Is Commercial Out for VX Ace to MV?

[Malric]

Okay so I've been reading the commercial terms for resources and I think I've found a problem.


So I asked about using VX/VX Ace Art on MV and was told yes, but I have to purchase VX Ace to use it commercially.


I've found something concerning however so I want to make sure I'm 100% clear on this. If I can't get a 100% legal guarantee on the forums could someone please direct me to who I'd contact to get such a guarantee.


In VX Ace it says the included art is okay for commercial use. However reading further it says it's not okay for commercial use when porting to a an unsupported format. What this looks like is if say you took a VX Ace game and ported it to say Android, you could not use the original included VX Ace artwork.


So, the ten million dollar question:


Even if I buy VX Ace, if I do so and port the artwork to MV to make a Android game where MV is supported does the license terms follow MV or VX Ace? Since MV is an RM product and Android is supported there one would think it's okay, but depending on how you interpret the EULA on VX Ace it would almost seem as you can not use any art/tiles from any RM products before MV on Android/iOS/Mac.


Could anyone clarify the commercial use terms on this for me with 100% certainty?


I would really hate to buy VX Ace just for some extra tiles then go through the trouble of making them work in MV only to end up getting sued.

 

[Ksi]

I'm not official, but I'd assume that if you port the game to MV it then becomes an MV game (because you can't straight-up port an Ace game without having to fit it to MV), and thus can be used as an android game, as long as you have the license to use the assets (meaning having bought the engines in question for the resources).

 

[_Shadow_]

A forum admin such as @Lunarea or @Archeia  can give you a solid official answer to your question.

 

[Malric]

A forum admin such as @Lunarea or @Archeia  can give you a solid official answer to your question.

Thank you. I will email them asap.


From everything I've learned it says when you're using edited art (which art ported from Ace to MV would be) you're limited by both the editors guidelines for commercial use and the original art authors guidelines. Where I'm stuck is on that original guideline which says art ported into other platforms is not allowed for commercial use.


I'm thinking at the time when RG didn't support other platforms this made sense and wouldn't effect going from one windows RG product to another. Now that porting is in the picture I think those original EULA's are a problem. I'm pretty savvy with understanding legal terms and my best judgement tells me if I went strictly by the EULA it's not okay for commercial use. However looking at the trend of the developers products it doesn't look like that's what they would intend either so their pattern and history seem to conflict with strict wording.


I don't think it matters for non-commercial but obviously commercial leaves no room for gray areas.

 

[Archeia]

If you buy VXAce and use the art on MV. It's OK. Making an Android game with MV using those assets is OK.


Selling a game made with MV using those assets to be ported to an Android Device is OK.

 

[Andar]

You should keep in mind that the EULA for Ace was written years before the capacities of MV even existed, but also states that any RTP may be used in any program of the RPG Maker Series as long as you own both. So as long as you're talking about RTP and RTP-Edits only, you can use them in MV.


And that includes all deployment options.


However, there are still some areas where the final rules are missing due to no one expected the deployment options of MV when the original contracts and EULA's were written. The biggest remaining restriction is about the shop resources for Ace.


The Shop-Resource-EULAs usually state that you are required to encrypt any game that includes them - and direct encryption does not exist in RMMV and is absolutely impossible for Web deployment. Which means that at the moment, Ace shop resources can't be used when deploying to web, and if using other deployment options you'll need to use an external encrypter for the game.


EDIT: Ninja'd by Archeia

 

[Malric]

If you buy VXAce and use the art on MV. It's OK. Making an Android game with MV using those assets is OK.


Selling a game made with MV using those assets to be ported to an Android Device is OK.

Thank you very much. I'll take that as the official stance on this, screen shot this forum topic, save it and call it a day.


Looks like I will be buying VX Ace as well just for some art =)

You should keep in mind that the EULA for Ace was written years before the capacities of MV even existed, but also states that any RTP may be used in any program of the RPG Maker Series as long as you own both. So as long as you're talking about RTP and RTP-Edits only, you can use them in MV.


And that includes all deployment options.


However, there are still some areas where the final rules are missing due to no one expected the deployment options of MV when the original contracts and EULA's were written. The biggest remaining restriction is about the shop resources for Ace.


The Shop-Resource-EULAs usually state that you are required to encrypt any game that includes them - and direct encryption does not exist in RMMV and is absolutely impossible for Web deployment. Which means that at the moment, Ace shop resources can't be used when deploying to web, and if using other deployment options you'll need to use an external encrypter for the game.


EDIT: Ninja'd by Archeia

Thank you!!!


Yes, Archeia Ninja'd you but that add-on about the shop resources is huge!


I'm VERY glad you put that in there because I may have very well ended up purchasing those and not even realized the encryption aspect.



So I guess I'll be buying VX Ace but not any of the shop resources. Whew! So much to take in...

 

[Lunarea]

I just wanted to give you an official confirmation that Archeia and Andar covered it.


-Yes, you can use VX-Ace RTP in MV, as long as you own both engines.


- We're working on other shop resources, but at the moment, their license does require encryption. Since MV doesn't have any encryption, the two are not yet compatible.


An easy way to tell what you can use in MV is if the shop entry has a MV icon in the description.

 

[Malric]

I'm glad to know the official stance is to make the two compatible for commercial use. I have to admit when I read that part in the VX Ace EULA I was a tad bit worried. I know MV is new so it'll take time to get it up to speed. I've followed RM since XP and always considered it's commercial capabilities. The license for commercial porting in MV is what made me finally decide to take the plunge and dive into RM. Since I've already made my investment and can see an end goal I'm happy with there's no going back now!

 

[nofrodelius]

How is the compatibility coming along for VX-Ace shop resources being used in commercial MV games? Many of the VX-Ace resource packs in the shop say "optimized for VX-Ace" but I'm not sure if that means they can only be used with VX-Ace, or that's just a "suggested use".

 

[Shaz]

nofrodelius, please start a new thread to ask your own questions instead of hijacking someone else's old, unrelated thread. Thank you.

 

[nofrodelius]

I didn't think it was unrelated, as I am continuing the conversation above.


I'll just quote or copy everything relevant then, and paste into a new thread.