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Oki this is to be one of my patented lengthy posts - so grab a cuppa and get comfy

It has come to my attention from what is said about DB/DBpro within the Real Game Tools Forums, the true lack of faith within the products.
Althought technically DB/DBpro are not industry level languages, this doesn't mean that developing with them is a waste of time.

In this post I'm going to tackle many issues that have been posed about Developing Games, Copyrights, Licences and Retail... Please note this isn't a step by step guide, just some tips and tricks you can use to actually have a full game developed

Design
--//--

The most important aspect of any game is actually having a solid idea and concept to base the game upon. If you aren't even sure of the basic ideas then you are doomed to fail, as you don't know what the end result you are looking for.
It is best to create a paragraph or two describtion on what you want the game to be about... obvious titles suchs sports tend not to require a great deal of actual describtion - hehee

Once you have the idea that you're happy with, you can then expand on the idea to include how you percieve the game to be played, like for Half-Life the emphasis was on a "strick role playing story that doesn't revolve around the central character but the central character is put within the story. The whole game is setup as a great escape story with Gorden Freeman fighting for his life to get out of Black Mesa."
as you can see doesn't have to be long just put the point across.

Once you have your main story and concept done, it is time to find team members to help out.

Team Work
--//--
What is the point in having a team? Simple, not everyone is good at everything. Oftenly someone who diverses in everything and tries to be the best ends up being quite adverage in every field. Alot of games development requires people with specific skills to make everything fall into place properly.
You should be looking at a simple team of
2 Coders, 1 Artist, 1 Sound & Music Enginner...
Work spread actually helps speed up development, but also something FAR more invaluable - a different perspective.
All coders and artists have one thing in common, they all have different styles. Its this difference that helps when creation get stuck... if your own your own only you can think of howto solve the problem, if you have even one person you can talk to - even to just bounce ideas off of, they usually help open up new avenues of thought

Building a team is a very ardous task, and quite disheartening ... and for something like dbpro - i'd recommend searching for people who have similar concepts to your own and trying to work together. The combination of the ideas may sometime clash, but when 2 or more have the same goal they are looking to achieve it can be done better together than alone

Idea Copyright
--//--
Concepts for games and ideas you have that you wish to share to entise people are open for people to pickup and steal all the time, besides the fact that this is so stupid of whoever steals the idea - it happens.
A simple way to make sure an idea is copywritten is to write the idea down, date and post to yourself. Now you have a sealed and postal dated copy of the idea, you can always go down the post office and ask for them to post date your work for you, just as effective.
Another way is copying the idea to a Disk or CD, as the files are automatically dated from last edited.

Finalising Concepts
--//--
Oki although you don't actually finanlise the finished game concept until you've packaged it and it is out the door, you basically here develop all the aspect that you want in the game. Write up the entire story, sketch characters, places, vehicles, tools... write up descriptive sets of effects and things you will require from the aspect of the game. Like if you want to make a Soldier, you'll require a sketch of how you want him to look - a few rough sketchs of poses and such, his role - so something like "guards the underground transit system" ... and how intelligent you'll want him to react. All guns blazing? Duck and cover, call for backup? Animation sets? There is a great ammount of planning you can do here, and the more planning you do - the easier it is when it comes time to actual development because everyone understand what thier doing.
Once the finalise concepts are done it is time for the final stage of design before creation

Design Notes
--//--
These are basically setup in brainstorm sessions where you figure out the way you'll want to setup the major points. Like for the models do you want to use a Quake3 Tag Animation system, or Half-Life Skeletons?
The worlds to be BSP or Patch Matrix?
Minimum system your working towards?
Controller, Keyboard or Mouse controled?
The actual design notes that count on howto impliment your concepts.

Game Development
--//--
Only one thing I can say here... Don't rush, and make sure you develop the tools for creating game formats and such before you develop engine
Rushed code is oftenly buggy, and slow. If you think carefully about howto do something you'll find you produce better results. Don't be swayed by people from the community that are waiting for demos, as they'll be happier if you get something working before you release than something so buggy it is barely playable. This goes for the art and music as well, by all means make crap placement stuff - however be sure to take your time on the final development.
Last thing is, make a game playable and fun BEFORE you go for making it look outstanding. Just becuase people can't see gameplay in a screenshot - a games graphics do not define its greatness, its playablity does!

