I know this probably isn't the best place to ask, but I'm curious. Before I ask this, I want to tell you what got me wondering about this. For years, there was a Sonic comic, in addition to the game's characters and characters from SATAM, there were other original characters who existed in the comic, such as Geoferry St. John the skunk, Mina Mongoose, and others. Well when Sonic Chronicles came out, one of the story ideas seemed to be inspired by something from the comics, so one of the writers, Ken Penders, filed a lawsuit, and ownership disputes happened. As a result, in the middle of a big story where Geoffery St John became a bad guy and there was all this wondering what would happen with all the main characters, they had to write in a reboot of the comic, with all the characters except for from the games and TV shows, mysteriously disappeared and things were reset. Oh not to mention they couldn't say "Mobius" anymore, now just "Sonic's World". And oh btw, now the comic has been cancelled. People hate the writer who did this so, so much, for pretty much ruining the comic. I have a game idea I want to make where the main characters are animal instead of human. But this is the type of thing I don't want to happen. I know this is hypothetical but I'm curious as to what you say about this. 1. I'm not a very good artist, but I would love to commisson people on Furaffinity to draw my guys (no, not explicit). If I use things in the game, and I give credit, but I make money on the game, could there be a problem? They're my guys, but their art and such. Is there some ownership thing involved? 2. What about casual ideas? If you threw me a good idea for a scene in the game and I use it, does there become a dispute since you got the idea and not me? Or is this sort of thing where I'm just gathering ideas from friends and there's nothing to be in trouble for? 3. What about human designs? I'm not going to be too good at designing human characters or wardrobes. But if I work with a person for that, would there be some ownership issue? I mean, I would credit them for sure, but I would be the one hypothetically selling the game. Would there be any snags with that?

[font=Comic Sans MS]Anyone you work with you should discuss ownership of the ideas with so you're both on the same page and there aren't any misunderstandings. There's no hard rule, it's all about the agreements you make- don't rely on anything implicit; plus it's just way more respectful to sort these things out in advance.[/font]

Usually, you'd have contracts set up for any artists or asset makers to sign. These contracts would then say something along the lines of 'these graphics/music/whatever are the legal property of the game creator/development studio' (albeit in proper lawyer speak). That changes it from being the property of the creators to 'work for hire'. Just remember to keep a copy of the contract handy at all times (apparently Sega and Archie Comics didn't with Ken Penders and his work), make sure it's by a lawyer/legally binding and take any other necessary precautions here.