Hey guys… not sure where I should put this, so I will put it here. I have started developing an RPG style game much like skyrim. What I want to know is if I used some elements of the game, could it be considered copyright? I will not be using anything exactly from the game…at least not intentionally. An example would be the leveling system and skill sets they used. I wont be just copying the names or skills from the tree, but i would be using a system much like that. Another example could be the fus roh dah shout. I want to do something similar, but it will not be called the same or anything like that. Im just not sure how far a copyright could reach when it comes to that.
There is a good discussion about this here (legal - Is it legally possible to make a clone of the game? - Game Development Stack Exchange)
wow, okay thanks. Didnt realize there was so much freedom. Im not going to be copying any of their assets. Just didnt know if the concept was copyrighted, and it turns out they aren’t. Thanks!
It’s pretty tough to b sued for copying, just make sure you don’t use any trademarked/registered names or logos or likenesses, then you should be good.
Also avoid blatant copying of screens/layout. So you should be safe using the Skyrim skills system mechanic, but don’t layout your screen the same or call every level/skill the same.
no one in their right mind would want to copy the screen layout and UI of Skyrim anyway hehe 
I actually liked it! 
Guess I should stop working on the GUI for our game 
On topic, a rule of thumb I would follow is (don’t hold me to it that this is legal or correct) to change specific names(You can not trademark things like : Rouge, Mage, or Tank. However, you can trademark the name of a tank etc), pick a new visual style, and throw in a few new or edited gameplay elements.
You should have your work cut out for you then cause it looks a lot like the basic Unity GUI… I’m behind on my elder scrolls, so I had to actually google that to see what it looked like…
Skyrim’s UI was the most readable interface I’ve ever seen. It only takes one glance to know exactly what you’re looking at and what it means.
Unfortunately, it’s also the least useful interface I’ve ever seen, and it takes forever to actually get anything done.
What looks like basic unity GUI? I don’t work on the game in this thread, you can see mine in my signature, and we haven’t showed any GUI in that.
Oh sorry, I meant sky rims GUI looked very basic from the screenshots i saw - not your games GUI.
Yeah, especially with Unity’s built-in GUI