A developing situation with Jason

I don’t think unapproved is good wording, sounds like you stole his work without asking. There should be a better way to word it, just my opinion. Just to make things clear I respect Jason’s hard work, as a digital artist I kinda get what he’s going through and really hope this problem get solved in a way that makes him happy and good for both sides.

BTW, there is no clear and easy access to a bug report email address for the mobile version, I wouldn’t want to go through the trouble register for this forum if I only wanted to report a bug. Maybe add a bug report button in the game ? Humans will take the path with less resistance, they are more likely to use the in game bug report than look up Jason’s email.

Also maybe change the name to something that isn’t one hour one life, it will be less confusing. If that’s ok with Jason.

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I get the point theyre making though. To change the name after its been shared on multiple social media platforms will only add to the confusion around the game. It’s a tough spot in that regard. When you imagine #OHOL it just needs mobile.

I think just referencing the games original code and whatever else in game would be better. That would add to the confusion itself though! People would start going to him more thinking this version is being directly contributed by him. I think it would have to be all explained to players before they first start playing the game. Or are already playing the game.

Maybe add a one time screen that shows everything to erase the confusion? Possibly make it un skipable after so many seconds?

There’s some “interesting” stuff your Chinese publisher have done with your mobile app, and I found it’s hard to believe you know nothing about it. If you are aware of this, but haven’t talked to Jason about it, I think you are just waiting for, or asking for some bloodshed:

Your Chinese publisher, have already registered trademark and software copyright of “one hour one life”'s Chinese name, aka 一小时人生, mind explain this a bit to everyone and Jason?

And Jason, if you read this, please login your discord account.

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I don’t mind at all. You make it sound like that’s a sinister thing, but it’s nothing of the kind.
In most countries, copyright is recognized as automatically occurring when a work has been created. No registration required. This means that our company has the copyright to the app which we have created, i.e. we control the right to distribute it.
In China, unlike Sweden or USA, a government registration is required before you can distribute an app through an app market place, so there is no other way to get published.
A clarification here, to avoid misunderstandings: this registration requires the deposition of some of the source code of the app. You may think this means that we have passed of some of the work of Jason’s as our own. This is not the case though, because every single line of code in our app was created by us. We don’t use Jason’s client code at all.
Also, that our app is copyrighted in China (in addition to most of the world, where registration isn’t needed), doesn’t mean that we have exclusivity to publish a derivative work of Jason’s. Anyone can do that, and then they will have copyright of the work that they have created. They just can’t distribute our binary without approval.

Trademarks are different than copyright. That’s rules about how you can use names in marketing etc. I don’t know exactly how the Chinese law works there, but trademarks are exact. If you have a trademark for “一小时人生”, you certainly don’t automatically have one for “One Hour One Life”. Also note that “一小时人生” is not an exact literal translation of “One Hour One Life”. If Jason in some future decides to make a 100% JR mobile game of OHOL by himself, then he will have the copyright of that app (unless he relinquishes that too) and he can also register the trademark for a Chinese translation of the name.

Does this answer your question?

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If you know anything about the “government registration” part, you should also noticed your publisher is illegally publishing the game, using an ISBN(978-7-7979-3485-5) they got from 2016 for another totally unrelated game.

As for the “一小时人生 is not an exact literal translation of One hour One Life" part, i don’t know what’s that Chinese guy in your development team have been smoking, but it is, it’s also the only name been using by Chinese player community for OHOL on PC, the name is in the wiki and guide they built for it, since Chinese player community exist, nobody have used other names to refer to OHOL. By registering the trademark, your Chinese publisher seized the name for themselves, and I didn’t see how could that benefit to Jason when he already mentioned his “commercial Chinese release on the horizon”.

Your Chinese publisher also registered a marketing account (https://www.weibo.com/u/6968999411) on Weibo, calling itself "一小时人生正版”, the "正版“ part means authentic, genuine, legal, licensed, authorized, it also implies if there’s something else, it’s in opposite to those.

Not to mention the “official site” (http://www.1hourlife.com/web.html) they build for your app still haven’t put anything Jason have been demanded for a long time.

I don’t even need to “make it sounds like” a sinister thing at this point, you can gather all the game developers and publishers to witness your show, and ask anyone what they think of it, I don’t know how many of them wish to work with you or your Chinese publisher in the future while knowing all of these.

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So far I have mostly been lurking on the PC thread and when jason added a link to to here. I read all the msgs here aswell.

So first things first, you might know me as a mod from the pc forums/discord. But I havent spoken to jason about this and the open letter surprised me just as much as anyone else. I have 0 insider information.

That being said, I can absolutly see where jason is coming from. This game(PC version) is his baby. He handcrafted every aspect of it for 4 years. Most people that buy the game know that or atleast find out later and thus his reputation as a game designer/artist is attached to the game.

Can you now see how horrifying it actually is when someone makes a completly different product yet it is not clear to the masses that he didnt make it? It’s not just the bug reports that have nothing to do with him or him being jelious of the games succes. His reputation and livelyhood are now partially linked to yours.

