PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
CALDERWOOD & HARKNESS LLP 600 South Grand Avenue, Suite 4400 Los Angeles, California 90071 Telephone: (213) 555-7200 Facsimile: (213) 555-7201
MEMORANDUM
TO: Catherine Bloom, Responsible Partner Alan Ngo, Billing Partner
FROM: Christy Bauer, Associate
DATE: July 30, 2024
RE: Deposition Preparation Outlines — Jordan Kessler (August 5, 2024) and Seo-Yeon Park (August 12, 2024)
MATTER: Luminos Interactive LLC v. Redstone Gaming Corp., Case No. 2:24-cv-00587-RWL, United States District Court for the District of Nevada
MATTER NO.: 1033-00004
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This memorandum constitutes attorney work product prepared in anticipation of litigation and is protected from disclosure under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(3) and the work-product doctrine articulated in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495 (1947). This memorandum also contains mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories of counsel. It is intended solely for use by the attorneys and professional staff of Calderwood & Harkness LLP assigned to Matter No. 1033-00004. Do not distribute outside the engagement team without prior written approval from Catherine Bloom.
Right-click to update Table of Contents
I. Purpose and Overview
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide structured deposition preparation outlines for two key Redstone Gaming Corp. ("Redstone") fact witnesses whose depositions are scheduled for early August 2024. The witnesses are:
1. Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development, Redstone Gaming Corp. Mr. Kessler's deposition is scheduled for August 5, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2. Seo-Yeon Park, Lead Character Artist for Ironclad Dominion, Redstone Gaming Corp. Ms. Park's deposition is scheduled for August 12, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both depositions will be taken by plaintiff's counsel. We anticipate that Daniel Hargrove of Hargrove, Tanaka & Whitmore LLP, lead counsel for Luminos Interactive LLC ("Luminos"), will conduct the primary examination. His associate, Megan Forsyth, may also participate in the questioning or handle discrete topics. Defense counsel present at both depositions will include Omar Siddiqui (lead associate, Calderwood & Harkness LLP) and Patricia Thorngate (local counsel, Thorngate & Associates, PC, Las Vegas).
This memorandum builds upon observations and testimony obtained during the two depositions already completed in this matter:
• Tobias Crane (Founder and Managing Member, Luminos Interactive LLC) — deposed July 22, 2024, in Austin, Texas.
• Elara Whitfield (Art Director and Co-Founder, Luminos Interactive LLC) — deposed July 29, 2024, in Austin, Texas.
Key takeaways from the Crane and Whitfield depositions are summarized in Section V below and have been integrated into the preparation strategies for both Kessler and Park. Certain testimony from Crane and Whitfield creates potential impeachment opportunities that must be addressed during the preparation sessions.
The balance of this memorandum is organized as follows: Section II sets forth the key defensive themes applicable to both witnesses; Sections III and IV provide witness-specific deposition preparation outlines for Kessler and Park, respectively; Section V summarizes observations from the completed depositions; Section VI addresses general deposition preparation instructions applicable to both witnesses; and Section VII identifies next steps and action items.
II. Key Themes for Both Witnesses
The following overarching themes should be reinforced throughout the testimony of both Kessler and Park. These themes are consistent with Redstone's affirmative defenses of independent creation, scènes à faire, and absence of access, and they align with the expert analysis anticipated from Dr. Ingrid Lautner (Brindoval Forensic Consulting LLC). Each witness should internalize these themes so that they emerge naturally during testimony rather than appearing scripted.
A. Independent Creation Timeline
The single most powerful fact in Redstone's defense is the timeline. Development of Ironclad Dominion commenced in the first quarter of 2020, approximately January 2020. The first commit in the project's primary version-control repository — designated "ironclad-main" and hosted on Redstone's internal Git infrastructure — is dated February 12, 2020. This commit reflects initial project scaffolding, directory structures for art assets and design documentation, and the first uploaded concept art files.
By contrast, Luminos's Shardfall Chronicles was not released to the public until March 22, 2021 — more than thirteen months after Redstone's development and asset creation had already commenced. This chronological gap is critical because it means that the foundational creative decisions for Ironclad Dominion — including character armor aesthetic, environmental design language, UI conventions, and narrative art direction — were made and documented before Shardfall Chronicles was even available to the public.
The ironclad-main Git repository contains a total of 14,208 commits spanning from February 12, 2020, through October 2022 (the final production build prior to the November 14, 2022 release). The integrity and timestamps of these commits have been verified by Brindoval Forensic Consulting LLC, with Nathan Rourke serving as lead forensic consultant. Mr. Rourke's methodology included hash verification, server-log cross-referencing, and metadata analysis to confirm that the commit history has not been altered or fabricated. His forensic report is available in the case file.
