This post is all about getting intellectual property sorted out on a game, and is based on what I’ve picked up during the whole process. It applies to the UK - things are different abroad - and , seriously, consider taking professional advice. I’m not a lawyer, and this is just what I’ve discovered for myself. Your experience may well be different, and your requirements probably will, too.

It ended up costing me about £550 total to trademark my game. Not so expensive really, if you’re taking your product seriously, but do keep an eye on how the charges are adding up, and make sure you know what’s being charged for you. I found out that you can’t “just ring up for a quick update” without paying handsomely for it. I think I could do it myself next time, but since I didn’t know the ropes at all first time around, it seemed like a good idea to get someone in who knew what they were doing.

In the UK you don’t need to register your copyright with a third-party; it’s enough to just publish your stuff in some form, and claim the copyright by putting, for example, “© 2009 Point Zero Games Ltd.” on your materials. If you want to be ultra careful, put the stuff in an envelope and send it through the post to yourself of your solicitor, and make sure it stays sealed when it arrives. Then if it comes to it later, you’ve got proof that you published yours first.

I considered a patent application, but really there’s nothing in my game that needs patenting; if you have something that original, then good for you, but according to my IP attorney it can take YEARS to have your patent approved, and in my case, it wouldn’t even have helped.

A good thing about getting your trademark is that not only are you protected from someone ripping you off, but the trademark application process also helps you to avoid inadvertently stepping on someone else’s toes. The computer game manufacturer Electronic Arts sent me a letter because they have a long-standing trademark for a computer game that has a name not a million miles from my card game. We agreed that I wouldn’t upset them by moving into computer games and everything was straightforward and professional, but if I had gone ahead without registering, things might have subsequently got a bit messy, who knows? It’s better to be covered on this stuff, I suggest, unless you have the resources and the stomach for a legal battle.

I’ve also been told that distributors are much more happy to take you on if they can see that there aren’t going to be any nasty legal problems.

One more thing: if you’re going to apply for trademark, do it as soon as you can. Even once you’ve sorted things out with your attorney, it takes the UK Intellectual Property Office three months to process your application (this three-month period is designed to give other trademark owners a chance to object), and then they add on another week or so just to make sure that no paperwork got lost down the back of a filing cabinet (or something). This actually caused a delay for me in getting to print - I didn’t want to start the presses rolling until the trademark got approved, although my IP attorney tells me that sometimes manufacturers do that if getting to market quickly is important, with their fingers firmly crossed that a late objection won’t be forthcoming.

Good luck!

Army Of Zero has a very straightforward set of game mechanics, which makes the testing of the game system itself relatively simple. But Army Of Zero is, I suggest, unusual in that there is more to think about than just the gameplay.

It’s intricate in that there are elements of the puzzles that drive certain things about the game, which I’m not going to go into because I don’t want to give too much away about the puzzles.  But there’s a requirement that the game plays well and there’s a requirement that the puzzles work, and during the design it sometimes worked out that one got in the way of the other.  But on the other hand, there were other occasions when we made a change that not only made the gameplay better but also improved the puzzle in some way - maybe it made it more elegant, or, for the want of a better word, plainer.

I won’t kid you: the puzzles are ticklish, more so because we’re not going to tell you what you’re supposed to do, exactly. You have to figure that out. But we can tell you that we’re not out to deceive or trick you: there’s nothing unfair about the puzzles.