RMMV Rules Regarding Yanfly's Plugins (MV)

[EmmaB]

Hi Everyone,
I've got a question regarding Yanfly's plugin library. I am currently recruiting people for a team project that is going to be commercial and we are planning to split the profit.
My question is whether each of the team members need to own yanfly's plugin library themselves in order to work on the project? The plan is to have myself, 2 mappers, 1 artist and 1 musician. Do any of the others need to own it?
I was assuming we all have to own it individually because it is a profit split, whereas if I was just hiring (for example) a musician and paying them, they aren't profiting off of the plugins, they're profiting off their music.
Anyone have any idea? @Archeia @Yanfly
EmmaB

 

[Trihan]

You need a copy of the plugin licence for any team member who's going to be working directly in the editor with a copy of your project.

 

[KaitlynKitty]

They mappers can work in a second fork of the project that does not include the premium plugins. The maps can then be copied from the fork into the master project.

Such work arounds likely won't be needed for the musician and artist.

 

[Kirby44]

Yanfly's ToU :

Redistribution of the plugins and its code, outside the scope of game projects, is strictly forbidden outside of the host website, Yanfly.moe, and by the following sites/members: itch.io. However, special permission has been granted to these individuals/entities for redistribution of the plugins as long as the plugins remain in their updated form: Archeia, Visustella (porting allowed), Ækashics Librarium, Caz Wolf, Raim, DreamX, Fallen Angel Olivia, Atelier Irina, Aries of Sheratan, Arisu's Dollhouse, Munokura of FunGameMake. This list may be updated in the future.

For context on what is considered "the scope of game projects", this means anything that is made with the intention of it being played by players for all sorts. If it is a "game template" made only for RPG Maker users to learn from, that does NOT qualify as a game project, and the plugins from the Yanfly Engine Plugins library cannot be redistributed as a result of that.

This basically means, if you're working on a real project, the plugins can be redistributed (as the potential players will have access to it anyways)

What Yanfly doesn't allow is to make, for example, a DEMO just showing off Yanfly's plugins.

Having a whole team working on the same project with a bundle that is purchased only once is OK, according to Yanfly's ToU

 

[Shaz]

This basically means, if you're working on a real project, the plugins can be redistributed (as the potential players will have access to it anyways)

The OP is not talking about potential players. They are talking about team members who are working on the project. The TOU quoted does not specifically state what should happen when a project has more than one developer with different roles. Sometimes resources require ALL team members to own a copy, sometimes they don't.

 

[Kirby44]

From what I understand, sharing a game project is OK as long as this is a real game project.

To make things sure, the best thing to do is to directly ask Yanfly, but I think the part about the "scope of game project" is quite clear. As long as the project is a game meant to be played, the code has to be shared to the players (because it's necessary for the game to function) but also to the team members (JS Coders, Mappers, Playtesters...) in order to work on it.

 

[ATT_Turan]

I think the part about the "scope of game project" is quite clear.

I'm not sure I agree. The bold text defines a game project as "anything that is made with the intention of it being played by players" - in this case, the OP is talking about distributing a package of files made with the intention of other people editing it.

If we were going to go with your original interpretation, then one could argue that all distribution could be allowed so long as it was packaged inside a project, as the ultimate goal of anyone downloading that and using the plugins would be for players to play it. But that's not how legal wording works - in this case, it's the current goal and intent that matters.

To make things sure, the best thing to do is to directly ask Yanfly

True, but good freaking luck.

 

[Shaz]

I've moved this thread to Plugin Support. Thank you.

 

[EmmaB]

For me it's not a matter of me handing over the plugins I have to someone else in any way. My mappers are going to need to do parallax mapping in order to create map images for the game to work, which means I never have to give a copy of the game in it's editable state.
I'm just thinking that if my team earns money (through profit split) from the plugins being used in the game, it would mean they must own a copy of those said plugins. I'm not sure if I'm wrong in this or not...

 

[ATT_Turan]

I'm just thinking that if my team earns money (through profit split) from the plugins being used in the game, it would mean they must own a copy of those said plugins.

I don't understand where you're coming from there. You're not earning money from plugins or art or even RPG Maker, you're earning money from your end product (the game). If they don't need access to it for their part in the development, there's zero reason any of your collaborators need to own anything except the tools they're using.

There are plenty of people selling art assets and music packs for games - they don't need to own RPG Maker because you're going to use their work in a game. You don't need to own the software they used to create the artwork or music if you're making money off your game that contains it.

 

[EmmaB]

That does make sense @ATT_Turan. I just like to be sure lol. Thanks everybody for the help!