Hi! I'm Bence, some players from the Café knows me, I'm the person behind the GGReborn Project with Santi, MKerem, Sulivan and Zoli. This is the story of the GGReborn Project, and what happened with it.
GGReborn was a fan-driven project to revive three GoodGame Studios flash browser games that were officially discontinued by GoodGame Studios in 2016:
- GoodGame Café
- GoodGame Disco
- GoodGame Fashion
The plan was to bring back these games with a fan run private server, non-commercial, built with nostalgia for games that no longer existing.
- 2023 I discovered the project while searching for the old game myself, and applied as a developer. We decided to write a custom TCP socket server, because we cant afford SmartFox license.After the main developer became unavailable, I ended up maintaining and developing the server alone for almost a year. The server was developed by watching old YouTube videos about the game, to understand how the original server worked. There was a few closed tests (donators only, due to the server was a development server, and I didnt want to make some players starts making progress, while the entire database will be wiped out), and these tests was about the gameplay mechanics, like NPCs, pathfinding, server stability, bugs etc...
- 2025 The server was written in Python, and sometimes we had performance issues (everything was in async, and threaded), so I decided to rewrite it in a faster language. With help of my friend, who knew Golang, he suggested me to rewrite it in Golang. So with my help, he rewrote the server (based on the old Python server) for a better performance. Once my friend became busy with university, I continued the work solo, while learning Golang. Once I almost reached the progress close to the Python server, I decided to its time to test the new server. Its performed well.
- 2026 I wrote directly to Goodgame Studios to formally request permission to use their IP and operate legally, before any public release, to avoid further problems.
Subject: Request for Permission to Use GoodGame Café Game Assets.
Dear GoodGame Studios, My name is Bence Fodor from the GGReborn team (GoodGame Reborn). I'm contacting you because 4-5 years ago, a small fan group started a project named GoodGame Café Reborn, focused on reviving the old GoodGame Café.
About the project: The project slowly grew, and they achieved some early success. In 2023, I was searching about the GoodGame Café game, and I found this community. After a few days, I noticed they were looking for developers, and I applied to it, because I really missed this game (as others), and I wanted to play again. After a few months, our developer got busy, so I needed to continue the development alone for almost an entire year. I have contacted my friend, who knows Golang, and I helped him to rewrite the entire server into a new language for a better performance. We did it in 1-2 weeks. After my friend became busy with university, I needed to continue the development on my own. The challenging part was that I had never worked with this language before, so I started learning by rewriting one of my Java programs in Golang. Once I gained good knowledge of the language, I continued the development alone. We built our own server engine from scratch, similar to the SmartFox Webserver that was used in many online Flash and Unity games. We chose this approach because the SmartFox license is too expensive for us to afford.
We are a non-profit project and only accept donations to support the project. These donations cover our domain and server costs. We're not making any profit from the game. We always inform people that we are not GoodGame Studios, who created and published the game. We are simply a fan community that wants to revive GoodGame Café and other closed games. I don't want to ever profit from this game, I just want to help the fan community to give them a game that they've been missing since 2016. We have made huge progress, so I was ready to launch a first test with the new server. I really enjoyed the development, and I want to help the community to keep these games alive. I'm not the project leader, I'm just a developer who has built and maintained nearly the entire server alone. As an IT student who learned programming in my free time, I will maintain the server and continue development. I have put years into making this game playable again.
The problem: We have one major issue. We are using the original game assets, which are still copyrighted. I'm writing this letter to request permission to use the original game assets in our project named under GoodGame Reborn. We are not planning to earn money from this game. I built the entire server for free in my spare time. The server is scalable, so we can easily add new game servers. Every donation goes into the project to cover server costs. Neither I nor other developers receive any funds from it. If we can reach an agreement, I would like to continue the GoodGame Reborn Project legally.
Our Request: We are seeking official permission to use the original GoodGame Café, Disco, and Fashion game assets (graphics, audio, and scripts) to run a private server for our non-profit community project. We want to operate legally and with your blessing.
Our Commitment: Non-profit operation: We accept only voluntary donations to cover server and domain costs. No team member receives any funds.
No monetization: We will not implement in-game purchases or sell game currency. The game will remain completely free to play.
Clear attribution: We prominently display that GoodGame Café was created and published by GoodGame Studios, and that we are an independent fan community.
Revenue sharing: We are open to discussing revenue-sharing arrangements if you prefer we implement some form of monetization, though we would prefer to keep the game entirely free.
Why This Matters: There is an active community of players who have been waiting years to play GoodGame Café, Disco, Fashion again. We have the technical capability to keep this game alive and maintain it long-term. We simply want to do so legally and respectfully. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss terms that would allow us to continue this project with your permission. I am happy to provide additional information about our technical infrastructure, community guidelines, or any other details you may need.
Thank you for considering our request. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, Bence Fodor Lead Developer, GoodGame Reborn bencefodor@proton.me
I cant include the original letter, so I will summarize it. Goodgame Studios Senior CRM Manager replied. They thanked us for reaching out and acknowledged the effort that had gone into the project, but stated plainly that Goodgame Studios could not grant permission to use, reproduce, modify, or distribute any of their intellectual property, including: game assets, graphics, audio, scripts, trademarks, and game concepts tied to GoodGame Café, Disco, and Fashion in the way we had described. They made clear this applied regardless of the project being non-profit, community-run, or donation-based. All of the assets remained protected by copyright, and using them without explicit authorization wasn't permitted. They also explicitly told us to stop using their materials in connection with GGReborn going forward, including running private servers built on the original game assets. They said they weren't in a position to discuss licensing, revenue sharing, or any alternative arrangement, and asked that no further use of their content take place. They closed by acknowledging our passion for the games and understanding the nostalgia behind the community, but were firm that they needed to protect their IP and enforce their rights consistently.
After the GGReborn Project was transferred to me, I discontinued it (server development stopped, website shutdown, entire project discontinued), because I dont want to have any legal enforcement action. So the GGReborn Project is discontinued, while the players still wants to play these games. I've got letters from some players that their mom or dad happy to play this game again. Thanks, GoodGame Studios! The company will earn millions! BUT! You already lost your playerbase in 2016. A lot of players are remains disappointed. They dont even bother checking out your new games anymore, because it's not what they're looking for.
This project is discontinued. No further development