Hello all,
If you are reading this then thank you in advance for taking the time.
I have been googling and googling trying to find the correct format for copyrighting a game document. I have just ended up going round in circles. I now understand how to copyright and how it works but id like to know the correct format? how should my document be set out to avoid any confusion.
if anyone here has done this already id really appreciate taking a look.
Just make a footer in your document that says © 2020 Your Name. Have it say that on every page. If you want to register your copyright, just google “how to register a copyright.” But you don't really need to register it. If your document is older than 2020, write that year instead of 2020.
Copyright is automatic.
If you want to know more about copyright, I recommend these two books:
Patent, Copyright & Trademark; An Intellectual Property Desk Reference
by Stephen Elias & Richard Stim. Nolo.com (Nolo Press), ISBN 0-87337-601-3
The Copyright HandBook: How to Protect & Use Written Works
by Stephen Fishman. Nolo.com (Nolo Press), ISBN 0-87337-548-3
@Tom Sloper cheers Tom, i have been looking at nolo.com from your last link you sent me. I can register in the Uk for £33 so its cheap as chips. I was more thinking document layout, story, dialog, units, game play, environment details and my crude sketches. it is all a bit of a mish mash at the moment. definitely not in any presentable format.
-Stu- said:
I was more thinking document layout, story, dialog, units, game play, environment details and my crude sketches. it is all a bit of a mish mash at the moment. definitely not in any presentable format.
There is no one format for game design documents. See FAQ 2 for information about what you should put in a full GDD. But you don't need a full GDD at this stage. You just need a concept doc and a treatment. See FAQ 13.
FAQ 2: https://sloperama.com/advice/specs.htm
FAQ 13: https://sloperama.com/advice/lesson13.htm
Copyright is a Law question. GDDs are a Game Design question. If you have more questions about GDDs, please post those in the Game Design forum.
Apart from HOW to do it, WHY do you want to copyright a design document? That is not something generally registered, and probably doesn't do what you think it will.
Registering the copyright of a document allows you to sue and collect statutory damages for unauthorized duplication and distribution of the document. But since you probably aren't planning to release the document, regular protection on trade secrets and business documents will already cover it.
Copyright does not cover the game discussed in the document, nor the ideas of the game. Someone can implement the game that the document describes and your copyright would do nothing, even if the game matches the description, because the implementation of a document and the implementation of a program are different; they did not copy the document, they copied the idea which is not protected.
What problems are you trying to solve by registering the copyright on the design doc?
@frob I made a post last week asking how to protect my game idea from being stolen. the top and only suggestion was to copyright a game document.
I can copyright my games story, artwork and dialogue as that is 100% original work. But I was concerned that the game mechanics wouldn’t be covered. I need to know how to do that if at all possible. Because that is my USP. I’m sitting on an idea that hasn’t been made yet. Over the last 20 years I have had my eye on the gaming industry waiting to see if someone has done it but to my amazement nobody has yet.
it Sound like I’ll be taking it to the grave with me. Because I’m not putting it out there for free.
thanks for taking the time to reply.
this message maybe a little messed up, this site struggles to work on my phone.
I don't know the extent of how similar or not the UK's copyright system is to the US, but I assume frob is from the US like myself.
I feel like Stu miss a fundamental concept in what copyright actually protects; at least here in the US. Copyright does not protect ideas itself. Copyright protects the expression of an idea put into a tangible medium.
Stu is correct that people can copyright their written story, audio/visual artwork, and whatnot IP from direct or substantial copying, duplication, and distribution. However, copyright does not protect the ideas used within the work no matter how original it is. If Disney or Nintendo can't stop knock-offs of their IP what makes individuals think they can. There is a reason why there is 50+ clones of any popular game.
A storytelling “mechanic” is The Hero's Journey which is not copyrightable since it's just an idea/procedure. The a unique story made using The Hero's Journey is copyrightable.
A fairy is an idea of a mystical creature which is not copyrightable but a fairy uniquely expressed in drawing is. People may feel they have created a 100% original work, but the truth is that they really have not. I'm not trying to be mean if I come off that way.
When it comes to game mechanics, it's not copyrightable. However, if a game mechanic uses some novel and complicated algorithm there is a potential to patent it. But don't be a patent troll like Sega by getting a patent on a arrow indicator in Crazy Taxi, or crowd avoidance that is just three levels of radius check over on a point.
When it comes to protecting ideas within written documents copyright can help limit/restrict the distribution. However that does not help if they just remember what was in the document; no copying required. To truly protect your ideas is to have people/organizations sign a non disclosure agreement.
The question I keep asking myself is, “How likely is it that nobody else in the entire world has had the same idea, and saw some of its potential, in 20 years, given that we have half a zillion RTS games, and people are aware they can make lots of money?”. The only answer I can think of is “very unlikely”. If you can see it, there is not particular reason why anyone else cannot. In other words, several others must have had the same thought.
If it is as revolutionary and basic as you claim, and someone saw even a glimpse of that, they'd have tried everything to realize the idea. Yet, in 20 years it hasn't surfaced. Why is that, you think?
