| Mon May 30 17:23:15 2016 by Carodak |
| Hello I'm currently writtring a scenario for a game but I need a map for my world which would definitively help me to imagine and develop the story. To which licence generated maps are submitted ? I mean can I use these maps on my commercial game ? Sorry for possible mistakes, english is not my native langage Cordially |
| Mon May 30 17:33:01 2016 by Carodak |
| Hello I'm currently writtring a scenario for a game but I need a map for my world which would definitively help me to imagine and develop the story. To which licence generated maps are submitted ? I mean can I use these maps on my commercial game ? Sorry for possible mistakes, english is not my native langage Cordially |
| Mon May 30 17:34:09 2016 by Torben |
| The program itself and any output from it are free for both private and commercial use, as long as that use does not limit other people's use of the program and maps they create with the program. So it may be a problem if you copyright an image produced by the program (and not post-processed or edited after that), since other people can produce the same image by providing the same parameters. But otherwise you are free to use. modify and reproduce maps produced by the program or the program itself. |
| Mon May 30 17:55:48 2016 by Carodak |
| Thank's for your answer. If I get it, it's okay if I don't forbid people to use/edit the map (I will not). But do you know if I can copyright the rest of the game (code and scenario will be written entirely by me) ? Sorry I know that it's not about your tool but I don't have any knowledge in this category and you seems know more things than me. |
| Tue May 31 08:44:27 2016 by Ron Vantreese |
| I'm thinking that if you create a unique color file, you might be able to copyright that and the maps made with your unique color file. |
| Tue May 31 09:33:45 2016 by Torben |
| @Carodak: Copyrighting the rest of the code (and an executable file that includes the planet code) is fine. @Ron: Copyrighting a colour file is no problem, as long as it is sufficiently different from the provided files. Copyrighting maps produced using that is more tricky, as copyright for a picture usually extends to recoloured versions of the same (such as b/w reproductions). If you want to be sure to retain copyright, you should add something significant. If you add place names to a map, the map including the place names would qualify for copyright. That would prevent people from publishing a similar map using the same names, even if the colours are different. |
| Wed Jun 1 18:49:47 2016 by Ron Vantreese |
| Thanks, Torben. Color maps... I'm thinking of a range of more than 30 thousand having hundreds of entries (not merely 20 or less). (Right?) Map complications? In that case, would that be resolved by modifying the random generating engine? Can we challenge a copyright if we happen to use the same seed as the person who copyrights a map (if they do nothing more than generate a map)? |
| Thu Jun 2 09:44:34 2016 by Torben |
| I'm not a copyright expert, but I would expect that some degree of independent creation is needed to claim copyright. A seed with 7 digits, a few check boxes, and a few other parameters hardly qualifies, so I would expect that someone else using the same parameters to produce an identical map would walk free in a copyright case. Colour maps contain more information than the parameters (especially if the parameters are limited to what is available in the online interface), so I see no issue in copyrighting a specific colour map file. That probably does not extend to claiming copyright on all maps that use that file, as the maps are separate objects. Just like using a patented or copyrighted tool (such as Photoshop) to make art does not give the tool owners any rights to that art. I doubt that this specific situation has ever been brought to court, so it is very difficult to predict what would happen if it was. In any case, I doubt it will be a problem in practice: Other people are unlikely to copy and sell maps that you have produced using the program. Modifying the map generator will make probably it easier to claim that an identical map is not just an accident, but you would have to convince lawyers, not me. |
| Thu Jun 2 19:40:42 2016 by Ron Vantreese |
| OK, it makes sense. So a map would need cities and labels, and coloring by hand or other method (as for example). |
| Sun Mar 28 15:50:40 2021 by Kodi Arfer |
| Torben, would you consider officially adopting a standard free license, such as the GNU GPL 3 or the MIT License, for your programs, particularly Troll? It's easy to do; see e.g. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.en.html . |
| Wed Apr 28 09:57:12 2021 by Torben |
| I have considered that or maybe a Creative Commons license. I will probably get around to it some day. :-) |