Question On Using Fonts In Finished Product

[darthhawk]

The Game Maker Studio manual mentions licensing fonts in a finished product. Some questions:
Game Maker Studio comes with fonts that can be used in projects. Can I use these fonts in the finished commercial project without licensing them with the original author/creator of the font? Or do I need to contact the author/creator and buy a license to use any of these fonts in my finished project?

If I do need to license the fonts that come with Game Maker Studio to use in my own project how do I get the contact information of the entity/individual who owns the rights to the fonts?

 

[Genetix]

I'm not entirely sure - but I think if you have purchased game maker studio you have full rights to the resources that it comes with including fonts.

 

[Dantevus]

I'm not certain either so please don't take my word for it, but I found two parts of the font page referring to licensing.

1) I believe the shorter paragraph in regards to licensing for distribution refers only to if you are submitting a font as your own work for sale. This is to ensure that you actually have legal rights to distribute that font.

2) The larger paragraph on that page I read as saying "If you are going to add a custom font and want to send the font through a GMX file to a friend you will have to include the font file separately because for blank legal reason we can't send it with the GMX file".

 

[chance]

Game Maker Studio comes with fonts that can be used in projects. Can I use these fonts in the finished commercial project without licensing them with the original author/creator of the font?

I think you're talking about fonts that come with Windows -- not with Studio. These fonts are licensed by Microsoft to use in documents, websites, games, etc. You don't need permission to use them. You just can't distribute them as separate font files.

Like Dantevus said above, the same applies to GM games. You don't need permission if you just add a font as a resource inside your game. You only need permission if you're distributing the font as a separate included file -- like a .ttf for example.

 

[Yal]

GM also renders fonts to bitmaps when you export a game, and doesn't save them as part of the source files, so nothing you create with GM breaks font source distribution rules - you can use any font you've got a standard license to use in GM.