[b][quote][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/quote][/b]
Planetoid is a Unity Asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Conglomerate 5/GameWriterStudio/Big Black Bear (watch those shell accounts fly around!!!), took the [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/game-toolkits/tower-defense-toolkit-4-tdtk-4-91023]Tower Defense Toolkit 4[/url] Unity Store tutorial/demo/game asset pack from the real developers, SongGameDev, rearranged them so the towers are the enemy, slapped a few other store assets around to make an inverse tower defense game where you put primitive untextured blocks in front of some guys as they move through the defense towers. The vast majority of the game is the TDTK-4 asset pack, from the game mechanics all the way to the tower models.
They're attempting to scam people into buying this, so they can get your money for someone else's work.
It gets worse... "Tower Defense Toolkit 4" has also been shamelessly dumped on Steam by other asset flippers apart from Conglomerate 5/GameWriterStudio:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257540]Resistance TD[/url]", asset flipped by Albatross Idea
[/list]
Take a look for yourself... it's [i]exactly the same game asset![/i]
Conglomerate 5/GameWriterStudio has a known history of trying to scam people into paying them money for someone else's work. One example of Conglomerate 5/GameWriterStudio doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/817150]Factory Pirates[/url], which is really the "[url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/polygon-pirates-low-poly-3d-art-by-synty-92579]Polygon Pirates Low Poly 3D asset pack[/url]" asset, written by the actual developers, Synty Games.
Because this is an almost exact 1:1 copy + paste of the original Unity assets, regardless of how they were rearranged, it's in violation of the [url=https://unity.com/legal/as-terms]Unity Asset Store Terms of Service and EULA[/url]. Specifically, Section 2, Subsection 2.2.1a:
[quote][i]Subject to the restrictions set forth in this EULA, Licensor hereby grants to the END-USER a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, and perpetual license to the Asset solely:(a) to incorporate the Asset, [b]together with substantial, original content not obtained through the Unity Asset Store[/b], into an electronic application or digital media that has a purpose, features, and functions beyond the display, performance, distribution, or use of Assets ("Licensed Product") as an embedded component of that Licensed Product, [b]such that the Asset does not comprise a substantial portion of the Licensed Product[/b][/i][/quote]
Because the developer misused the asset pack such that it comprises the vast majority of this "game", the developer has unethically and deliberately breached the license agreement. Worse, this intellectual property violation was done in an attempt to profit from their illicit actions. Why is this permitted on Steam?
The products that result from asset flips aren't "real" games. They lack depth and content, because they're just simplistic copies of demos or tutorials. In this case, "Tower Defense Toolkit 4" is just a demo pack to teach people how to build a 3D tower defense game using Unity, and doesn't have any merit as a proper, fully fledged PC game, so this copy+paste of it can't be recommended.
Asset flips don't involve any professional game development. Sure, sometimes they may change a few cosmetic things, swap out different assets etc, but at heart it's functionally identical to the asset they're ripping off.
Asset flips like this are harmful to the gaming industry and to Steam because they reduce the visibility that sincerely made indie games should have, and make it harder for gamers to find real games from genuine developers.
Don't reward this morally bankrupt, unethical behaviour from Conglomerate 5/GameWriterStudio.
