Software Made by Reverse Engineering Shoost (Patreon)

I received a message like this the other day.

“Someone is selling software made by reverse engineering Shoost, with a subscription!”

“What...?!”

It Started with a DM on X

Recently, I got a DM on X. It said that another piece of software, made by analyzing (reverse engineering) Shoost, is being sold on a subscription basis.

It’s a program called “OWL,” sold on Bilibili.

I went ahead and watched their feature introduction video. Yeah, it does look similar...

Since I released Shoost, I feel like the number of software tools that add screen effects has grown. I see a lot of them with similar features. So this time too, I figured, “Maybe it was just inspired by Shoost?”

But when I looked at the video more closely, the effects and the particle textures looked exactly the same as Shoost’s. I made these myself, so I can spot the quirks of my textures and effects at a glance. I’m sure anyone who makes things feels the same way. You put so much thought into every detail that you can tell whether something is your own work just by looking at it. I even adjust things frame by frame.

“Oh, they just ripped this right out of Shoost...”

The OWL Team Reached Out

Fans in the OWL community seemed to feel the same way. Comments like “Isn’t this ripped off from Shoost?” and “Did they get permission?” Some people even posted verification videos.

Right after I got that DM, the OWL development team also contacted me through X. They apologized for analyzing Shoost and using some of its Shader and LUT data without permission, and told me they would remove the related features. Afterwards, they announced the same thing, along with their plan to remove those features, on their Bilibili account as well, in the form of an image of text.

Honestly, I never expected to get an apology from them directly, so I was surprised. I think it’s admirable that they apologized. Still, even though apologizing itself is a good thing, the fact remains that they sold something that used my work without permission, so my feelings are complicated.

I believe using something as a reference and plagiarizing it are two different things. If you feel Shoost is good and build a similar feature, you’re just using it as a reference. Learning from something good and building something even better is a natural part of making things.

But plagiarism is different. It isn’t creative.

If you’re going to make things, be creative!

Conclusion

I’m not planning to take legal action or blow this up into a bigger problem. It would eat into my development time, and above all, I just enjoy making things more.

I do feel disappointed about this, but it looks like the OWL team is handling it properly, so I’ll quietly keep an eye on how things go.

I’m grateful to the person who let me know. Thank you!And I was really happy to see how many Shoost fans there are, and to receive so many messages of support. Thank you so much.

Development takes more time and effort than you might think. The reason I’ve been able to keep going is the people who use my work and the people who support me. Thanks to all of you, I can keep developing. I’m truly grateful once again!

I’ll keep working hard to make good things that all of you can enjoy.