In addition to the Git repository, Redstone's concept art archives and internal design review presentations provide further documentary evidence of independent creation. These materials include dated presentation decks, confluence wiki pages with creation timestamps, and JIRA project management tickets that track the evolution of specific assets from initial concept through final approval. The vast majority of these materials predate the release of Shardfall Chronicles.
Both witnesses should be prepared to walk through this timeline in detail and to anchor their testimony to specific, verifiable dates wherever possible.
B. Absence of Access to *Shardfall Chronicles* Assets
Luminos's copyright infringement claim requires proof of both access and substantial similarity. On the access prong, the evidence strongly favors Redstone. Neither Kessler nor Park had access to, or awareness of, Shardfall Chronicles during the critical design phase spanning Q1 2020 through Q1 2021 — the period in which the creative foundation for Ironclad Dominion was established and the challenged assets were initially conceived and developed.
This absence of access is unsurprising given the nature of Shardfall Chronicles and its developer. Luminos Interactive LLC is a small, Austin-based independent game studio with approximately 14 employees and reported FY 2023 revenue of approximately $2.1 million. Shardfall Chronicles is a single-player indie PC title that was released on the Steam digital distribution platform. The game has achieved approximately 185,000 lifetime unit sales at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $24.99, generating estimated gross revenue of approximately $4.62 million over its entire commercial lifespan. While the game received positive reviews from certain indie-gaming publications, it did not achieve widespread visibility in the broader gaming industry and had minimal presence in the AAA development community in which Redstone operates.
Redstone's creative team — including Kessler and Park — did not purchase, license, download, or otherwise obtain Shardfall Chronicles or any of its constituent art assets during the development of Ironclad Dominion. The document production in this case, comprising 42,316 pages (Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-042316), includes all internal communications, emails, Meridian Solutions messages, design documents, and project management records from the Ironclad Dominion development period. A comprehensive search of this production reveals no reference to Shardfall Chronicles, Luminos Interactive, or any of Luminos's principals.
During the preparation sessions, counsel should explore with each witness whether they played or were even aware of Shardfall Chronicles at any point, and if so, precisely when that awareness arose. The anticipated answer for both witnesses is that they were not aware of the game until after the commencement of this litigation.
C. Transformative Aesthetic — Mechanized-Steampunk vs. Dark-Fantasy
The visual and thematic design spaces occupied by Ironclad Dominion and Shardfall Chronicles are fundamentally different. This distinction is central to Redstone's defense and should permeate both witnesses' testimony.
Ironclad Dominion employs a mechanized-fantasy/steampunk aesthetic. The game's environments feature industrial architecture, clockwork mechanisms, steam-powered machinery, and brass-and-iron construction motifs. Character designs center on armored warriors with mechanical augmentation — armor that incorporates gear joints, hydraulic actuators, steam vents, and riveted industrial plating. The game's user interface is designed as a contextual radial HUD that is integrated into the gameplay narrative, appearing as an in-world holographic projection emanating from the character's mechanical arm — a diegetic UI element that reinforces the steampunk setting.
Shardfall Chronicles, by contrast, employs a dark-fantasy aesthetic rooted in crystalline environmental textures, magical luminescence, stylized armored characters inspired by high-fantasy traditions, and a distinctive radial menu UI. The visual language of Shardfall Chronicles draws on conventions of dark-fantasy art — shadow, mysticism, organic crystalline formations, and ethereal lighting.
The two games share the broad genre classification of "fantasy RPG," but the specific visual expression within that genre is markedly different. Any superficial similarities that may be identified — such as the presence of crystalline textures, radial menus, or medieval plate-armor silhouettes — are standard genre tropes that constitute scènes à faire in the fantasy-RPG genre. These elements are not protectable under copyright law because they flow naturally from the genre's subject matter and are commonplace across hundreds of fantasy RPG titles released over the past two decades. See, e.g., Satava v. Lowry, 323 F.3d 805, 810 (9th Cir. 2003) (elements that are standard in the treatment of a given idea are not protectable); Cavalier v. Random House, Inc., 297 F.3d 815, 823 (9th Cir. 2002).
Both witnesses should be comfortable articulating the distinction between Redstone's mechanized-steampunk vision and Luminos's dark-fantasy aesthetic, and should be prepared to identify specific design elements that exemplify this distinction.
