Thought you should be made aware someone is creating the 3rd day and has published it
Well that's incredibly disrespectful. I'll try to look into this if there is something that needs to be done in regards to protecting Neko's copyright.
Suffice to say that is not authorized at all and that is... I'm a little appalled by the nerve and the balls on whomever is behind that.
If you're that shallow-hearted to think this is appropriate in any form, quite literally trying to rip the game's narrative and story away from the creator who is actively pouring hundreds of hours of his time into this, then I really would prefer you not be in the TFC community at all.
Edit/Addition: If anyone is familiar with this upload or where it was uploaded and can kindly request it to be taken down, I would appreciate it, I'd love to give someone the benefit of the doubt and hope that this is just a vast misunderstanding of what is appropriate for a fandom to create while an indie game is in active development.
Using my art... That's really disappointing
Hello Neko, I helped my friend Doggy with a fan continuation of the visual novel "The Freak Circus". We recently found out that our Telegram channel was sent to you. We would like to sincerely apologise to you. We made this project out of love for the game, but we forgot to credit you as the original author – that was our mistake. We did not intend to take credit for someone else's work, and we have already deleted the channel. We are truly sorry, and we hope you can forgive us. Thank you for your work and for the world you've created. We respect your creativity and will not make this mistake again. Thank you for your understanding. ❤️🩹
I understand that it can be difficult to get in touch with me for permission. I've been spending less time online lately while focusing heavily on every step of this update. In fact, just yesterday I was still working on the update until 10:30 PM, and this was one of the first things I saw when I finally stopped for the day, so I won't lie it left me with a bit of a bitter feeling.
That said, I'm not against fan games! And I definitely don't want any kind of witch hunt directed at anyone. I'm happy to see that there was no bad intention behind this.
Please understand that making fan games is completely fine, but it's important to respect the work of the original creators. Personally, I ask that my official artwork and sprites not be used. I also ask that fan games clearly credit the original game, clearly state that they are fan projects, and avoid titles that could be mistaken for official content. For example, a title such as "Day 3" could easily make people think it is an official continuation. Something like "Headcanon," "Fan Story," or another label that makes it clear it is a fan-made project would help avoid confusion!
Unfortunately, when people don't realize something is a fan game, I'm often the one who receives, complaints, or confusion about it... And since The Freak Circus is a free game, I would also appreciate fan games remaining free as well.
I truly appreciate the concern shown and the apology that was offered. I don't think the game needs to be deleted. I simply ask that these details be handled more carefully in the future.
Those small considerations are what make a creator look at a fan project and see something made with love, while also feeling that their work and boundaries are being respected.
For those of you who were concerned about this, I’m happy to say things seemed to be worked out without any malice or issue— Neko put the situation into words so well, especially the importance of labeling fan gams AS fan games since, like many people, I took the ‘Day 3’ title quite literally and I would have absolutely taken offense to that myself.
The context does help and while it was still a stressful situation in general for everyone, it’s good to know this is a situation where communication and giving people grace worked out the best! <3
Thank you for your response. We really appreciate it 💗