Rock Legends and Democracy have both been praised in gaming circles for their originality, and with developer Ciffski working on a new title - Democracy 2 - we might be looking forward to more small budget challenges to the big boys. But first, to stop those pesky pirates, the scourge of distribution...

"I've done most of the code for Democracy 2's copy protection. The original game was a full install exe that when bought, you just installed and ran. In any sane world, that would be fine. But today's world is sadly not that idealistic," Cliffski wrote on his blog.

"I don't live in a box, I know about warez, and I know when my games get posted. Sadly, I need to do something to prevent the rampant that is becoming the norm in gaming."

The only way to beat the pirates is to either go down the route, support your game with ads, or require online validation, which is what this developer is opting to do, we're told.

"I wish I didn't have to take time away from game to do that crap, but as usual in life 1 per cent of people are screwing it up for the other 99 per cent," he adds.

"People who pirate games might as well wear a t-shirt saying 'I hope PC gaming dies', because the number one reason for that right now is people not buying the stuff."

By Luke Guttridge