D. The 37 Challenged Assets
Luminos's complaint identifies 37 specific visual assets in Ironclad Dominion that it alleges are substantially similar to corresponding assets in Shardfall Chronicles. These 37 assets fall into four categories:
Each witness should be prepared to discuss the independent creative genesis of assets within their respective areas of responsibility. For Kessler, this encompasses all 37 assets at the directorial/oversight level. For Park, the primary focus will be the 12 character armor designs, though she may also be asked about the broader art pipeline.
Dr. Ingrid Lautner's expert analysis provides critical support on this issue. Dr. Lautner's report, which is scheduled for exchange on August 19, 2024, employed a pixel-level comparison methodology and compositional analysis to assess the degree of similarity between each pair of corresponding assets. Her preliminary findings, shared with the legal team, indicate that only 4 of the 37 assets have a similarity index exceeding 40%, and none exceeds 52%. The majority of assets scored below 30%, reflecting the kind of incidental similarity one would expect between two games operating in the same broad genre. These findings are consistent with the scènes à faire defense and independent creation.
During testimony, witnesses should emphasize the original creative choices that went into each asset and the iterative internal review process through which assets were developed, refined, and approved. They should avoid conceding similarity — even where it exists at a superficial level — without contextualizing it as a product of shared genre conventions rather than copying.
III. Deposition Preparation Outline — Jordan Kessler
A. Witness Background
• Full Name: Jordan Kessler
• Title: Vice President of Creative Development, Redstone Gaming Corp.
• Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
• Office Address: Redstone Gaming Corp., 4100 Obsidian Tower Boulevard, Suite 2200, Las Vegas, NV 89109
• Role: Mr. Kessler oversaw all creative development for Ironclad Dominion, including character design, environmental art, user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design, and narrative direction. He served as the senior creative decision-maker for the project and was responsible for establishing and maintaining the game's visual identity and artistic direction throughout the development cycle.
• Reporting Structure: Mr. Kessler reports directly to Marcus Hale, Chief Executive Officer of Redstone Gaming Corp. On intellectual property matters, he works closely with Priya Venkatesh, Redstone's General Counsel.
• Tenure and Professional Background: Mr. Kessler's tenure at Redstone and his prior professional background — including his education, prior industry experience, and previous projects at Redstone — should be reviewed and confirmed with the witness during the preparation session on August 2, 2024. This information will be relevant both to establishing his credibility as a creative leader and to demonstrating that his design sensibilities were formed independently of any exposure to Luminos's work.
B. Anticipated Direct Testimony Themes
The following themes represent the core subject areas that we expect plaintiff's counsel to explore during Kessler's deposition, either through leading questions on cross-examination or through open-ended narrative questions. Our preparation should ensure that Kessler can address each of these themes clearly, concisely, and consistently with the documentary record.
1. Development Origin and Timeline
Kessler initiated the Ironclad Dominion project concept in late 2019. During this period, he developed the initial project pitch and circulated it among Redstone's senior leadership team for evaluation. Formal development was greenlit in Q1 2020, following approval from Marcus Hale and the Redstone executive committee.
Mr. Kessler personally approved the project's foundational creative direction document — referred to internally as the "vision doc" — prior to the February 12, 2020 first Git commit. The vision doc established the mechanized-steampunk aesthetic, the core character archetypes, the environmental design language, and the narrative framework that would guide the entire development process. This document is among the most important exhibits for the deposition, as it demonstrates that the creative direction was established before Shardfall Chronicles existed in any publicly available form.
The development team ramped from an initial core of approximately 8 artists and designers in early 2020 to a full production team by mid-2020. At peak production, the Ironclad Dominion team comprised approximately 85 to 100 personnel across art, design, engineering, quality assurance, and production disciplines.
Key creative milestones in the development timeline are as follows:
All of these milestones are documented in Redstone's internal project management systems (JIRA, Confluence) and in the ironclad-main Git repository. Kessler should be prepared to walk the examiner through this timeline, referencing specific dates and documents where possible.
2. Creative Direction — Mechanized-Steampunk Vision
Mr. Kessler should describe the "mechanized-steampunk" aesthetic as the foundational creative pillar of Ironclad Dominion from its inception. This was not a direction that evolved during development or that was adopted after exposure to any other title. Rather, it was the original creative vision that Kessler brought to the project based on his longstanding interest in steampunk fiction, industrial design history, and mechanical engineering aesthetics.
Kessler should clearly distinguish the mechanized-steampunk aesthetic from generic dark-fantasy. Key differentiators include:
• Mechanical augmentation of armor: Character armor in Ironclad Dominion incorporates functional mechanical elements — gear joints, hydraulic pistons, steam vents, and riveted industrial plating. These are not decorative; they serve narrative and gameplay functions within the game's fiction.