Copyrighting Materials
--//--
The basic way to make sure your work is your property is keep a single ORIGINAL development copy. This means all source should have "Copyright© [development year] [your name]. All Rights Reserved"
If you are working as a team, then simply use the team name... and state within the GPL the members of the team.

This also helps you when it comes time to getting your game published!

Publishing & Retail
--//--
Now there are several ways you can retail your game, firstly is PayPal purchase from the Team website.
The person pays a set price and you send it... Shareware
Next you have installment purchase, similar to above however you have people purchase per section of the game similar to Freeloader.com ... Public Domain
Next is Freeware this basically means you distribute the game freely - oftenly including a donation box. This is an odd one actually because I've known developers to deliberatly put in bugs that purchaseable patches solve. it is a unique idea for retail, but not very honest!

Now there are 2 versions of that last form of publishing.
Retail Publishers, who purchase your game (oftenly rights as well) and sell on. Now not alot of people here will understand the intricaies of getting a publisher, but it is just like getting a music label to sign an artist ... just need them to get a show of your demo somehow.
The best way is to mail a CD of the demo to the publishing house Marked "Demo Software"
Sometime sending them a full copy makes them very happy.

Now once a publisher is interested in you, it then a case of finding out what they think your software is worth... without backing down. Negotiations over what your software is published as "Budgetware" or "Retail" will depend on its quality, and general mass appeal. Sometime sacrificing something you like for something that everyone will actually play, will help.
There are 3 kinds of contract along these lines you will possibly be offered as well,
Single Title Total Cost - You will negotiate a set price that they will pay you, which oftenly gives them exclusive rights to sell (even over you). These can start from $1,000 and rise to $250,000 ... however I wouldn't really expect anything over $45,000
Multiple Title Contract - This will mean they will subsidise your team over a set period of time for a set number of titles. This is worth alot, and not oftenly offered to budding teams - more of a third or forth title that you develop. This will make you inherently thier property, if you're going to go for a licence like this - I would strongly suggest you make it with another software development house who deals with the publishers.
Single Title Unit Based Sales - This oftenly is a contract where niether side are too sure about the pickup of the title. It will be offered IF the title shows great promise, but doesn't currently fit into mainstream - suchas Oni
Here the team will be setup to gain Nth amount per copy sold whilst in retail. This can be from 15%-50% of the Net Profit made... Its more of a gamble on what you'll make, but if you think your game is worth it then it is worth the push.

In each of the contracts normally you can negotiate how other companies are allowed to retail, including yourself. If you are dealing with a budget publisher, usually they have about as much of a clue about all of it as you - but try to screw you over in the profits. Established publishers (especially Take2) tend to know what games are worth from the first play, and you'll get a fair deal.

I've mentioned Take2 as they are quite synominous for giving budding development studios a break, and are one of the better chances. Also EIDOS happen to have a soft spot for exclusive UK development companies as they are quickly becomming a dying breed as not many can afford to develop for the new consoles. And most of the major companies are now US owned, Rare - Lionhead - Blue Box.

Final Note is on Piracy Protection...
Now this is a growing problem within the industry which is killing the small development houses, mainly because they can't afford to be pirated but also can't afford top notch counter measures so its easier!
On this note, it is wise to think up a decent protection setup before you got to publish - I mean if it is handed onto the publishing houses they want thier games protected from this too, so a more secure program will look MUCH better to them than one that has none!

To this end there is a gathering of amature&pro developers who are currently working on an Anti-Piracy Program... It is felt that Microsoft have the best idea yet, with thier Activation stuff.
However due to recent attempts for me to create a BootCD, I've found some interesting results which could help to put a stop to CD piracy atleast for games and utilties software - IF it can be recreated within the windows environment.

