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Crack the game
What I mean is what is the best way to make a game uncrackable(cannot be cracked)
So.....what I mean is I have a game but I want to make it for money....I want to give the 1 that payed a link from where to download the game....But the problem is I want to make it only for him so if that guy shares the link it won't work for anybody else.....I know it's quite hard to answer this but if you want more details please reply here....
Have a nice day
When you say "uncrackable", do you mean to avoid piracy?
I said it below, but I'll say it again: the best way is to not make it at all (even if you have the only copy, your computer/where ever it is stored could be cracked, which would allow the cracker to get a copy of the game)
bula wrote: "if that guy shares the link it won't work for anybody else" . -If I understand it right, you need a good shopsystem that does things like that for you. An uncrackable Game is like impenetrable Tankamour or a burglarproof lock, it dosent exist(iirc^^).
Answer by Winterblood · Jan 02, 2012 at 03:17 PM
Don't bother.
Multi-million dollar studios are unable to make their games uncrackable, and their attempts to do so (DRM, online login, etc) are highly unpopular with legitimate users.
Your best strategy is to make it so simple and cheap to buy your game that it's more effort to pirate it than to pay for it. This is why the App Store is so successful, and it's also working in other media: http://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/do-not-torrent-louis-c-k-s-live-at-the-beacon-theater/
As a compromise, how about a free download/webapp which functions as a demo until unlocked with a password?
Encourages users to try the demo and share it around
Once they have the demo, emphasize that the full game is there ready to unlock
Password can be emailed and shown onscreen instantly after payment
Password should be generated from username (preferably an OpenFeint username or such like)
Remember that the local install is unlocked, don't make 'em enter the password every session
That should be enough to discourage casual piracy. Little Jimmy probably won't give out his password if it means all his friends have to log into the game as Jimmy too.
^^^ This guy has the right idea. It is I$$anonymous$$POSSIBLE to make your game uncrackable. No matter how much effort you put into doing so, a deter$$anonymous$$ed enough user will be able to crack it. The only way to even come close to an uncrackable game is to host the entire thing yourself and stream the video to the player (unfeasible unless you are a company like OnLive).
If you want to make the highest profit to piracy ratio, a good idea is to spend time making it more worth while to buy the game than to pirate it.
You can do this several ways:
• $$anonymous$$ake it extremely simple to purchase
• Get a good community going (like S$$anonymous$$m)
• $$anonymous$$ake it so you need to buy the game to use certain features (such features would need to be server side so authentication would be secure) (e.g. In most $$anonymous$$inecraft servers, you need to have a auth key that can be verified by the server in order to play on them)
There are several more ways to do this; those were just a few. Of course, people will still pirate it and will probably find ways to get around it.
If you do need to add anti-piracy code to your game, make it as unobtrusive as possible.
Actually, it technically IS possible to make your game uncrackable: don't make it. (The idea is that piracy is a simple truth to software development. If you make a good product, people will go through great lengths to pirate it.)
I concur with Winterblood and will add that I can't fathom why someone would worry about making their game uncrackable to begin with. You can layer all the DR$$anonymous$$ you want onto your product; in the end, legitimate buyers will be nagged by it while pirates enjoy a clean copy with said DR$$anonymous$$ stripped out. Piracy honestly isn't a problem, and even if it was, the best way to stop it is to simply make a good game and providing excellent quality; making people feel bad for pirating your game is the best DR$$anonymous$$ in existence.
Just ask Sins of a Solar Empire, or Amnesia.
Answer by Grady · Jan 02, 2012 at 12:53 PM
Well, in order to do this, you would have to have a webserver for the game to be uploaded to so that the user can download the game from the website!!!!
Then, in order to give someone a link to download it, you would probably need to use server side scripting, I.e. PHP, ASP.NET, JSP etc...
Here is a PHP secure download script, which can make urls that will only work a certain number of times!!!!! You can also use free webhosting, a good one is www.000webhost.com!!! I know you can do it with 000webhost as I use them for some websites, you can make it so that if someone types or pastes the URL to a page into their browser, then they get an error, to say that they can't go directly to the directory, they must link to it from the website
Feel free to comment back for more information!!!!!
-Grady
Of course that's one of the first steps ;) However the users will start uploading the game to other freehosters or just share the game files directly with others. This can only be prevented by requiring either some kind of serial number (so you can see who has shared it) or an online user authentication.
Serial numbers just follow some mathematical logic which can be cracked quite easy. Online accounts are the most secure way nowadays, but nothing is really save ;)
Answer by BerggreenDK · Jan 02, 2012 at 10:21 PM
I've written about this before if you care to look my answer up in here and in gamedev.
My point is still the same. Nothing can be secured 100%, if your game is that good. Piracy is going to be your least concern. BUT to give you some ideas for anti-cracking.
1) implement a serverbased checkup.
2) place different simple "controls" within the gameplay. Once one of these checks are reported falsely, store this "knowledge" in your server and once the player gets much further in the game. Like if 30 levels takes 2 months then put a check there that only allows players without the problem to advance/find the needed key. The cracked gamer will be stuck there forever and over time loose interest or buy it.
