Easter Eggs

[MobileSuitSonic]

What if one snuck a reference to a well-known game into the project, like a framed picture of, say, a Tektite from ZELDA or a short cue from a random game that plays if one does a specific action?

 

[Kes]

A framed picture of a Tektite from Zelda would necessarily involve using copyright material from another game. I'm not 100% sure what you mean by a short 'cue' from another game, but if that is a short screen capture sequence then you have the same legal problems.

Long story short - don't use resources that you do not have 100% permission to use. There are lots of threads discussing copyright, especially in the Commercial RPG Maker Discussion forum, which you might want to have a look at.

 

[Andar]

As Kes said, your description is a bit unclear.

What you can do as an easter egg is making your own image of something similiar to things used in other games, and place them in your game.
The important thing is to make all resources for it yourself (or have an artist make them for you), not using ripped/copied resources and not to use the other game's names as that might invoce trademark infringment (which is not the same as copyright infringment)

 

[ItzTerry]

Easter eggs are what makes games enjoyable, sometimes. I'm making one and god, I've filled so many little details into random things like quotes, character designs, levels and plots.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Thing with Easter eggs is that they are often a cultural reference. If it's too obscure or personal you'll miss the target. If it's too obvious or mainstream it's cheesy.

 

[MobileSuitSonic]

I guess I was thinking about THE HOBBIT for the Game Boy Advance, where you come across a music box that plays "Singing Mountain" from CHRONO TRIGGER.