• Industrial/clockwork environmental design: Environments feature factories, forges, steam-powered infrastructure, and mechanical contraptions. Even natural environments (caves, forests) are interpreted through a steampunk lens, with crystalline formations serving as power sources for mechanical devices rather than as mystical elements.
• Steam-powered technology: The game's narrative and visual design are built around a fictional technology based on steam and crystal-powered energy, which informs every visual design choice from character silhouettes to UI elements.
Kessler should reference the mood boards and reference art assembled during the concept phase. These reference materials were drawn from historical steampunk and industrial design sources — Victorian-era machinery, 19th-century industrial architecture, historical plate armor from European collections, and established steampunk literary and artistic traditions (e.g., the works of authors such as K.W. Jeter, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling; visual references from steampunk art and illustration). Critically, these reference materials were not drawn from other video games, and they all predate the March 2021 release of Shardfall Chronicles.
3. Art Pipeline and Internal Review Process
Kessler should describe Redstone's formal art review process, which governed the creation of every visual asset in Ironclad Dominion. The pipeline proceeds through the following stages:
1. Concept: Initial idea exploration, rough sketches, and reference gathering.
2. Rough Sketch: Hand-drawn or digital rough sketches capturing the general form, proportions, and key design elements.
3. Refined Sketch: Detailed digital sketches with specific design elements, color notes, and mechanical details resolved.
4. 3D aboutout: Initial three-dimensional model created to establish proportions, silhouette, and spatial relationships.
5. Textured Model: Application of surface materials, colors, and detail textures to the 3D model.
6. Final Approval: Completed asset reviewed by art leads, Kessler (as VP of Creative Development), and in some cases external quality assurance teams.
Each stage of this process was documented via commits to the ironclad-main repository and through Redstone's internal review tools (including Confluence pages, JIRA tickets, and internal review presentations). This means that the evolution of every challenged asset from initial concept to final form can be traced through a verifiable documentary record.
The art pipeline incorporated multiple layers of review. Art leads conducted initial reviews at each stage; Kessler reviewed assets at key milestones (rough sketch approval, refined sketch approval, final approval); and external QA provided additional review for consistency and quality. This multi-layered review process served not only to maintain quality standards but also to ensure the originality of all assets.
Kessler should also describe Redstone's IP compliance protocols. As part of these protocols, artists were required to certify the originality of their assets and to confirm that they had not copied or derived their work from external sources. The use of external reference material from competing titles was prohibited without prior legal review by Redstone's legal department. This policy was communicated to all members of the Ironclad Dominion team and is documented in Redstone's employee handbook and project onboarding materials.
4. Knowledge of *Shardfall Chronicles*
A critical area of questioning will involve Kessler's knowledge of and exposure to Shardfall Chronicles. The following questions and anticipated answers should be reviewed with the witness during the preparation session:
• When did Kessler first become aware of *Shardfall Chronicles*? Anticipated answer: Mr. Kessler was not aware of Shardfall Chronicles until after Luminos's counsel sent a cease-and-desist letter to Redstone, or alternatively, not until after the lawsuit was filed on March 18, 2024. The precise date of first awareness should be confirmed during the prep session.
• Did Kessler ever direct any team member to review, play, or reference *Shardfall Chronicles*? Expected answer: No. At no point during the development of Ironclad Dominion did Kessler instruct any member of the creative team to review, play, purchase, or reference Shardfall Chronicles or any of its art assets.
• Did any member of the *Ironclad Dominion* team bring *Shardfall Chronicles* to Kessler's attention during development? Expected answer: No. No team member raised Shardfall Chronicles in any design meeting, review session, email, Meridian Solutions message, or other communication during the development period.
5. Revenue and Commercial Performance
Plaintiff's counsel will likely explore the commercial performance of Ironclad Dominion in connection with Luminos's damages theory. Kessler should be prepared to provide the following factual context:
• Ironclad Dominion generated $312 million in revenue in its first twelve months of release (November 2022 through November 2023).
• Redstone Gaming Corp.'s overall FY 2023 revenue was approximately $1.87 billion. Redstone is a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol RDST, with a market capitalization of approximately $6.4 billion as of April 2024.
• Ironclad Dominion targets the AAA multiplayer tactical RPG market — a segment characterized by large development budgets, extensive online multiplayer infrastructure, regular content updates, and in-game purchase monetization models. This is a fundamentally different market segment from the one occupied by Shardfall Chronicles, which is a single-player indie action-RPG with approximately 185,000 lifetime unit sales at a $24.99 MSRP.
