>You still can release a game that contains game mechanic that is not Open Game
Content, but you have to break the >"Closed Game Content" out into a seperate
publication, it seems.
>I.e., you could create a game, release it under OGL, and create another
Publication containing additional game >mechanic, and NOT release the this other
work under OGL. Then, of course, you are in the odd position of asking
>people to purchase two seperate Publications in order to have a completely
playable game.
>Actually, I suspect you'd have to be careful with your terms / order of
operations, though. The closed Publication >would have to be "core", or first,
or whatever, with the OGC Publication being the "supplement" to the
>closed work. Otherwise you are in the position of trying to extend an OGL work
with closed game mechanic.
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>For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
First, game mechanics can't be protected by copyright so why bother?
However, if you want to copyright the expression of the mechanics, you would
have to be really careful. In a nutshell, they will need to have no relation
whatsoever to anything under OGL. OGL-1b says "Derivative Material means
copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into
other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition,
extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which
an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted;". OGL-1d states that
derivative works are automatically OGC.
If you are going to write a game and it is not a derivative work, why bother
using OGL at all?
John Bacon - Canterbury Creations
www.canterburycreations.com
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For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
