Your Own IP?

#1

Im really interested in finding out if other artists are in the process of, or have developed, their own Intellectual Property. Be it through games, full length or short films, comic books, novels, or other mediums.

How have you guys developed the ideas, and protected them?

What are a few ways you are monetising them? Action Figures, selling DVD’s / Electronic copies (iTunes, etc), YouTube partnership advertising?

And what are some cool ‘artist developed’ IP’s that you know of, or have supported?

#2

To get the ball rolling, here is my small contribution. :wink:

I have been developing an Adventure Game caled STASIS:
STASISGAME.com

WELCOME TO THE GROOMLAKE.

A place where anything is possible, where scientists have free reign to perform experiments without that pesky moral compass. Without the need to worry about approval, lobbyist, or religious movements explaining ‘why’ something shouldn’t be done. Where the wonders of the human mind have free rein, to create
to destroy. A hub of the greatest scientific minds of the known world. Human cloning, genetic engineering, bio-weapon research, super soldier programs, all with 100% backing from corporations and world governments. Nothing was beyond the realms of human possibility on The Groomlake.
And then it vanished.
On an unused subspace frequency, Captain Maracheck, of The Hawking listens to space noise. Chatter. background interference from stars, occasionally a radio transmission that gets caught up in the static. He is free floating in the Kuiper Belt, ‘fishing’ for satellites, debris from mining craft, anything worth something.
Through the chatter, he hears a clicking
a regular pattern. Resetting the receiver to home in on the signal, he pilots his ship towards it

Drifting past a huge collection of space dust, he sees a colossal ship. The engines are dead, and the ship is heavily damaged from bombardment by small, and some not so small objects in space. But it is definitely salvageable. Definitely worth quite a bit of money. Definitely a good day for Maracheck!
The Hawking pulls up closer to the dead ship. The docking port seems undamaged, but obviously offline. The ship pilots itself along side colossal derelict. The airlock opens, and Maracheck, in full salvage gear, floats across to the ship.

WHAT IS STASIS?

Stasis is an adventure game, that puts you in control of John J. Maracheck. A deep space ‘salvager’, war veteran, and captain of the DSV Hawking. Going back to classic adventure game mechanics, you have to solve puzzles, and use objects around you to progress, and to uncover the mysteries surrounding The Groomlake.
Graphically, Stasis is fairly unique in the adventure game genre, opting for highly detailed isometric graphics, as opposed to the more classic ‘side on’ views of other adventure games. Richly detailed rooms and fluid animations create an immersive environment for the captain to explore, with danger lurking in every shadow.
The salvage suit gives you direct access to a Hyper Storage Device. A piece of equipment that has the ability to break down any object of a certain weight and size into its base elements, and store it for future use. Objects can be stored, accessed, combined, and brought back into the ‘real’ world at any moment.
The suit also maintains a link to Hawking, Marachecks ship, and possibly, his best friend. Through the link, Hawking can access computer consoles and stations that you are close to, opening doors, overriding security systems, decrypting files, or just feed back important information.
At its core, Stasis is a story that will transport the player to a place that history wished it could forget. Just what is possible when science is let loose? What happens when humans loose touch with what makes us human? When we have no need for compassion? And when ambition, and the quest for knowledge overwrites human decency?
Welcome to The Groomlake. We know you will enjoy your stay.

Something I’m looking at, beyond selling the actual game, is having a ‘making of’ book, aswell as action figures/scuptures. Im wondering if you guys have ever purchased such things from ‘less than mainstream’ IP’s?

#3

yo XD i have been waiting when this game of yours will be released LOL

#4

I guess this is not considered cool like other peoples stuff, but I have a little character that I write stories for and I’m trying to get some funding to make a proper game for kids with her.
I just think there’s so much crap out there when it comes to games for kids, and the characters like Thomas the tank engine have lousy interfaces for touch screen gaming.