The disparity in scale between the two products is relevant to both the access and damages analyses. The games target different audiences, occupy different market positions, and compete in different commercial ecosystems. Kessler can speak to the extensive investment Redstone made in Ironclad Dominion — estimated at over $80 million in development and marketing costs — and the many factors that contributed to the game's commercial success, including gameplay mechanics, online multiplayer features, post-launch content support, and marketing campaigns.
C. Anticipated Cross-Examination Topics and Suggested Responses
The following section identifies the cross-examination topics most likely to be raised by plaintiff's counsel and provides suggested response frameworks for each. These are not scripts — Kessler should testify in his own words — but rather guidance on the key points to convey and the pitfalls to avoid.
1. "Were you aware of indie games in the fantasy-RPG genre during development?"
Suggested response framework: Kessler may acknowledge a general awareness of the indie gaming market, as any senior creative executive in the gaming industry would have broad familiarity with the landscape. However, he should emphasize that the Ironclad Dominion creative team drew from Redstone's own internal creative vision, historical and literary references, and established steampunk design traditions — not from indie titles. The creative direction for Ironclad Dominion was established in the vision doc prior to February 2020 and was driven by Kessler's personal creative interests and Redstone's institutional design capabilities.
Key guidance:
• Do not volunteer names of specific indie titles unless specifically asked.
• If asked about specific titles by name, answer truthfully but note that awareness of a game's existence is not the same as access to or copying of its assets. A senior executive at a major gaming company may be aware that thousands of games exist without having played, studied, or referenced any particular one.
• If pressed on whether he follows indie gaming news or publications, Kessler should answer honestly. General awareness of the indie market does not support an inference of access to Shardfall Chronicles' specific art assets.
2. "Did any artist on your team play *Shardfall Chronicles*?"
Suggested response framework: To the best of his knowledge, no member of the Ironclad Dominion development team played Shardfall Chronicles during the development period. If pressed for certainty, Kessler should note that Redstone has approximately 4,200 employees across multiple studios and projects. He cannot speak to the personal gaming habits of every individual employee in their personal time. However, he can confirm with confidence that Shardfall Chronicles was never referenced in any design meeting, review session, creative discussion, internal communication, or project documentation related to Ironclad Dominion.
Kessler should further note that Redstone's document production in this case — comprising 42,316 pages of documents bearing Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-042316 — includes all internal communications and project documentation from the Ironclad Dominion development period. A comprehensive review and search of this production revealed no reference to Shardfall Chronicles, Luminos Interactive, or any Luminos personnel.
3. "Isn't the radial menu in *Ironclad Dominion* similar to the one in *Shardfall Chronicles*?"
Suggested response framework: Radial menus are a ubiquitous UI convention in role-playing games and action games. They have been used in video games for decades and predate both Shardfall Chronicles and Ironclad Dominion by many years. Examples of games featuring radial menus include titles across the RPG, shooter, and strategy genres, spanning multiple console generations.
Ironclad Dominion's radial menu implementation is specifically a contextual radial HUD that is integrated into the game's narrative framework. It appears as a holographic in-world projection emanating from the character's mechanical arm augmentation, making it a diegetic interface element — part of the game world itself rather than a traditional overlay. This is a distinct and original design choice that reinforces the mechanized-steampunk setting and is fundamentally different from Shardfall Chronicles' radial menu, which presents as a conventional UI overlay in a dark-fantasy context.
This testimony supports the scènes à faire defense: the general concept of a radial menu is not protectable because it is a standard element of the RPG genre. The specific implementation in Ironclad Dominion is, moreover, distinctly different from Shardfall Chronicles' implementation.
4. "How do you explain the similarities in the crystal cave textures?"
Suggested response framework: Crystalline environmental textures are a staple of the fantasy-RPG genre and constitute scènes à faire. Caves with crystal formations have appeared in fantasy games, films, literature, and art for generations. The presence of crystalline elements in both games reflects shared genre conventions, not copying.
Ironclad Dominion's crystal textures were procedurally generated using Redstone's proprietary rendering tools, and the procedural generation parameters and outputs are documented in the ironclad-main repository. The textures are unique outputs of Redstone's internal technology and were not derived from any external source.
Moreover, the thematic context of the crystal textures is entirely different between the two games. In Ironclad Dominion, crystals serve as power sources for mechanical devices — they are harvested, refined, and integrated into steam-powered technology. This mechanized-steampunk treatment is visually and conceptually distinct from the dark-fantasy crystalline aesthetic of Shardfall Chronicles, where crystals serve a mystical, magical function.
