Diablo II project invites Blizzard's wrath
by Eric Caoili 
{ Jul 22nd 2008 at 8:45AM }
You would think that homebrew developers would have learned not to "borrow" Blizzard's franchises after the company's lawyers crushed the unofficial StarCraft DS port under their heels, but that's not the case!For his first DS project, French programmer Le Rodeur has decided to create Diablo II: Sorceress Adventure, an unauthorized side-story for the dungeon hack featuring the female witch class.
The very early alpha (v. 000.1) released so far has very little worth noting -- a tiny sorceress sprite that you can move on an empty, tiled field. It's certainly not as far along as the StarLite alphas, which had buildable structures, touchscreen controls, and even basic multiplayer support. You can pretty much see everything the demo has to offer in the screenshot after the post break.
Perhaps all of these fanmade games will finally convince Blizzard into developing for the system? Probably not! For now, we will have to settle for these doomed projects and photoshopped images of characters playing DSes.
See also: Wish upon a StarLite: StarCraft homebrew
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yozef @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:05AM
I don't see why independent programmers feel the need to name/base their games and projects after already existing games. That's always a lawsuit waiting to happen. Make some changes to the name and a bit to the characters, and make your own game. Sure, it's great for practice to make a DII clone, but in the end, isn't it so much more satisfying to make your own kickass game and get internet famous for it?
SabreCat @ Jul 26th 2008 12:40AM
"I don't see why independent programmers feel the need to name/base their games and projects after already existing games."
Instant name recognition = more downloads.
I would guess.
Yozef @ Jul 27th 2008 1:38AM
No doubt. But personally, I would have very little respect for myself if I took part in the production of a clone.
The amount of hits you get on it are meaningless when they make you take it down and sick a starving lawyer on you.
Christopher @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:53AM
Well, if anything inspires people to convert or port a game with a strong IP attached, they should instead be inspired and essentially re-skin the thing with original art, story, maps, and textures and call it something different. I mean there are tons of Diablo clones out there and they aren't getting yanked down. It's when you take established branding that you get into trouble. You can copy a concept without getting in trouble as long as it's not something completely unique.
caramelzappa @ Jul 26th 2008 2:59AM
People are going about this in the wrong way. Make a starcraft or diablo clone with shit sprites and change all the names. Keep upgrading your game until you have it at a good usable level, where people can really enjoy it. Then, when it's done, or close to done, that's when you rename it diablo or starcraft and switch in sprites. Do it as a mod and you main game can't be taken out while the "modification" can be freely distributed in p2p networks. Then you can actually finish your game without getting sued.