this is hypothetically speaking, ignore the other details behind it besides my main question. imagine i start a video game company and i found a team of programmers and designers. imagine i have a great idea for story and general design of the game and its gameplay. working with a group of people, there is always that question of "what if someone steals my idea." if i were to start a company and hire these people, how can i be guaranteed that my idea won't be stolen and a member of the team won't leave and sell the idea to someone else? is there some sort of contract system or is it really just based on trust? this goes for other ideas as well such as if i were to make a movie or something else creative.
You can set up intellectual property agreements with anyone who has to learn about your idea, and you can copyright the finished product before making it public. If agreements are in place and someone steals the intellectual property you can sue them for damages and compensation, as breach of contract. It is also a good approach to label anything associated with the idea or the program etc as "confidential".