5. Potential Impeachment with Tobias Crane / Elara Whitfield Deposition Testimony
This is an area requiring careful preparation. During the completed depositions, both Crane and Whitfield provided testimony suggesting that a Redstone employee may have had some contact with Shardfall Chronicles prior to Ironclad Dominion's release:
• Tobias Crane (July 22, 2024 deposition) testified that he believed Redstone personnel attended a gaming conference in early 2021 where Shardfall Chronicles was demonstrated at a booth. Crane could not identify the specific Redstone employee or provide any documentation supporting this assertion.
• Elara Whitfield (July 29, 2024 deposition) testified that she recalled seeing a person she believed to be a Redstone employee at the Shardfall Chronicles demo booth at this conference, but she could not identify the individual by name, title, or physical description beyond "a man wearing a lanyard with a corporate logo." She admitted that she did not photograph or otherwise document this encounter.
Plaintiff's counsel will almost certainly attempt to use this testimony to establish access. Kessler should be prepared to address the following questions:
• Did Kessler attend any gaming conferences in early 2021? This requires factual verification during the August 2 prep session.
• Did any member of the *Ironclad Dominion* team attend such a conference? Also requires verification.
• If a Redstone employee did attend the conference, did they visit the Luminos booth? This must be investigated and confirmed.
Regardless of the answers to these factual questions, several important legal points should be kept in mind:
• Even if a Redstone employee saw a brief demo of Shardfall Chronicles at a conference booth, a brief viewing of a demo does not constitute "access" sufficient to support a copying claim under Ninth Circuit copyright law. Access requires a reasonable opportunity to view and copy the protected work. See Three Boys Music Corp. v. Bolton, 212 F.3d 477, 482 (9th Cir. 2000).
• The core asset designs for Ironclad Dominion — including the 12 character armor designs and the environmental textures — were conceived and initially developed more than 13 months before Shardfall Chronicles was released or demoed at any conference. Seeing a demo in early 2021 could not have influenced designs that were already in development since February 2020.
• Whitfield's description of the alleged Redstone employee is vague and unsubstantiated — "a man wearing a lanyard with a corporate logo" is insufficient to identify any specific individual, and the absence of any corroborating documentation renders this testimony weak.
6. Questions about Luminos's Damages Theory
Luminos's complaint alleges damages of $28.5 million, calculated as $312 million (Ironclad Dominion's first-year revenue) multiplied by 9.13% — the percentage that Luminos's damages expert purportedly attributes to the commercial appeal of the 37 challenged assets.
Kessler should not opine on damages directly. Damages quantification is the domain of Redstone's damages expert, Dr. Sandra Chu of Evergreen Valuation Group, and Luminos's damages expert, Dr. Calvin Yates. Kessler is a fact witness, not an expert, and should not be drawn into providing opinions on apportionment methodologies, profit margins, or economic analysis.
However, Kessler can and should testify to the holistic nature of *Ironclad Dominion*'s commercial appeal. The game's commercial success is attributable to the totality of the creative and technical product, including but far from limited to visual art assets. Kessler should be prepared to describe the many elements that contribute to the game's appeal:
• Gameplay mechanics: The tactical RPG combat system, class-based progression, and strategic multiplayer modes.
• Online multiplayer infrastructure: Dedicated servers, matchmaking systems, competitive and cooperative modes, and regular content updates.
• Narrative and world-building: An original story, lore, and fictional universe that players engage with over hundreds of hours.
• Sound design and music: An original orchestral score and extensive sound design.
• Community features: In-game social systems, guilds, player housing, and community events.
• Post-launch support: Regular content updates, seasonal events, and expansion packs.
The 37 challenged visual assets represent a tiny fraction of the thousands of visual assets in Ironclad Dominion and an even smaller fraction of the total creative and technical elements that drive the game's commercial performance. Kessler should convey this perspective naturally when discussing the game's success.
D. Documents to Review with Witness
The following documents should be assembled and reviewed with Mr. Kessler during the August 2, 2024 preparation session. Omar Siddiqui should prepare an exhibit binder containing these materials organized by topic:
1. Ironclad Dominion Creative Vision Document (the "vision doc") — the internal creative direction document approved by Kessler prior to February 2020. This is the foundational document establishing the mechanized-steampunk aesthetic.
2. First Commit Log from ironclad-main Repository — the commit dated February 12, 2020, including commit message, author information, and file manifest.
3. Internal Design Review Presentations — selected milestone documents from the 2020–2022 development period, including concept art phase review, prototype review, alpha milestone review, and beta milestone review. Focus on presentations that demonstrate the independent evolution of the 37 challenged assets.
