I think it can be great to develop prototypes, but to build a BGA alternative you will need permission from the publishers to implement / distribute their games, and given how big is BGA and that it belongs to Asmodee, that is going to be tough...
IANAL, it seems, game mechanics can't be copyrighted, unless you use the same images for cards / board, or literally copy the rule book.
In short: you can trademark the name, logos. Have copyright on art (even the board itself as art). You can't copyright the mechanics, processes or rules. That explains the Monopoly/Scrabble clones.
Mechanics can't be copyrighted, but the board gaming community can smell rip offs from afar and don't particularly appreciates them.
Besides, it's going to be madness to advertise that you have the game X on your platform but can't use the name or any artwork.
If I were the OP, i'd try to gear this towards publishers and make it as easy as possible to create functional prototypes. They need to iterate countless times on prototypes, one little change at a time, and this could be a huge time saver for them, facilitate playtasting, etc...
Totally agree, Asmodee has basically prevented a real competitor from entering the market. We have an idea in mind that doesn't involve going up against BGA, but instead looks at more smaller games from indie publishers. Not sure how viable that is, but not sure what else someone is supposed to do.
Comments
Looks very cool, congrats on the initiative!
I think it can be great to develop prototypes, but to build a BGA alternative you will need permission from the publishers to implement / distribute their games, and given how big is BGA and that it belongs to Asmodee, that is going to be tough...
Hope I am wrong, good luck!
IANAL, it seems, game mechanics can't be copyrighted, unless you use the same images for cards / board, or literally copy the rule book.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/10f2nov/comment/j4...
which refers to this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZQJQYqhAgY
Mechanics can't be copyrighted, but the board gaming community can smell rip offs from afar and don't particularly appreciates them.
Besides, it's going to be madness to advertise that you have the game X on your platform but can't use the name or any artwork.
If I were the OP, i'd try to gear this towards publishers and make it as easy as possible to create functional prototypes. They need to iterate countless times on prototypes, one little change at a time, and this could be a huge time saver for them, facilitate playtasting, etc...
Hey jamager, thanks for the kind comments.
Totally agree, Asmodee has basically prevented a real competitor from entering the market. We have an idea in mind that doesn't involve going up against BGA, but instead looks at more smaller games from indie publishers. Not sure how viable that is, but not sure what else someone is supposed to do.