What may be posted
Copyright protects the expression of a game, its art, sound, code, text and story, not its ideas or rules. So what may go up depends on how much of the original a project still holds.
Still has original material
Any art, sound, code, text, story or names from the original. Videos and pictures only: Let's Plays, short demonstrations, devlogs. No playable build, no download.
Fully replaced
Only the bones are left: mechanics, genre, structure. The game itself may be posted, played and sold. Total Conversion is the step between, while it is checked.
Names
- A Standalone game has its own title, logo and names.
- Any page may say truthfully what a game is based on or inspired by, in plain text, never as its own name or bigger than its title. The page adds "Not affiliated with or endorsed by" the owners.
- A mod's videos may name the game they show, with the same line.
Licensed worlds
Generic fantasy and science fiction are free: dragons, liches, golems, lasers, the usual classes. Creatures, places and characters a company owns are not: make an original one, different in name and look.
Videos
- Check the owner's video policy and follow it.
- Keep them short, and say it is a remake or mod, not the original.
- Be careful with new and upcoming games: owners guard those closely.
- Mind the music: it is the part most often claimed. Prefer your own, or none.
"Abandonware" is not a license
A game that isn't sold any more is still under copyright, and someone still owns it. Out of print lowers the risk; it doesn't make copies legal. Posting the game itself always needs it to be fully replaced.
Takedowns
Any request from a rights holder is honored promptly. See For rights holders.
These pages explain how the site works. They are not legal advice.