Hasbro Aftermath, thoughts & feels

kami00 Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:46 pm

Well that kinda sucks but at least it was not a C&D order, so they were lenient. The main reason Starswirl Academy caught my attention because it was mlp related visual novel w/ the mane6 as the heroines. But I guess since the staff is not limited to the characters from the show anymore and can do new spins in the visual novel. But, Ugh! This is tearing me apart from what is planned to changing the original!

Now I have tons of questions, I appreciate if you have the time to even answer any of them.

I want to know how big is the name change. For example would Twilight Sparkle will be Twinkle Spankle or something left field like Sherley Monson or something.
With new names, does that mean the replacement of the whole cast with OCs? Or just changing the character design and have alteration to their personality?
From the post,

Probably, but you won’t be able to spot the story differences if you didn’t know what it was like before.

Is this suggesting that dialogue and storyline will be changed?
With more freedom than constricting yourself for making the heroines to be like the mane6, is Starswirl Academy be completely different from the original, like 20% different?
With new ideas and changes, will this take much more longer to be completed?

Ouch!, my head is spinning. *sigh* I'm still interested and want to play the game. Keep up the good work you guys. I hope the new demo comes out real soon to see the new changes.

Nighty Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:04 pm

Can't really speak for them, but I believe they're going to try to stick moderately close to their original plan. o: I just hope they get to keep Derpy as Derpy, since she "isn't" Hasbro's. ouo

TheHockeyGamer Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:17 am

Nighty wrote:I just hope they get to keep Derpy as Derpy, since she "isn't" Hasbro's. ouo

Actually, I hope they don't. If all the rest will be changed, go all the way with it. Especially if all the characters have normal names (I.E not typical pony names), it'd just be weird to see everyone with regular human names and then all of a sudden Derpy Hooves.

As for the change itself, I'm all for it. I'm sure it'll let them be a lot more creative with what they're doing, rather than "how do we make this seem like it would fit with ponies". I'm not saying that it would be bad if it was like before, but now that it's not it has the possibility of being 10x better.

gekiganwing Tue Dec 17, 2013 5:08 am

I'm interested in seeing where Starswirl Academy goes from here. How much will the characters resemble their Friendship is Magic originals? That's an important question to consider. Perhaps the resemblance should be faint, and the writers should focus on the story. Or it could take design cues from the '90s galge Season of the Sakura, which featured expies of then-popular characters with slightly different appearances and names.

For what it's worth, Harmony includes FIM-inspired human characters with different names. (I'm not sure if it's active... Its Tumblr loads slowly, which is why I linked to its Lemma Soft thread instead.)

TheHockeyGamer wrote:...it'd just be weird to see everyone with regular human names and then all of a sudden Derpy Hooves.

You have a point. It's possible to create a fictional world in which "Aerith and Bob" are neighbors, but it's challenging.

DarkOrca Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:30 pm

The post states name changes, but what is "few changes to prevent confusion with any of their properties" as stated in the post. Are the characters art getting a makeover, are personalities getting a make over? But then again they may already intent to state what changes are necessary when they re-release the demo with the changes.

Schneider Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:25 pm

A nice part of text based games I used to enjoy, especially in things like Final Fantasy, was being able to edit the character names.

I'm glad Hasbro isn't going all ban-hammer, but putting in an option for letting the player themselves name them could be interesting! ^_~

After all, Ernest Tidyman hasn't complained that I rename Barret Wallace to Shaft for the last 10+ years. ^_^

Nighty Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:51 pm

Schneider wrote:A nice part of text based games I used to enjoy, especially in things like Final Fantasy, was being able to edit the character names.

I'm glad Hasbro isn't going all ban-hammer, but putting in an option for letting the player themselves name them could be interesting! ^_~

After all, Ernest Tidyman hasn't complained that I rename Barret Wallace to Shaft for the last 10+ years. ^_^

I like this idea. Surprised

DarkOrca Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:05 pm

Schneider wrote:A nice part of text based games I used to enjoy, especially in things like Final Fantasy, was being able to edit the character names.

I'm glad Hasbro isn't going all ban-hammer, but putting in an option for letting the player themselves name them could be interesting! ^_~

After all, Ernest Tidyman hasn't complained that I rename Barret Wallace to Shaft for the last 10+ years. ^_^

I doubt they can throw the ban-hammer at the game, I mean lets go with the names, they can throw a C&D at the game cause of the names infringe on their IP rights of MLP:FIM, but lets say the game creators decides to rename everything. Then the game is thrown back out there again, Hasbro will have to find if anything will infringe on the IP rights, if not then they cant do anything about the game. Like how Fighting is Magic can continue as long as the ponies are OC ponies Hasbro cant really C&D the project.

JohnSmith1 Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:05 am

Now you can do a kickstarter/indiegogo http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1500482054/sunrider

Cmdr Brohoof Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:36 pm

First thing I thought is if Tom can still be Tom.

Either way I'm still looking forward to the finished product even more so. Can't wait to see what changes are going to be made.

