Return to “Suggestions”

Post

Anti-pirating with pirates!

#1
With regards to people wanting to pirate LT post-release.
Talvieno wrote:
Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:05 am
I think the most clever way to deal with it would be to intentionally release a pirated version... where all pirates are 10x as powerful as you might encounter in the normal version.
I absolutely love this idea Tal. But I think we should come up with more things that can be done, some more subtle, some less which can go into multiple different versions of a "pirated" limit theory. One of the first thoughts I've had to modify the game would be to make a version of the AI where their sole goal is to make ships to ram the player, so that within minutes of playing the game you have scores of AI ships chasing you and trying to smush you.

Edit: context
A life well lived only happens once.
Seems deep until you think about it.
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#4
nah, the pirated version should just lock your graphics at the minimum settings, no matter how good your graphics card. In the dropdown menu you'ld just see

Graphics Quality:
  • Ultra Low
  • A squirrel stole this setting
  • This one too
  • I bet it thinks they're acorns
  • Ultra High, just kidding, a squirrel took this one too

Or, every time you go through a wormhole, everything in your ship disappears.
Image
Challenging your assumptions is good for your health, good for your business, and good for your future. Stay skeptical but never undervalue the importance of a new and unfamiliar perspective.
Imagination Fertilizer
Beauty may not save the world, but it's the only thing that can
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#5
Release the game in sandbox mode only where the player is limited to two rooms connected via wormhole. Both rooms are done in a similar manner to the prototype along with a fixed market. Include everything that has been mentioned in previous posts. Do not let the game get modded in such a way to unlock the full game.

I guess I'm thinking of a demo more than a full version + crazy annoying features.
Image
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#6
Core Engine "Feature"

Checks your legitimacy, if illegitimate, it alters Floating Points to be VERY inaccurate.

Think, instead of 0.000001 being inaccurate, 1.0 is inaccurate. :D
°˖◝(ಠ‸ಠ)◜˖°
WebGL Spaceships and Trails
<Cuisinart8> apparently without the demon driving him around Silver has the intelligence of a botched lobotomy patient ~ Mar 04 2020
console.log(`What's all ${this} ${Date.now()}`);
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#7
Silverware wrote:
Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:26 pm
Core Engine "Feature"

Checks your legitimacy, if illegitimate, it alters Floating Points to be VERY inaccurate.

Think, instead of 0.000001 being inaccurate, 1.0 is inaccurate. :D
That would fix it. But how do you verify legitimacy? Do you generate procedural keys based on a 40 character alpha numeric seed?
Image
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#8
BFett wrote:
Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:21 pm
Silverware wrote:
Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:26 pm
Core Engine "Feature"

Checks your legitimacy, if illegitimate, it alters Floating Points to be VERY inaccurate.

Think, instead of 0.000001 being inaccurate, 1.0 is inaccurate. :D
That would fix it. But how do you verify legitimacy? Do you generate procedural keys based on a 40 character alpha numeric seed?
Na, you ask Steam :V
Anything yo DO do will be broken eventually, but you may as well make it fun :D
°˖◝(ಠ‸ಠ)◜˖°
WebGL Spaceships and Trails
<Cuisinart8> apparently without the demon driving him around Silver has the intelligence of a botched lobotomy patient ~ Mar 04 2020
console.log(`What's all ${this} ${Date.now()}`);
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#11
Agreed, if being realistic, we simply have to accept that LT will have a pirate version up within 48 hours of release, if not within 4 :ghost:

One solution: The pirated version is an official release, one that has a link to patreon, or some other site that people can pay into if they like the game. And just have a message at every session startup that says something like

We all like free things, but this game took a lot of work, time, blood, sweat, tears, and love to make. If you like it, please support us so we can continue making great games for you to play.
*Link to pay site*

If you really just don't have the money, please contribute in other ways. We'd love to see the great mods you can make! We'll even show you how to get started!
*Link to Forums/Mod wiki*

-Thanks, Josh Parnell

If you know that you can't stop people from getting it without paying, you can still ask them to be decent and some of them will. And this is in reality a "Pay what you want" model, which many people actually seem to like.
Image
Challenging your assumptions is good for your health, good for your business, and good for your future. Stay skeptical but never undervalue the importance of a new and unfamiliar perspective.
Imagination Fertilizer
Beauty may not save the world, but it's the only thing that can
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#12
The only safe ways to prohibit pirating of software:

#1: Have an online component (eg parts of the logic runs on a server), where replicating that functionality is not feasable for a hacker.

