Hi, business peeps. I have a question regarding copyright laws and how to get around them. In the otherwise completely original game that I'm making, I want to add a bunch of statues in the background as an homage to games and characters I like or that helped inspire the game I'm making. They'll be redrawn and only quasi-recognizable, but I don't want to end up getting in trouble for doing this. Below is an example of three of the statues I've already drawn:
(Eddie Riggs from
Brütal Legend, Ratchet from
Ratchet & Clank, and Manny Calavera from
Grim Fandango)
I know sometimes games get away with making references to others during different circumstances. Sometimes it's internal like the Mario references in a couple Zelda games. Sometimes it's companies that are friendly to each other, like Naughty Dog and Insomniac's Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank making references to each other. Guacamelee makes reference to a couple dozen memes, some of which are video game call-outs. Then you have games like Bit Trip Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien and Super Meat Boy which outright feature playable characters from other games in them.
Does anyone have some insight on when a reference is okay and not? Is this a case where I should be asking each of the property owners for permission?
Developer
