[casual_games] Protecting downloadable games

[Dennis - I Sioux]

Hey Paul,

Well.. it's hard to tell.
We had a discussion here if we should upgrade our protection.
Because we saw the populaity of our games going up.. and that resulted in a 
fast and groing interest on Torrent sites.

I've read an article about it.. saying (i believe it was:) that every 1000 
illigal download you would stop.. will result in 1 buy.
But off course it depends on your target audience alot.. 14-30 are pretty 
smart with computers nowadays.. and even 50 year old put a link on a forum 
to a illigal game they are hosting..

For the downloadable exe:
It depends.. the bigger game sites with their own show use the DRM they 
have.. this will be wrapped around your game.. handle the demo time and 
after that when the user buys the product unlock the version to result in 
full play.
In that scenario you can't add much of your own protection system..

If you sell it yourself.. you have full influence.. you could start with a 
simpel serial check and store it in a Shared Object.. to things like using 
Zinc to save stuff in your registry.. or check for a mac adres ... and 
communicating that with your server.

If it's all worth it.. is up to you :)

Greetz


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Steven" <paul_steven at btinternet.com>
To: "'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'" <casual_games at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 2:18 PM
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Protecting downloadable games



> Thanks Dennis

>

> Is the general opinion that it is worth adding protection for these kind 

> of

> games? I imagine the games are going to be retailing for around £20

> (possibly less) to a very young audience (5 - 8 year olds).

>

> How do these protection systems work for downloadable executables? Does 

> the

> purchaser receive a serial number or is the game tied to a particular

> machine? I don't want to cause headaches for purchasers when trying to 

> play

> their purchases.

>

> Cheers

>

> Paul

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]

> On Behalf Of Dennis - I Sioux

> Sent: 05 September 2008 13:16

> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List

> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Protecting downloadable games

>

> We prevere Zinc, because it had proved to be compatible with all the DRM's

> we've come along so far.(Even activeMark).

>

> For the security.. DRM's are cracked alot aswell.. so there isn't a 100%

> safety.. usually games get on Torrent site's pretty fast.

> You could use an online check system.. although it's possible to bypass 

> this

>

> aswell..will have more helpdesk work.. and not all Publishers would like

> this i think.. because usually they have their own activation structure in

> their DRM .. like a time limit.

>

> Good luck.

>

> Dennis

> Isioux

>

>

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Olivier Besson" <olive at globz.com>

> To: "IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List" <casual_games at igda.org>

> Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 2:05 PM

> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Protecting downloadable games

>

>

>>  Hi,

>>

>> TryMedia ActiveMark (http://www.trymedia.com/) is an encryption system:

>> you provide the EXE and they build an encrypted exe.

>> There is another popular DRM system but I forgot the name :D

>>

>> Regarding flash games, you have to be careful when you choose the way you

>> build your exe: Zinc, Swfkit, Jugglor are popular swf-to-exe wrappers, 

>> but

>

>> they are not always compatible with encryption systems:

>>

>> - In Swfkit, you have to use "no compression" option to become

>> activeMark-compatible.

>> - Jugglor is activeMark-compatible. Unlike other wrappers, it also keeps

>> your original framerate, but it's another issue..;-)

>> - Zinc was not not activeMark-compatible "as is" some years ago, ... but 

>> I

>

>> didn't check with the Zinc 3.0 version.

>>

>> Hope it helps,

>>

>> Olivier

>>

>>

>> Paul Steven a écrit :

>>>

>>> Hi

>>>

>>> I normally only develop online games and have just been asked to develop

>>> a series of downloadable games. I am interested to know if people tend 

>>> to

>

>>> use any protection schemes to prevent piracy of downloadable executable

>>> type games and if so what is available? I will be developing the games 

>>> in

>

>>> Abobe Flash for the PC. I may also offer Mac versions too if this isn't

>>> too much hassle.

>>>

>>> Any advice much appreciated

>>>

>>> Thanks

>>>

>>> Paul

>>>

>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>

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