It’s basic forum etiquette.
If you’re referring to THE “ToonTown”, as in the Disney property, then yes you would have plenty of legal pitfalls. Not to mention it’s Disney, so where as some game developers might or might not pursue you over a fan game, Disney definitely will.
Legally it doesn’t matter at all what the property is. If it was originally owned/made by someone else, you’ll need to seek permissions or risk being shut down.
Sorry. I am just trying to quickly reply to everyone’s stuff quickly.
So, because I have the ability to come up with good storyline and am also a game developer, I should leave behind my ideas for stuff based on copyrighted work like old garbage? I don’t think so! I’d rather just go and ask SEGA if I can just use their copyrighted characters for a Sonic game!
A hard life, this is. I have the power and ideas for many games based off others, but alas, I must ask for usage of the copyrighted material for every one! Except maybe those Scratch ones…
Okay. Understood. In that case, I will also ask for copyright permissions on that! But really, ToonTown will have so many new zany possibilities on UE4! Anyone ready for this: Great graphics, dancing buildings, and, perhaps… REALISTIC PIE SPLATS!! HAHAHA! FEAR US, COGS!
EDIT: Oh, and BTW things like Toontown Rewritten have succeeded not because of Disney’s ignorance, but rather because of that they don’t have anything going on with the game, and lots of people want to see Toontown come back.
Okay… After all this, I’d like to thank everyone for bearing my uneducated-ness when it comes to copyrights and forums. And I think I’ll remember to keep posts to myself until I have something good to show everyone.
And also, the “Is everyone stunned or something?!” was just sarcasm. I knew no one should be stunned by what I had created. I was simply pointing out there were no posts.
The main thing is that you understand that the motivation is to help you avoid some bad legal expieriences 
Copyright is a very surreal mine field where even the minutest detail counts. Usually I watch the end credits of games to see what they all had to license.
When you then see “Helvetica font, licensed by Linotype”, you realize, wow, even “standard fonts” (that ship with Windows) need licensing.
The tricky details then become appearent when you hear a story about a studio being sued because they licensed the font for international use on PC and game consoles… but not for handheld devices in china and released a gameboy port there…
Yeah. I get that. Thanks, guys.
EDIT: Also, I still think it’s cool to see Sonic and other characters from the series being rendered in UE4. But it isn’t necessary for me to act like I’ve actually done something and make a forum thread about it. I hope you guys get that.
Ok this
hahaha
SAMIAN (I’m sorry)
By the way, I don’t know exactly why Sega would be going after someone who posts a fan-game and isn’t making ANY money off it, but I’ll back off from that world (apart from on Scratch, where I kinda have some commitments to fan-games…).
I will leave you guys alone now. I will also change my signature. I’m backing off from Unreal (or at least its forums, where normally I can’t cause much apart from problems), and the 3D world, for now, until I am more experienced.
Goodbye. I wish you all good luck on… whatever you’re doing.
-Hahasamian
It’s not necessarily about the money you make (or don’t) it’s about how it affects their IP, you can influence people’s views of Sonic for better or worse, besides that they also have an obligation to stop people doing that kind of thing, if they don’t then their inaction can be used against them in a case where they care more about the outcome–so in the future someone could use it as justification.
(Well, I won’t be starting more threads for now, but I am still looking for any posts I should reply to!)
But if Sega actually cared about how people viewed Sonic, wouldn’t they have NOT decided to do some of the things they’re doing? Not that they haven’t made some good choices before, and even now, but personally I haven’t gotten past the way they destroyed some characters’ proportions when it comes to BOOM.
I think that most fan-games out there aren’t intended to be hate messages to Sega. I think several Sonic fan-games are simply efforts by the community to express their love for a game that they have played.
At least, that’s what I want to do when I make fan-games.
Sega doesn’t think they’re doing something that hurts the brand when they’ve made their games, they hope for success.
This is a weird thread.
It’s like when someone posts a movie on youtube and then writes in the video desc: “I do not OWN copyright. No infringment intended. Film belongs to Miramax!” and they think that covers them legally.
Just don’t use other peoples work without permission. The fact that fan-games exist and not every one of them is legally targeted doesn’t mean it’s some legal grey area and you can get away with it if you’re smart or you make a good game. It doesn’t matter if it’s the best Sonic game ever.
You should just create a game with the mechanics that you want, in this case I guess similar to 3D Sonic games, but use all your own artwork and design. Save you so much trouble in the long run. Plus you’ll also save yourself the hardship of having people comparing your fan-made game to genuine A+ titles made by a company like Sega. You could use the Sonic assets as placeholder art I guess until you had your own stuff made.
Someone up-thread mentioned “doom clones”. I remember that. When did we stop calling them doom clones and start calling them FPSs?
Yeah, I get that. But they should remember they have two audiences: (1) Those who are new to the series, and (2) Those who have played the classics and want more games like them.
Personally, I don’t think BOOM would be that good for either, because 1 has the series ruined for them and 2 doesn’t get what they’re looking for.
…is what you get when I post something. 
Sorry everyone!
Except that you get SO popular you just about HAVE to end up in court.
I get that by now. I totally get that by now. If there was one gain I could tell you guys I got from this, it’s that I now know that copyrights are no joke. It’ll probably be better in the end anyway. Look where Freedom Planet got with that strategy!
As for being compared to A+ games, did I mention that Super Smash Flash (the first one, not the one that is EPIC) got tons of plays? It seems to have gotten really popular on the net, but the game-play is very different from the actual Smash Bros.!
I dunno. When people decided violence was “mature” and the games got so popular, and there were so many, they had to call them something else. Maybe us Sonic fan-gamers will someday get our own name for our games. SCGs (Speedy Creature Games). I like it.
The only part I still can’t understand, or shove into my brain, is why we can make zero money off something and have people sue us about it. Or even get jailed for it. It’s for the community, not us. Now, using copyrighted content (such as 3D models) that a company is making money off of, THAT is a whole different story. But something non-profit for the community?
Well. You need to look one step further.
Imagine you own a video game company and you have a franchise going about “Roachie” a psychotic cockroach that has the wackiest of adventures in far out jump and run games ever.
Now someone comes along and makes a fan game of it. No profit. For the comunity, as you say.
And you kind heartedly allow the person to proceed and release the game to a general public.
The game is well received and everyone thinks you are a cool dude and really down with the gamer base, tollerating a fan made game without legal herassment.
Some weeks/month later:
A guy has an idea to make a fan game based on your franchise as well, but this time it takes a different turn. In this installment of the game, Roachie turns into a foulmouth sexist ******.
Blood and gore all over the screen and a nonstop serenade of racial slurs and cultural transgressions.
Of course the reception will not be as well. Feminist groups, religious associations and social justice warriors in general raise a social media shitstorm against you.
And is the funny part: Because you tollerated the first game, there is absolutely nothing you can do about the second…
So, declining a fan made project is mostly motivated for avoiding to set a precedence…