Ironmace, the developer of Dark and Darker, has responded to the legal challenge from Nexon, the publisher of Maplestory, with a brief, a written rebuttal and asset comparison from Ironmace's character concept artists, a list of in-game assets and their origins, and a complete, only partially redacted, git log of Dark and Darker's development to date (opens in new tab). and a list of their origins, and a complete, only partially redacted git log (open in new tab) (a sequential history of changes to the game's code) of Dark and Darker's development to date.

Ironmace's summary response (opens in new tab) is six pages long and includes a link to Nexon's removal request (opens in new tab) to Valve. Tailoring the private server accusations against Choi as retaliation for his choosing to leave Nexon in mid-2021 too late, Ironmace claims that the use of private servers to store game assets was the result of telecommuting adaptations during the Covid lockdown

Irons, et al.

As Iron Mace notes, Choi's use of the servers was prevented by Nexon, but never directly shut down, receding into a secondary concern as the team returned to the office. When Choi announced his intention to leave Nexon, legal proceedings against him began, and Ironmace claims he was fired by Nexon. Ironmace further claims that Nexon copyrighted the P3 development material in February of this year, following Dark and Darker's success at the Steam Next Fest.

Iron Mace also has harsh words for Nexon's claim that it could not have created a working prototype of Dark and Darker so quickly without Nexon's trade secrets. The fact that a large gaming company like Nexon cannot develop a game this quickly does not mean that other studios, large or small, cannot develop at this speed."

Although both P3 and Dark and Darker were created using the Unreal Engine, Ironmace notes that P3 was "a learning curve, as none of the programmers had any experience with the Unreal Engine at the time of the project," and He claims that "using the code and assets from the P3 project as a reference did not help us move forward with the Dark and Darker project. To bolster this claim, Ironmace has published a partially redacted git log (opens in new tab) of Dark and Darker's development. This is an extensive document dating back to the project's inception in September 2021.

Another claim Nexon is disputing with Ironmace is the list of assets that Nexon claims are shared between the two games; Nexon claims this is overwhelming similarity and evidence of plagiarism, but Ironmace claims these are all Unreal Ironmace has attached a spreadsheet (opens in new tab) detailing the source of the files Nexon points to.

One of Ironmace's interesting exhibits is a comparison of the P3 class concept with the class concept for Dark and Darker (opens in new tab). While Nexon claims that Dark and Darker's character classes are derived from copyrighted concept art, P3 and Dark and Darker still share an unnamed lead concept artist. The artist in question outlines the various reference images used to create the Dark and Darker character and then contrasts them with the P3 character. The artist seems to argue that both characters are simply drawing from the same well of general tabletop fantasy inspiration dating back to Dungeons and Dragons, but are distinct works of art presented in different poses and settings.

Curiously, Ironmace has posted a conversation log with ChatGPT in which the company attempts to secure a definition of "PvP dungeon crawl game." In an odd gesture, it seems to be an attempt to undermine Nexon's claim that P3 and Dark and Darker share the same premise. Whether that is true or not, video game genres are not copyrighted, and there are many examples of "Antz vs. Bug's Life" games across multiple genres and platforms (Chivalry vs.) Mordhau, CoD vs. Battlefield, Mario vs. Sonic, etc.)

Nexon has significant financial and legal pressure against Ironmace, but may not have full proof against the developer. However, without specific use of copyrighted art or code that Nexon can point to, smaller developers may be able to escape this conundrum.

As for why Iron Mace is releasing the material, it may be trying to reassure fans and potential investors about the future of Dark and Darker, or it may be playing its cards close to Nexon and hoping the publisher will retract its claims. I find it hard to ignore the parallels with the saga of the feud between Disco Elysium (opens in new tab), its developer, ZA/UM, and its founder, Artist, and its financier.