The forums are finally back! I have a whole bunch of things to say about the situation:
The team stated that they had plans in case the game would get C&D’d. I really hope Nappy and Jay don’t leave. If Nappy leaves, I hope he gets a job at Lab Zero. I also wonder if RC88 has time to keep working with this team considering, well, he’s a professional musician who’s presumably working on a number of paying contracts right now.
Here’s what I’m waiting on right now:
A statement from Hasbro explaining why they had to do what they did, though there’d probably have to be a separate petition for this to happen at all.
A statement from Mane6 describing any future plans they have, or whether they really are closing up shop for good. If this is really the end, I’d really like the fans to have one last chance to wish the team well and thank them for inspiring all of us. “Please change [Equestria Daily’s] article accordingly” should NOT be the Mane6’s last tweet.
An opportunity to have Ultradavid walk us through this situation as, well, he’s the FGC’s expert on copyright law. With all the people playing armchair lawyer in the EQD and Mane6 forums, it’ll be nice to have legal commentary from someone who actually knows what he’s talking about. Hopefully he’ll talk a bit about it on the Tuesday Show.
Of the “important” members of the FGC, I’ve only really seen 2 people weigh in on this: Alex Jebailey, who doesn’t seem to have a full grasp on what a “grown man” is, and Mike Z, who gains SO much respect from me whenever he says or does anything. I finally tried Skullgirls for the first time over the weekend, and it surely got me out of the depression I had after seeing FiM get canned. Please get the PC version out soon! While I’m disappointed that I won’t be getting bodied online in FiM, I’ll definitely settle for being bodied online in SG.
Make a game with original characters by Lauren Faust. Become legends forever.
This sucks pretty hard, but… I think, in the end, a game with original characters will be better. You’ll have freedoms, and depending on how Lauren is as a person you may even be able to make a deal so that you guys can actually sell the game. The engine is done, and Mike Z offered to allow MANE6 to use the Skullgirls engine if they wanted to. Seriously, this is like one of those times where shit gets ugly, but if you can fight for it, it’ll be better than what you could have hoped for before. Sure, there won’t be Pony’s (depending on who you are, that’s the only reason you are interested/not interested), but the actual game and what it’ll be will be greater and much more lasting than Fighting is Magic would have been. I know it sucks, but this can turn into a very defining moment for whatever’s left of MANE6. I would also like to buy it one day, so someone go convince them to try again.
i posted along time ago they should have shut up and not done interviews,just finish it and a random torrent online, knew they were fucked when i saw maxwell magee interview onn gamespot.
<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Zidiane”>Make a game with original characters by Lauren Faust. Become legends forever.
This sucks pretty hard, but… I think, in the end, a game with original characters will be better. You’ll have freedoms, and depending on how Lauren is as a person you may even be able to make a deal so that you guys can actually sell the game. The engine is done, and Mike Z offered to allow MANE6 to use the Skullgirls engine if they wanted to. Seriously, this is like one of those times where shit gets ugly, but if you can fight for it, it’ll be better than what you could have hoped for before. Sure, there won’t be Pony’s (depending on who you are, that’s the only reason you are interested/not interested), but the actual game and what it’ll be will be greater and much more lasting than Fighting is Magic would have been. I know it sucks, but this can turn into a very defining moment for whatever’s left of MANE6. I would also like to buy it one day, so someone go convince them to try again.</blockquote>
That’s all good except when you remember that the English translated Fighter Maker 2k2 is an unofficial localization and therefore illegal iteration of the official Japanese version and can’t be sold. Not to mention the engine itself is closed sourced and can only work on Windows thereby severely limiting their potential userbase if the option of selling it was viable.
Mike Z offering to allow Mane 6 to use the Skullgirls engine is also swell until you realize that none of the members are actual developers and wouldn’t be able to actually USE the engine.
If they want to take Lauren up on her offer then they can simply start over using Fighter Maker 2k2 and release it as a free game, or they can use another engine and either recruit developers to code for it or learn it themselves so they can eventually sell it. Either way it will take years before it would even come close to completion.
I personally prefer that they stay the course and continue working on Fighting is Magic but go underground. This would give them the opportunity to “officially” comply with Hasbro and either announce the project is cancelled or still being developed as a “personal project” and won’t be available for public release. This would also enable them to finish and complete the entire game including story mode and balance as best they can all 17 characters that they originally intended as well as allow a significant time lapse between the C&D warning for anybody at Hasbro to care when the completed game is inevitably “leaked”.
<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Zidiane”>
I personally prefer that they stay the course and continue working on Fighting is Magic but go underground. This would give them the opportunity to “officially” comply with Hasbro and either announce the project is cancelled or still being developed as a “personal project” and won’t be available for public release. This would also enable them to finish and complete the entire game including story mode and balance as best they can all 17 characters that they originally intended as well as allow a significant time lapse between the C&D warning for anybody at Hasbro to care when the completed game is inevitably “leaked”.
