When credit is due

So I have loads of resources from over the years. Many of them I cannot remember who created them. Just wondering what everyone thinks about using resources without giving credit. If you couldn't find the creator of something you used in your game, would you leave that resource out? Or would you go ahead and use it?

I take it out, as in some cases, use without credit is illegal. Also, this is why you either write down (somewhere) where the resource was from, and/or save the weblink, or both.

If you are going to make a game that you intend to distribute to the public, commercial or non-commercial, you definitely need to give credit to the creator of those resources.

If you do not know who made those resources, you definitely would not know their terms and conditions of using said resources. They may not have allowed their resources to be used in the first place, even for non-commercial purposes. You would open yourself to a lot of problems and may even end up having to remove your game.

What I would do is, use resources from sources that I know and credit the creators. Leave the rest out.

If they are graphical resources, Google offers a backwards image search, as well as Tineye.com, i believe. There are apparently sites that do the same thing for music, but I am unfamiliar with those.

Yeah, if you don't know who made the resources or what their terms of conditions are you definitely should not use them. I ended up dumping a lot of good stuff I downloaded when I first started out because I never bothered to keep track of where they were from. There are a ton of resources available throughout the community though so after doing some more scavenging I ended up finding a lot of the stuff I deleted anyway. So yeah, always keep track of creators and their terms of use.

The quick answer to your question is:

Credit is always due. 

Google it; that's usually not that hard to find. If you do have trouble finding the author and it's a public resource, you can always just ask around in forums. Someone will be able to identify the source or at least point you in the right direction.

Confirming - if you can't give credit, you can't use the resources.


You should look around and see what systems people are using to keep track of resources they use so they don't have this problem. There are a number of methods and people are happy to describe what works for them - you should be able to find one that suits you. Then from this point onward, use that method for any new resources you acquire. And as you FIND the creators of the things you already have, add the details so you can start using them again.


Big job when you have so much, but it'll pay off down the track.