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.
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.
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