3) keep pushing new content/updates for the game. Follow up on the community you build around the game. Remove errors small steps forcing the cracked versions to be updated over and over too. Sooner or later the pirates either loose interest or you start to see a pattern and develop something that will annoy them too.
4) dont spend all your energy on making a hard to break game, because there is a bigger chance that you wont ever finish building the actual game + it might not be as great as you think if you invest 80% in the anti-crack part instead of making a great game.
5) Think: FREEMIUM model. Make a huge part of the game free forever. Let the none-payers have fun with that. Let the payers buy small upgrades or customizations for themeselfs. All should be server controlled and therefore as it belongs to the player, no one will benefit from a hack/cracked version, because you can detect such flaws in the "shop" on the server and ban the client... or as I say in #3 - note who are cheating and then suddently make them stuck in the game without telling them why. Nasty eh? :o)
Thats some of my ideas for how I design software today.
Re: Points 2 and 5 - I think crippling of pirated games is a bad idea because it will just give the impression that it's a buggy or otherwise bad game. You still want pirates to enjoy the game, because sometimes they will love it so much they will buy it after the fact and evangelize it for you. Try this ins$$anonymous$$d: http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20110912/02545815903/indie-game-developer-posts-game-pirate-bay-sees-positive-results.shtml
I'm pretty sure the folks behind World of Goo did some tests about this- they discovered that not putting DR$$anonymous$$ on their product didn't increase the amount of pirating at all! As it turns out, DR$$anonymous$$ only inconveniences legitimate users, and doesn't really slow down any truly deter$$anonymous$$ed pirates anyway.
2) I am not talking about making the game crippled. There will just be certain missions/quests/doors that arent accessable for the cracked game. They wont notice as there is no error - nor anyone telling them that they cant advance because they are playing a copy... or perhaps I should tell them exactly that? :o) Again, the game client will not include any errors. Its all about logging certain "not possible events" that suddently did occur in the cracked version. I can explain in details how I am going to do this, as this is a public forum, but I am quite sure there are ways to make this happend without pirates knowledgement.
5) Freemium - well, you might disagree with me. But hey, it works. A lot of games exists already and they earn millions. So I dont $$anonymous$$d if you dont like the idea.
For reference:
http://www.needforspeed.com/en_GB/node/9298
http://us.battlestar-galactica.bigpoint.com/
and $$anonymous$$ANY $$anonymous$$ANY $$anonymous$$ANY more...
oohhh did I forget to mention FACEBOO$$anonymous$$? Check a "small company" called ZYNGA and their freemium model. I've heard they earn enough. :o)
Regarding posting a game on Pirate bay etc. Well, I dont think we will see Need for Speed with pirate hats nor BattleStar Galactica, but in Battlefield Hereos you CAN buy a complete pirate suit... LOL!
I agree the idea was fun, but I think it will only work a few times, then the pirate community will stop laughing and then that idea is gone too.
No, lets make games that people actually wants to play. Lets make them so good they want to keep com$$anonymous$$g back and want more, so we can push new updates, levels, quests, puzzles etc.
I am targeting smartdevices from now on, but with a serverside storage and update functionality. The Cloud is here. Lets make good use of it.
Answer by ArcainOne · Jan 04, 2012 at 10:57 PM
Honestly I suggest you worry about simply making your game good instead of fretting about how to stop people from stealing it. The truth of the matter is anyone who is going to pirate your game was (most likely) never going to pay for it to begin with. If you make your game worth the money you want to charge people, they will pay for it, and pay for it gladly.
That is not to say you shouldn't take measures to make prating more difficult. If you are hosting your game online require a user name and password to login maybe with a validated email address on sign up. If someone gives out their own information to someone else so they can play, they themselves are usually taking a major risk as sensitive information may be on their own account, if they PAID for the game then all that information is probably on their profile in your system.
Use simple deterrents that will not irritate a legitimate individual.
True. Focus on the game first. Worry about the hacking/cracking later. But still keep the thought in $$anonymous$$d when designing what sort of information goes back and forth between server and client.
Answer by bula · Jan 02, 2012 at 08:25 PM
I was just thinking to do a download thing for the payer's computer only.....Something like you get the download thing only and only for a choosen IP....This would require the user to give his IP .....So basicaly is it posiblle to make a download for a IP only?
Ty for all your answers
Yes, you can check IP addresses when people download, but that still won't prevent people from sharing the files.
Some people gets a new IP everytime there router/modem is rebooted or automatically once a day. So that would force them out of the loop. Same goes with large educational places like colleges, they might share a pool of IPs or one in total. So you could prevent 100 new customers to play/buy it just because 1 has that IP already. Think of it, one student talks about this great new game he just bought and everyone wants to buy it too, but cant because of IP. No, IP can be a "session control", but not a locking mechanism.
IP addresses can be spoofed along with $$anonymous$$AC addresses. There is no way to really hard identify one machine, since I can take the CPU, Graphics card out and bam new PC right? Well who cares.
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