Get rid of the "making money form my idea". If it's a great idea there surely are people and companies that can execute it better and use your idea. There is nothing wrong with that, otherwise we would just have 1 game of each genre right? Everybody has great ideas but in reality once developed most ideas are less good then they where in your brain. If you want to get into game development you need one of the skills to develop ideas into games. Like Rutin mentioned there are a lot of different positions in game development. If you want to develop a game yourself you need a broad skill set and you cannot expect yourself to be good at each aspect when others got good at a specific skill by practicing it for a decade or more. But one skill you 100% need if you want to develop your own game for a low budget is programming. Art can be bought and a lot of fairly simple but consistent art can be bought for a couple bucks like the asset packs from awesome Kenney. But nowhere you are going to find the code snippets to copy paste your game together. Do realise that marketing is another key aspect if you want to develop a successful game, even if you game has awesome graphics, music, sound and gameplay the chance it goes viral by itself is like a lottery ticket. Your best bet is to get really good in one skill, build a port folio and try to land a job at a small studio and go from there.

7 hours ago, sailorduck77 said:

Understood, and competition doesn't bother me at all as long as I can be the first one to pull it off. 

This is the main idea behind innovation. The first person to achieve it is the one who made it. That way when people are busy copying your last idea, you are already working on the next. It's like a race.

RPG games make a lot of impact from the indie sector, Darkest Dungeon made a huge impact on the gaming world and inspired many clones.

The important part is to start. No one can partake in a race that they didn't enter. It is difficult like people will tell you over and over, you will learn there is a lot about games that isn't know to the players, but in the end the making of a game is it's own reward.

15 hours ago, Rutin said:

If you're going to go all out on this idea for an actual game, you will want to think commercially. The game itself will need more than just a good combat system to make it. You will need good story writers, level designers, artists, programmers, marketing associates, pr managers, ect... There is a hefty cost to all of this, and you will need a good chunk of money for marketing.

Otherwise just keep it under wraps until the time is right.

I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do.

"Rutin," sorry i didn't get back to you sooner (just got back from work) thank you for your wise suggestions I'll always keep them in mind...

and same goes for everyone... "Scouting Ninja" and you too "Menyo" you are all absolutely right.  I always thinking there is not a moment where I'm not running all kinds of scenario and situation through my head.  trust me, I take nothing lightly, I'm always listening because I've always had to.  I hope you all realize that I'm not brushing off anything you're saying when you give me your input because you are all very helpful.  I also realize that some if not all of you have told many others these things as well as being told them by predecessors if you did not find out by yourself.  This way you all have my gratitude and respect...

Oh, and just want everyone to know all this input makes me very happy.  I always feel I need as much info can get and more...

I will never be arrogant...

On 6/28/2018 at 11:55 AM, sailorduck77 said:

I just looking into maybe a contract of confidentiality

FYI, that's called a "non disclosure agreement" or "NDA". A search with those terms should find plenty of information.

2 minutes ago, jbadams said:

FYI, that's called a "non disclosure agreement" or "NDA". A search with those terms should find plenty of information.

Cool thanks man.

Make a game and implement your idea. It's the best you can do. All the rest is blah, blah...

It's useless to make an NDA if you do not have the economic power to enforce it.

Make a game and publish it. Then your idea is yours.

Big corporations can afford entire departments devoted to patent trolling and even then, very often what they do is finding an agreement because they cannot get their full request through (Apple/Samsung anyone?).

So forget the legalese and make a damn game that we can buy on Steam or whatever other platform.
I'll leave a positive review for it, I promise.

On 6/27/2018 at 10:03 PM, Rutin said:

You would be copyrighting the expression of the idea, not the idea itself.

Then could I pick any book, let's say "The Lord of the Rings" and do my own expression of that book in my video game without copyright issues?... I could call it "The Ring of the Lords" but the story to happen in the middle earth, same character names, etc?

*A bit confused about this subject.

1 minute ago, ramdy said:

Then could I pick any book, let's say "The Lord of the Rings" and do my own expression of that book in my video game without copyright issues?... I could all it The Ring of the Lords but the story to happen in the middle earch, same character names, etc?

*A bit confused about this subject.

I don't understand what you mean by "expression of the book"... Tolkien Estate doesn't hold the rights to making movies, books, or games that have a middle age fantasy setting with goblins, orcs, and elves, nor do they hold the right to "good vs evil themes".

As long as you don't infringe on the IP, you can make a movie, book, or game like Lord of The Rings as it's built on an idea. If this wasn't true why do we see so many action films that hold the exact same concept?

I cannot comment on names because if they trademark a name then you cannot use it if it's within a conflicting category, however just because you use the name 'Sam' in your movie, that doesn't mean everyone else cannot use the same name in their movies.

I would suggest you sit down with a lawyer if you have more questions regarding trademark and copyright law.

15 minutes ago, ramdy said:

Then could I pick any book, let's say "The Lord of the Rings" and do my own expression of that book in my video game without copyright issues?

Ask a proper lawyer if you're wanting to do this for real.

My gut feeling based on what you said is that this would not be allowed. It sounds too much like infringing.

1 minute ago, Lactose said:

Ask a proper lawyer if you're wanting to do this for real.

My gut feeling based on what you said is that this would not be allowed. It sounds too much like infringing.

Yes, if you project the book for what it is and remake it fully into a game, you've just infringed and it's a big no no, but again that's not making your own expression from the idea itself. If you take the idea and concept regarding a medieval fantasy world with good vs evil and it happens to contain wizards, goblins, orcs, and elves, it's not copyright infringement for as long as you don't take IP from the Lord of The Rings. Otherwise the entire entertainment industry wouldn't be what it is today without being able to freely use ideas and materialize them.