IP Guidelines

For the past few months, I have noticed an increase in actions that have infringed my copyrights regarding my games and creations. Specifically, there have been quite a few instances in which players take my games apart, upload all my original assets online, and make them available for the public to download without my consent. Individuals have also pirated my games and posted their own links around on other platforms. I have received a lot of questions regarding what my stance on these things is. While I’m sure most of these actions are not ill-intended, I believe it is time for me to clarify my current policies and answer some commonly asked questions.

I think most of the time, players simply forget that these are not just game assets but my art and creations as well. Similar to most digital artists, I do not enjoy seeing my work being reuploaded and redistributed without my consent, especially to a wider audience at once. If you see any instances of unauthorized reupload, please consider helping me out a bit by reminding them nicely of my policies. This way, I can also spend more time working on my actual games instead of focusing on these things. Thank you all for your understanding.

Disclaimer

These guidelines do not grant a copyright license to any VTSOM/TWDAK-related fan content. Despite these guidelines, I reserve the rights to issue a formal takedown request for any content that infringes copyrights. This includes content that uses official VTSOM and/or TWDAK assets, as well as content that include any Intellectual Properties (IPs) that belong to me.

Note: This page is subject to revision at any time with or without notice. Any revision shall be retrospective back to the date of the first version of the policy.

This page was last updated: 2022/08/20

Music

The music in “Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger” are all original music composed by Harmless. The music in “Vincent: The Secret of Myers” is a combination of online resources (purchased or free) and original music composed by me and other contributors.

• You are NOT allowed to reupload or redistribute any of the original music files in my games.
• You are NOT allowed to make them available to download on any platform, server, group chat, or other sites.
• You are NOT allowed to reupload any of the original game music to music websites like spotify, soundcloud, and more.
• You are free to make covers, remixes of the original music for non-commercial purposes.
• You are free to use them as background music in your own YouTube videos for non-commercial purposes. For music in “Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger,” please credit the composer as Harmless and write that the music comes from my game “Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger.” For original music in “Vincent: The Secret of Myers,” please credit each composer accordingly and write that the music comes from my game “Vincent: The Secret of Myers.” However, please note that mass reuploading them as OST to Youtube without the composers' consent is forbidden.
• Unless you are including the music in your YouTube videos by directly recording a playthrough of the games, purchasing an official copy of the Music Pack is required. You are not allowed to use the original music in your own Youtube videos by illegally extracting them through decompilling my games.

Art

With the exception of very few images (texture, UI-related, or art partially based on concepts made by contributors of previous prototypes, etc.), the art in my games (character sprite, background art, and other illustrations, etc.) are created completely by myself.

• You are NOT allowed to mass reupload my original game art assets to any sites, platforms, group chats, social media, servers, drives and more.
• You are NOT allowed to reupload, redistribute, or resell the VTSOM Art Pack.
• You are NOT allowed to mass reupload the artwork included in the VTSOM Art Pack. Please also refrain from uploading or sharing the exclusive art included in the VTSOM Art Pack.
• You can upload very few game sprites for non-commercial & non-distribution purposes, possibly to make a social media post. However, Please refrain from reuploading too many (for example, five or more) of them, and please do not reupload or host the entire decompiled game asset folder, or a large number of assets.
• Reuploading publicly posted art of my game for non-commercial purposes, on the other hand, is okay. This includes celebration art, game screenshots taken by players, or other game-related art I have posted on my official social media. In other words, these are the game-related art you can obtain from me legally without decompiling the game. There is no limit to how many you can upload as long as they are for non-commercial purposes.
• You are NOT allowed to use my official game assets and art in commercial fan merchs.
• You are free to make edits of them to have fun or create memes for non-commercial purposes. However, the edits need to be sufficient to prevent other users from extracting the original assets easily. For example, edited assets that pretty much look the same as original assets (e.g. only minorly cropped, only placing a small text in the corner) are unacceptable as they are in nature the same as original assets. This is to prevent malicious users from reuploading the original assets by claiming that they are “edits.”

