PSA: Check if your game is being sold by this developer

[Marsigne]

The developer has withstood the test of time, interesting. Seems like the comments regarding the thievery might be getting hidden which is why there are still unsuspecting buyers.

 

[mathmaster74]

I had an offer to translate my Steam game into Chinese and "localize" it for free. I sent them every bit of text in the game in a bulleted list so all they had was the text of my game. They sent translations of all but one of the (lengthy) bullet points (most of which seemed to check out in Google translate, although some were rough and/or sketchy) and then said they needed the game so they could play it and verify that everything was translated properly because the text I provided was out of context and sometimes words have two meanings, etc. I provided a key for the game so they could play the English version, and proceeded to put all of the translations into the game myself simply copy/pasting. I told them as soon as they provided the last translation I would finish the Chinese version and give them keys to that so they could do their "verification". Now I have a Chinese version of the game 1 paragraph away from being available, but I refuse to give them access to my developer files, which they seem to think they need more than a key to the encrypted and Steam distributed Chinese version of the game, so...that's a broken deal. Thought I would share the experience, and since I've possibly had a close call here, I'll be watching this thread.

 

[Tuomo L]

I had an offer to translate my Steam game into Chinese and "localize" it for free. I sent them every bit of text in the game in a bulleted list so all they had was the text of my game. They sent translations of all but one of the (lengthy) bullet points (most of which seemed to check out in Google translate, although some were rough and/or sketchy) and then said they needed the game so they could play it and verify that everything was translated properly because the text I provided was out of context and sometimes words have two meanings, etc. I provided a key for the game so they could play the English version, and proceeded to put all of the translations into the game myself simply copy/pasting. I told them as soon as they provided the last translation I would finish the Chinese version and give them keys to that so they could do their "verification". Now I have a Chinese version of the game 1 paragraph away from being available, but I refuse to give them access to my developer files, which they seem to think they need more than a key to the encrypted and Steam distributed Chinese version of the game, so...that's a broken deal. Thought I would share the experience, and since I've possibly had a close call here, I'll be watching this thread.

Well this is a bit off topic but I'll share a way that you can do something like this; Technically, when making a spread sheet with other column being original and the other being translated (at least, that's how I do it), I sometimes myself leave comments that tell the context where it could have a double meaning. Such as a general (general of army, or in general?) or such.

You should generally be cautious of free offers, unless you can be certain that these are just really excited fans of yours who want to help bring your game out to their country. (I've had this happen to a game of mine)

 

[fugahagen]

Why don't you guys just sue him? Sell yours for $20 and charge him $20 for every game of yours he sold, doesn't matter what he sold them for.

 

[Elliott404]

Not everyone live in the same region so, it's quite difficult. Reporting him for copyright violation is one of the solutions we can rely on.

 

[Andar]

Why don't you guys just sue him? Sell yours for $20 and charge him $20 for every game of yours he sold, doesn't matter what he sold them for.

1) people would have to pay a lawyer to sue him, and while they can add that cost to the amount they sue him for that doesn't help if he doesn't have enough money to pay for everything - in that case you end up entitled to get your money back but since he can't pay it's your own money that is gone.

2) international lawsuits are a problem in itself, you need specialised lawyers and often there are limits to what can be enforced internationally

 

[bgillisp]

@fugahagen : Also the maker of the game has to be the one to sue, due to how copywrite law works.

 

[Marquise*]

@bgillisp What if that guy stole from many creators? Can all the creators wronged do a collective suit? (or whatever you call that in English)

 

[Ryisunique]

Class action?

What and how is this guy still around?

 

[Elliott404]

Did Steam not do anything to that thief at all??

 

[fugahagen]

Did Steam not do anything to that thief at all??

They don't care.. Just put a swastika in your game that scammer will be done in an instant if he rips it.

 

[Marquise*]

@Ryisunique Thanks. Darn my lack of vocabulary.

 

[Cryptic]

They don't care.. Just put a swastika in your game that scammer will be done in an instant if he rips it.

It's just sad that Steam really doesn't care... but I wouldn't recommend putting that in your game btw because I'm guessing that this "seller" [wouldn't exactly call them scammer... but I guess they are] will play the games before ripping them, at least that's what it seems.

 

[fugahagen]

It's just sad that Steam really doesn't care... but I wouldn't recommend putting that in your game btw because I'm guessing that this "seller" [wouldn't exactly call them scammer... but I guess they are] will play the games before ripping them, at least that's what it seems.

Well you could put something damning in a secret location and then take video of that location and how to get there for the report. What GTA game had to pull games off the shelves because of that one secret scene?

 

[Elliott404]

I'm not a GTA fan but, I'm curious about that secret scene.

 

[fugahagen]

I'm not a GTA fan but, I'm curious about that secret scene.

Some cheeky dev put a scene in there that wasn't really supposed to be found but then it was. The scene made the games rating wrong which was the big problem. Made the game basically illegal to sell without a new rating or the scene deleted.

 

[Elliott404]

May I know the detail of it? Or is it too sensitive for this site's publicity?

 

[fugahagen]

May I know the detail of it? Or is it too sensitive for this site's publicity?

Probably yea. Should be easy to Google though.

 

[Elliott404]

I understand.