Need Advice

[Mothrom]

In the GMS2 ToS, it explicitly states that you cannot use the engine for "pornographic" content. This kind of censorship enrages me.

I plan on making and releasing an R18 game on itch and dlsite. If you were me, would you risk it and make the game on GMS2 anyway? Or play it safe and migrate to an engine that allows it?

[◢ k r i s ◤]

I don't see how they can enforce that. I'm not sure which document you were referencing, but for some thing like this[www.yoyogames.com] I would think that particular demand is regarding platforms YYG actively provides and moderates for (ie, their community forums, marketplace, showcase, etc)

Same logic would apply to other types of content they really have no ability to enforce, such as depicting hate-speech or siphoning user data or creating malware. I'm not a lawyer (and more importantly, I'm not your lawyer), but I'm pretty sure if they tried to take you to court for making an erotic game with GMS2 then the case would be dismissed as unenforceable[en.wikipedia.org] - and then the most YYG could do is revoke your GMS2 account and license, if they can figure out that much detail and be compelled enough to take such action.

The silliest way YYG could try to involve a court would be to claim damages for having their software associated with the images of an erotic game - but I'm pretty sure that would be dismissed from a court room with a chuckle or two. Really though, questions like these would be better asked to your lawyer who is not only better educated on the circumstances but also more invested in your interests and you should try to get one if you don't have one already.

[Mothrom]

Originally posted by ◢ k r i s ◤:

I don't see how they can enforce that. I'm not sure which document you were referencing, but for some thing like this[www.yoyogames.com] I would think that particular demand is regarding platforms YYG actively provides and moderates for (ie, their community forums, marketplace, showcase, etc)

Same logic would apply to other types of content they really have no ability to enforce, such as depicting hate-speech or siphoning user data or creating malware. I'm not a lawyer (and more importantly, I'm not your lawyer), but I'm pretty sure if they tried to take you to court for making an erotic game with GMS2 then the case would be dismissed as unenforceable[en.wikipedia.org] - and then the most YYG could do is revoke your GMS2 account and license, if they can figure out that much detail and be compelled enough to take such action.

I have contacted them and asked them to explain further. A member of YoyoGames Staff who I will not name personally replied to me:
"This means you are prohibited from making any games or assets with GameMaker that can be considered threatening, abusive, obscene, racist, xenophobic, sexist, defamatory, pornographic, sexually explicit or otherwise offensive or illegal."
So I don't think that applies to JUST the YYG Platforms sadly.

[◢ k r i s ◤]

I edited my post, but essentially you have all the information anyone here could tell you already. You're in lawyer territory if you try to go further.

[Mothrom]

Thanks for replying!

[◢ k r i s ◤]

I've thought about that response they gave you a little more and realized we might also be looking at this from the wrong angle.

... or otherwise offensive or illegal.

I think they are simply trying to cover their ass and distance their affiliation in the situation where someone does something that could impact YYG by association. What is "offensive" and "illegal" varies from one location to the next and that makes me think their response is arranged to sound less aggressive than it does defensive.

To be honest though, maybe I'm just being annoyed by those demands too and looking for excuses. The only relevant advice to you is still going to be whatever your lawyer actually recommends - even though I'm sure others will have opinions on this eventually.

Best of luck with your endeavor though.

[Mothrom]

I'm contacting one right now with the question. If the worse they can do is revoke my license, that just means I'm graduating from GMS2 and moving to Unity sooner rather than later.

I'd just like to use GMS2 since I technically have 15 years experience with the Engine and can get this game done relatively quickly, rather than learning an entire new Engine first.

[◢ k r i s ◤]

If you do consider switching engines, I would recommend Godot unless you're already invested into Unity. Godot is an open-source Unity-clone wannabe without the licensing baggage https://godotengine.org/license

[Mothrom]

Originally posted by ◢ k r i s ◤:

If you do consider switching engines, I would recommend Godot unless you're already invested into Unity. Godot is an open-source Unity-clone wannabe without the licensing baggage https://godotengine.org/license

If I may ask, what language(s) does Godot use, and being a new user, how long would it realistically take for someone to learn the Engine enough to release a coherent project, compared to Unity?

[◢ k r i s ◤]

Godot projects are primarily built around a custom language called GDScript (a bit like GML in that it's uniquely relevant here and nowhere else) and GDScript is a bit reminiscent to Python's syntax with some C-family features. There is also a Mono version of Godot that supports some C# that is available only on the Godot website[godotengine.org] (opposed to Godot distributed on Steam) but truthfully I haven't messed with Godot's C# support much as it feels relatively new still and subject to instability and missing features.

https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/
Documents are there if you want to take a glance. I typically recommend people start here[docs.godotengine.org] for the more comprehensively condensed tutorial that goes through just about everything - but sometimes people prefer to go to youtube and find video tutorials instead, so it just whatever suits your preference, I guess. GDQuest is the first Godot Youtuber that comes to mind, but there are plenty of others. Heartbeast stopped making tutorials for GameMaker in favor of Godot quite some time ago, for instance.