In the current stage if you screw the pooch and do something that will make them hate your game(just using it as an example, not saying you will) allot of people will still think that this was done by jason the creator of OHOL and by extension automatically the presumed creator of OHOL mobile.

I would find that horrifying if my reputation was partially attached to something I had nothing to do with. We still get multiple people a week on the discord that ask help with the mobile game or want to report a bug. I pointed someone towards mobile discord yesterday and guess what? he was surprised that the PC game wasnt from the same creator. Just like 70-80% of people.

Needing people to activily find out that the game is an unnoficial port doesnt work. AKA saying it somewhere in the description which everyone knows nobody reads unless they have a compelling reason. Or a 2 second splash screen with a not that easy to read font in my opinion.

Your game is an unofficial port so why not call it that? “Unofficial One Hour One life not made with any involvement of the original author Jason Rohrer” You would be open and honest and it would probably get people intrigued enough to click on read more or whatever else you wanna put.

TLDR, You have accidentally intertwined Jasons legacy with your own. Its not clear the app wasnt made by jason so fix it.

If you hold the love for jason that you say do I am sure you will come with a proper solution.

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私はgoogle翻訳で文章を読んでいるため、認識の違いがあるかもしれません。

その上で、今回の件について私の思いを書こうと思います。

既に検討されたことであれば、見過ごして頂いて構いません。

【はじめに】
今回のjasonさんの要望(非公式の明記追加)については、出来る限り対応した方がいいと思っています。

【問題点と提案】
今回の件はたくさんの問題を抱えています。

1、モバイル版への要望、バグ修正依頼がjasonさんに届く

A.どのような経路をたどってjasonさんへ依頼が届くのか仮説を立て(出来れば調査をする方が好ましい)依頼が届くまでの間にいくつもの案内を表示するのはどうでしょうか

まず依頼者が何の言語を使っているかを調べます。今回は日本人と仮定します。

例えば、日本人のユーザーが「ユリの花」について要望を出したいと思った時、どのようなアクションを起こすでしょうか。

恐らく、検索エンジンを使って「one hour one life」と検索し、1番上に表示されたサイトにまずアクセスするでしょう。
(検索エンジンはGoogle?Yahoo?またはそれ以外?これも考えた方が良い)(検索する文言はonehouronelife?OHOL?またはそれ以外?これも考えた方が良い)

私の使用しているGoogle chromeでは「one hour one life」と検索すると『Steam』のOHOLページが1番上に表示されます。

すると、恐らくSteamのページから開発者の名前「jason rohrer」を見つけ、再び検索エンジンで「jason rohrer」と検索するでしょう。そして、検索結果の上位に表示された彼のTwitterやGitHubにアクセスし、依頼を行う。(もちろん全て仮説です。この経路は違うかもしれない)

この依頼されるまでの経路の途中で、残念ながら「Dual Decade」の文字は表示されません。

何らかの方法で、検索結果の上位に「モバイル版はDual Decadeが制作していることをアピールするページ」を表示させる必要があると思います。

また、Steamが何のサイトなのか分からない人も多くいると思っています。

そのため、Steamがモバイル版と別のアプリケーションであることが分からないかもしれません。

これはあくまでも例です。依頼が届くまでの経路を調べ、その間に案内を設けてはどうかと思いました。

B.要望やバグ修正依頼をする方法が分かりにくい

「Dual Decade」のホームページを見ましたが、全て英語で書かれていました。各言語で記載する対応が必要だと思います。

また、メールで問い合わせる以外の情報を得ることが出来ませんでした。

実際はTwitter、フォーラム、Discordから依頼出来ると思いますが、その案内が書かれていません。

また、もし前述のAで提案した「モバイル版はDual Decadeが制作していることをアピールするページ」を作成するのであれば、そのページにも書く必要があると思います。

また、アプリ側にも要望やバグ修正を依頼する場所へのリンクを分かりやすく設けるべきだと思います。(これはホームページに記載するよりも効果が高いと思います)

2、「非公式」であることが認知されていない

ゲーム名をオリジナル版と異なるものにすれば、前述Aの検索エンジンの問題も含め解決していたかもしれない。しかし、今からゲーム名を変更することは簡単ではないと思います。

その為、jasonさんの要望のように随所に「非公式」の文字を追加するのが望ましいと考えています。

例えば、アプリ起動後に表示される黒い背景でイラストが載ったフラッシュでは「非公式」の案内が全て英語で記載されています。これは日本人には認識しにくいと思います。少なくとも私はこれで「非公式」は認識出来ませんでした。

このフラッシュに日本語でも「非公式」と文言を追加する対応も必要かもしれません。

3、モバイル版はゲームの設計を大きく変え始めている

これは私の主観です。

jasonさんのフォーラムの記事を読んで、モバイル版がゲームの設計を大きく変え始めていることに嫌悪感を抱いておられるのではないかと感じました。

家族の絆システムや一家年代記、UIの変更はゲームの設計に影響を与えません。

しかし、オリジナルにはない「サンタ」や「ユリの花」はゲームの設計に大きな影響を与え始めました。

もちろん、これはjasonさんが当初から改造として許していたことかもしれません。

しかし、モバイル版の商業化が成功し、本件の問題が発生した今、どこまでゲーム設計を変えてもいいのかについては、再度話し合った方が今後のためにもいいのではないでしょうか。

【終わりに】

ただのプレイヤーが考えたことに過ぎず、もう既に検討済みの内容であれば、申し訳ありません。

私はこのゲームがとても大好きです。

この問題が解決し、jasonさんと再び気持ちよくお仕事をされる日が来ることを願っています。

@jorji
So I genuinely want to ask you more about some of the things you write about. Please, can we lay the unfriendliness aside for a moment and contribute to a solution that’s good for Jason, us, and fans of both games, ok? I am definitely treating you seriously from my side, right?