4. Kessler's Internal Emails and Meridian Solutions/Messaging Communications — the subset of documents produced in discovery (within Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-042316) that are relevant to Kessler's testimony. These should be pre-flagged by topic: creative direction, asset approval, team communications, and any communications referencing competitor products.
5. Luminos Complaint — the complaint filed March 18, 2024, including all exhibits and the identification of the 37 challenged assets.
6. Redstone's Answer and Affirmative Defenses — filed April 22, 2024.
7. Exhibits Showing the 37 Challenged Assets Side by Side — plaintiff's comparison exhibits placing the corresponding assets from each game in adjacent panels. Kessler should be familiar with these exhibits and prepared to identify the differences between each pair.
8. Deposition Transcripts of Tobias Crane (July 22, 2024) and Elara Whitfield (July 29, 2024) — particularly passages regarding the alleged conference sighting, Crane's description of Luminos's creative process, Whitfield's testimony about "overall feel and impression" as the basis for her similarity claims, and any passages that may be used for impeachment or comparison.
E. Prep Session Logistics
• Preparation Session Date: August 2, 2024 (three days prior to the deposition)
• Location: Calderwood & Harkness LLP conference room (to be confirmed), or Redstone Gaming Corp. headquarters conference room, 4100 Obsidian Tower Boulevard, Suite 2200, Las Vegas, NV 89109
• Attendees: Catherine Bloom and/or Omar Siddiqui; Christy Bauer; Jordan Kessler
• Duration: Estimated 3–4 hours
• Deposition Date: August 5, 2024
• Deposition Location: Anticipated at Thorngate & Associates offices, 300 South Fourth Street, Suite 1100, Las Vegas, NV 89101
• Court Reporter: To be arranged by Patricia Thorngate in coordination with plaintiff's counsel
• Videographer: Plaintiff has noticed the deposition as video-recorded pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(3)(A); videographer to be arranged by plaintiff's counsel
During the prep session, counsel should also address witness demeanor for the video recording — maintaining eye contact with the questioner, speaking clearly and at a measured pace, avoiding physical gestures of frustration or impatience, and projecting calm confidence.
IV. Deposition Preparation Outline — Seo-Yeon Park
A. Witness Background
• Full Name: Seo-Yeon Park
• Title: Lead Character Artist, Ironclad Dominion, Redstone Gaming Corp.
• Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
• Role: Ms. Park led the character design and armor asset creation pipeline for Ironclad Dominion. She was directly responsible for the visual development of the character armor assets at the center of this dispute. Her work encompassed initial concept sketches, digital iterations, collaboration with 3D modelers and texture artists, and oversight of the character art sub-team.
• Reporting Structure: During the Ironclad Dominion development period, Ms. Park reported to Jordan Kessler in his capacity as Vice President of Creative Development.
• Professional Background: Ms. Park's educational background and professional training — anticipated to include formal training in digital media, character design, or a related discipline — should be confirmed during the preparation session on August 9, 2024. Her professional history, including prior projects at Redstone and any pre-Redstone experience, will be relevant to establishing her independent creative capabilities and design influences.
Ms. Park is the most important witness with respect to the 12 character armor designs among the 37 challenged assets. Her testimony will provide the factual foundation for Redstone's independent creation defense as to these assets, and her credibility on this point is critical to the overall defense strategy.
B. Anticipated Direct Testimony Themes
1. Personal Creative Process and Independent Creation
Ms. Park should walk the examiner through her personal design process for character armor assets in granular detail. The goal is to demonstrate that each asset is the product of a sustained, documented, iterative creative effort — not a hurried copy of someone else's work. The process proceeds as follows:
• Initial Hand-Drawn Sketches: Park begins each character design with hand-drawn sketches exploring different silhouettes, proportions, and design elements. These sketches are typically done on paper or a digital tablet and are uploaded to the project repository as image files.
• Digital Concept Iterations: The most promising sketches are refined digitally, with multiple iterations exploring variations in armor shape, mechanical details, color direction, and material treatment. Each iteration is saved as a distinct file and committed to the repository.
• 3D Modeling: Once a concept is approved, the design is translated into a three-dimensional model by the character modeling team under Park's direction. Park reviews the 3D model at multiple stages to ensure fidelity to the concept.
• Texturing: Surface materials, colors, weathering effects, and mechanical details are applied to the 3D model. Park oversees this process and approves the final textured asset.
• Final Rendering: The completed asset is rendered in the game engine for final review and integration into the game.