As for expected time-frames, that's really subjective and scale-dependent, but because everything is accessible and there is quite a bit of additional references to utilize (documented discussion threads or youtube tutorials, etc) I think it's possible for someone to pick up Godot really quickly. As for the project, that depends on how much scripting you will actually need to utilize and write and, in that case, how comfortable you are with languages like Python and anything C-family already and how much more support you need than what the documentation provides. I guess it feels relatively similar to Unity in this regard.

I'd say anyone could probably make a distinct, but really bad, minimum viable product in a week's time if they really dedicate their time to learning Godot and just grasping the most relevant materials to their product goal. Realistically though, I'd say a month or two if you have no foothold already and aren't comfortable with any part of Godot and expect delays and speed-bumps but can keep up a consistent routine and effort that whole time. It's honestly such a subjective question though; you could probably see tangible results within a single day if you're a fast learner and came to Godot with a strong game-development background.

[Mothrom]

Contacted a Lawyer, they didn't help (long story, I hate humans) so I helped myself.

Godot deff seems interesting, after watching some tutorials. If you use Godot, is there any private way of contacting you (preferrably Discord). I'd like it if you could you guve me a few basic tips!

[RedMetroid]

That's new to me. I'm curious. We really dont have any adult game based om GMS? if someone releases it, how yoyo will take it down exactly?

[MaGicBush]

That sounds ridiculous and I regret buying GMS2 after noticing this. Literally anything can be offensive to someone somewhere. So we are not allowed to make games using this software I guess .

As suggested though I don't see how this rule would be enforceable at all. It would be easy to just make said game and not mention what engine you used to make it..

Id imagine it's just to cover their own if something did go wrong.

[all mute]

Originally posted by MaGicBush:

That sounds ridiculous and I regret buying GMS2 after noticing this. Literally anything can be offensive to someone somewhere. So we are not allowed to make games using this software I guess .

As suggested though I don't see how this rule would be enforceable at all. It would be easy to just make said game and not mention what engine you used to make it..

Id imagine it's just to cover their own if something did go wrong.

Im guessing anyone can find out what engine you used by digging in your game files
Then all it takes is for them to report it to yoyo

Goodbye game, license etc

This sounds ridiculous and I wonder if theres any known situations like this

[Mothrom]

Originally posted by RedMetroid:

That's new to me. I'm curious. We really dont have any adult game based om GMS? if someone releases it, how yoyo will take it down exactly?

There ARE adult games made with GMS/GMS2, soe even openly announcing that the game was made with GMS2. I have spoken with the Creator of said game, and they didn't know about this either.

Originally posted by 132 your mom is from the zoo:

Originally posted by MaGicBush:

That sounds ridiculous and I regret buying GMS2 after noticing this. Literally anything can be offensive to someone somewhere. So we are not allowed to make games using this software I guess .

As suggested though I don't see how this rule would be enforceable at all. It would be easy to just make said game and not mention what engine you used to make it..

Id imagine it's just to cover their own if something did go wrong.

Im guessing anyone can find out what engine you used by digging in your game files
Then all it takes is for them to report it to yoyo

Goodbye game, license etc

This sounds ridiculous and I wonder if theres any known situations like this

To my knowledge, I have not found a single case of this happening. Also I don''t think they can revoke your game itself, only the License to the Engine.

But it's still funny that GMS2 is the ONLY engine I have searched so far who cares..... like, how does this even involve them?

[all mute]

Originally posted by Mothrom:

Originally posted by RedMetroid:

That's new to me. I'm curious. We really dont have any adult game based om GMS? if someone releases it, how yoyo will take it down exactly?

There ARE adult games made with GMS/GMS2, soe even openly announcing that the game was made with GMS2. I have spoken with the Creator of said game, and they didn't know about this either.

Originally posted by 132 your mom is from the zoo:

Im guessing anyone can find out what engine you used by digging in your game files
Then all it takes is for them to report it to yoyo

Goodbye game, license etc

This sounds ridiculous and I wonder if theres any known situations like this

To my knowledge, I have not found a single case of this happening. Also I don''t think they can revoke your game itself, only the License to the Engine.

But it's still funny that GMS2 is the ONLY engine I have searched so far who cares..... like, how does this even involve them?

It's all about who they market to.
If their interest is getting schools to adopt GMS as their tool and getting underaged people into programming, then yeah, they wouldn't want gms associated with any porn games.

Right now it's known for games such as Undertale and Enter the Gungeon, but what if it was XXX Pony Tamer or something