TheHockeyGamer Sat Dec 21, 2013 8:35 am

JohnSmith1 wrote:Now you can do a kickstarter/indiegogo http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1500482054/sunrider

What does this even have to do with the topic?

Just to not be a hypocrite, I'll add even more of my own thoughts (because nobody's sick of that yet and I'm going to make damn sure you are). Do you think this will change any subplots that were in the demo? Like, the CMC reference as an example. Their subplot is exactly what Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo do in the actual show, which made sense in the original project. With all the changes, is it just names or does something like that have to be changed as well? That's just the first example that came to my mind from the original demo, I'm sure there are more.

Lazydash Sat Dec 21, 2013 9:07 pm

I personally don't understand why Hasbro is taking action at all... I don't see how its any different from Fimfiction other than the fact that this has pictures, music, and you make choices in the story.
They aren't profiting from this. So why would they care if they use then mane six? Isn't it kinda free advertising?

TheHockeyGamer Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:42 am

Lazydash wrote:I personally don't understand why Hasbro is taking action at all... I don't see how its any different from Fimfiction other than the fact that this has pictures, music, and you make choices in the story.
They aren't profiting from this. So why would they care if they use then mane six? Isn't it kinda free advertising?

Because while FiMfiction is explicitly (and sometimes explicit, huehuehue) fanfiction, even if there's a disclaimer every second screen in a fanmade game some stupid people will confuse it with canon. Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.

That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

NemoTjan777 Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:12 am

The changes are a huuuuge disappointment, I have to admit, but I'm really looking forward to hearing their new names and such.

I actually disagree with those of you saying that the personalities and character designs are going to change. Hasbro does not have a trademark on ''cute, light-pink haired shy girl'', ''blonde country girl'', or even ''rainbow-haired tomboy who likes to go fast''. No matter how similar they are to the original, maybe even unmistakable, Hasbro can't legally ban the personalities or designs. The only way they could possibly infringe Hasbro with humanized pony designs would be if they used the designs in ''Equestria Girls'', which they absolutely did not do. On the other hand, they probably DO have a trademark on the designs of the flairs, so I'm sure those are going to change.

NemoTjan777 Sun Dec 22, 2013 10:12 am

NemoTjan777 wrote:
Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.
That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

While I see your point and agree, I feel like I have to point out that the 18+ release won't be their main release, and probably won't be the first one the kid sees Embarassed

.
Also, I doubt the kids would be able to figure out how to unzip the file and get it to work, etc., if they're too young (or inexperienced with computers/the internet) to understand what the label '18+' means, because I'm 100% certain that'll be written by the download.

Also, there's plenty of pony porn out there, both interactive and non-interactive. Nobody's sued Habsro because of Tiarwhy, to my knowledge. I'm sure hundreds of thousands of parents have caught their kids looking at...questionable things relating to ponies. In addition, these would be humans with no relation to the original, aside from names. They might not even notice the names at all, much less remember what show they're from. Þ.Þ

Rainbow Wavedash Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:51 am

Well the new demo should answer your main questions, at least.

Lazydash Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:05 pm

TheHockeyGamer wrote:
Lazydash wrote:I personally don't understand why Hasbro is taking action at all... I don't see how its any different from Fimfiction other than the fact that this has pictures, music, and you make choices in the story.
They aren't profiting from this. So why would they care if they use then mane six? Isn't it kinda free advertising?

Because while FiMfiction is explicitly (and sometimes explicit, huehuehue) fanfiction, even if there's a disclaimer every second screen in a fanmade game some stupid people will confuse it with canon. Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.

That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

I can't see anyone trying to sue hasbro, even if somebody did try to sue hasbro over it, they wouldn't even have a case against hasbo, It's not theres and there is warnings on anything 18+ (IMO Fimfiction is allot more smutty and lawsuit-worthy than a fan made game)

TheHockeyGamer Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:17 pm

Lazydash wrote:
TheHockeyGamer wrote:
Lazydash wrote:I personally don't understand why Hasbro is taking action at all... I don't see how its any different from Fimfiction other than the fact that this has pictures, music, and you make choices in the story.
They aren't profiting from this. So why would they care if they use then mane six? Isn't it kinda free advertising?

Because while FiMfiction is explicitly (and sometimes explicit, huehuehue) fanfiction, even if there's a disclaimer every second screen in a fanmade game some stupid people will confuse it with canon. Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.

That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

I can't see anyone trying to sue hasbro, even if somebody did try to sue hasbro over it, they wouldn't even have a case against hasbo, It's not theres and there is warnings on anything 18+ (IMO Fimfiction is allot more smutty and lawsuit-worthy than a fan made game)

Lazydash wrote:I can't see anyone trying to sue hasbro, even if somebody did try to sue hasbro over it, they wouldn't even have a case against hasbo, It's not theres and there is warnings on anything 18+ (IMO Fimfiction is allot more smutty and lawsuit-worthy than a fan made game)

Lazydash wrote:I can't see anyone trying to sue hasbro

Hasbro Aftermath, thoughts & feels 44336746

DarkOrca Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:24 pm

NemoTjan777 wrote:
NemoTjan777 wrote:
Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.
That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

While I see your point and agree, I feel like I have to point out that the 18+ release won't be their main release, and probably won't be the first one the kid sees .
Also, I doubt the kids would be able to figure out how to unzip the file and get it to work, etc., if they're too young (or inexperienced with computers/the internet) to understand what the label '18+' means, because I'm 100% certain that'll be written by the download.

