License For Game Devs

Hello, 
 
  The license agreement has been a clear nerve-racking experience for me mostly because of how things aren't clear, and how expensive it's to use pre-made models for games.
 As a game developer, it's very easy to clear all tracks within the exported files ( visable tracks/ hidden symbols / embedded) even we could even go as far as add variation to every vertex and surface data that won't affect the final results, but that is against everything we do because we are also creators. 

That leaves us with few legal options and I've been Narrowing them down to those:
 1 -  Mb-Labs ( blender addon ) : 
 2 - Character Creator 4 
 3 - Daz3D
 4 - hire a modeler


 1 - Mb-Labs:
           Pros: Have almost everything we need as devs, it's a great tool and could certainly do exactly what we need and it's for free.
           Cons: its an open-source, all models that comes out of it are subjects to AGPL3.
 
2 -  Character Creator 4 : 
            Pros: it's the industry standard, pretty much has everything we might need as developers.
            Cons: it's pretty expensive ( 299$) especially for Inde dev/ start ups.
3 -  Daz3D:
            Pros: <for game devs> ? ... I know it's for free for 2D imaging/movies/films, but Can I use even the base model like "genesis 8 base male/female" as a character in-game with or without modifications ??
            Cons:1 - For every model, we purchase we must add 50$ on top of it ... still not sure if we could use the base model that comes out of daz3D without any addons for free or not?
                      2 - Most of the models are not optimized for games at all... we will still need to try and modify to simplify each model to optimize the final product to work smoothly on mobiles for example.
4 - hire a modeler:
           Pros: 1 - almost worry free, just pay, then wait for few days/hours then boom    
                     2 - some are really cheap. I saw some offers for 5-25$ / character.
           Cons: God knows what software they're using or the quality of the final product or if we gonna have a legal challenge ahead in the future.

In my opinion, I would like to see more flexible License option for startups/indie devs, there is no doubt that making a game as a startup or indie is quite expensive and a massive load/risk to carry.
for me, I'm happy to pay the interactive license if I had the budget for it or have made some revenue from my game/product. but to stack up 1000s of before release is not an option for everyone.

Secondly: the Interactive license is not cheap or fair at all! , i saw multiple models/addons that costs less than 5$ and had 50$ extra for the interactive license!

Lastly, if you haven't noticed from the comparison, I still don't know if daz3D is a good fit for 3D gaming, Hopefully, someone would clear that out because I looked around and I found many contradicting debates on that.

Comments

  • On Daz Studiio, bear in mind that the Interactive Licenses are fairly often put on sale (or have been up to now). Also bear in mind that if you are an indie, developing in-house, you don't need to buy the licenses yet - you can work with the mocels up to the point that you need to share the results under the standard license, it's only when you have something ready to share that you need to buy the licenses for the included elements.

  • With regards to the Genesis 8 figures, the product to have the Interactive License for is:

    https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-starter-essentials

    If ever interested in adding on the 3D printing license, that is still on sale for USD1.99 [or may be free if you had acquired the product before some date - in the cart will either be USD1.99 or free]

     

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