[casual_games] Protecting downloadable games

[Dennis - I Sioux]

With the 50 year old.. i ment a low level home computer user offcourse :-D


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis - I Sioux" <Dennis at isioux.nl>
To: "IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List" <casual_games at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Protecting downloadable games



> 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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>>>

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>>

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>

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>

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>