Don't Buy Devil Engine, Say Game's Artist And Musician

Always surprises me that people have no shame to straight up steal peoples work and Labour.

Why do they feel it necessary for the internet to know their contract/business arrangement has gone down the pan.

@dew12333 why not?

@dew12333 because their hard work is being stolen??

@dew12333 are you joking right?

Is it stolen though? They created graphics and music FOR a game but it doesn't belong to the game? I mean, they should demand payment if they haven't received whatever amounts had been agreed, but I don't think one can rightfully say "Actually I don't like you now, so my music can't be used in your game anymore". Imagine an actor saying "OK there have been contract disagreements so you gotta take me out of your movie". Sounds strange to me.

I'm not saying that the developer is necessarily in the right. Only that it's impossible for us to judge without knowing what contracts were signed.

@dequesi It may have happened in the past, but we'd never know of it because the movie itself would've disappeared. Sometimes these movies are branded as lost movies and would occasionally be revealed to the public after said producer/artist does the underground tango.

@dequesi Yeah, I'm confused about that, too. How exactly does quitting the project partway through allow them to maintain sole ownership of those assets? Weren't they still under contract when they provided those assets to the game in the first place?

For all I know they do have sole ownership through some clause in their contract, but it's odd that they would claim as such without explaining it when normal logic would dictate otherwise.

@VanishStampede Well, with movies, it happens due to usually being unable to finish the movie if a major actor quits before all his/her scenes are shot. Whatever has already been shot can still be used if the movie producers can recast or otherwise find workarounds for the rest of it. However, if the actor completes the job while still under contract before deciding to part ways with the studio, there's nothing he/she can do to prevent his/her appearance in the movie.

@JokerCK nope.
@DeclanS98 All the millions of issues around the world nd we have to care about someone who entered freely into a contract with someone else. They saw no reason in telling us about that , but because it goes wrong they now want us to know about it, when no one has a full story and can merely speculate on who is telling the truth. What a waste of peoples time commenting that it could be this way or that when the only person who should be listening to this is a judge.
@blodermoder In the same respect why?

@dew12333 Make sure to never complain about issues in your own life, like not getting paid, because there’s bigger issues in the world.

@DeclanS98 No problem there the internet would be the last place I would go. Maybe you like the internet to pat you on the back and say 'there there there' but I'd suggest many other ways will do more for you.

@dew12333 If you don’t think attracting attention to the fact a prominent employer doesn’t pay their staff is a good thing I don’t know what to tell you. From the artists’ perspective, publicly shaming the people involved is the best way to get what they want, and I wish them well!

Don't worry, I will not buy this game, unless it is 99p. Seeing as Nintendo is forcing up games to 1.99, its not likely.

I might just buy the game anyway, now that there's a chance it could be delisted due to rights issues. Let them sort out who gets my $20 (or $13 and change, or whatever, after Nintendo's cut)

If you don't have this you might want to seriously consider buying it soon, this could become one of those lost games.

@DeclanS98 I can see what you are saying but why should we trust one person over another, they both say the opposite to each other. I take it you are believing the unpaid person who alledgedly abused somebody, and your basing that on? All seems a little futile to me

So....what ever happened to Cooking Mama?

Pay your bills folks. Stealing is not good.

This is such a shame, I finally thought we would see the updates and release on all other platforms. One of the greatest shooters of all-time, but sadly marred by all this legal stuff.

@pipes She couldn't handle the heat.

So right now, it's "he said/she said," but what is the actual legality behind this? Is there something in their contract that gives the dev the ability to still sell the game amidst separating from the artists?

I don't think it's right to reserve judgement without ALL the facts, right now this is still obviously developing. I still want to see if there is some legal precedent behind all this, or if there is something in their contract that causes them to lose the rights to their art or if the dev is actually doing something he shouldn't be.

NINJA PENDING APPROVAL, WARINESS SUGGESTED

$25 CDN looks a bit steep for this regardless.

once they made a second twitter account, that was about the nail in the coffin for me

This sounds like a bunch of artist using terrible business practices that they now all regret.

These kids need to grow up and learn their lesson. This squabble isn't helping any of them. They need to let their lawyers handle it.

@DeclanS98 "publicly shaming the people involved is the best way to get what they want"

You could not be more wrong.

@getyourak did you miss the "from the artist's perspective" part of the comment

@getyourak “””from the artists perspective “””

All about opinions bud, and I don’t think you can underestimate social media

@somebread I absolutely did not.

These indie dramas always remind me of high school.

https://twitter.com/Protocultgames/status/1352707625897644033 It continues!

@dew12333
Don't say this on Polygon as you will be banned.

@BulbasaurusRex
I think, as was mentioned, it centers on payment. If they weren't paid, in many contracts this would violate the terms of usage for IP. If the publisher is not paying the developer which seems to have been sorted out then the developer is holding funds possibly to force the programmers/artists hand to relinquish their rights. It is shady but happens all of the time.

@somebread Exactly. This is even worse. The lack of professionalism in this statement really shows how immature these kids are.

They didn't sign a contract and gave away all of their work. Therefore they have ZERO right to how it's used. End of story. Crying on social media isn't how you resolve these types of problems.

Honestly, all parties involved from Dangen, to Protokulture to these brothers show an immense amount of immaturity. No surprise this is a story from the gaming community...

@dew12333 it's almost like people can care about really bad things and little unrelated things at the same time.

@dew12333 It’s a tactic to exert pressure on Chapman et al. It’s not particularly dignified but at the end of the day they feel the need to protect their work and put forward their opinion. There’s different merits in either approach.

I literally just bought the game right before I saw this article. Now I feel bad. But not too bad, since I still have no idea who's in the right here.

Title should be more like “Don’t buy Devil Engine....because it really isn’t that good of a game.”

@Zidentia For my own safety I only go here and serebii

I really don't think the artists can legally decide that their work is being sold without their consent now. It would be a massive undertaking to change all the art and music. Their statement also seems very unprofessional and only makes me want to buy the game more for fear of it being taken off the market. They are free to say don't support the developer though.

The developers response seems legit. Unless the artists were never paid at all I don't think they have a case.

@getyourak and here's a rough rundown from someone working on it on everyone's Favorite Website https://www.resetera.com/threads/dangen-entertainment-robbing-indie-devs-updates-threadmarked.154748/page-18#post-57618483 (dwarn is also the person who blew the whistle on Dangen's shady practices, it looks like)