So, I want to make something intuitive, funny and feelgood witch lots of good storytelling. Something that’s so interesting that learning really isn’t obvious learning :slight_smile:

Oh well, here she is;

I’m not really protecting her, more than the pretty strong protection I have in the Swedish copyright law. I’m not talking that much about the gameplay I guess. Right now, I’m a programmer short, my husband decided to become an MD so I lost my creative counterpart, which sucks.
I do have all the domains for her (www.sofij.com/net/org/info) and have had that for quite a while. Right now, I’m writing a little story that involves hawaii, old attics, a quest for a treasure map and a dead duck.

#5

Have you thought of creating an Adventure Game with her? Im using a fantastic engine called Visionaire, which is made with the non-programmer in mind.

http://www.visionaire-studio.net/cms/adventure-game-engine.html

I must say that I love the art style you have going!

The engine is also looking at iPAD support in the near future, so having a simple, touch screen game is easily in your grasp.

#6

hold on there Pyke…you’re the guy behind Stasis???
haha!!! Awesome work man. Been looking out for this one, so i keep checking on progress from time to time.

As an aswer to your question, i personally never bought collectibles of any kind, but artbooks / making ofs is another thing. I do buy them, and i would definitely get the one for this game.

Best of luck with the project. I truly hope it comes out great and makes your effort worthwhile.

#7

Thanks for the link to the game engine. My hubby got all exited about it. It’s taken him 7 years so far to finish 5 1/2 years of school, he keeps going back to programming. Only 6 months left now, then he can be the best medically educated developer out there. Cause I don’t think he´ll ever work as a doctor :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyways, they seemed to be needing someone who developed a flash adoptation and I think they just found someone…

#8

Hey mate. Yeah-STASIS is my baby. :smiley: I still find it quite amazing that I have only posted about the game on 2 sites, and so many people have heard about it. I suppose that can only be a good thing!

Thanks for the best wishes. It really is a labour of love, so I need all the luck I can get!

The engine really is awesome. For something like your needs, its perfect. You wouldn’t even need to delve into the more advanced inventory/scripting stuff. I would imagine for a children’s ‘interactive story’, moving around and clicking on objects to get some cool narration/voice reactions is more than enough. :smiley:

#9

This is a great thread guys.

I strongly feel that CG artists should push for their own IP.

Thanks for posting this

-R

#10

Some other notable artist driven IP’s:

Archetype. Aaron Sims.

"Aaron Sims, who is currently working on developing characters for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Amazing Spider-Man, has just released this short teaser trailer for Archetype, which has the fantastic tagline “Your memories are just a glitch.” We like the premise (a robot that remembers despite its maker’s wishes to suppress these odd “glitches”) and love Sims’ past work. Consider us excited for an android feature that isn’t about Rock’em Sock’em Robots.

RL7 is an eight foot tall combat robot. Only problem is he’s starting to remember once being human. Now on the run from an all powerful corporation that will stop at nothing to destroy him RL7 desperately searches for the truth behind his mysterious memories before it’s too late."

LINK WITH TRAILER

CGTalk THREAD

NINE, Shane Acker.

Back in 2005, director/animator/designer Shane Acker released a silent animated short film called “9″, about a living rag doll trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. It was a pretty visionary work, full of gorgeous imagery and creatures as creepy as they were original. Personally speaking, the film never made it onto my radar, and for that I can say I am genuinely sorry.

ORIGINAL SHORT

NINE FEATURE FILM TRAILER

ALIVE IN JOBURG, Neill Blomkamp.

“Alive in Joburg” is a 2005 science fiction short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, produced by Simon Hansen and Sharlto Copley in Canada, and released by Spy Films. It runs approximately six minutes long and was filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa with soundtrack featuring composer sound designer Drazen Bosnjak’s “Harmonic Code”. The film explores themes of apartheid and is noted for its visual effects as well as its documentary-style imagery. Blomkamp’s 2009 feature film District 9, starring Copley, expands themes and elements from this short film.

ORIGINAL SHORT FILM

FEATURE FILM: DISTRICT 9

#11

I’m slowly (very slowly) working toward making a short film, but so far have been preoccupied with the more technical aspects, like rigging and scripting. With the backlog of ideas I’ve come up with over the last few years, I should probably be drawing comic strips instead. If I ever do finish a film, it’d be nice to put out a dvd, maybe an artbook, or even maquettes of the characters, but it’ll be quite some time before that happens, at the rate I’m going.

