Main > Main Forum
Hackproof Arcade
<< < (6/11) > >>
DJ_Izumi:
If you could actually make a great indie arcade game, you might want to actually look at selling it on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Indie game realm through XNA.  MS gives indie devs 70% of the income off Indie games and you could reach an entire continent of Xbox 360's.  Not to mention they'll handle the DRM for you :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA
Ophelius:

--- Quote ---How could I possibly invest that kind of money in a game sold by "some guy on the Innertubes" when he has specifically chosen an architecture and security measures that would prevent me from fixing it when it fails.
--- End quote ---

The security would only make it not possible to be run on other machines. The buyer would have complete access to everything.  :P


--- Quote ---I don't see any opportunity for you to make money buying prebuilt cabs and then assembling the components by hand.
--- End quote ---

Like I said, even if I just sell one, I'm happy with that. I will be distributing the game online.


--- Quote ---EDIT: Is this for your version of Astrosmash ? And you are looking for ways to protect that IP from, say, being copied by someone else and then sold for a profit ? 
--- End quote ---

Yes, but because of possible lawsuits from Intellivision, I'm remaking it into something new. New title, different graphics, lots of new features, etc. It won't be Astrosmash when I'm done. ;)

[/quote]
massive88:
Imo, for something like this the most effective is the least worrysome.

Something like a serial number based on a MAC address, call home once after install to verify, or over the phone to go through the process.

Can it be hacked?  Sure.

But its enough that people cant just pass a CD to their friend, and its easy enough that you dont piss off the consumer.

I agree that its the pricing of games, and the annoyance of DRM that drives piracy.  People feel justified if something costs more than they feel its worth, or if they get screwed over by some overly complicated mechanisms.  If the game is cheap enough, you have human mentality working for you instead.  People want to be righteous and legal, make it easy for them and no one will care about pirating.
MonMotha:
DRM is a fundamentally unsolvable problem using cryptography.  You can't have Bob and Eve be the same person.  Your copy protection WILL be hacked if anybody cares enough to do it.  Patching out simple checks like you describe is actually rather easy, especially on an architecture as well understood and with as many development and reverse engineering tools as a PC running (probably) Windows.  What you describe would take someone who knows what they're doing maybe an hour or two to bypass.

My suggestion is to simply put some minimal check in to "keep the honest people honest".  It'll get broken.  You know that.  Chances are, these people either weren't going to be paying customers, anyway, or they have some unusual need and are bypassing the security on a legitimately purchased product.  You just need enough to remind people that they shouldn't be sharing.  Don't prohibit resale; don't prohibit multiple installations by the same purchaser, etc.  Just nudge them enough that they won't share it with the world.

I'd suggest a simple "license file" that you email people upon purchase or include on separate media in the box.  People know that it's serialized and traceable to them, so they won't share it.  It's easy to back up and copy around for legitimate reinstallation, and it can be transferred upon legitimate sale by simply including it.  Users are "on their honor" to not keep a copy.  You may laugh, but I know of a several thousand dollar CAD application that uses this exact system.

The pirates will probably just make a "fake" license file and pass it around or simply patch out the checks for said file.  If you start putting out updates or patches, you can mess with the people using the common hacks.  It's fun stuff :)  Make them lose constantly and in usual ways.  They'll patch around that as well, sure, but at least you've had some fun in the process.
KKB:
The simplest is often the better, especially because time is money :  each day of work spent about the security/piracy will increase your devellopement costs.
So,, may be you should simply code a basic protection, as costless as possible , to prevent obvious copying by your customer. Then, use the saved time to concentrate your efforts on the quality of your product ,your business plan, your marketing strategy...
Everything can be hacked, that's an obvious evidence. But why to care about piracy if the product isn't great, perfect, innovant ? because to not sell your games is the major risk... If your game is great, then you'll probably sell it enough to not loose money. The biggest risk is a flop , disapointment. Piracy is really a minor detail IMHO...
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version