#2: Bake the personal data of the user into the program, eg: " this software is registered to John Doe from Springfield" popping up
this is oftern used when distributing pre publish versions to certain users. (Any leaking copy would directly link to the leaker)

#3: be unpopular, thus noone cares for a copy
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#13
Damocles wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:16 am
The only safe ways to prohibit pirating of software:

#1: Have an online component (eg parts of the logic runs on a server), where replicating that functionality is not feasable for a hacker.

#2: Bake the personal data of the user into the program, eg: " this software is registered to John Doe from Springfield" popping up
this is oftern used when distributing pre publish versions to certain users. (Any leaking copy would directly link to the leaker)

#3: be unpopular, thus noone cares for a copy
#1) If it can be generated it can be replicated.
#2) Denovo did this I believe, and is cracked. :D
#3) The only option. :D
°˖◝(ಠ‸ಠ)◜˖°
WebGL Spaceships and Trails
<Cuisinart8> apparently without the demon driving him around Silver has the intelligence of a botched lobotomy patient ~ Mar 04 2020
console.log(`What's all ${this} ${Date.now()}`);
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#14
You have to keep in mind that if many players pirate the game (and many will, since it's a single-player complete experience without heavy DRM), they are going to be the main force behind screenshots, videos, and reviews. If you create a release with a too subtle 'annoying' feature, it will paint he game in bad light, such as 'look how ass it looks even at Ultra'. And whatever annoyance you hardcode in, the proper version will be leaked as soon as a single person buys it off GoG. Hyperion's idea is probably the most sane (though I'd go with a watermark or something less easy to ignore and forget).
panic
Post

Re: Anti-pirating with pirates!

#15
I wanted to expand a bit further on my idea above, that piracy can't be stopped, nor is any DRM worth the hit to public goodwill, so instead I would propose a different business model entirely.
"Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it"


1) Vanilla LT is put up for sale on steam at $30, a somewhat typical price for indie games.

2) Vanilla LT can be downloaded for free on the LT website, but is placed in the "Content Creator's" Section, and requires a login, and is coupled with some modding tools and documentation.

3) Vanilla LT is put up on torrenting/pirate sites by Josh, but this version has a splash screen with links to paypal, patreon, and the LT modding section, along with the message

We all like free things, but this game took a lot of work, time, blood, sweat, tears, and love to make. If you like it, please support us so we can continue making great games for you to play.
*Links to paypal, patreon, etc*

If you really just don't have the money, please contribute in other ways. We'd love to see the great mods you can make! We'll even show you how to get started!
*Link to Forums/Mod wiki*

-Thanks, Josh Parnell


The idea behind this approach is that it satisfies everyone. For people just looking to get a cool game, but uninterested or too lazy to join the community, they can buy it on steam like any other game. For people who like to pirate, it gives them the game in a "Pay what you want" format where those who weren't going to pay you anyways can at least have an official version they can be confident wont come with a virus or other malware. And in my experience, while some people are true misers, asking people to pay what they feel something is worth to them usually results in them giving you more than you would have asked in the first place.

But most importantly, this model encourages modding and content creation by the players, their additions expanding the appeal of the game. Looking at the examples of Paradox and Bethesda, modding has been critical to the popularity of their games. Letting the community pour their passion and talent into making the games better at no cost to the developers is great for public goodwill and is a pretty good business decision as well.

LT's development was paid for by 5500 people that wanted to enable an unproven young developer with a minimal portfolio, but with a basic tech demo and lots of enthusiasm to pursue his dream. LT doesn't need to pay off debts accrued in development because it was fully funded from the beginning. This allows it the freedom to be free.

The approach of
"Look at this cool thing I made, a tool that lets you make really cool games that look great all by yourself! Here try it! If you like it, feel free to show your support. If you just want to create cool games with it, that's great too! If you just want to have fun, then here, enjoy!"
Is more Community than Commercial, and stands in stark contrast to the micro-transactions and paid-mods that are so prevalent and so widely hated. It's more Wikipedia and less Photoshop (How many fewer digital artists would there be today if Photoshop hadn't been so widely pirated for the past 15 years?) Not to mention putting this game in the hands of countless future and undiscovered developers, setting a new standard for how games can be made.

So in short, how do you combat piracy? You treat people and their varied budgets with respect and accept alternative forms of support beyond money, and just accept the fact that some people wouldn't have given you a penny anyways, but at least you can maybe get their respect/admiration that you allow them to enjoy the product of your hard work anyways. The solution isn't technological, it's psychological.
Image
Challenging your assumptions is good for your health, good for your business, and good for your future. Stay skeptical but never undervalue the importance of a new and unfamiliar perspective.
Imagination Fertilizer
Beauty may not save the world, but it's the only thing that can

Online Now

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 14 guests

cron