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Ask HN: So I want to create an adaptation

2 points by qmarchi ↗ HN
My friend and I are working on a digital adaptation of a board game, with the hope and dream that it will one day be a nice source of side income.

However, this board game is quite unique and we want to engage with the IP owners for their consent.

We've come up with some questions that would be pretty universal with others who have some similar dream:

* When should we reach out to the IP owners?

* How should we engage? With an attorney or just firing off an email?

* How does profit sharing work in situations like this?

I can't think of any extras right now, but I'm sure discussion will spark some more.

So, does anybody have suggestions on how to answer these?

1 comment

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teyc
The design and characters are copyrighted but my understanding is game mechanics are not.

If you want to reach out to IP owners, you should have a clear understanding of why you are doing it, because now you have another cook in the kitchen, so-to-speak. If you are planning to recreate the game digitally with same characters and mechanics, then I can understand why. If you are planning to use the characters in a new game, I can also understand why.

But if you want to just copy the game mechanics but alter the characters, it is permitted - everybody understands that game mechanics is free to be copied.