Question about controls and copyright

Yup. Hammerwatch has exclusive copyright to WASD for movement. You’ll have to use different keys, or even a different character set, just to be safe. A lot of indie developers are switching over to hiragana keyboards now, since AAA developers already took up most of the English alphabet. It really is becoming a big problem.
 
M

MagicFool64

Guest
Yup. Hammerwatch has exclusive copyright to WASD for movement. You’ll have to use different keys, or even a different character set, just to be safe. A lot of indie developers are switching over to hiragana keyboards now, since AAA developers already took up most of the English alphabet. It really is becoming a big problem.
Are you joking? I'm talking about arrow keys for abilities
 

Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
_sigh_

Guys, unless you know for sure that the OP is joking, do us all a favour and take the question at face value and try to be helpful. What may be a silly question to you may be a legitimate concern to others, and s**tposting like this isn't very friendly, nor what we expect from a community of developers that are supposed to help one another.

@MagicFool64 : First the disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER. Now, with that out the way, I would say that control schemes that use basic and standardised keyboard layouts cannot be copyrighted, and if you play almost any game around at the moment they all use WASD and arrow keys and it's pretty much the industry standard. I wouldn't worry about it and just get on with making your game using any controls that you are comfortable with.
 
M

MagicFool64

Guest
_sigh_

Guys, unless you know for sure that the OP is joking, do us all a favour and take the question at face value and try to be helpful. What may be a silly question to you may be a legitimate concern to others, and s**tposting like this isn't very friendly, nor what we expect from a community of developers that are supposed to help one another.

@MagicFool64 : First the disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER. Now, with that out the way, I would say that control schemes that use basic and standardised keyboard layouts cannot be copyrighted, and if you play almost any game around at the moment they all use WASD and arrow keys and it's pretty much the industry standard. I wouldn't worry about it and just get on with making your game using any controls that you are comfortable with.
Can you delete this post, please? I asked a stupid question
 
Can you delete this post, please? I asked a stupid question
Ah, sorry. Now I feel bad. :x
Yes, I was poking fun at you, because of course nobody is going to sue you for using the same buttons (after thirty plus years, we’d be out of control schemes by now, right?), but I didn’t think you were dumb or anything, and it’s always good to ask.

So my bad! Don’t let my 💩💩💩💩posting deter you from asking anything in the future, please. I promise I (and most of us) ask questions that make us go “wait, duh, lol” after posting pretty often. Just a part of learning!
 
Lol, I'm sorry as well. There's just so many "Is X copyrighted" posts. So the 💩💩💩💩posting isn't reflective of you, personally, OP...Just that tons of people ask the same kinda questions and you got caught in the crossfire (remember, ask a stupid question and you are stupid for a minute, don't ask and you are stupid for life).
 
Code:
if(keyboard_check(ord("A"))){x -= 10}
if(keyboard_check(ord("D"))){x += 10}
No one will sue you over a control scheme. Makes me wonder how anyone would ever make a top down game after Zelda. I am no lawyer, but the one I use charges me.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Just make your controls rebindable, then you can shift the blame to your players if somebody sues you (and players can use any control scheme they want, as a nice bonus)
 

Evanski

Raccoon Lord
Forum Staff
Moderator
WASD for movements, and arrow keys for abilities and attacks. But these are the same controls from Hammerwatch. Will they report me?
This Actually I know for a fact, you cant copyright everyday use things or basic stuff like the word Apple, (and before you say, no apple the company and apple the word are two different things in the eyes of copy write, you can use the word you cant name your company apple), So as for WASD, no you should be fine, otherwise every game now adays is in violation of copywrite, that being said copying EVERY CONTROL is an issue
 

Evanski

Raccoon Lord
Forum Staff
Moderator
What gives you that impression? That would make it very hard for every game with four directional inputs plus two action buttons, don't you think? (NES, Game Boy, etc)
I mean like, copying everything from a different game
Q is to shout
R is to dash
1-8 is hotkeys
pressing B opens the menu
 

flerpyderp

Member
I mean like, copying everything from a different game
Q is to shout
R is to dash
1-8 is hotkeys
pressing B opens the menu
I mean that also. D-pad to move. A to jump. B to shoot/use/run/etc. That is the exact control setup for countless games. Why would it be an issue just because more inputs enter the equation?
 
I mean that also. D-pad to move. A to jump. B to shoot/use/run/etc. That is the exact control setup for countless games. Why would it be an issue just because more inputs enter the equation?
Exactly. Or how about guitar hero vs rock band? Every arcade fighter ever basically. Most shooters. Nobody’s going to get sued over button layouts. Even if it were remotely possible, the negative press would be insane, hahah.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Relevant tutorial thing on Youtube (the URL is timestamped to the appropriate time) that coincidentally got released today: here, because the embedded version loses the timestamp :v
 
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