This should be everything you need to know for games development... so have fun and get creating some decent games, as thats what I wanna do ... play everyones games

Hello, nice piece (Not read it fully yet). Can i use it for the DB Newsletter?

(There is a game in it for you i think...)

Email me and we can talk more,

Regards,
Martyn Pittuck (martyn.pittuck@ntlworld.com)

This is all fine and good, but I've got two words for you.

Support, Liable

Here's a scenario: (hypethetical)

1) Group develops a game title using DB or DBP.
2) Group sells title to a major software distribution company.
3) Game has a bug that was not discovered durring development.
4) Group entered a contract to provide support and address issues on title for one year.
5) Group is unable to resolve bug, because this bug exists within the development language itself.
6) Group is at the mercy of the developer of DB/DBP.
7) DB/DBP is unable to resolve the issue (for whatever reason).
8) Group is in serious financial/legal trouble.

This isn't an unrealistic scenario at all.

>>A simple way to make sure an idea is copywritten<<

Under Copyright law, you cannot copyright an idea. You can only copyright the expression of an idea.

>>is to write the idea down, date and post to yourself. Now you have a sealed and postal dated copy of the idea, you can always go down the post office and ask for them to post date your work for you, just as effective<<

Unfortunately the effectiveness of this is nonexistent and provides no legal proof of ownership and has never been upheld in a court of law here in the USA. If your work is worth more than the price of a postage stamp you are best to pay the small fee and register the source code or the final product with the Copyright Office. Only the US seems to have this, but for us here in the US, it is indeed the best legal protection we can get. If you live in another country, you can still register your work with the USA Copyright office.

Also a post office will not post date your work. You seem to be confusing the Post Office with a Notary Public.

>>Another way is copying the idea to a Disk or CD, as the files are automatically dated from last edited. <<

Unfortunately, this is useless. You can easily change the file dates of these files before you burn them to CD. This provides no legal protection.

>>This means all source should have "Copyright© [development year] [your name]. All Rights Reserved"<<

Although the word "Copyright" is used, under International Copyright law, only the copyright "©" symbol is recognized. For the record (c) is worthless and has never been upheld in a court of law, you should always use the symbol, especially if you plan to market outside the USA.

>>If you are working as a team, then simply use the team name<<

Under US Copyright law, you can only do this if the Team, is a legitimate registered business (process varies state to state). Of course you will have already had your employees sign the necessary work for hire contracts ;c)

I was lucky, my father-in-law is a copyright/patent/trademark attorney. If you do not have that luxury, it is really best to sit down with a copyright attorney so that you can make sure your work is legally protected, and that anything regarding the copyright is handled in accordance with the law. Especially since Copyright law will vary somewhat from country to country.

There are too many of these myths floating around, and they are generally wrong.

>>It is felt that Microsoft have the best idea yet, with thier Activation stuff. <<

much of the piracy prevention is borderline illegal because it tries to take away the EUs right to make an archival copy or to later sell and transfer the license to somebody else. Luckily the DMCA provides in black and white that EUs have the legal right to bypass said protection schemes if they have to in order to make archival copies. If you are considering using a nonstandard protection scheme, you are best to consult with a lawyer to make sure you keep it legal.

>Can i use it for the DB Newsletter?<

Due to the inaccuracies, I would not suggest using it.

It WILL Be used in the DB newsletter and all problems will be addressed and the proper disclaimers used.

I know a bit about copyright law also, and in the UK the sending of one's work to hiself (Which is data stamped i the UK) is a good way of proving the idea was yours. But it will not stand up in court.

Copyright is easy in the UK as all work you create is automaticly copyright of the person who made it. It is only the proving of the copyright ownership that causes problems.

Thank You,
Martyn Pittuck

>good way of proving the idea was yours.<

Except that under International copyright law you cannot copyright an idea, only the expression of an idea.

>It is only the proving of the copyright ownership that causes problems.<

Same here in the US, thats why everybody registers it with the government. Even then if somebody steals your work, you could easily bankrupt your company trying to defend yourself in court.

