A Potential legal problem

[Splitwirez]

Hi,

I'm not sure if you're aware, but EA has laid out a series of ground rules for Spore mods. I don't know if these rules were ever publicly documented, as they were provided to me directly during a discussion in private messages with MaxisBazajaytee on the old Sporum. These rules weren't anything unreasonable, but there was one that I did not expect at the time, and that I suspected may be relevant to you as well: This rule in particular stated that mods are not to use the EA/Maxis/SPORE branding as their own, and should ensure that it is made clear that they are not produced by or otherwise affiliated with EA or Maxis.

While I understand that this project is not a mod for Spore, it seemed unlikely that EA would bother differentiating when it comes to any legal concerns they may have.

As such, I would encourage you to drop the "SPORE" from this project's title, and remove the use of the SPORE logo in the YouTube video's thumbnail (and anywhere else you may have used it). To the best of my awareness, describing the project in comparison to Spore (e.g. "Spore-like creature creator for Unity") shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not certain of this, so take that with a grain of salt.

[daniellochner]

Hey there! Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

My intensions for this project are of course only for educational (and nostalgic) purposes, and so don’t plan on monetising the game itself at all! That being said, I’ve done a bit more reading myself and definitely agree that some changes need to be made!

I’ll include a disclaimer at the top of the video description, remove “SPORE” from the GitHub repository and itch.io page and redo the thumbnail to exclude the logo. With regards to the YouTube video’s title however, I feel as though it clearly indicates the project is a clone, and so don’t feel that should be a problem!

I plan on releasing another update for this project soon (with video explanation), and so will make sure to follow the same guidelines.

Thanks again for reaching out and taking the time to create this issue, I really do appreciate it! 😊

[Splitwirez]

Hey there! Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Not a problem, I figured it was a "better safe than sorry"-type scenario, so there was only one reasonable course of action. When I first saw that this repo hadn't seen any activity in several months, I was a bit afraid the project may have been abandoned (or at least gone dormant indefinitely). I'm glad to see I was mistaken about that.

My intensions for this project are of course only for educational (and nostalgic) purposes

I always find it strange to hear people speak of their nostalgia for Spore...the game is as much a part of my life today as it was the day I first played it, back in 2008, so it's easy to forget that some people played it when they were younger, moved on, and then later found themselves fondly remembering it as a relic of a simpler time.

...or maybe I'm just reading too far into your choice of words.

and so don’t plan on monetising the game itself at all! That being said, I’ve done a bit more reading myself and definitely agree that some changes need to be made!

Okay, possible stupid question, but...is this project intended to form a game in its own right? I was under the impression that it was more intended as a feature/tool/library/whatever-you-call-it to be incorporated into other games, but now I'm questioning if I may have been mistaken about that.

I’ll include a disclaimer at the top of the video description, remove “SPORE” from the GitHub repository and itch.io page and redo the thumbnail to exclude the logo. With regards to the YouTube video’s title however, I feel as though it clearly indicates the project is a clone, and so don’t feel that should be a problem!

Yeah, that makes sense...if it were me, I'd probably have gone with a title more like "I made a Spore-like Creature Creator in Unity!", but I haven't a clue if that's in pursuit of legal safety, or just personal taste. To each their own.

I plan on releasing another update for this project soon (with video explanation), and so will make sure to follow the same guidelines.

Nice, I'm looking forward to what's to come. Dare I ask if this update might include the Test Drive mode you'd previously mentioned you were planning on adding in an update?

Thanks again for reaching out and taking the time to create this issue, I really do appreciate it! blush

Glad to be of assistance. I'm honestly shocked I'm only the second person to post any kind of issue here.

---

Also, not entirely relevant, but while double-checking how many issues had been closed so I could ensure that that last sentence was actually accurate, I noticed that someone indirectly suggested the idea of metaball-based parts. I'm not sure if you're aware, but Spore itself uses spherical metaballs for the body, and also uses more complex arrangements of metaballs for some of the limbs. In fact, at launch, the game only featured metaball-based limbs for creatures, though some which used traditional models were added in Patch 3, under the title of "Exoskeleton" limbs. A few more were added in the infamous (and infamously broken) Dr. Pepper Bot Parts promotion, this time with a more robotic theme.

For fear of legally tainting this project, I won't elaborate on this feature further unless you give me the go-ahead to do so...but know that I was (AFAIK) the first Spore mod developer to discover how to create these metaball-based limbs via mods for Spore itself, so if you would like to know more and believe that knowing more would not legally endanger your work, I would be more than happy to try to elaborate. I've tried to document my findings in the past, for the benefit of other mod developers...unfortunately, I'm not very good at writing documentation.

[Antypodish]

I am normally not tracking git activity, but somehow this thread took my attention on, as I work on somehow related project, for procedural creatures creator. But not using this git.

This is a bit offtopic, however, since mentioned metaballs, here is what I believe, an interesting article regarding metaballs. http://www.chrishecker.com/My_liner_notes_for_spore Found from here. https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/aeachd/how_does_spores_creature_creator_workspecifically/

While idea can not be legally disputed, using potentially logos in the project itself, could be potentially an issue. But I hate the idea, that because someone is huge fan of something and make replica, or sample, then to be hindered on it. On other hand, there are tons of videos and articles using titles names and discussing them to the death and seems there is little to no issues with that. So for video part, I don't thing there may be any issues. And if code is not the copy of the source code, it is just another the idea put into practice. But indeed, it is very close and similar to the original. Which may be potential stopper.

What I would do, is maybe changing menu layout of the project, to be somehow similar in functionality, but not a "copy" visually.

Also, changing Spore-Like in the title is a good point.

Keep historical data references and screenshots of current stage on git. And describe intentions for changes, if planning to do so.

All best in 2021 and beyond.

[codeHusky]

I feel a lot of the concern here is rather unfounded. As long as the game doesn't claim to be part of the Spore property and have any language claiming to be Spore in it, there's no real reason why this would infringe on any copyright EA or Maxis has.

Spore isn't a maintained property and a spiritual successor to the game (or at least some of it's mechanics and ideas) is far from infringing on copyright. If it was, you could argue any game with a similar dialog option style to the Fallout games was violating some sort of copyright Bethesda has over that design, but it's simply not the case. This is far from a 1:1 clone, let alone a copy of any of the graphics. It's functionally similar, but you can't sue someone because they made a similar piece of software to you.

I'm glad folks brought this up (removing explicit mentions of spore from the repo was a good move for certain) but this isn't especially relevant given the current state of the project. Issue could probably be closed at this point IMO.

IANAL, just my two cents.

[Splitwirez]

Spore isn't a maintained property

That's debatable. The game's content-sharing servers are still up, for whatever that's worth.

I'm glad folks brought this up (removing explicit mentions of spore from the repo was a good move for certain) but this isn't especially relevant given the current state of the project.

I don't disagree, but felt it was a "better safe than sorry" scenario, hence why I brought it up.

[daniellochner]

Thanks for your input @codeHusky 😊 Closing this issue for now seeing as the main problem areas have been addressed.