I’ve also had a sci-fi story brewing for several years, but eventually I might just pass that off to a ghost writer for a novel, and be done with it. I have specific action pieces I’d love to do as a short or even a trailer, but the rest of the story is a bit much for me.

As far as protection goes, I try keep everything as vague as possible. What I’m finding out though, at least with my pinup girls, is that without any additional info, people tend to fill in the blanks. And what they come up with usually tends to be wrong, even creepy, but can also be amusing. :stuck_out_tongue:

#12

+1

This is a fantastic thread! I hope to contribute to this one in the near future.

#13

I haven’t tried to register an IP for movie or a character yet but I had brief encounters with lawyers regarding trademarks and IPs in general and from that I can say things are pretty complicated.

for example regarding a trademark registration, lets say you have a studio name or any brand name for that matter, when you register that one you have to choose in what field to register it and in which country, the fields are too many and the countries are also too many :slight_smile:

meaning its very very costly to register a worldwide brand or trademark.
for example you could register a studio name in the USA but it doesn’t mean that no one could use the same name and logo to sell Beer for example in the same country or to make an exactly similar studio in Berlin.
or in another instance if you register your characters and someone in your country steals you idea, changes the look and name of the character slightly, it would be a costly matter to prove that he stole or damaged your IP.

in short, my advice is to keep your concepts and ideas as hidden as possible until the release. find a cheap way to register at least in your country so that you have some form of starting point and hope and wish that no big company will have interest in taking your ideas because you have little chance of standing against their lawyers because the more expensive your lawyers are the more legal and righteous you are in the eye of “justice”.

#14

Well I did some videos for the US Trademarks office this year that explains the basics of US Trademark law.

They are corny as hell but they get the job done: (Be gentle guys it is early comp work)

http://www.facebook.com/uspto.gov?sk=app_2392950137

And about Copyright,

I would brush up on the Berne Copyright convention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works
and the 1976 US Copyright act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976

Both give GREAT protections to artists works and IP.

Anyway, please do continue to share.

#15

Pyke I’ve gotta say, I’ve admired your adventure game for a while now. Keep going, it looks AWESOME!

#16

Thanks man! Ill admit it, I got giddy when I saw someone from BLUR digs my stuff… :smiley:

#17

I do have a few questions for people who have ideas, but havent yet created something concrete with them…why not? :smiley:

Lomax, You mentioned having an idea for a short film, but not being able to get it done because of the more technical aspects (rigging, scripting). Do you think that, with the technical limitations holding you back, perhaps a one man short film ISNT the way to get your story across?
I can only speak from personal experience, but I know that originally, STASIS was supposed to be a film script, then a medium length live action film, then a short. I felt that with each ‘iteration’ I was sacrificing the core of the idea and the story because I was constantly coming up against technical limitations. But honestly, that was a silly thing to get in the way of telling the story I wanted to tell.
Basically, what Im asking is, is your idea STRICTLY limited to film? Can the idea, the characters, the setting, the STORY be translated into a medium that is accessable to you RIGHT NOW? Because if it is, then I say CREATE YOUR IP NOW. Do it while you still have a passion for the idea.
A completed graphic novel of your idea is WAY more valuable than a half-written, not completed short film.

Again, with relation to the idea for your Sci Fi novel-dont just GVE that to someone else. Create it yourself! Even if its 10 panels of posters that depict the key areas-create it. Own it. Its YOUR world. Use the tools you have at your disposal right now, and MAKE SOMETHING.

With regards to the other posts about copywriting ideas and such, I must say that I think it must be a horrible experience to have an entire universe of characters brewing inside of you, and not being able to share that with the world for fear of your ideas getting stolen. I know it can happen-but is holding back on your ideas, because they MAY get stolen putting the cart before the horse?