Games

• You are NOT allowed to reupload any of my games to any websites, drives, group chats, servers, social media or other platforms. The only exceptions at the moment are fan translated versions of “Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger” subject to laws and regulations for translator protection.
• You are NOT allowed to reupload my games with edits (e.g. modding).
• Please keep in mind that regardless of a game of mine made available on my site or not, it is not an invitation for you to freely reupload and distribute them. If you have any of my games reuploaded at the moment, please take them down. If you have any of my games or assets shared on your drive, please take the entire folder and all files down from your drive. Please keep in mind that merely deleting the post with the link is not enough; anyone who has the link saved or shared can still access the files.
• For games other than the current version of “Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger,” please do not create fan-translated versions without my permission.
• I would also like to urge everyone to support small indie game devs, not just myself, by refraining from reuploading their games and assets, and refraining from supporting privacy sites/reuploads of their games. My only official sites include: itch.io, game jolt, and apple store. The only exception is a small non-official social media group I have specifically authorized due to a very special circumstance.

Fan work

Fan work refers to any content that includes IPs that belong to me. The content in question includes, but is not limited to, art, music, animation, writing, videos, websites, apps, and games. The guidelines pertain to any fan work that takes place in the VTSOM/TWDAK universe or includes characters, settings, or storyline from VTSOM/TWDAK. A special section for fan games is included after this section.

• You are free to create fanart of my games for non-commercial purposes.
• You are free to cosplay as my game characters for non-commercial purposes.
• You are free to have fun and make edits of my game art for non-commercial purposes. However, there are limitations and please read the art section for more detailed explanations.
• You are free to make or buy one-off art commissions of my game characters.
• I’d also like to urge everyone to keep fan creations respectful and refrain from using them for malicious purposes.
• You are free to make non-commercial fan merch with my game art.

Commercial fan merch is allowed, however with a few restrictions:

• You are NOT allowed to use my official art or assets.
• You are NOT allowed to sell edited versions of official assets in any capacity.
• You have to be an independent artist. If you are a company, you cannot sell merchandise related to my games of any kind.
• You are NOT allowed to mass produce and can only sell in limited production.
• If you decide to sell fan merch related to my games, please play my games first.
• If you do make profits from selling fan merch of my game, please consider donating a small portion to me to aid me with my development as I have not made any profits from my games. Thank you for your support.

Fan games

Fan games refer to any fan work that is a game. 

• You are free to create fan games for non-commercial purposes.
• You need to clarify in-game that the game is a fan creation of VTSOM/TWDAK. The fan game must state upon first run that it is a fan game unaffiliated with VTSOM/TWDAK. They must advise that the original games should be completed by the player before playing, as well as provide a link to the official website where they can be downloaded.
• You are NOT allowed to distribute fan games on Steam.
• You are NOT allowed to use official VTSOM and TWDAK assets in fan games.
• You are NOT allowed to use artwork from the VTSOM Art Pack in your fan games.
• Fan work that includes official VTSOM and TWDAK assets, edited or not, may NOT be used to create new video games.
• Fan games should not confuse the player in any way that it might be related to official VTSOM/TWDAK content. The game should not be mistaken for VTSOM/TWDAK themselves, or an official guide, spin-off or add-on to VTSOM/TWDAK. This includes how the game is displayed both before and after downloading.

Will you publish the CGs and OSTs in Vincent: The Secret of Myers?

I think at some point, yes. My original plan was to release them after the game is finished as neither the music nor the art are finalized at the moment. However, with the increasing instances of unauthorized uploads, I may release them sooner as a compromise. If you enjoy my games, please consider supporting me by downloading them legally from my official page when they are available. Thank you! 

Update: The OST and Art Pack are now available to download. Please download them from here and here.

Are you still looking for translators?

I am no longer looking for translators at this moment. I will let everyone know if the situation changes.

Please note that the above policies do not exempt you from the compulsory obligations as required by applicable laws and regulations. If necessary, you need to seek advice from a legal professional when making decisions related to intellectual property law.

Note: this policy is subject to revision at any time in my own discretion with or without notice. Any revision shall be retrospective back to the date of the first version of the policy and supersede any previous versions.