I am currently developing a game with my team and we’re planning to show it to the public and sell it once we finish the development.
Now since we want to provide the best game possible we want to find about 6-10 people to give us feedback and ideas to improve the game.
Now my question is , How can I use their ideas in my game without getting sued if they want to sue me after the game is released with their ideas, Is there any contract that possible to do ?
" He used my idea I deserve a cut from the game " I want to avoid that.
ideas can’t be copyrighted. you are save!
For extra protection, simply state that any ideas they provide might be used without compensation. Then they are knowingly giving you the idea for free.
But Schlumpfsack is correct that they can’t be copyrighted.
Keep in mind this works vice versa - depending on how much time will pass between your test and public presentation, a NDA wouldn’t be the worst idea along with what wccrawford said about no compensation for ideas.
It depends on the complexity of the idea. Technically speaking, the whole concept of Superman is nothing more than an idea.
As to how make sure any idea (regardless complexity) belongs to you and not the… volunteers?
Well, if it’s not paid you have already a hard time proving things, but it’s not impossible. The thing you must be able to prove is that you were always in charge of the direction, and the idea was nothing else than the result of a specific request.
Mind you, all this is meaningless if the idea is small enough. “Make this button bigger” or “maybe make him shoot 3 bullets instead of 2” are not complex enough. “Add a sidekick” is not a deep enough idea either, but “maybe give him a fox sidekick with two tails” when all you asked was for mechanic feedback… well implementing that gets into the complex territory since you never actually “directed” or “orchestrated” that kind of creative direction, nor even paid for it.
Note also that these payment/hiring process (the kind that would keep you safe of any creative direction) need to happen before the concepts are submitted, not after the fact.
So in short, to keep things simple: either hire the people, or only take extremely simplistic feedback. Ignore any complex elements that get proposed by non-hired individuals.