Using copyrighted music/sounds in game?

[ablackcatman]

So i assume this is a no-no? I am making a FF7 (original) game and currently using music from there.

 

[Jofur]

It's not something I would necessarily recommend. Legally they can shut down the project at any time. If you stay under the radar and don't monetize it might slip under their radar for the most part. If I remember correctly Witch Trainer straight up used the Harry Potter theme at the start-up screen and it's still around. Using unofficial covers/re-orchestrated versions of their music might be a slightly safer, but it's a bit of an asshole move to steal their hard work without permission.
If you are making small little parody game with a short development schedule, I wouldn't worry TO much. Personally I wouldn't want to spend months and months working on a big game that can get cancelled at any time, even if the chances of if becoming popular enough that Square Enix knows about it are fairly small.

 

[MissFortune]

There's three things I honestly don't recommend doing in games like these. Don't use copyrighted music, pirated fonts, and stay as far away from anything Nintendo-related as you can. The people in any industry most likely to shut down your project and perhaps sue are artists and especially people who create fonts. The latter actively search out people using their fonts (despite a lot looking just like hundreds of others), and I'm sure people who care enough to protect their music do the same. And even if the said artist doesn't care that you're using the music, they may not like what it's being used for (e.g. religion, etc.).

It's easier just to stick to the copyright-free stuff on YT, depending on what you're looking for. That, or buying some.

 

[Deleted member 1536527]

There's three things I honestly don't recommend doing in games like these. Don't use copyrighted music, pirated fonts, and stay as far away from anything Nintendo-related as you can. The people in any industry most likely to shut down your project and perhaps sue are artists and especially people who create fonts. The latter actively search out people using their fonts (despite a lot looking just like hundreds of others), and I'm sure people who care enough to protect their music do the same. And even if the said artist doesn't care that you're using the music, they may not like what it's being used for (e.g. religion, etc.).

It's easier just to stick to the copyright-free stuff on YT, depending on what you're looking for. That, or buying some.

Woah, I never knew fucking fonts of all things could be a problem. Do you know of any porn games here that had to change their font cuz of this?

 

[MissFortune]

Woah, I never knew fucking fonts of all things could be a problem. Do you know of any porn games here that had to change their font cuz of this?

Never in a porn game necessarily, but there's been more than a few cases of calligraphers suing graphic artists and even studios have been sued/had lawsuits filed against them in the last year. NBC Universal, Target, and Volvo being the most notable. That being said, chances are you won't even be noticed by the font designer, provided the game itself doesn't blow up (and even then there are far too many fonts out there that look so identical, so they just can't go around accusing anyone using a similar font of piracy.) or it's a visibly unique font.

Google Fonts and the Public Doman/100% Free filters on DaFont mitigate a lot of this now, though.