Throughout this process, Park should emphasize the originality of each design. Her design inspirations include historical plate armor (drawing from museum collections, academic publications on medieval armament, and historical illustration), industrial and mechanical design references (Victorian-era machinery, clockwork mechanisms, steam engines), and steampunk literature and art. She did not reference other video games — and specifically did not reference Shardfall Chronicles — in developing her character designs.
Each iteration of each design is documented via commits to the ironclad-main repository. Park's personal commit history should show a continuous, organic development of character designs beginning well before March 22, 2021 (the release date of Shardfall Chronicles). This commit history provides an unimpeachable record of independent creation that predates the existence of the allegedly infringed work.
2. The 12 Character Armor Designs at Issue
Ms. Park is the most critical witness regarding the 12 character armor designs included among the 37 challenged assets. These designs are the assets for which Luminos's substantial similarity argument is likely strongest, given that both games feature armored characters in a fantasy setting. Park's testimony must therefore be particularly thorough and well-prepared on this topic.
For each of the 12 designs, Park should be prepared to identify the following:
• The date of the initial concept sketch. All 12 initial concept sketches are expected to predate March 2021, and most are expected to date to the concept art phase of February through June 2020. The specific dates can be confirmed through the Git commit logs.
• The design inspiration. For each design, Park should be able to identify the specific creative influences that informed the design — whether historical armor references, internal mood boards, Kessler's creative direction documents, industrial design references, or other non-video-game sources.
• The specific mechanized-steampunk elements that distinguish these designs from generic dark-fantasy armor. These include but are not limited to:
• Gear mechanisms integrated into joint articulation
• Riveted plating with visible industrial fasteners
• Steam vents and exhaust ports
• Hydraulic or pneumatic elements at joints and limbs
• Industrial material treatments (brushed metal, oxidized bronze, cast iron textures)
• Functional mechanical augmentation elements (retractable blades, articulated gauntlets, powered exoskeleton components)
• The iterative review process and approvals. For each design, Park should be able to trace the asset through the art pipeline stages (concept → rough sketch → refined sketch → 3D aboutout → textured model → final approval), identifying the dates and personnel involved at each review stage.
3. Art Pipeline and Version Control
Park committed assets to the ironclad-main repository throughout the Ironclad Dominion development period. Her commits include concept sketches, digital iterations, texture files, and review notes. These commits create a comprehensive, timestamped record of her creative work.
Brindoval Forensic Consulting LLC (Nathan Rourke, lead consultant) has verified the integrity and timestamps of all 14,208 commits in the ironclad-main repository. Park's individual commits represent a subset of this total and are traceable to specific asset creation dates. The forensic verification confirms that the commit history has not been tampered with, backdated, or otherwise altered.
Park should be prepared to explain, in accessible terms, how the Git-based version-control system works for art assets:
• Each time an artist saves or updates a file in the repository, the system creates a commit — a timestamped record that includes the author's identity, the date and time of the commit, a description (commit message), and a cryptographic hash that uniquely identifies the state of the repository at that point in time.
• Commits are chained together cryptographically, meaning that any attempt to alter a past commit would change the hash values of all subsequent commits, creating a detectable inconsistency.
• The system maintains a complete history of every change to every file, allowing the evolution of any asset to be traced from its first appearance to its final form.
This testimony is important because it provides objective, forensically verified proof that Park's character designs were created independently and on a timeline that predates Shardfall Chronicles.
4. Procedural Generation and Texturing Tools
While Park's primary area of responsibility is character design, she may be asked about the broader art pipeline, particularly the environmental textures. Park should be prepared to describe Redstone's proprietary texturing and procedural generation tools, which were used to create both environmental textures (including the 9 challenged crystal textures) and certain character armor detail textures.
These tools operate by accepting parameter inputs — such as crystal geometry, color range, refraction index, surface roughness, and pattern density — and generating unique texture outputs through algorithmic processes. The resulting textures are original outputs of Redstone's technology and are not derived from or based on any external source materials. The parameter inputs and output files are documented in the ironclad-main repository.
If the 9 environmental crystal textures fall outside Park's direct area of expertise, she should acknowledge this transparently and defer to other witnesses or to Dr. Lautner's expert analysis for detailed technical comparison. However, to the extent she contributed to or supervised texture work on character assets, she should describe her involvement and the tools used.
5. Knowledge of and Access to *Shardfall Chronicles*
As with Kessler, Park's knowledge of and access to Shardfall Chronicles will be a central line of questioning. The following questions and anticipated answers should be reviewed with the witness:
• Did Park play *Shardfall Chronicles*? Expected answer: No.