SuperSuit, the fact that you even came up with this stupid idea out of spite confirms that you're absolutely insane. Give it up
Read the line I asked Drydess to highlight.
Are you absolutely sure you want to recreate this game?
There are legal issues behind it. Badspot isn't going to let you create it without major royalties or just flat out saying no.
You also heavily compare it with LEGO. LEGO would come after you in a heartbeat as well.
You do realize the copyright issues are mostly negated by just not calling it Lego or Blockland? Blockland did get sued (or at least confronted) by Lego for using their name at one point, IIRC they asked to buy the game and Badspot said no. Because of this he had to remove all the stuff that was copyright Lego corp/inc/whatever, and that solved all problems. Patents on more complicated connector types may be an issue for me though.
[research][/research]
"patent term is 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. or international (PCT) application to which priority is claimed" and Technic was patented in 1998-1999. As long as I wait until 2018/2019 to release the game as retail, it'll be fine. Plus, the game is digital... I don't need the exact mechanisms Lego uses, I can just have magical blobs that connect things that way until the patent expires. I don't think they'll be able to patent or at least uphold a patent for the hook-and-bar/snapping-hinge mechanisms, since patents must be something that isn't obvious. Additionally, do patents apply to a change in medium like a digital representation of a patented mechanism?
I'm still researching this. Can't find whether it does or not.
Anyone who says my skills are lacking: Note that I never said I was going to release this soon; part of that time is going back, realizing how much I messed up, and redoing stuff as my skills grow.
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