SamuZai
OTKproductions
OTKproductions

patreon


Publishing without my consent

Didn't take 24 hours that I published Bratwatch at itch, and somebody posted it at the hatred f95 site. https://f95zone.to/threads/bratwatch-by-otk-productions.212401/

It was someone other than a Patreon member this time. Maybe it was a kind individual who wanted to give the community a taste of a new game through the demo. Sadly, f95, the platform where my game was published without authorization, actively encourages users to share the paid version, knowing that independent developers are unable to take legal action. I want absolutely no connection with that site in any situation.

I'm not sure if the person who pirated the complete versions of my games will see this. Addressed to you and others who believe they are making a substantial impact on the adult gaming community, or simply want to seek revenge by sharing the paid version of my games:

Thank you for your attention and understanding.

Publishing without my consent

Comments

Just hope there's something in there that helps! An affordable software option, perhaps? It doesn't seem like you are being targeted by MIT hackers, just assholes! Something better than being just another worker drone making steam rich!!

darthbrat

Wow! Thanks a lot for all your links and research!. I’ll check them tomorrow.

HecMX

My thoughts exactly! That and I just get the feeling that Steam has f95 down the hall creating the 'need' to 'save you' from all the money you might actually make, and gasp KEEP without giving it all to the game nazis otherwise.

darthbrat

I'd rather go the give it to them in twenty little $2 pieces route than put Steam on my computer!

darthbrat

Wow, @darthbrat. I think you just earned a special research medal! I wouldn't want to get on the "dark side" of you! That said, while I didn't look at all of them, most of the humorous ones cited in your game-specific one still had "some way" of detecting it was a pirated copy, to begin with.....though perhaps the prior posts of "low cost solutions" and "other options" may come in handy. There HAS to be something out there.

Ken L. Black

I'm rooting for the hilarious options!

darthbrat

And Steam has a very patchy record with adult games, from what I've heard. Sometimes they get banned and sometimes they don't.

Ken L. Black

Somewhere in the middle of all that crap has to be a better answer than just give the game leeches all your money!

darthbrat

Game specific solutions: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/06/27/four-data-driven-ways-to-combat-software-piracy/ https://www.marx.com/en/software-protection https://www.wired.com/story/empress-drm-cracking-denuvo-video-game-piracy/ https://www.dualshockers.com/best-anti-piracy-features/ https://www.pcgamer.com/denuvo-plans-to-offer-independent-benchmarks-in-an-attempt-to-prove-its-drm-doesnt-cause-performance-problems/ https://www.thegamer.com/clever-anti-piracy-techniques-in-gaming/ https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/most-clever-anti-piracy-measures https://screenrant.com/anti-piracy-video-games-funny/ https://www.makeuseof.com/best-anti-piracy-techniques-in-video-games/ https://www.dualshockers.com/best-anti-piracy-features/ https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/29/eight-of-the-most-hilarious-anti-piracy-measures-in-video-games https://www.inverse.com/article/12807-the-13-most-hilarious-anti-piracy-traps-in-video-games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3QqHZ7KauU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hag5z_GOBTQ https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/29/the-best-anti-piracy-measure-ever Game pirate bastards won't know what hit'em! Or who they're messing with!!!

darthbrat

Low cost solutions company: https://www.verimatrix.com/ Their free download: https://en.freedownloadmanager.org/Windows-PC/ViewRight-PC-Player.html

darthbrat

Some other options: https://fightingpiracy.withgoogle.com/ https://www.redpoints.com/solution-piracy/ https://bytescare.com/blog/how-does-anti-piracy-software-work https://www.verimatrix.com/anti-piracy/ https://www.group-ib.com/products/digital-risk-protection/ https://us.norton.com/blog/emerging-threats/software-piracy https://cyberpedia.reasonlabs.com/EN/anti-piracy%20software.html https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/answer/How-to-prevent-software-piracy https://www.iprcenter.gov/ (US Government site dedicated to shutting down pirate sites!) https://www.onsist.com/ https://paceap.com/ https://irdeto.com/denuvo (Specializes in GAME PROTECTION!!!!!) https://www.baeldung.com/cs/software-piracy-countermeasures Information: https://bytescare.com/blog/how-to-prevent-piracy https://www.redpoints.com/blog/how-to-stop-software-piracy/ https://appsero.com/user-guide/what-is-software-piracy-how-to-prevent-it/ https://www.revenera.com/blog/software-monetization/how-to-stop-software-piracy/ https://dataprot.net/articles/what-is-software-piracy/ https://nordvpn.com/blog/what-is-software-piracy/ https://nordvpn.com/blog/what-is-software-piracy/ https://www.podia.com/articles/protect-digital-downloads-piracy-theft Don't think you are the first small developer with this problem.

