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#Post#: 3008--------------------------------------------------
Another App Using Weather
By: bpayne00 Date: June 14, 2013, 5:09 pm
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I'm afraid I have some bad news. I learned of a similar game
called "Weamon" that is exclusively weather-based, and could
mean trouble for us using weather in our app. I contacted them
via email. Below is my email to them, their response, and my
reply again to them:
[quote]To whom it may concern,
My name is Blake Payne, and I am an iOS developer for a startup
iOS game called "Deltamon" (meant to be a sequel to the
rather-popular "Geomon" iOS game designed by Loki Studios). In
our game, we were going to use weather patterns in addition to
location to determine what "deltamon" appear, but I learned from
one of our forum members (we are using a forum to organize our
app ideas and etc. as opposed to a website) of your "Weamon"
project. To my knowledge, there is no patent or anything that
would restrict game developers from using weather in their app,
but due to your app being so weather-centric I thought I would
ask if us using weather would in any way shape or form be seen
as 'stealing your idea' (so-to-speak).
I look forward to your response
Sincerely,
Blake Payne[/quote]
[quote]Hi Blake,
I appreciate you reaching out. In full disclosure, and to our
knowledge, there is no patent giving this restriction on the use
of weather. However, combining the features of a weather app
with a monster training app is most definitely our original
concept. Weamon allows the user to check current conditions and
then obtain new Weamon or allow users to fight others with that
in mind to their detriment or advantage. A large part of us
running our Kickstarter and launching our promotional website
was to lay claim to this concept.
The use of technology in this manner is most definitely what
makes our product unique and serves as our original idea. We
understand your desire to expand your own product, but in this
case, the dependence on weather data for monster training is
most definitely "our idea." That being said however, there are
obviously numerous ways of implementing an idea or concept and
yours may in fact vary enough from ours to be unique. However,
in terms of intellectual property, our core system and mechanics
are public via way of our kickstarter campaign that we had. If
these are employed similarly via your team then they would count
as an infringement on the rights of our intellectual property
from our point of view.
If you have any additional questions or would like to discuss
this further, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
HTML http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985948575/weamon-weather-monsters?ref=live
HTML http://weamon.com/
--
Best,
--
/* William Anderson
Lead Developer/Co-owner
Index Interactive, LLC.
phone( 917.267.8917 );
william@indexinteractivellc.com
HTML http://indexinteractivellc.com
*/[/quote]
[quote]Mr. Anderson,
Watching the video on your Kickstarter page, our idea of using
weather does seem to be essentially the same as yours (with the
exception of the monsters gaining strength based on the weather
conditions-that was not part of our original idea with our app).
I am still (but only slightly) confused about the similarities
and differences between how we are using the weather in our
apps. I will try to explain how our app uses the weather, and
see if this is close enough to how yours uses it that we need to
find an alternative:
Before a user logs in (but after verification) and gets to our
main screen (which is basically just a 'radar' with blips
representing monsters), the app will automatically check the
weather conditions of the current location (as yours would) and
place certain monsters on the radar based on what the weather is
like (sunny/rainy/snow, hot/cold, etc.). The user, once on our
main screen, then can tap a blip to battle a monster or capture
it. The monsters, of course, would vary due to our app
consistently checking the weather in the background and
replacing monsters based on that weather data as needed.
Looking over it now, it would seem that, in my explanation of
our app above, there are similarities to your app's concept-but
as I mentioned, I am still confused about whether or not this
truly infringes on your intellectual property because I do not
know 100% how your app uses the weather (I know yours uses it to
power up monsters, but ours simply uses it to place monsters on
the radar, nothing else).
That being said, we can abandon the idea of using weather in our
app and find an alternative if necessary. I appreciate you
taking the time to reply, and look forward to your
correspondence.
Thank you,
Blake Payne[/quote]
I will update this post with his reply, and thereafter as we
correspond back/forth.
#Post#: 3009--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: tepip Date: June 14, 2013, 5:50 pm
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Even if it did the weather system before us geomon had it before
them so they can't call it their original idea.