</blockquote>
As much as we would all like that, I think that the devs are too classy to do that sort of thing. Also, in their FAQ, they said they already had plans for their next game if shit breaks loose. (Like so.)
But yo, Jay and Nappy, if you see this, just know that most of us bronies are ready and willing to empty our wallets to pay for your court fees and whatnot.
This sucks on so many levels. I wouldn’t have ever even known what MLP if it weren’t for this game. But damn those guys should have been a lot tighter lipped about this until it was ready. I mean cons, interviews, charity drives, tournaments, trailers and shit, they were putting a target right on their back for Hasbro to nail.
I know they were probably feeding off of the recognition the game was getting for motivation. But since they didn’t have permission to use the property they should have tried to slide under the radar with this, and reap the benefits after it was done. As much as I would like them to say fuck you Hasbro, finish the game, and release it anonymously. They would probably still get fucked one way or the other, so it may not be worth the risk.
<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“SonOfTheNorthe”>
As much as we would all like that, I think that the devs are too classy to do that sort of thing. Also, in their FAQ, they said they already had plans for their next game if shit breaks loose. (Like so.)
</blockquote>
Classy??? What exactly does class have to do with anything?
The only class that seems to matter so far is a bunch of middle class twenty year olds allowing themselves to be bullied by a billion dollar corporation.
What you have to consider about the person who left Mane6, is that they are an artist and will keep doing art. One of the most likely reasons they left, and all association was severed, was to protect the artist from any fallout from the C&D. By not being affiliated with Mane6, they are not affected by the C&D and can continue to do their own projects and take commissions for doing art for people.
We also don’t know enough bout their motivations to know whether they would be interested in making use of a property with Lauren Faust (though it would certainly help her with her projects); they made this game as a labour of love. They have access to Mike Z as we know, but it’s entirely possible they will simply move on with other things, and have this very impressive game and publicity as part of their resume.
If the 6 are completed on the sly and released secretly, wonderful; it is actually a very enjoyable fighter, which is why it was invited to Evo in the first place.
Just heard the news today, made my day a little dimmer. What annoys me is some people acting like the devs asked for it to be at evo, so it’s all the devs fault.
Sigh. Regardless of what happens, what’s really depressing is that it shows they put alot of heart and soul into the project and now it’s basically for naught. That’s got to leave any one upset.
<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“NappyRat”>
I would literally have to be killed in order for this project to die. Just letting you know!<br />
</blockquote>
Nearly 2 years of voluntary, arduous labor being cockblocked by Hasbro’s legal team. That, to me, is the toughest part about all of this.
And while I’m not proposing a torrent release of the game, I will find peace in the possibility, that this game will be completed, though we all might not have a chance to play it.
Whether it’s just Nappy playing against AI, or in-dev tournies, this game (in my mind) will stay alive, and that none of the work put in goes to waste.
Skip to the end of page 2. Nothing really new that we didn’t know already, but they’re citing this as an example of how unique the IP-fanbase relationship between Hasbro and the bronies is, and how this relationship is unknown territory for everyone.
I think the EVO drive is what killed this project. Don’t get me wrong, when it was all going on, I was hype as fuck for a chance for FiM to be main stage at EVO, but from my admittedly limited understanding of copyright law, the moment you’re aware someone is infringing on your IP, you need to act (usually by C&D, as that’s the least hassle on their end) or risk losing your brand.
Not to say Hasbro didn’t know about Mane6, as some pretty high profile people were in our corner, but they could feign ignorance. But as soon as money starts getting thrown around with their name attached, their hand is pretty much forced.
It’s entirely possible not a single word of that is true, but that’s my .02 at the very least.
<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“CanadianDstryr”>I think the EVO drive is what killed this project. Don’t get me wrong, when it was all going on, I was hype as fuck for a chance for FiM to be main stage at EVO, but from my admittedly limited understanding of copyright law, the moment you’re aware someone is infringing on your IP, you need to act (usually by C&D, as that’s the least hassle on their end) or risk losing your brand.
Not to say Hasbro didn’t know about Mane6, as some pretty high profile people were in our corner, but they could feign ignorance. But as soon as money starts getting thrown around with their name attached, their hand is pretty much forced.
It’s entirely possible not a single word of that is true, but that’s my .02 at the very least.</blockquote>
People are getting copyright and Trademark confused: Hasbro owns the Trademark “My Little Pony.” If it was copyright, they wouldn’t have to defend it. Since it’s Trademark, if they were not to defend it, then if they tried on another occasion in court, the defense would point out 'Well, why didn’t you defend your Trademark here?"
When hasbro sold the rights to mlp, they didn’t own all of the characters when they regained the trademark, so they had to change some designs and names.
“@SweetieBotatDD@ManeSix Not MLP OCs, something totally new.”
I think this was posted here already? Still, Mane6 did not said anything about acepting those designs, of it they will continue the project in any manner, so again lets wait…If they acept Laura characters this could be interesting.
