There’s a video game called Smite that has around 130 playable mythological figures. Can another game have the same list of figures (exclusively) or even a smaller list of figures with the same gods that are also used in Smite?
There’s a video game called Smite that has around 130 playable mythological figures. Can another game have the same list of figures (exclusively) or even a smaller list of figures with the same gods that are also used in Smite?
In SMITE’s case, the characters come from mythological sources and those sources are public domain. However, the way they’re depicted was chosen by the game developer and their depictions are copyrighted by them.
If someone copied the list of characters and made their own game with their own artwork and gameplay and everything, SMITE’s creators could do absolutely nothing about it. But if they copied any substantial elements from SMITE directly, then it starts to go in the direction where lawyers start rising eyebrows. At that point it’s no longer making original stuff based on the same PD material.