darthbrat

Salts of the earth! Funny how that works out just like they planned it! And I'll bet they have a 'Special' this week 'For a LIMITED TIME ONLY!' that lets you keep TEN WHOLE PERCENT of your profit! Your heroes!

darthbrat

The first trouble maker was from patreon. A dude who wanted revenge for some reason. I knew it because he posted my MEGA link with some Italic chars just as I did on a patreon comment because the password had an error. This new dude posted the link to itch on f95, and added that it was the full game, but it was the demo. I’ve never before had any problem at itch, where have like 250 followers and had had 20-30 sells per month. As these followers grows faster than patreon its natural it reaches dishonest people. The big problem is that dammed page f95. I know that after it’s posted there would be comments of people “can somebody share the full copy” and then another angry patron might share it just for revenge. I receive once a month a harsh Fm from an ex-patron with some very bad wishes. Anyway, these attempts can be stopped if I check f95 forums frequently and the moment someone publishes my gams there, I would immediately change all passwords at wetransfer and block any attempt, like it happened this time.

HecMX

There are only 2 ways to block piracy effectively. 1. An installer software, something like steam, that would download the game, and add a key or something that makes it mandatory to run this installer to run the game. 2. Run all the games online without downloads, which would requiere to hire a server, and create a full transaction software that allows gamers to play what they purchased. Like if I created my own steam. Both options are out of my league. The only effective one and affordable is moving all my game store to steam. They would do all that work for me.

HecMX

I know Sliterine/Matrix Games uses an individual license key system to activate the software installer. I've transferred my game collection (Over 120+ games and DLC's!) to multiple computers since without incident, but it is only installed on one computer at a time. Nice! Works well for them and me!

darthbrat

Give itch the effing Steam link, but I still think they're the vultures behind this!

darthbrat

I was thinking the same thing, @darthbrat. Itch users appear to be part of the problem. Not sure how many subscribers OTK has on Itch as opposed to Patreon. Problem is, the trouble-maker(s) may just move over to Patreon.

Ken L. Black

I was wondering the same thing, @darthbrat. Yes, you're correct. Some software companies tie it to a machine identifier; the MAC address, as it's known by. (See https://www.wikihow.com/Find-the-MAC-Address-of-Your-Computer, for example.) In some cases, you are asked to supply it to the company and they (somehow) can then tie that to that specific machine. In others the software "knows" where it's installed. But the issue is when your computer dies and you buy a new one, you basically have to re-purchase the software. It's not a like a game on Steam, for example, where you can play most games from whatever computer you're at so long as you login to Steam first and then download the game to that computer. But even that would be fine with me, since as patrons here, I imagine OTK Productions would simply send us a new download. One issue, however, is that in theory you CAN change a MAC address. There is software to do that. But still.....maybe OTK Productions can consider your idea??

Ken L. Black

Replace the game page with a copy of this post!

darthbrat

For now, I'd keep the full game off of itch and tell them why!

darthbrat

The big companies use an individual license key system needed to activate one copy of the software, but I don't know specifically how that works or what it costs. Maybe something to look into? Be suspicious of any sudden new patrons just wanting a copy of Bratwatch! Give them something else first and make them renew a couple months for it.

darthbrat

Then maybe cut each game here up into twenty $2 pieces and release it slower, a piece at a time here? Since that seems sooooo much more FAIR to them!

darthbrat

Maybe accelerate plans to expand into Asian markets, especially Japan and South Korea? Those societies are more polite and far less racist than a certain builder of 30 foot monuments to evil, who feel threatened by more successful non-bigots. Then delay public release here for a few months until Asia's had it for a while? I'll back whatever route you take! Do whatever you need to do to survive!

darthbrat

Unfortunately, there’s no way of doing that, unless I upload the game 100 times, which is impossible. However, this was a failed attempt and it was the demo what that guy published. Just to be sure, I immediately changed the full game password at we transfer and temporarily closed the itch page. Besides, the post stayed in game request, and never went to completed, where the damn guys from F95 upload it to their servers. So, when they review the request they will find the link is broken. I will be checking that damn site daily and will make them very hard to get any game again!

HecMX

Ugh. AGAIN?!? This is absolutely terrible news....for all of us here. So sorry to hear that this happened. I wonder if there's some way you can place some unique code/something in each download so that you can trace the specific individual responsible for doing the upload? (I have no idea if this is even possible.) But that would then mean creating a unique copy of each game and also a unique download for each individual, adding yet more work for you when pushing out the games.

Ken L. Black


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