Also, there's plenty of pony porn out there, both interactive and non-interactive. Nobody's sued Habsro because of Tiarwhy, to my knowledge. I'm sure hundreds of thousands of parents have caught their kids looking at...questionable things relating to ponies. In addition, these would be humans with no relation to the original, aside from names. They might not even notice the names at all, much less remember what show they're from. Þ.Þ

Hmm when in doubt go with internet rules, if there is a single page saying 18+ material ahead and 2 buttons saying over 18+ or under 18+ legally its the parents fault for not watching their kid while they click I'm 18+, pretty sure i would laugh at them in court while they lose.

NemoTjan777 Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:24 am

DarkOrca wrote:
NemoTjan777 wrote:
TheHockeyGamer wrote:Because there'll be an adult version, imagine this little girl/boy stumbles upon Starswirl as a finished product in its original incarnation thinking "human ponies" and downloads it without really thinking. Parent walks in on adult material, the kid says s/he's playing one of the My Little Pony games on the internet. Guess who's getting sued! And that's why this happened on Hasbro's part.
That and the names are their property and they have every right to claim them as such.

While I see your point and agree, I feel like I have to point out that the 18+ release won't be their main release, and probably won't be the first one the kid sees .
Also, I doubt the kids would be able to figure out how to unzip the file and get it to work, etc., if they're too young (or inexperienced with computers/the internet) to understand what the label '18+' means, because I'm 100% certain that'll be written by the download.

Also, there's plenty of pony porn out there, both interactive and non-interactive. Nobody's sued Habsro because of Tiarwhy, to my knowledge. I'm sure hundreds of thousands of parents have caught their kids looking at...questionable things relating to ponies. In addition, these would be humans with no relation to the original, aside from names. They might not even notice the names at all, much less remember what show they're from. Þ.Þ

Hmm when in doubt go with internet rules, if there is a single page saying 18+ material ahead and 2 buttons saying over 18+ or under 18+ legally its the parents fault for not watching their kid while they click I'm 18+, pretty sure i would laugh at them in court while they lose.

I partially agree with this. While it's legally a parent's responsibility, they shouldn't and wouldn't exactly hang over their kid EVERY TIME they're on the computer. What if they're supposed to be e-mailing their friend or doing homework? It's less like protecting them and more like invading their personal space, and, as a result, most parents wouldn't think to watch their child. If they do, the kid will feel like they don't find them trustworthy.

At the same time, this is a valid point. The law would deem the parents at fault, and Hasbro would get away without any trouble.

In a worst case scenario, I could imagine the parent looking through the kid's history after they're done on the computer and finding the download page, then asking them if they downloaded the 18+ version or the all ages version. Kid probably tells the truth (and if not, it's in the downloads either way) and the parent gives kid a little lecture about things labelled 18+. Done and finished. The rest is up to the kid.

Unless their parents are VERY dense, they won't even think about suing Hasbro. They'll probably just e-mail the dev team, and have them take care of it.

madnessmaka Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:20 am

To be honest, I'm not surprised Hasbro did this. Heck, I'm more surprised that it took them this long to send the dev team anything. Their legal department seems to be VERY good at keeping their ears to the ground when it comes to fanmade games and such with their properties. However, I'm glad to see that after the backlash from that whole Mane 6 incident, Hasbro's learned to stop being so sue-happy and be a bit more reasonable about their demands.

Plus, Rainbow Dash being renamed to Robin Douglas made me giggle a little. She DOES seem like a "Robin", though.

Also, as it's been mentioned, it'll be interesting to see if the whole cutie mark/flair thing will be an issue too. I mean, if they're not the same colors (say, silver or gold so they look like an actual pin or something), I doubt Hasbro would have much of legal footing on that.

Rainbow Wavedash Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:32 am

madnessmaka wrote:it'll be interesting to see if the whole cutie mark/flair thing will be an issue too. I mean, if they're not the same colors (say, silver or gold so they look like an actual pin or something), I doubt Hasbro would have much of legal footing on that.

The flair is still in the game. You can see all the (lack of) changes in the new demo.

zacoda1 Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:11 am

Character personalities are unchanged, correct? The names are unimportant in comparison to what actually makes these girls the characters we know and love.

NemoTjan777 Thu Jan 02, 2014 6:17 am

zacoda1 wrote:Character personalities are unchanged, correct? The names are unimportant in comparison to what actually makes these girls the characters we know and love.

As I said before, Hasbro doesn't have a trademark on the personalities. And naturally, the dev team knows this. Their names are the only things that have been changed, to my knowledge. The new demo was just touched up a little, to make it prettier.

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