Question about using other's community models in koikatsu

[fevelite]

So I've been on this site for a while, long enough to feel inspired to create a video game of my own. I've decided to use Koikatsu for the anime styled characters, and have stumbled upon a question that I can't seem to solve by myself.

As expected of someone with no experience in 3D design, the characters I have made with don't hold a candle to some community assets I've seen. This is not to say I am unsatisfied with my own creations, but I don't want to leave any room for desire. Basically, my question is: how illegal would it be to use a model made by someone else, and also run a patreon or something similar? Is it considered public domain?

To clarify, I wouldn't charge anything for the game itself, but would set up a patreon, but I'm fairly certain that would still put me in error. I'm probably overthinking it, as I see Daz3D games all the time very likely with "borrowed" assets, but I still worry nonetheless.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mimir's Lab]

If you're scared of crossing any legal boundaries, then I think using Koikatsu in itself should be your biggest concern. If you're planning on using a character made by someone else, then at least have the decency to ask them if you can use their creation in your game. If they're not active and you decide to go through with it anyway, you should at the very least, give them credits for the character and have a backup in case they ever popup and decide they don't want their character used in such a way. In general though, if someone shares their creations, I don't think they'd mind too much if people want to use in a game though that might become muddied once money becomes involved.

 

[Adabelitoo]

If the thing is your lack of experience, then just sit in front of the pc and try again and again an again and again. In the same way that nobody without prior experience will kick a ball for the first time and become Messi in his first day, nobody will design his first character and be good at it. That doesn't mean that everyone will suck in his first day/try of course but if your problem is being new at something then just try and learn more about that something.

If the thing is that you found some hot characters that you could use and save yourself the time while having a better result or you found a character similar to what you had in mind, then yeah, why not? Not only those aren't copyrighted by the guys who created them, all Koikatu parody games do it without almost any modifications on the cards and even almost all "original" Koikatu games do it too. Some of them are a straight copy-paste from the discord.

Only thing I can think of is that some people on discord ask to be asked and/or credited if someone uses them. It would be nice if you do it but it isn't like the police will go for you if you don't. Maybe take that more seriously if you use another dev's character since players might recognize it, but as you said, the same models on DAZ games and people is already getting used to them.

 

[fevelite]

If you're scared of crossing any legal boundaries, then I think using Koikatsu in itself should be your biggest concern. If you're planning on using a character made by someone else, then at least have the decency to ask them if you can use their creation in your game. If they're not active and you decide to go through with it anyway, you should at the very least, give them credits for the character and have a backup in case they ever popup and decide they don't want their character used in such a way. In general though, if someone shares their creations, I don't think they'd mind too much if people want to use in a game though that might become muddied once money becomes involved.

That's just about what I expected, if I end up using other people's models I will be sure to heed your advice.

Thanks for the response, I thought this may have been a commonly themed question and brushed aside as such.

 

[fevelite]

If the thing is your lack of experience, then just sit in front of the pc and try again and again an again and again. In the same way that nobody without prior experience will kick a ball for the first time and become Messi in his first day, nobody will design his first character and be good at it. That doesn't mean that everyone will suck in his first day/try of course but if your problem is being new at something then just try and learn more about that something.

If the thing is that you found some hot characters that you could use and save yourself the time while having a better result or you found a character similar to what you had in mind, then yeah, why not? Not only those aren't copyrighted by the guys who created them, all Koikatu parody games do it without almost any modifications on the cards and even almost all "original" Koikatu games do it too. Some of them are a straight copy-paste from the discord.

Only thing I can think of is that some people on discord ask to be asked and/or credited if someone uses them. It would be nice if you do it but it isn't like the police will go for you if you don't. Maybe take that more seriously if you use another dev's character since players might recognize it, but as you said, the same models on DAZ games and people is already getting used to them.

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I always appreciate a good challenge and will hone my skills into a fine point.

I didn't even know there was a discord for this kind of thing, are you reffering to a discord for each individual dev, or some kinda koikatsu community? Either way, definitely gonna look into that.

 

[Mimir's Lab]

I think

You must be registered to see the links

is the Discord server he's talking about. There's one that's a conglomerate of all of the Illusion games called Illusionsoft server, but Idk how to find the invite for that one.

 

[Adabelitoo]

Yep, the one Mimir's Lab said.

 

[おい！]

So I've been on this site for a while, long enough to feel inspired to create a video game of my own. I've decided to use Koikatsu for the anime styled characters, and have stumbled upon a question that I can't seem to solve by myself.

As expected of someone with no experience in 3D design, the characters I have made with don't hold a candle to some community assets I've seen. This is not to say I am unsatisfied with my own creations, but I don't want to leave any room for desire. Basically, my question is: how illegal would it be to use a model made by someone else, and also run a patreon or something similar? Is it considered public domain?

To clarify, I wouldn't charge anything for the game itself, but would set up a patreon, but I'm fairly certain that would still put me in error. I'm probably overthinking it, as I see Daz3D games all the time very likely with "borrowed" assets, but I still worry nonetheless.

Thanks in advance.

The way I see it is, if you for example download a character from here

You must be registered to see the links

to use it in your game, there is no problem. No-one on that site puts out a disclaimer, also there are many games on here using and continue to use Illusion assets without any problems. As far as I know Illusion has never legally challenged anyone outside of Japan for using their assets.

 

[MGazer]

I think it all depends on what you are doing exactly. Taking screenshots or renders and then using them is a lot different from pulling the meshes and textures and doing your own thing with them.

I've messed around with it a bit and it's not all that hard to get KK models into blender. They def need to be cleaned up but it's pretty doable. I suspect that importing one of these models into Unity and making a game with them wouldn't be legal and in theory Illusion would have grounds to go after you for doing it. Whether they would or not is anyone's guess.