I am told by native Chinese speakers that “一小时人生” literally means “One Hour Life” and nothing else. You may have another opinion and I don’t know Chinese myself, so let’s leave it at that. (or are there other Chinese speakers on the forum? Please let us know)

This is clearly a problem. A big part of the issue we are discussing is that the games get mixed up. They should optimally feel related, but clearly distinguishable. Any solution to that problem would have to include a name separation for the Chinese names too. I will suggest to the publisher that they use a different name.

I think you’re wrong here. I’m following Jason on various channels, and I have never seen any mention of any “commercial Chinese release on the horizon”. So it follows that nothing we have done runs counter to his interests in that regard. Our activities in China has actually increased the number of Chinese players of his game lately.

The publisher is getting a cut for taking care of all support as well as marketing, so I guess it makes sense for them to run a forum. I have seen no requirements from Jason regarding it, so there has been no reason for me to forward any. It seems to me that Jason’s requirements regarding the app itself are more important to him, so that is where I am focusing my time right now.

Looking forward to your comments.

Hi @Jord1990!

Yes, I know you from the forum. You helped me out with something a long time ago. Thanks again.

Everything you say resonates with me. We are also fans of the game.

Our work has been about making more people enjoy the game. We thought we had done a good job of it too. Of course it hurts when Jason thinks it’s bad for him, and we want to find a solution so it will be good instead, while still making more people enjoy the game.

We could have that text in an AppStore description or splash screen, or credit screen, but not in the app name.

I have been working almost 48 hours straight with this now, and the others in the team have also pitched in a lot. Yes, we will absolutely come up with a proper solution.

Thanks, @Yoshio. I had to use Google translate, but it worked pretty well. Thanks for your thoughts, all of those items are being considered. It will take some time to handle all of them, but we’ll get there.

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Just an idea, sorry I haven’t been able to follow this post closely so idk what other suggestion have been made/other issues there are.
Can you rename it? Say

'“NAME”
a One Hour One Life adaptation

I love the game regardless of what its called. I think Jason has a great mind in creating the original. I’ve always seen the 2 as separate but similar.

That has been suggested and rejected.

However I just suggested the following in that thread (we’ve been hashing ideas all day):

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I like watching the pc versoin on steam or bought the game right off him

I am native Chinese speaker, 一小時人生 means “one hour life”, it’s absolutely correct, no other meaning.

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Both English and Chinese are my primary language. My county uses traditional Chinese but I’m going to use simplified here for less confusion.

The direct translation of "One Hour One Life " is “一小时一生”,I’ve seen it in a few articles referring the PC version. “一小时人生” will be “One Hour Human Life”, if you Google it you get the mobile version.

Are they the same thing? Not really.

Are the names confusing to Chinese speakers? Yes, kinda.

Maybe “六十分钟人生” would be a better option. But I’m not sure if they can change the name at this point.

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I don’t know why are you sticking to never use unofficial in the app title. I love both original and yours, and never change it if your app clarify unofficial by the name. I think you should agree to all Jason’s term at first. Negotiations are after that. No offense, but I would like to see your respect for the original designer.

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We are also game developers, though. OHOL Mobile was created with his assets as the base and our “sweat and blood” on top of it. No, it’s not an unofficial game, it’s the best game on the AppStore. Our hard work made it so. Jason’s hard work made his game the best on Steam, not on the AppStore.

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Careful there, Christoffer…

While you did pour a lot of hard work into the mobile version, and made a very solid piece of software as a result, the core idea was not yours, and you are comparing 11 months total on your part (5 months to initial release) with nearly four years on my part (3 years to initial release). In code alone, that’s over 3800 commits, just by me, starting in May 2015. You can see the earliest commits here:

Github History

Furthermore, my hard work made BOTH versions possible, while your hard work made only one version possible.

And my hard work continues to make both versions better, as you continue to roll in my weekly updates. If you had made a hard fork back in March 2018, then at least that part would be different. But you didn’t make a hard fork.

Mobile players: are you excited about radios and airplanes? What about stacking carrots? You have so many great things coming your way. And what about those new characters? Pretty cool, huh? Again, my work.

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The true Creator has blessed us at last!

Thank you! I love it.

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I know and appreciate your work, of course. It seem you forgetting your app stand on his work. Jason is only a man who can claim the official and approve using it, but he doesn’t approve what you say official dev of OHOL. If you claim the official mobile, ohol player, especially newcomers, are confused and misunderstand DualDecade and Jason are equal. You have to avoid it.

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