Oki, well the ways i've noted have stood up within worldwide courts... It is probably more to do with what the actual end result which is wanted, are you sueing them for the playerise of the idea or are you simply trying to get a cease an desist order?

As an artist I've had to personally find ways to make sure my work is safe from anyone who is trying to ripp it off, and althought I never fight for money - the fact remains of proving that work is your own.
Althought CDs and Disks you can alter dates, at the binary level within the FAT it ALSO reflects this - and something that if only you have the original CD will also reflect this. Because you cannot alter FAT dates without corrupting the FAT, just a fact of nature

I know that copyright is a very very interpretive arena, and there are no set rules ... because the actual definition of a copyright is so strick, because otherwise people could copyright anything - however its really a case of working the system properly.
Most people here cannot afford to even see a Lawyer about these things, and even more arn't even old enough to hold official copyrights!

These methods may have never technically been held up in court, however there really hasn't been enough cases of such to make a claim of this nature. Most of the time they never actually reach court as people get scared and drop cases, or they get given offers... mostly because it isn't the fact of winning that this will sway, but a deterant because this will post companies - suchas the a recent Funimation vs BFP with a very bad image in the public eye.
If anyone has noticed but Funimation and CNUS are now not on very good terms, and CNUK, SkyOne and Nickleoden (UK) have bought up ALOT of the translated Japanese Animé as a result.

Oki this may seem weird talkin' about cartoons in a game post ... but the fact remains that it is a valid deterant espcially for larger companies, because win or loose ... in the public eye they loose
As I've said its really all about playing the game, and its better to have particial insurance than none!
If you can pay $250/hour for a Copyight Lawyer, then good for you and if you are 18 and can afford to setup copyrights to yourself or register as a legal company then thats all well and good.
But over half of the people here and across DB can't afford it and aren't old enough. This save money, time and resources ... IF they get a publishing deal, then the company doesn't have to deal with the copyrights as thier publisher will gain them per country to make them specific.

It is a damn'd shame that the same laws that allow us to copy for personal use, also allow pirates to copy and sell them on. You know when stuff that is getting bad, because the price on the products jump for people (like myself) who purchase legitimate copies, and the pay of people in the industry also fall.
Piracy is killing livelyhoods, and making a computer and music industries a place only for the established.

If anyone wants help with piracy prevention I can suggest methods. Especially for software produced on CDR but even for pressed CDs.

Companies like Take2 usually provide something like SafeDisc2.

Very good Vegeta, and for the most part true! I also second Pittuck, it's a very good article to be in the newsletter. Anyway, the copyright part aside, it's all very true. People get together, make teams up and start on this massive project they dreamed up the night before while taking out the garbage. This of course, falls apart almost immediatly. I have gotten myself into many of these situations...
But I have learned from past mistakes, and now I am working with a team full of energy and ideas. But we aren't coding the main engine with dreams of getting rich quick, we are taking it slow. The main story is being completed and improved, the concept designers are doing their stuff, while the programmers are working on editors. The aim for this game is to have a main engine which is only a shell, the actual game gets run by the engine. There will hopefully be no hard coding involved. And, once released this same set of editors can help make a sequel, or players to make their own mod. The point is, we aren't rushing into it.

interesting reading material indeed

dude that is the truth on game publishing and selling them.

I really wonder if you can publish something made on Dark basic 1.13

Good luck. If a game made with DarkBasic Pro is every published and makes money, it'll be a very inspirational development indeed.

Don't turn purple holding your breath tho.

Well this actually sounds like a challenge right there to actually develop one ... and develop one shall be!

No chance of publishing a DB v1.13 game - they don't work under WindowsXP.

Can't say i've had a 1.13 game problem under XP...
However I have had some with GeForce2 cards, 1.13 had alot of support issues fixxed. If you still have problems with it i'd suggest you contact Rich or Lee about them.

Its not running the game that is the problem.

When you exit, a few minutes later, the system will crash with an IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

That sounds like something to do with XP itself, I remember having that with certain DirectX games before updating
Probably the fact that DarkBASIC doesn't unload itself properly - its annoying how many games don't bother with certain things to unload.

