Okay so I’ve got the name of my game. My storyboard, outline and so on. (I have lots of artwork from an idea I had for a comic book once and redid some of it) I’m ready to try some production experimenting. Then I thought of something. What if there’s a name dispute? I know this might sound like a stupid issue to some people but I wanted to get you guys opinion.
I dont want any trouble out of some company or game developer using the name and I dont want to get my heart stuck on a name I cant use. So say for example my main character is a superhero named Alpha Superbeing. And another video game franchise has a superhero game that’s well known but and main character is called Thunderman. But say that there’s a villain who appears in the Thunderman series (say game 3)named “Alpha”. Would I get in trouble for using the term Alpha as a name for my guy since it’s the same genre of video game? Afterall, the Alpha guy in Thunderman wasnt the main villian or a recurring one. He was just one who showed up in game 3. And my use of the name is for a HERO not a villain. And mine also has the suffix “Superbieng” attached to it.
Hope it makes sense. Do name disputes for main characters and titles happen alot in video gaming? I know Hulk Hogan once had a dispute with Marvel comics over simply using the word “HULK” in his name! You gotta be kidding me. Hulk is a common word just like Alpha is, but you never know when people would try to lay claim to it with a legal technicality. Then again, Hogan did rip out of his shirt. So tell me what you guys think. Has this thought ever crossed your minds? Some might say it’s not important but sorry- that’s the way my creative thinking process works. After the idea, the name has to follow.
