5 replies to this topic

[mrthappy]

Hello developers,

I have created a game with gamemaker for the windows7 platform and want to put it on the internet for a small fee. I was wondering if anyone knows a good copy protection mechanism which i can use. Until now I found one product that seem to fit my needs, the wrapper from http://www.exesecure.com. Has anyone got experience with this copy mechanism system (or another one)?
Please let me know. And I know that each game will be cracked eventually but I go for the 20/80, so for now I just need something.

[M_I_Soft]

Unfortunately pretty much all copy protection methods that alter the exe will break it as the runner think's it's been tampered with.
It's like that with exesecure unfortunately too. It may (I say may) work if the exe was anti-decompiler processed, but as I'm using gm8.1 in it's latest guise I can't check that out.
Other than that, I'm not sure what you can do about the copy protection other than hold your own key system using a dll/extension to control licences.

[Troy Martin]

I guess you could package your game in a self-extracting EXE that would extract your game EXE to a temporary folder, and then wrap that self-extractor with exeSecure... But DRM may not even be worth it in a format like that, if at all. Ask yourself: "Do I really need DRM?"

Hopefully if you think about it, your answer will be "no".

[Artaex Media]

Protection mechanism?
There's no solid solution, but a good one is to use accounts, let people buy the *pro version* for their account, and they use their account to log in.
One down side, an internet connection is required at all times...

Still, everything can be cracked.

Edited by Artaex Media, 03 February 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[gamsd]

Hi,

check exestealth or wtm copy protection to protect your games.

[millzyman]

The truth is, when people sell there games they don't want anyone to get a free-lunch. And you are right in thinking that. I spent 1 1/2 years attempting to make extremely secure copy protection for general use, in the end I abandoned it because I always managed to find a way around it. Everytime i patched up a hole in the protection, another would open. I think the best copy-protection in the small-time (or as you are charging a small-fee) market is good-will. Yes human-kind seems to lack good-will at the best of times but you have stated yourself, 'I know that each game will be cracked eventually'. I have seen research (which i can't quote figures exactly for sorry) that showed that somewhere between 15 - 30% of people pirate games because the company put DRM on the game in the first place.

I would suggest that if you were really in need of copy-protection. My only real idea was to make each copy unique to any one user. So by using some basic computer identifiers such as the computer-name, username, hardware id and such you could easily create an executable that will only function under a certain computer. Of course there is nothing actually made that i know of currently that does this.

I hope you find a solution to your problem.