Commission Terms

1. Who these terms are for

These terms apply to custom build commissions from Ovout Studios (“we”, “us”). They form the agreement between us and the person or organisation commissioning the build (“you”).

If you are agreeing on behalf of a server, network, company or other organisation, you confirm you are authorised to do so, and “you” means that organisation.

Fixed-price builds bought through our Build Shop are not commissions and are covered by section 19.

2. How you accept these terms

You accept these terms when you do either of the following, whichever happens first:

• pay the deposit for a commission, or
• confirm your acceptance in writing in your commission ticket.

Your quote and invoice reference the version of these terms that applies, with the date and a link. That version governs your commission for its whole duration, even if we publish a newer one later.

3. Your brief and our quote

You send us a brief: what you want built, the approximate size, the platform (Java or Bedrock) and your timeline. We reply with questions and a fixed quote.

The quote states the scope, the price and the schedule. The agreed brief is the reference point for everything that follows: whether a change is included, whether a delivery is complete, and what our warranty covers. Nothing is built until you approve the quote.

Larger commissions may be split into milestones, each with its own deliverable and payment share. Where they are, each milestone follows the same review and approval steps as a whole commission.

4. What we build, and what we don’t

We build structures, terrain and detailing: spawns, hubs and lobbies, minigame arenas, custom terrain, themed builds and full worlds.

Unless your quote expressly says otherwise, a commission does not include redstone systems, command blocks, datapacks, plugins, server configuration, hosting, or ongoing server administration. If you need any of that, tell us early and we will say whether we can quote for it.

5. Payment

Payment is split: 50% to start and 50% on approval of the finished build. The final 50% falls due once you have approved the build, and is payable before final delivery of the files.

The deposit reserves your slot in our schedule and covers the work that begins immediately. If you cancel before we start building, we refund it in full. Once we have started, section 17 sets out what happens.

“When we start” is a fixed, knowable date, not a judgement call: it is the day we assign your commission to a builder and open the build world for it, and we tell you that date. Everything before it is quoting and scheduling.

By paying the deposit you are asking us to begin work straight away.

Prices are in US dollars unless your quote says otherwise, and are exclusive of any taxes that may apply to you. Payment processing fees charged by your provider are yours; fees on our side are ours.

If the balance is not paid, no licence comes into existence, you may not use the build, and we may remove any element identifying you and use or sell the build as a generic work. We will give you written notice and a reasonable opportunity to pay before doing so.

6. Progress, revisions and scope changes

You can follow the build as it happens. We share progress shots, and you can join our server to see it live. You review in stages and ask for changes before signing off.

Adjustments within the agreed brief are included and carry no extra cost. Anything that expands the original scope is quoted before we add it, and only goes ahead once you approve it.

This is a test of scope, not of effort. A change is included if it falls within the brief, regardless of how large or small it is; and it is extra if it falls outside the brief, even if it looks minor.

7. Delivery and approval

When a build or a milestone is ready, we make it available for your review. If you neither approve it nor raise specific, concrete objections within 10 business days, it is treated as approved so the commission can move forward.

“Specific objections” means telling us what is wrong and where. General dissatisfaction without detail does not let us fix anything, and does not pause this period.

Final files are delivered in the format agreed in your quote once payment is complete.

8. Your licence

On receipt of full payment, we grant you a licence to use the build that is:

• exclusive — we will not license, sell or deliver the same build to anyone else;
• perpetual and irrevocable — it does not expire, and we cannot take it back;
• worldwide, for use on the servers, networks or projects you operate or control.

You may install it, modify it, extend it, and use images and video of it to promote your server.

We keep the copyright and all underlying rights in the build. You are receiving the right to use it, not ownership of it. We keep those rights for a practical reason that protects you as much as us: it is what allows us to file copyright takedowns against anyone who steals your build and reposts it, which we could not do if we had signed the rights away.

9. What you may not do

You may not:

• sell, resell, sublicense, rent or otherwise commercialise the build or its files;
• redistribute or publish the build files, in whole or in part, including on marketplaces, forums, file hosts or public repositories;
• pass the build to a third party outside your own projects;
• present the build as your own original work when offering build services to others.

These restrictions apply to the build files. They do not restrict you from running the build on your servers, or from showing it publicly.

10. Resale and extended licences

If you want the right to resell or redistribute a build, we can arrange it as a separate written licence, agreed and priced before delivery. Ask us in your ticket. Without that separate licence, section 9 applies in full.

11. Our portfolio

We may show the build in our portfolio, on our website, on our social channels and in our Build Shop listings, including images, video and a description of the work.

We hold off until the earlier of:

• your public launch of the build, or
• three months from final delivery.

Before then we keep it confidential, so you are never scooped by your own build. If you need a longer hold for a specific reason, tell us before we start and we will agree it in writing.

If you commissioned the build anonymously, we will show the work without naming you.

12. Support after delivery

For six months from final delivery, if something in the delivered build is broken, missing or does not match the agreed brief, we fix it at no charge. Tell us what is wrong and we will put it right within a reasonable time.

This covers defects in what we built. It does not cover:

• new features, extensions or changes beyond the original brief, which we quote separately;
• damage caused by changes you or third parties make after delivery;
• problems caused by your server setup, plugins, version changes or hosting;
• world corruption or data loss on your side.

13. What we need from you

To keep a commission on schedule we need you to respond to questions and review requests within a reasonable time. Long silences move the delivery date, and we will tell you when that happens rather than let a date slip quietly.

