Quote:
Originally Posted by adrianp
now for the question: say i finish the demo, cook a nice proposal document and get an interview with whatever company. they reject it. 2 years later my idea comes out, built by the ones that rejected it. is this possible? and if it is, is there a way to avoid this?
|
This is a common fear among novice screenwriters, too, apparently.
Unless it is exactly the same game with exactly the same characters, puzzles, plot twists, it would be very difficult to prove, but even then you'd have had to register your design with a notary/lawyer/copyright agency to do so. The games industry is a funny business and if people want to copy they tend to do so with existing games that they know are successful. Look at how people are trying to copy GTA or Bejewelled (to take two very different examples).
One way to discourage a potential publisher from considering stealing your idea is to put in force an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) where both you and the publisher representative sign. You can get your own made up, but publishers will always have their own that they are happier with, but you need to make sure that it's a mutual NDA so that it protects both of you.