Aww this is no longer a sticky
... well perhaps it can be again ... all we'll need is a delete button, a good strong lock and a thumb tack

Your image link is broken Raven. How's that for off topic?

I get that error!

Only with DBV1 games though, even then only <DBV1.2 (thats DBV1.3 is fine)

As far as I am concerned the whole Copyright issue is inane. I understand that people don't want to see other people making millions off of an implementation of their idea, but the truth of the matter is that it will happen no matter what. There is really no reason to try and protect your ideas. Can you imagine if Plato had decided that nobody else should be allowed to discuss his ideas and philosophies? Or if Louis Pasteur had said that he needed to personally autorize each use of his newly developed "pasteurization" technique?
These days companies fight bitter legal battles trying to see who can make the most money off of life saving drugs and techniques. Artists get into heated battles with developers for making products that allow people to listen to their music. I only pray that some day one of my ideas is good enough for people to want to steal it and turn it into something that transcends my personal needs. Everyone is looking for the fast buck.
Success is measured in dollars. That is sad. Because the accomplisment of a goal should be reward enough, and the happiest people on the planet are the people that realize this. For example, in martial arts the first time you manage to knock your teacher down is one hell of a day. When you are weight training the first time you manage to lift a weight you had previously thought impossible gives you a rush tht no amount of cash can beat. And when making a game the first time you check your download count and realize that thousands of people are playing something you made is an amazing day.
I agree that it is nice to be compensated for your ideas, but if you worry about it too much you lose in the end.

EgoAnt

True EgoAnt, that's inspirational. I honestly never wanted to break into this industry for the money, but it's what laypeople recognise it as. But, if I was ripped off by some sneaky criminal I'd sue them for everything I can. With regards to your views I fiercely guard my intellectual material.

The problem you see is oftenly ideas are copied quite alot everyday... and it isn't the fact of a single idea being copywritten - i mean you can't really copyright plato as it is just theroy, no true practise ... it would like saying that Christianity is a Copyright of the CoE, it just can't happen!
As for pasturisation, copyrights last for 70years (aka one legal lifetime) so althought it may have put back many spin offs from pastures invention it wouldn't have been a big loss because it would be open for legal use again after he was dead ... because oftenly the point in a copyright is to make sure no-one ELSE gets rich over your product!

Copyrights have been abused in recent years, however take note of what they're actually legally protecting!
If you have an idea about a Terrorist FPS, you can't copyright that! However if this idea involved Allykida (terrorists) and Bushians (counter-terrorists) and they fought in the streets of new york ... then if you copyright it, all that your entitled to copyright are the names & backgrounds of those two sides.

Are you begining to understand copyright yet?

It isn't the fact of an ENTIRE idea i mean if i developed Quake3 i could use the exact same setup, and change the names - remodel all the game models, levels and textures (all to look the same!) - now as all the work was done by me to replace the copywritten material i could legally publish that and id couldn't touch me!
IF however i used BSP without permission then they could, becuase i'm using something someone has spent month developing free of charge - and the copyright states i require atleast written permission from the copyright holder(s) and use it to any stipulations they outline in the use agreement!

It allows companies to make sure all thier staff hard work isn't stolen out the door, becuase if you spend several months developing a brand new level format that could say render 10,000 polygons easily on a 486 dx/4 120 then you don't want to simply have some yahoo come up and steal all your hard work and there be nothing you can do about it!!

All about legal compensation for work done!

<rant mode>
Augh! This story is exactly the sort of thing that drives me crazy.....

"Bowing to pressure from Utah's Myriad Genetics, the government of British Columbia has stopped offering a test for hereditary breast cancer. The price of the test, which looks at two genes responsible for the cancer, has tripled to $3500US. Our public health care system can't afford to pay so we're sending people to Ontario, which is ignoring the patent. People are disappointed we're not doing the same... "

I got that off of Slashdot.com today. It makes me a little nuts that a whole province can be forced into not doing a medical procedure because someone else has the rights to it. How far are we going to let this sort of thing go before we realize that the more we horde information the less we know as a society.
</rant mode>