Hello everyone!

I am close to completing my first game in RPG Maker MV. I have heard great things about this website, so I am planning to publish it here. However, I have never published a game before, and I have a question about credits and copyright.

Do people here usually credit their games to their username or their real name?

I want to be able to put this game (and any others I may make in the future) on my resume and portfolio webpage. Can I still do that if I don't use my real name in the game or its promotional material on here? Will I still own the rights to my game even if I say "© 2021 CuttleFox" instead of my real name?

You own the rights to your game anyway, copyright is automatic in most countries. But I normally split the difference and say "a game by No Time To Play" on the title screen, while in the license file I put my real name. Ask a lawyer to make sure, or inquire at the copyright office.

It’s up to you how to credit yourself. You can use your real name, pseudonym or your username.

If your concern is only portfolio, you can use a pseudonym in the credits, but somewhere in your portfolio mention your name, so there is a connection.

Can I still do that if I don’t use my real name in the game or its promotional material on here?

For the most part, recruiters will take your word for it, and if your portfolio is good enough, they can confirm details when they contact you. If you mention your actual name in your portfolio, then that would be proof enough that it’s yours.

Will I still own the rights to my game even if I say “© 2021 CuttleFox” instead of my real name?

You will always own the rights to your creation, at least in most countries. The moment you create something, you automatically earn all rights for it.

If in doubt, I would suggest to try publishing under a pseudonym. Later on, as you get more experience with how publishing works, you can decide to change to your actual name, or another (company? studio?) name.

Hope that helps. Congratulations on the new game, looking forward to see your future creations around :)

As the others have noted, you don't need a copyright statement to establish your copyright. There are numerous explanations on the web and in books (I like the Nolo series), but everyone should be familiar with the US Patent Office site (which is where to go to search and register trademarks, too)

https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/copyright-policy/copyright-basics

but it's not a bad idea to make clear this is your work and you retain rights to it. For that reason, I think the copyright statement should have a legal entity name, whether it's your registered company name or your name, as mentioned here

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-do-you-need-copyright-notice-softwa...

As for credits, this is less important, but I think if you have a credit list or credit screen, you should also use your real name, as those lists end up in sites like mobygames and you want both some consistency (if I go on mobygames and enter my name, hopefully everything I worked on will show up), and also unambiguous attribution if some dispute occurs. That might seem like a remote danger, but I have received numerous complaints about the original credits for a game I did a licensed remake of, and those credits were from twenty years ago! So I am all in favor of credit standardization like they have in Hollywood and as proposed by the IGDA (although they haven't updated their proposed guidelines since 2014).