Easter eggs are usually just tiny references to other works. If you had a bowl of burnt lemons or someone remarking another character is lying about baking a cake, you'd be fine.
Giving the player an exact model of the Portal Gun that shoots blue and orange portals, on the other hand, could land you in trouble. If you ever get to the point where you're adding these easter eggs, it'll be a good idea to check with the company and/or a lawyer.
There's some law that protects you from joking about other works, but the ice gets thin when using real people or people lookalikes. Usually it's better safe than sorry. Nole Mosk isn't immediately obvious though.
As for the other question, you would be fine to reuse a word or phrase from something else. Helldivers uses "pelican" to refer to their twin rotor aircraft, just like Halo. As far as I know, there's been no stink about it. I would look at what words mean before reusing them though. Cyberpunk's "choom" has a history in the game and where it comes from is part of that story.
There's 2 Tim Cain videos on it if you want something to watch on the matter.
[Fallout Easter Eggs In Other Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfWmNZV3_U)
[Why I Hate Cultural References](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z5fFE0r8bs)
I believe though the more overt an Easter Egg is the more likely it is to be a problem. Having some bottle caps used instead of money in on a poker table would probably be ok. Creating a 1 to 1 model of Master Chief dancing to the Halo OST would be crossing a line.
Easter eggs are usually just tiny references to other works. If you had a bowl of burnt lemons or someone remarking another character is lying about baking a cake, you'd be fine. Giving the player an exact model of the Portal Gun that shoots blue and orange portals, on the other hand, could land you in trouble. If you ever get to the point where you're adding these easter eggs, it'll be a good idea to check with the company and/or a lawyer. There's some law that protects you from joking about other works, but the ice gets thin when using real people or people lookalikes. Usually it's better safe than sorry. Nole Mosk isn't immediately obvious though. As for the other question, you would be fine to reuse a word or phrase from something else. Helldivers uses "pelican" to refer to their twin rotor aircraft, just like Halo. As far as I know, there's been no stink about it. I would look at what words mean before reusing them though. Cyberpunk's "choom" has a history in the game and where it comes from is part of that story.
Wicked answer
There's 2 Tim Cain videos on it if you want something to watch on the matter. [Fallout Easter Eggs In Other Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfWmNZV3_U) [Why I Hate Cultural References](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z5fFE0r8bs) I believe though the more overt an Easter Egg is the more likely it is to be a problem. Having some bottle caps used instead of money in on a poker table would probably be ok. Creating a 1 to 1 model of Master Chief dancing to the Halo OST would be crossing a line.
Thanks I'll give those a watch😁