If you don't know, I've been in the perpetual idea phase for an RPG with animal characters I created. Many of the ideas are my own, but I've been inspired by a lot of RPGs and cartoons and such. For instance, a big influence is the movie Once Upon a Forest, where three woodland critters live in a forest, but it a chemical spill causes a disaster there, and they have to travel to another location to find herbs to cure their sick friend who has been poisoned. In my game idea, there's one main character, but in the first leg of the game he meets the other six, where they prove that they're the right heroes for the world and RPG that takes place. Something has to get him started on that journey though, and I thought, maybe I should take a cue from Once Upon a Forest, and have some disaster happen to his home forest where he saves it. Only this would be more JRPG like, something demonic or dark wizardry. But is that taking another idea? It's not stealing, it's just an inspiration, and a nod to a thing I like a lot. (I could even go as far as to have unimportant NPCs in the game named Russ, Abby, and Eddy, variants of the three main characters in the movie, Russell, Abigail, and Edgar. Their designs would be my own though. All that does it serve as a nod. Even the badger character of mine is named Mikey, as a nod to the badger girl who gets sick, Michelle. I'm not taking characters, they're my own, but how far can I do that? Another thing: I ilked the Felix the Cat movie. (it's a little ridiculous, but the atmosphere is great and the music rocks) I've been inspired at certain elements from that too. Even just words. There's a dangerous terrain that you can't get through in the movie called the Impasse, I want to have a place named that, something between two continents or something that's trecherous. But not just that, even things like story ideas. I mean, many RPGs and fantasy themed stories share a bunch of the same elements already... but I'm not trying to outright copy things. And sometimes they're just nods or references. ' Some of the ideas include: Like in an ice dungeon, I might have them find a frozen key and wonder what it goes to, hoping it's not a disappointment. (Banjo Kazooie anyone?) Or as a joke, one of Shelley's weapons, since she uses claw weapons, call it like, the Wolverine Nails, and the descrption would say like, "A sharp weapon named for the vicious forest animal and nothing else whatsoever." Is that ok to do? There would be humor like that in the game. The rabbit girl character knows fighting moves, and two of them would be and energy fist and a fire elemental punch that are like tounge in cheek references to Hadouken and Shoryuken, but not named that. An optional super difficult final boss if certain story requirements are met. (Like Star Ocean 2) So when is getting ideas or having nods going too far? When does inspiration become outright copying? Cause that's not what I'm trying to do.

As long as you're referencing elements and making them your own, which is referred to as transformative under fair use under copyright law if I recall correctly, I don't think you have much to worry about. In the specific example you mentioned, a nod to Once Upon a Forest with the heroes working to save the forest where they live would not be plagiarism because the plot, characters, etc. are different. If you were to take the script of Once Upon a Forest and change only the character names, however, that would likely be considered plagiarism. Even so, copyright law can be a very tricky subject and I am in no position to give you legal advice. If you're still concerned, you might want to reach out to others who can offer you legal advice. My personal opinion is you have nothing to worry about.

From a glance, you don't seem like you're copying that much. Besides, there's hardly such a thing as pure creativity anymore since most ideas are based off of existing ones. In any case, the whole situation of "ripping ideas off" isn't black and white; however, there are some instances out there that are a lot more obvious.

It's a tricky thing to define. Practically speaking, likely when either: 1. Resources and characters are taken wholesale from other games or works (with no or very minor differences) 2. Or the work is so close to the original that it's obvious it's trying to cash in on it That seems to be pretty close to how they decide on whether someone is copyright infringement, though I am not a lawyer and can't really back that up. Either way, reusing ideas from another work usually isn't seen as ripping it off. Ideas aren't protected in any form: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/can-you-copyright-an-idea

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDtJ7bte_zg&t=0s]Here's a very recent video that covers the question.[/url] I don't have much to say except for this video URL. Go watch it.

[quote="Pea"][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDtJ7bte_zg&t=0s]Here's a very recent video that covers the question.[/url][/quote] This thread made me think of that exact video.

I've got a tangental question. What about in art style? I learned the Sonic comic got cancelled probably because of that lawsuit, and the other day I was looking for one of the characters I liked from that comic, Geoffery St. John. [img]http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/archiesonic/images/b/b7/Geoffrey_Reveal_Profile.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141126205304[/img] Hey what do you know, skunk! And it turns out he has some magic powers too, like my skunk does. [img]https://s1.postimg.org/nq7bjh967/geoffrey_st_yawn_by_nanitecity-d5enpfk.jpg[/img] This drawing is closer to the style I'm going for. If I were to try drawing MY skunk but using these as visual references, maybe to get some ideas or something, would THAT be plagerizing? I'm not trying to copy him, but maybe I can improve my drawing?

That's not plagiarism, but you might end up with something that looks like a sonic OC if you're not careful

References and inspiration is always helpful. One word of advice: variety. If you feel you're copying something, just merge it with something else. You'll find variety and creativity come in when you're looking and using multiple inspirations.