What Makes a Game a Clone
Hi.
Lately, I've been seeing people shouting this game is a clone left and right, and it's made me wonder what people define as a clone. I'm going to start this off by going into my opinion in great depth, so if you don't care for my opinions feel free to skip past my post.
Personally, I think a clone is sort of like a rip-off. A rip-off steals concepts from a game, but it doesn't copy said game point for point. For example, Manamon is a rip-off of Pokémon. It's a game where you catch creatures, train them up, and use them to fight other creatures. The project name, item names, and story are all different, (even if very loosely different), but its core concept is the exact same as Pokémon. Granted, this isn't to say Manamon is a bad game; I happen to really like the game and have played it for hours before. Just because a game is a rip-off of another game doesn't mean it's bad.
A clone is pretty much a direct copy of a game. The story elements and game-play mechanics are exactly the same. I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that in the Audio Gaming Community if I’m being honest, and if I have I can't think of an example off the top of my head right now. Like rip-offs, clones aren’t necessarily a bad thing. If a regular user decides to remake a game for another platform with developer permission, that’s perfectly fine.
Rip-offs and clones are very different from modified source code. These are games that are made using the source of an already existing game. The Killer is a very good example of this. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
So, what makes clones or modified-sourced games a bad thing? The more obvious answer is if you don’t have permission to use that games exact concept or source, but of course there’s a lot more to that. What if the developer released the source code to a game with the intent of allowing people to do with it what they please, but then changed their mind at a much later date and took it down? I am of course referring to Zombie Arena and Zombie War when I pose this question. Yes, I am referring to this topic that was just closed, in fact this was the topic that inspired me to write this one. When people used the source code for Ultra Power, that was wrong, because Mason did not give the public permission to use that code. Ultra-Power was always intended to be a closed-sourced game. However, Zombie War was not. Mason intentionally released the code for people to do with as they pleased. You can’t just come in and say I changed my mind on a decision like that. You made the bed; you lie in it. Someone could argue the same for Ultra Power, and while I do think the way Mason handled that whole situation was less than desirable, that doesn’t change the fact that people weren’t supposed to own that source code. All bets are off the second you declare your source code opened to the public.
Now this is not to say that I think the banning of storm_crate was unjustified, because it wasn’t. Making alternate accounts in an attempt to skirt a ban is a clear violation of the rules on this forum, so he had it coming from the get-go. However, that game he released - and I do use that term loosely - was not in violation of the rules, because Mason declared it open-sourced.
Please keep in mind that I’m not saying all this in an attempt to fight the mods; I respect the dedication the team has with trying to keep this forum in tiptop shape. I’m simply trying to state my opinion on this matter. In addition, I feel the discussion of what is and isn’t a clone needs to take place, because senselessly shouting out “OMG OMG clone game clone game close delete ban!” is not fixing or accomplishing anything, besides annoying other forumites around them and possibly chasing away mainstream developers because of all the inn-fighting going on.
With all this out of the way, I shall hand the rains over to the rest of you guys to discuss; although I will be chiming in of course.
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