Me and my friends are trying to make an RPG game in MZ and we want a custom sound bite that we made using samples of other sounds from varying sources to play each time a specific character speaks just like in Undertale. Is there a way to do that?
Hello r/legaladvice, I’m a first time indie game developer who has begun conceptually working with his friends and girlfriend on a game known as ‘Deck of Cards’. It is essentially a parody of free to play 2D gacha RPG games with some slight visual novel elements with serious lore and serious moments yet with occassionally comedic moments that poke fun at other video games both in its genre and out of its genre. The game is mainly inspired by the game ‘Limbus Company’ by Korean Indie Game Studio ‘Project Moon’. For those unaware of what Limbus Company is plotwise here is a synopsis:
- Limbus Company is a Sci-Fi Dystopian South Korean Episodic Gacha RPG Game with a gritty anime esc art style that was made in Unity by Indie Sourh Korean Game Studio, Project Moon. The game takes place is a dystopian City that is controlled by 26 different mega corporations known as ‘Wings’. In the game you play as Dante, an amnesiac with a clock for a head who is hired as a Manager for a company known as ‘Limbus Company’. Dante is tasked by the company with managing their team known as the LCB which is a group of variohs people from around the citt who drive from mission to mission on a bus known as Mephisopheles. Thr LCB being comprised of a Guide named ‘Vergilius’, a Driver named Charon, and the 12 additional characters known as ‘Sinners’ who act as the game’s main fighters and are named after various famous literature figures from around the world. In the game Dante and his colleagues now must go around the City collecting strange tree-like objects known as ‘Golden Boughs’ for the company’s unknown overarching goal while also exploring the troubled pasts of the 12 Sinners in their respective parts of the game known as ‘Cantos’
Now that you known enough about the general synopsis of Limbus Company, here is a synopsis of my game:
- Deck of Cards is a Cyberpunk esc Dystopian American Gacha RPG Game made in RPG Maker by first time American Indie Game Development Studio ‘Goofballs Productions’ with an art style inspired by early episodes and seasons of the American Webseries, Eddsworld as well as Canadian Dark Comedy Cartoon, Kevin Spencer. Deck of Cards follows a man named Luke Caldwell, a caucasian man who lives in the crime ridden American city of ‘Venenosa City’. Luke is a veteran of a war between a freedom fighting milita he was formerly apart of known as the ‘Dead Man Coalition’ as well as a fascistic rogue US Government agency known as the ‘Central Research Agency of the Paranormal’ which was originally dedicated to studying supernatural entities and objects known as ‘oddities’ and ‘manifests’ prior to going rogue and attempting to take over America. Oddities being paranormal entities and objects created via a mysterious phenomena known as the ‘Paranatural Phenonena’ which was leads to people, animals, and objects to become paranormal entities or artifacts due to heavy amounts of emotion as well as causing real beings to spontaneously appear into reality from heavy amounts of emotion as paranormal entities known as ‘Manifests’. After the war was over, Luke was traumatized by his experience due to him losing his 3 squadmates who he grew close with. However, one day Luke gets an invite to be a management officer at a mysterious and secretive syndicate of task forces known as the ‘House of Cards’ in order or lead a group of 7 - 12 (I haven’t decided on an exact number) of amnesiac humans, oddities, and manifests known as the Heathens that work for the 7th Task Force of the House known as ‘G Team’ alongside two additional team members known as the Guidance Officer, Evan and the Conductor, Tank (The Heathens, Evan, and Tank being based on the OCs of some of my friends who are also serving as Creative Directors for the game while Luke is my own OC). In the game the G Team travel from mission to mission on a creepy subway train known as ‘Ammit’ that runs on the damned souls of those they’ve killed and is driven by Tank. And each part of the game’s story which are known as ‘Sectors’ would focus on one of the heathens’ backstories, them relearning their traumatic pasts, and them overcoming it to become better people (This includes Luke despite him not being a amnesiac but still needing to resolve his past traumas but it does exclude Tank and Evan who’d have their backstories either kept open to interpretation or will be told gradually in each sector but not as a main focus due to them not being amnesiacs like how the Heathens). With the House’s ultimate goal being to gather as many of these objects known as ‘Ruby Fruits’ as possible for their own purposes which’ll be explained later on in the story most likely.
So are these similar enough plot wise to where I can get sued into oblivion by Project Moon if I began development and released the prologues and first 3 sectors before beginning to work in the other sectors? Or is it similar enough to where it is clearly inspired and is clearly parodying Limbus but is not in lawsuit territory I also would have similar systems in gameplay like the gacha system giving you alternate versions of the Heathen characters with different stats and rarities as well as the combat system being turn based but I don’t think I can be copyrighted for similar game mechanics to my knowledge.
Location: New York