I was wondering what would happen if I make refrences to movies and such in my game? Like have cracker boxes say "Soylent Crackers" or have things look like The Matrix or have actual Coke machines. How could I do something like that without getting thrown in court?

I think the only way you will get around it is by using names that are slightly changed e.g. Diet Koke and The Matriks. To be honest though names like that are more annoying than they are worth.

The sad fact is that large companies like Coca cola aren''t going to let us small developers use their brand names in our games.

I remember reading somewhere that when Lucasarts were making Monkey Island they asked Coca Cola how much advertising money they would get if they used one of their Coke machines in their game. Coca cola said that if Lucasarts wanted to put a Coke machine in their game they would have to pay them money for the right to use the Coke brand name!!!

-- Kazan - Fire Mountain Games --

Well, it depends partially on the ref you''re using, how obvious it is, how anal the company in question is, etc. While putting in a Coke logo would definitley get you in trouble, I don''t see that much trouble with including, say, a billboard saying "Buy Soylet Crackers!". I know a couple of games I''ve played have mentioned Soylent Green. Similarly, I don''t think that people would mind incredibly if you had a Matrix-ish scene, as long as you built it yourself and didn''t rip the graphics directly from The Matrix or the Matrix website.

As long as it''s pretty discreet and you don''t use any trademarked logos or brand names ("Coca-Cola", "Kleenex", etc...), there shouldn''t be too much trouble.

--{-Seig----

If you want real ads, and the opps to make money, check out my ''Is Morfit worth the price of admission'' thread. I list at least two companies that have mechanisms to place ads in your game, and pay you a % of the take to do it. As for using Matrix like things, as long as they are not a 100% copy or present the appearance of being a 100% copy, then you should be fine. I know Carmageddon II didn''t get sued over their mustang like car, nor do I see any hubbub from people puting a ''Goodyear'' like logo on their race car tires. If in doubt about how far you can go, ask the owners of said material if you can out and out use their stuff, and get it in writing.

I''ve been looking all over and can''t find your post anywhere. Where''s the post?

Of course, better safe than sorry. Like Whirlwind said, ask the companies in question and try to get what they say in writing. Why not?

Then again, some bigger game companies might just be able to get away with it ... so long as it''s in good taste. Try this link. Can you find the company logo?

Blizzard''s Diablo 2 XMas Picture

You''ll probably have to change the ''Show number of days'' to something more than ''5 days''. I beleive I posted to it last, last week.