Fire Emblem mod(question)

[MrXRomainX]

I am making an Fire Emblem mod, but dont know if there is an issue with copyright (actually I can imagine there is one).I do this for fun and I wont get money for it. Also there is no completely new game, its just an mod so I dont know if I am allowed to post/or even start it.

I would be happy if someone could tell me if I can.I was reading the forum rules and the page for modding BfW.And I looked on some other mod-pages in this forum but couldnt find anything what helps me. And finally I dont think the publisher of Fire Emblem would allow me to mod this (I dont think they would answear me anyway)so if there are problems with copyright I will delete this post.
I would finish the mod to play with some friends but wont upload it anywhere.

PS: Im german and dont used to write english so if there are wrong words or bad grammar I am sry for that.

[Dixie]

I think Wesnoth's general policy about this kind of things is: you may as well do whatever you wish but you are to be held responsible for it if anything happens. The Battle for Wesnoth project won't take any part in it and as thus won't accept that you post such material on the add-ons server. I'm not even sure starting a thread to show off on the forum would be allowed (although there is a thread about a Star Wars total conversion floating around somewhere - a forum mod could probably tell you more about this last point).

[MrXRomainX]

Thx for youre quick response. I would lovely talk to an moderator about this. If he choose to delete this post thats fine for me, if not thats fine too. Just wanted to know if I can write mods like this and upload them here. I mean there are so much mods for other games on pages like ModDB. And they are mostly about other games/movies/books and so on. So if I give credits to FE or Nintendo it should be alright.

As I said before if I am not allowed then I will delete this but it would be kinda nice if I can.

[MrXRomainX]

I just found an post called "Copyright or whatever its called"
I guess thats the answear I searched for.

"For example, no art taken from Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or any copyrighted commercial media or intellectual property - even if it's 30 years old."

thats kinda sad because (as I mentioned before) there are so many games and so many mods which do things like that but seems like I am not allowed to upload this anywhere.

[MerlinCross]

A mod could probably tell you better but straight lifted art assets are kinda frowned upon. I believe you could get away with this if you edited the art heavily or changed them up to fit more in line with the given art. I mean I'm currently looking at Fire Emblem sprites for inspiration myself.

Not to mention that the Fire Emblem sprites(if you wanted to use them) are about half the size of Wesnoth sprites, so you'd have to do work on them anyway. Again a mod could explain how this works but I do know that you can't lift art from something else and put it into wesnoth.

[MrXRomainX]

Currently we are 2 people doing this mod. Hes editing the sprites because he is used to Graphic Programms and we have like 10 sprites ready in 72x72p. Like I said we are going to mod this anyway even if its just for us to play.

I dont want to edit all the sprites so they look different and take other Names for Factions, character and other things. It would be another game and I started this cause we both like FE. I can edit the sprites but they should stay in the look of Fire Emblem because otherwise there is no sense in taking the original Fire Emblem Sprites. I could just use some other and that is not the point in this mod.
Even if I would edit them there would be astill the problem in changing the whole units.

But thx for youre response. Actually I was pretty sure I cant use them like they are.

[Eagle_11]

When you use anything ripped directly from another game there is the possibility thats going to put you in trouble, but that heavily depends on what you are 'getting inspired' from which franchise to what extent, whom are the ones behind it, who owns the franchise and what is their stance regarding modding, and a some other factors that slips my mind since its been so long since have ceased to give a flying damn about their nonsense.
Fe. Blizzard is completely ok with an fan-made re-creation of Warcraft or Diablo in Starcraft, basically any of their games in the engine of another one, attitude against modding varies heavily in the gaming industry.
Basically, otherwise you are pretty much free to re-create anything youd like in your image elsewhere, unless there is an solid statement of the IP holders preventative of that, backed with an license to serve as ground for (possible) legal threat.

I would finish the mod to play with some friends but wont upload it anywhere.

Nobody can tell what you are doing within your own walls. Aslong as it remains private, there is nothing you should be worrying about. Public means being developed and distributed publicly, as in anybody are free to contribute and share.
Feel free to imquire more about this on Moddb, surely the fellas there will able to tell you full-length.

[MrXRomainX]

Disregarded my english isnt that good and I needed to read some things twice, I think I understood what you wanted to tell me. My problem now is I dont think I get the permissionfrom the FE developers to take their sprites in a mod. I dont even think they are going to recognise me if I write to them.

[firefox]

english below

du kannst zwar keine original bilder aus anderen spielen verwenden, aber du kannst neue bilder erstellen, die so aussehen.
so etwas wurde schon mal gemacht: in der "Era of Magic" erweiterung sehen die magier so aus wie die einwohner des "Zeal Kingdom" aus "Chrono Trigger" und der golem sieht sogar genau so aus wie der golem endgegner aus dem selben spiel.
so lange es nicht die original bilder sind kannst du also alles verwenden. der name "Golem" steht nicht unter kopierschutz, weil er aus der mythologie stammt.
du könntest also deine einheiten genau so aussehen lassen wie in "Fire Emblem" und sie auch so nennen.
du darfst es nur nicht "Fire Emblem" nennen.

ich hoffe das hilft dir weiter

while you cannot use original images from other games, you can make new images wich look just like those from the game.
this was already done before: in the "Era of Magic" add-on, the magician's look just like the inhabitants of the "Zeal KIngdom" from "Chrono Trigger" and the golem is just like the boss "Golem" from this game.
as long as you don't use the original sprites, you can use anything. the name "Golem" is not copyrighted, because it originates from mythology.
basically, you could make your units appear like the ones from "Fire Emblem" and even use the same names.
you just must not name it "Fire Emblem".

i hope that helps you

[MrXRomainX]

Thank you, but where is the difference in not taking the original sprites if youre own sprites looks exactly the same (or just differences in a few pixels). I just changed the color(from light blue to orange). The names are no problem, the units are named like they are in FE (eg. knight/spearmen ....) But I have to change the Hero names obviously. I try my best but now I have to do the sprites by myself too so it may take a while if I make progress.

Thx for youre help