In this day, when we literally have access to almost every piece of written knowledge that humanity has stored up for the past hundred years-when information, and ideas travel at the speed of thought, is holding your ideas inside REALLY the best way to nuture them, and to get people interested in them?
Sure, your idea MAY be the next Star Wars, but even Star Wars wasnt created in a vacume. Something that we have right now, that creatives 20 years ago couldnt even DREAM of, is the ability to create, and share our ideas with THOUSANDS of other like-minded people instantaneously. Why should we not USE that to develop our ideas into their best possible form and structure?

Something that came up a while ago was a thread asking how CGTalk could help develop IP’s. I cant remember if there were any concrete ideas there, but from what I’ve gathered is that the main thing thats holding people back isnt the ideas, but rather the technical limitations of how to execute those ideas. I think that people in CG tend to be so focused on creating short films/live action pieces, that they loose track of the IDEA. Inception would have made an INCREDIBLE graphic novel. ALIEN would have scared me shitless as a novel. Monkey Island would have been an incredibly funny cartoon. Assassins Creed would make an AMAZING mini series. Now sure, all of those IP’s are well suited to their CURRENT forms, but I think they could have been translated into other forms of entertainment, and still kept their CORE ELEMENTS THE SAME. An Assassins Creed mini series would still have the Animus, Desmond, Altair, Ezio…ALIEN would still have The Nostromo, the derilict, and Ripley.

So new question, If the reasons you arent creating your OWN world are technical limitations, is there another way of getting that world into a concrete form that passes around those limitations?

#18

am not suggesting that anyone would stop from creating new worlds simply because he/she are afraid of them being stolen, actually I don’t consider someone with a similar resource base stealing my ideas as much of a huge threat because they actually still need to work the same amount I did and its something they would rarely do, there are quite a lot of ideas out there and it takes real hard work and determination to get them done and marketed, which is something we all respect in Pyke
.
but am just saying that if anyone ideas do ever happen to get poached I wouldn’t count on lawyers to help me and do me justice.

the trademark law is very impressive by the first glance, but IMHO its much more complicated.
its hard to determine whether this mark is confusing or not for example, where do you draw the lines.
anyone who has any experience in courts would tell you that lawyers could spend years and years in a dispute that for an average person would appear clear but lawyers have their loop holes.

on a similar subject, there are far fewer innovations out there simply because its so expensive to register a patent. big corporations register so many at the moment and have a monopoly and the little guys can’t afford the expenses which is stifling the innovative process. its very similar with artists.

*for your new question, you could always go over them by down-scaling until you reach the level of a novel which you already mentioned and you would need writing skills of course. but I don’t think its something that all people want to do and it also means that the high-end games and movies that defines a big part of the human culture will always be dominated by bigger corporation funding until they are easy enough to be made with a one or 2 persons over a realistic time frame.

#19

I plan to develop my own IP someday, but one of the main restrictions I have is my employment contract. Anything I develop would be owned by my employer, so I simply haven’t developed anything yet. My other restriction is the time I need to devote to my family, so my free time outside of work is pretty limited anyways.

So I plan and scheme and dream, but don’t actually act. (^_^)

Cheers,
Michael

#20

Pyke, I can’t deny that a one-man show may not be the best way to go.
Part of my wanting to make a film was born out of simply wanting to make something more satisfying than what job at the time was offering. Animating run-cycles for various soldiers gets old fast… I wanted to do some GOOD, fun animation. But even if the paid work wasn’t satisfying, going home and doing more animation would have burned me out quickly. Dealing with the rigging and scripting was different enough from animation that it didn’t feel like I was just doing more of the same.

Another problem was that my first several ideas for films were too big - one too many characters, a few too many locations, an effect or two that even major studios have trouble with… It’s forced me to come up with smaller, more manageable ideas. The others can still be done as comic strips. I’ve already done a few, I just need to keep doing them, and on a regular basis. Time, of course, is another issue.

With the sci-fi story, I wouldn’t be giving it away, not with how much time I’ve spent on it already. More likely I would look into hiring a professional writer to turn my collection of notes into a novel. But that’s only if/when I’m ready to give up on drawing/animating those stories. I’m nowhere near that point, yet.