So... I want to make a product that I concider to enough other products on the market to make the idea "unpatentable" and making me safe from being sued. However I want to make the content/specific rules/art that I make for my idea to be concidered my own Intellectual Properties that I am allowed to sell copies of the board game I have invented. The complication is that I want to also have all of the information I am retaining rights to available for free, while preventing other people from selling my idea. What type of licence/copywrite description do I need to adopt?
The specific idea is that I will invent a board game (a roll the dice, move arount the board, land on spaces and stuff happens thing) that people can print off and use for free with stuff they have around the place, but after a while if it's successfull I want to be able to sell a commercial version of it with nice printed cards and board and pieces that is nice enough that people will buy it to replace the homebrew version, or people who don't go for the whole "print off a board game" idea will be able to buy it in stores.
Stealing Ideas, Board Games, Public Licences
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I havn't got all the specifics worked out, I have a big ugly mess of ideas right now, combining elements from a number of different board game archtypes... unfortunatley as I want to retain IP on it, I need to come up with a cohesive idea before I start telling people about it... sorry... I'll make sure to post a link when I get something together.
I once had this really cool idea for a bord game!
Halo: the bord game. Basicaly you controll either the humains of the covenent in a epic war game over the entirety of halo. The covenent need to destroy the humains, while the humains need to avoid being destroyed by the covenent! The humains have a set number of people who survived the initeal fight above Halo, and of course the master cheif (who shows up randomly and is increadbly powerfull for a few turns, but then leaves to continue on the fight shown in the game).
As the humain player you get resourses to outfit your set number of troops with by takeing and holding the ruins that dot halo. You place engeeners on it (useing a token) and each turn you can roll a number of die, based off of how extensive the runis are (whitch is shown by a small number next to the ruins space on the halo map).
Example: A humain player has secured a small ruin with two squads, a warthog and a enginer. The ruins, being small and on the outskirts of Halo, have a 2 next to their graphic. The player rolls two dice, and gets two sucsesses. This means he can pull two resource cards. The player draws scrapmetal (collect four to build a tank, two for a warthog) and, DISASTER! he draws the dreaded Flood card. This game will get very deadly very...very fast.
However the humains get the advantage of being able to place their units EVERYWHER on the map! So you can flank, run away from and generaly cause havok in the Covenent army (Fun!). But the covenet can only be stoped by destroying their three battlecruisers parked over Halo's surface. Everyturn troops roll out of the cloning vats. However these troops only come out of the three place's, and if the humain player can blow up just ONE ship he will have struck a magor blow.
But the covenent has a lot of troops.
Example: The covenent player decides that his cloning vats will creat grunts this turn. He places the grunt squads on the map, in the small deploment zone around the ships. Unfortunantly the prior turn the humain player got the master chif and has moved him into position. The end of the next turn = lots of dead grunts.
Now the flood is the game over card the dumb humains can unwittingly unleash. There is ONE flood card in the resourse deck. So once you draw it the humain player has the misfortun to roll how many flood tokens get put on the bord. And those tokens go one space in the direction they already faced when they where put on the map. Anything in their path dies and creats ANOTHER flood pice.
Example: The humains main fortress has three turrets, two tanks and four whole squads of troops. Its the largest ruin, and the player is slowly breating back the massive army of Covenent. Then he draws the flood card. Because the ruin was large and had 7 for its ruin indicator. So the humain player rolls 7 dice and places that many flood counters on the map. Then those counters eat the three turrets, two tanks and four sqauds and turns those into nine more flood tokens.
Then those tokens, pluse the 20 or so odd other flood tokens emminating out of that ruin start moving out ward in a malingant hord!
Once the flood starts comming out the game is in sudden death mode. Both teams are now hunted, and their time is limmeted. Whitchever wins first has the plesure knowing that the other side has died before the Flood overwhelms them...
theres also a rumor that the Master Chief can destroy the flood once and for all....nahhh....
PS: Dont steal my idea
Halo: the bord game. Basicaly you controll either the humains of the covenent in a epic war game over the entirety of halo. The covenent need to destroy the humains, while the humains need to avoid being destroyed by the covenent! The humains have a set number of people who survived the initeal fight above Halo, and of course the master cheif (who shows up randomly and is increadbly powerfull for a few turns, but then leaves to continue on the fight shown in the game).
As the humain player you get resourses to outfit your set number of troops with by takeing and holding the ruins that dot halo. You place engeeners on it (useing a token) and each turn you can roll a number of die, based off of how extensive the runis are (whitch is shown by a small number next to the ruins space on the halo map).
Example: A humain player has secured a small ruin with two squads, a warthog and a enginer. The ruins, being small and on the outskirts of Halo, have a 2 next to their graphic. The player rolls two dice, and gets two sucsesses. This means he can pull two resource cards. The player draws scrapmetal (collect four to build a tank, two for a warthog) and, DISASTER! he draws the dreaded Flood card. This game will get very deadly very...very fast.
However the humains get the advantage of being able to place their units EVERYWHER on the map! So you can flank, run away from and generaly cause havok in the Covenent army (Fun!). But the covenet can only be stoped by destroying their three battlecruisers parked over Halo's surface. Everyturn troops roll out of the cloning vats. However these troops only come out of the three place's, and if the humain player can blow up just ONE ship he will have struck a magor blow.
But the covenent has a lot of troops.
Example: The covenent player decides that his cloning vats will creat grunts this turn. He places the grunt squads on the map, in the small deploment zone around the ships. Unfortunantly the prior turn the humain player got the master chif and has moved him into position. The end of the next turn = lots of dead grunts.
Now the flood is the game over card the dumb humains can unwittingly unleash. There is ONE flood card in the resourse deck. So once you draw it the humain player has the misfortun to roll how many flood tokens get put on the bord. And those tokens go one space in the direction they already faced when they where put on the map. Anything in their path dies and creats ANOTHER flood pice.
Example: The humains main fortress has three turrets, two tanks and four whole squads of troops. Its the largest ruin, and the player is slowly breating back the massive army of Covenent. Then he draws the flood card. Because the ruin was large and had 7 for its ruin indicator. So the humain player rolls 7 dice and places that many flood counters on the map. Then those counters eat the three turrets, two tanks and four sqauds and turns those into nine more flood tokens.
Then those tokens, pluse the 20 or so odd other flood tokens emminating out of that ruin start moving out ward in a malingant hord!
Once the flood starts comming out the game is in sudden death mode. Both teams are now hunted, and their time is limmeted. Whitchever wins first has the plesure knowing that the other side has died before the Flood overwhelms them...
theres also a rumor that the Master Chief can destroy the flood once and for all....nahhh....
PS: Dont steal my idea
I believe udner US copyright law, if your game is original adn you can prove that then you're safe. If your game is absed on another game but it has been changed extensively then you're safe, as I think ti counts as a derivative work and comes under your juristiction. For example say i took a peewee and created a popart peewe is psychadelic colours that could still be recognised a a peewee but looked very different and looked more like a piece of art, then I could rename it and call ti soemthign else and there'd be no problem with that under law, however in the case I was taken to court ti would be the judges decision as to wether ti was far remvoed enough from the peewee or not.
With a board game you're luckier, sicne a lot of board games are copied anyway and get away with ti simply by changing the names of thigns in it and making a slight change to the gameplay but keeping it essentially the same.
With a board game you're luckier, sicne a lot of board games are copied anyway and get away with ti simply by changing the names of thigns in it and making a slight change to the gameplay but keeping it essentially the same.