A question about crediting artists-

[MissiNg Orange]

Hello,

I have been solitarily developing a Pokémon fan game as a hobby for 5+ years now, and I do not have enough time to draw my own tiles or money to pay someone to do it for me. It has been a very on and off process, I have taken several months and years between touching development, and I started at a pretty young (and ignorant) age. When I started at that young age, I created the tileset for the game, disregarding credit for artists (I was not yet planning on releasing my game in any fashion). I have attempted (and succeeded) in finding credit for the tiles and other assets I have used, however I fear that those I have not found will end up being prohibited for use by the artist. Additionally, I know I have used tilesets from other fan games (yet I don't know which ones), and don't want to have accidentally stolen art that someone else paid for.

If/whenever I finish the game, I will not be crediting myself as a creator (this account is a throwaway, and doesn't match up with any other account I use on the internet). I simply want to share my dream Pokémon game, not have any recognition or anything for it. What should I do? Is it absolutely unacceptable to publicize it without finding credit for every tile (something which might not even be possible given that I found these tiles 5+ years ago/they may not be credited correctly)? I understand now that credit is important, but I also don't stand to gain anything from publicizing this monetarily, exposure-wise, etc.

I am very much not part of the Pokémon fangame community, so I would appreciate any and all feedback! (I really don't know what the status quo is here!)

Thanks for reading, Pokemon Missing Orange project.

 

[ThatWelshOne_]

You shouldn't use any assets in your game that you don't know to be free to use, and you should credit everyone involved in the creation of anything you didn't make yourself.

 

[Aki]

I have been solitarily developing a Pokémon fan game as a hobby for 5+ years now

Congrats! Not many people can work on a single project for that long, especially alone.

If/whenever I finish the game, I will not be crediting myself as a creator (this account is a throwaway, and doesn't match up with any other account I use on the internet). I understand now that credit is important, but I also don't stand to gain anything from publicizing this monetarily, exposure-wise, etc.

Actual issue aside, this isn't gonna do anything. Fan games devs already don't get money/exposure/clout/recognition for releasing a game. Unless you're also putting in the work to build a community around your game/yourself...that name in the credits list is all the gain anyone gets.

If you're honest about it and ask for help, I'd bet there's a lot of people in the RC community who could help identify the publicly available stuff, and get that credited. And make recommendations for more of those legit sources that can be used to replace the stolen stuff! It at least wouldn't hurt to ask where to find a specific artstyle or the kind of tiles you're looking for to replace what's there. Tilesets are probably one of the easiest parts of a game to swap out, so I'd recommend at least trying to before giving up on posting it.

 

[MissiNg Orange]

Congrats! Not many people can work on a single project for that long, especially alone.


Actual issue aside, this isn't gonna do anything. Fan games devs already don't get money/exposure/clout/recognition for releasing a game. Unless you're also putting in the work to build a community around your game/yourself...that name in the credits list is all the gain anyone gets.

If you're honest about it and ask for help, I'd bet there's a lot of people in the RC community who could help identify the publicly available stuff, and get that credited. And make recommendations for more of those legit sources that can be used to replace the stolen stuff! It at least wouldn't hurt to ask where to find a specific artstyle or the kind of tiles you're looking for to replace what's there. Tilesets are probably one of the easiest parts of a game to swap out, so I'd recommend at least trying to before giving up on posting it.

Thanks for the feedback! If I have trouble identifying credit/not being able to use some tiles by the time I wrap up the game, I'll try and reach out to the community for help