If you give us reference material, assets, textures or builds to work from, you confirm you have the right to give them to us for this purpose. If a third party claims otherwise, that claim is yours to resolve, and you will cover what it costs us if we are drawn into it.

14. If something goes wrong

If the build does not match the agreed brief, we work through these steps in order:

1. We fix it. This is the first remedy, and in practice it resolves nearly everything.
2. If we cannot fix it within a reasonable time, we rebuild or replace the affected part.
3. If that still does not resolve it, we refund the amount you paid for the affected part of the commission.

Beyond that, our total liability for any commission is limited to the total amount you have paid us for it.

We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. That includes lost profits, lost revenue, lost players, lost donations, server downtime, reputational harm, or loss of data. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud.

15. Time limit for claims

Claims that the build does not match the agreed brief must be raised within the review period in section 7. Claims about defects must be raised within the warranty period in section 12.

Any other claim relating to a commission must be brought within 12 months of final delivery.

16. Refunds and chargebacks

After delivery

Once a build has been delivered and paid for in full, there is no general right to a refund. If something is wrong with it, the remedies are the warranty in section 12 and the steps in section 14: we fix it, we rebuild it, and only if neither resolves the problem do we refund the affected part.

That is deliberate. A finished build cannot be handed back the way a physical product can, so the remedy that actually helps you is the one that gets the build right.

Any refund ends your licence. If we refund you, in whole or in part, the licence in section 8 terminates to the same extent. You must stop using the build, remove it from your servers and delete the files. You cannot keep both the build and the money.

Refunds are made to the original payment method and never exceed what you actually paid us for the affected part of the commission. The cap in section 14 applies.

Chargebacks

If you reverse a payment through your bank or payment provider instead of raising the problem with us, that has the same effect as non-payment under section 5: no licence comes into existence, or an existing licence terminates immediately. You must stop using the build and delete the files. We may also recover from you any reversal fees we are charged.

Please come to us first. Section 14 exists precisely so that you have a route that does not depend on a payment provider, and it is faster than one.

What happens to the build

Wherever a licence fails to come into existence or terminates under this section or section 5, the exclusivity undertaking in section 8 ends with it, and we are free to deal with the build as our own: to adapt it, license it to others, or sell it in our Store as a generic work. Before we do, we remove any trade mark, logo, name or other element identifying you.

This follows from section 8 rather than adding anything to it. The copyright was always ours; what you held was a right to use the build, and it is that right which ends when the payment behind it does.

17. Cancelling a commission

You may cancel at any time by telling us in writing. The principle is the same at every stage: you pay for the work that was done, and you receive the work that was done.

• Before we start (as defined in section 5): we refund the deposit in full. Nothing has been built, so there is nothing to hand over.
• After we start: we work out how much of the agreed scope was actually completed, and settle the difference in whichever direction it falls. If you have paid more than the work done is worth, we refund you the difference. If the work done is worth more than you have paid, we invoice the difference. Either way you get a written breakdown of what was built.

Once that settlement is paid, we deliver the build to you as it stands, in the agreed format. Any milestone you had already approved is included.

How the work done is valued

We assess how much of the agreed scope was completed, measured against the brief rather than by hours spent, and we show you the workings.

That assessment reflects a fact about how builds come together: the early stages — concept, terrain, layout and palette — carry a disproportionate share of a build’s value even when little of it looks finished yet. Half a build is not half the work, and the valuation says so.

The licence on a cancelled build

A partial build comes to you on narrower terms than a finished one, in two respects:

• It is delivered as is, with no warranty and no support. Section 12 does not apply to it. The build is unfinished by definition, and we are not undertaking to stand behind something we were stopped from completing.
• Your licence over it is non-exclusive. The restrictions in section 9 apply to you in full — you still may not resell or redistribute it — but we keep the right to finish, reuse, adapt and sell that work elsewhere. A commission you chose to end was never committed to you exclusively.

We may cancel if you do not pay, do not respond for an extended period after we have chased you, or ask us to build something unlawful, infringing or abusive. If we cancel for any other reason, we refund everything you have paid that we have not yet earned, and the same delivery and licence terms above apply.

18. Confidentiality

We keep your brief, your project and your commercial terms confidential, and we do not discuss your commission with other clients. Our collaborators are bound by written confidentiality obligations.

The one exception is our portfolio use described in section 11, on the timing set out there.

19. Build Shop purchases

Fixed-price builds sold through our Build Shop are not commissions. They are governed by the licence shown on the listing and by the terms of the platform you bought them on. They are non-exclusive: the same build may be sold to others.

20. Third-party platforms and Mojang

Ovout Studios is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mojang AB or Microsoft. Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang AB.

Your use of a build must comply with the Minecraft EULA and the usage guidelines that apply to your platform. Where a build is delivered through a third-party marketplace or platform, that platform’s terms also apply to the transaction.

21. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Every version has a version number and an effective date, and older versions stay online at their own address.

A new version never applies retroactively. Your commission is governed by the version referenced in your quote and invoice, for its whole duration. A change only reaches you when you commission something new under a quote referencing the newer version.

22. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the country in which Ovout Studios is established, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence that apply to you.

If a dispute arises, we will both try to resolve it in good faith and in writing first. Most things are settled that way.

23. Contact

Open a ticket in our Discord, or use the quote form on our site. That is the fastest way to reach us for anything relating to a commission, including anything in these terms.