4 ms·

This is hilarious: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=144793 http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=144793

glass- 14y ago
They're trying to justify their wholesale reuse of audio-visual assets by pointing out that a game created by Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer and Travis Baldree uses ideas from previous games they created. That has to be a joke.
- pwny 14y ago
  Not defending the guy because they obviously stole the assets (the file names are the final nail in the coffin) but that's not his argument. He's claiming that they didn't copy the assets but inspired themselves from them. He's claiming that they (just like everyone else) are building upon the shoulders of giants. That argument is perfectly valid, until the accusing party pulls your files named after their own bosses (carrying the typos along too). At that point, you've pretty much been proven wrong.
  - cube13 14y ago
    It's a perfectly valid argument if it's over game mechanics or rules. Those are not copyrightable, and while it is ethically questionable, there's nothing illegal about copying mechanics completely while putting a new skin onto the game. It's less valid if it's copying art or sound assets. Unfortunately, this discussion isn't about mechanics(as tbaltree notes in the thread), it's about the specific art assets.
    - iamdave 14y ago
      and while it is ethically questionable, there's nothing illegal about copying mechanics completely while putting a new skin onto the game. And thus: Angry Birds.
talmand 14y ago
The really funny part is where they accuse Runic Games of "borrowing" ideas from Wild Tangent's Fate, which is similar to Torchlight. They even say they could conclude that Torchlight blatantly ripped off Fate. For those that don't know, the reason it's funny is because Travis Baldree, one of the founders of Runic Games, is also the creator of Fate.
- 0x0 14y ago
  I don't know, I think the part where they are caught with a bunch of identical .wav files - even including identically misspelt file names - is pretty good too :)
  - talmand 14y ago
    That's not funny, that's just sad.

glass- 14y ago

They're trying to justify their wholesale reuse of audio-visual assets by pointing out that a game created by Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer and Travis Baldree uses ideas from previous games they created. That has to be a joke.

pwny 14y ago
Not defending the guy because they obviously stole the assets (the file names are the final nail in the coffin) but that's not his argument. He's claiming that they didn't copy the assets but inspired themselves from them. He's claiming that they (just like everyone else) are building upon the shoulders of giants. That argument is perfectly valid, until the accusing party pulls your files named after their own bosses (carrying the typos along too). At that point, you've pretty much been proven wrong.
- cube13 14y ago
  It's a perfectly valid argument if it's over game mechanics or rules. Those are not copyrightable, and while it is ethically questionable, there's nothing illegal about copying mechanics completely while putting a new skin onto the game. It's less valid if it's copying art or sound assets. Unfortunately, this discussion isn't about mechanics(as tbaltree notes in the thread), it's about the specific art assets.
  - iamdave 14y ago
    and while it is ethically questionable, there's nothing illegal about copying mechanics completely while putting a new skin onto the game. And thus: Angry Birds.

talmand 14y ago

The really funny part is where they accuse Runic Games of "borrowing" ideas from Wild Tangent's Fate, which is similar to Torchlight. They even say they could conclude that Torchlight blatantly ripped off Fate. For those that don't know, the reason it's funny is because Travis Baldree, one of the founders of Runic Games, is also the creator of Fate.

0x0 14y ago
I don't know, I think the part where they are caught with a bunch of identical .wav files - even including identically misspelt file names - is pretty good too :)
- talmand 14y ago
  That's not funny, that's just sad.