Using the assets released on here

[ExoticTG]

Hi and thanks in advance to those who answer,
So I'm not new to writing stories but recently I've been wanting to make my own game(and make money off of it hopefully). But looking through assets for models and scenery it can get very very expensive on stuff like Daz, then I had found some are pirated here but didn't know about the legal stuff dealing with using those. Me personally if it did end up going somewhere and get enough money from the game would go back and buy all the assets I could later on.

So I guess I really just wanted to ask if using the assets on here for a visual novel game would/could cause legal ramifications later on if the game ever got released? Sorry if this has been asked before but I just couldn't find a clear enough answer to my question so I decided to see if someone was able to answer. I can answer basically anything related to it if you need to ask any more questions about what I want to do/asking.

 

[Mock1ngb1rd]

Spoiler: my two cents

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[ExoticTG]

First of, I'm not an expert, but as far as I understood,
as soon as you put it out to the public, or even a small circle, the artists of said assets can ask you for the license.
So as soon as you release it, you should have all common/interactive licenses if you want to be on the safe side.

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are only needed if you use the assets in unreal, unity, and alike.

I see, yeah I've done some coding in the past(and for school) and love writing but just never was good at modeling/drawing so just trying to figure out some ideas without having to spend a fortune on stuff. Looking at that(the link) I think I understand for it but I just contacted Daz support to ask just in case. Since on there is says you just gotta pay the base price(usually $20+) for the character so hopefully that's true.
Thanks for the link though as it helped clear up some questions or lead me to the place to ask the other questions.

 

[EvolutionKills]

If you ever plan on releasing something commercially, you want to make sure you have a commercial license.

There is a difference between private or limited use and selling something for profit. Anyone can download and use the Unreal or Unity engines, to toy around with or even share things made in them with the larger world for free. But the moment you want to sell something made using either engine, things change.

That's why you see a lot of projects here using Patreon/Subscribestar, because you are not paying for the game directly, you are just supporting the artist and the game is released for free to everyone. That's also what allows for the creation of games using other games and assets (e.g. Honey Select), because the devs aren't selling the game directly. Likewise it's why games repurposing assets like that generally don't show up for direct sale on Steam, while those made with properly paid for and attributed assets in Daz3D or Blender can and do.

 

[ExoticTG]

If you ever plan on releasing something commercially, you want to make sure you have a commercial license.

There is a difference between private or limited use and selling something for profit. Anyone can download and use the Unreal or Unity engines, to toy around with or even share things made in them with the larger world for free. But the moment you want to sell something made using either engine, things change.

That's why you see a lot of projects here using Patreon/Subscribestar, because you are not paying for the game directly, you are just supporting the artist and the game is released for free to everyone. That's also what allows for the creation of games using other games and assets (e.g. Honey Select), because the devs aren't selling the game directly. Likewise it's why games repurposing assets like that generally don't show up for direct sale on Steam, while those made with properly paid for and attributed assets in Daz3D or Blender can and do.

So basically I could use the assets that are released/pirated on here for a game but I just can't release them to say like steam or whatever but I could use stuff like patreon to get cash technically from the game?(I know that most games don't make much, this is mainly for a hobby with hopes that one day I could make some cash from it) For the most part I just don't want to get in trouble legally just for using them in a VN game while getting supporters.
If so then I fully understand now, was mainly just asking since as I said before the models and such can get very very expensive for someone just started out and is very clearly an extremely high risk high reward situation.

 

[EvolutionKills]

So basically I could use the assets that are released/pirated on here for a game but I just can't release them to say like steam or whatever but I could use stuff like patreon to get cash technically from the game?

Can you? Sure. Is it legal? No. Will anybody care enough to sick actual lawyers on you? Probably not.

But it's still your ass, so don't take legal advice from a pirate forum.

(I know that most games don't make much, this is mainly for a hobby with hopes that one day I could make some cash from it) For the most part I just don't want to get in trouble legally just for using them in a VN game while getting supporters.
If so then I fully understand now, was mainly just asking since as I said before the models and such can get very very expensive for someone just started out and is very clearly an extremely high risk high reward situation.

That's why plenty stick with repurposed game assets, since an adult VN built out of Koihatsu or Honey Select is following in a long tradition of parody/machinima and is pretty well protected under Fair Use. Since a VN isn't a direct competitor to the lewd sandbox it is being made out of, and you can make a strong case for the 'transformative' aspect of the work. But Fair Use is a defense you use in court, it does nothing to pre-emptively stop DMCA claims or someone suing you in the first place.

Plus, it's relatively cheap. But again, there's not really a path to legally license stuff from Illusion if you wanted to sell your project on a digital platform directly. So you're stuck with Patreon/Subscribestar and hoping you can make money while you develop, as opposed to selling a finished product (which is it's own can of worms and bad incentives). Nothing is stopping you from trying to get it on Steam, but don't be surprised if they're very amenable to DMCA claims and yank your game off the storefront. Also, I have no idea if it would violate Steam's own polices to do so.

So again, it's still your ass, so don't take legal advice from a pirate forum.