Inspiration from Myths... and Media?

[StrawberrySmiles]

I'm sure most people creating video games or worlds grab inspiration from everywhere. Sometimes, if you can't create a race or monster on your own, you use popular ones: slimes, dragons, zombies, and etc. Most of these come straight from legends, fables, and myths. They are public domain.

Lately, I've been noticing some inspiration other game developers use. And it's lead me to wonder about "copyright" or what's safe to "use" or "base off".

Square Enix's FINAL FANTASY series has a few of these.

• The Coeurl is a recurring enemy that often appears like a large cat who can petrify party members. Coeurls first appear in a science fiction novel by A.E. van Vogt. Considering that a group of Japanese developers didn't ask Mr. Vogt if they could use Coeurls in their games, how were they able to take his idea and place it into a now popular series?
• The same goes for the Mindflayer - first found in Dungeons & Dragons. Are D&D creatures available to use in the public?

Are races and creatures not subject to any form of copyright? Does this mean I can take a Duergar from D&D and use it in my games too? How is this possible?

What do you take of all this?

 

[Plueschkatze]

Copyright laws change from country to country as far as I know. And (at least in Germany) everthing that is older than 60 years has no longer copyright UNLESS the person who created it (or his/her heir) did extend the copyright.

 

[Pine Towers]

the Mindflayer - first found in Dungeons & Dragons. Are D&D creatures available to use in the public?

Look for the OGL license of D&D and their SRD of monsters on their main site in WotC. It is the best way to find what is copyrighted or not - for example, you can't use a Beholder, and IIRC you can't use the Illithid as they are.

 

[animaksiat]

hello....
basicaly, inspiration came from any places. be it a myths, legends, games or even somebody experiences...
as for me, im just started... while my idea came from an old story i wrote over 15 years ago.
as for monster... i would say some monster from digimon would kinda cool... but then again, i don't have deathwish by duelling copyrights.

for now, im planning to ask some peoples for the already existing monsters tiles. while im learning pixel art to make my own imagination come true.

 

[Failivrin]

Interesting topic. I would also note many artists mimic each other's use of public domain/classical mythology. For example Lamia is a Greek monster, but the mythology surrounding her is relatively short and vague. Most Lamias in video games are based not on mythology, but on other video game Lamias. I'm just guessing, but because of the public domain source I imagine it would be much harder to press charges in a case of Lamia-infringement as opposed to creating a close approximation of a Beholder.