#Post#: 3010--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: bpayne00 Date: June 14, 2013, 5:53 pm
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Actually, Geomon didn't necessarily do anything with weather so
yes they can.
#Post#: 3012--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: bpayne00 Date: June 14, 2013, 5:54 pm
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His response:
[quote]Hi Blake Payne,
Thank you for your timely response. Our app functions in a
similar way that you described. The monsters that appear locally
however (monsters that a player can interact with and fight) are
representative of the monsters from other players and NPCs that
are in the vicinity (within the same weather tower).
Additionally a section of our app is where a player works to
obtain new monsters (not quite 'catching' but a very similar
concept). The monsters available to catch are based on the
weather of your current location, and are likewise updated as
weather updates or location changes (if your new location has
different weather). Displaying the weather that we are currently
reading is also a selling point of our app as it functions as a
weather app.
The boosts that you describe are simply a battle mechanic that
we are using instead of the traditional rock-paper-scissors
methodology. (IE, normally water>fire>grass>water but in our
system sun=cloud=rain, unless its sunny out in which case sunny
would be strongest. Naturally its more strategic than this, but
I believe this illustrates the point.)
We are both clearly in a passion driven business and care about
our own projects, so I am sure you can understand our desire to
hold onto our concept, especially where it is so unique. Weamon
has been in the works now for over a year, and has begun to
gather attention to an extent even before its launch. Weather,
local weather, monsters available because of weather, and
weather driven interactions make up the heart of our gameplay,
and are what makes Weamon, Weamon.
I am familiar with Geomon, and it has many unique
characteristics that set it apart from the flock. I am sure that
your sequel will be equally if not exceedingly successful, but
our team would appreciate if you were to go another route that
does not share as many similarities as what one you described
with the core functions of our app/game-play.
Once again, we appreciate you reaching out in such a respectable
manner, and look forward to hearing back from you/your
team.[/quote]
My response:
[quote]Yes, I understand the desire quite well. We will find
another route, and I am glad this app was brought to my
attention.
Having the 'wild' monsters be other players' monsters from the
area is a great idea! Ours will simply be as Geomon's were:
NPC/CPU-controlled (though we will have an option for players to
battle with each other). Being fresh out of college
(IT-Programming major) and a self-taught iOS developer, an app
like ours is kin to climbing a mountain (since I am the only
developer for our whole project, and cannot afford to spend any
money other than the $100 Apple fee due to not having a job
yet). Our team is both very young (10-18 age range) and very
small-we have 3 or 4 graphics designers, one iOS developer
(myself), a few composers (again, myself included), so the
quality won't quite what one would like for an iOS app. That
just makes me all the more willing to work with them to make
this the best it can be!
I appreciate your timely and pleasant correspondence with me,
and certainly look forward to what your app will have to offer
as I was a big fan of the Geomon game before its unfortunate
shutdown!
Best of luck to you all!
Blake Payne[/quote]
#Post#: 3013--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: tepip Date: June 14, 2013, 5:57 pm
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But geomon has been over 5 years so its not original.
#Post#: 3014--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: bpayne00 Date: June 14, 2013, 5:59 pm
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No, you're talking about the radar/location-based ideas. Geomon
did not use weather for determining what monsters appeared (at
least, I'm 99% certain of that). Bottom line: no weather-based
location of monsters. Don't want to get sued-those guys no doubt
have the legal power to do so. We have nothing.
#Post#: 3016--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: tepip Date: June 14, 2013, 6:02 pm
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Oh I thought they did weather, well we still get to use time and
location.
#Post#: 3018--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: bpayne00 Date: June 14, 2013, 6:05 pm
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Yes-believe me, I'm as disappointed about this as you are (and
Mr. Anderson was understanding of this, no doubt), but that's
just how the competitive world is: there will be ideas already
used and patented that simply can't be used because of that.
We'll just have to come up with something more original. For
now, this can be closed. Was just putting this here to show the
correspondence between myself and Mr. Anderson so others knew.
#Post#: 9530--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another App Using Weather
By: Emperiorz Date: October 28, 2013, 4:52 pm
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Blake and I discussed this and we concluded that our radar can
use weather.
Go Auramon! :D
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