So it's no secret that most, if not nearly every one tends to have their games somewhat inspired by something else. Sometimes it's Anime, some times it's a movie, or even another game; but it happens. It's very rare to find a completely original idea nowadays, but I see nothing wrong with that.
However. In BYOND there is the constant fan game problem, particularly a few based off some of the most popular Anime and games; such as Naruto, Pokemon, Bleach, DBZ, and Yugioh.
Anyone who loves these Anime/games that actually do want to put an effort into making a good game from scratch with a similar style to one of them is going to have a lot of problems. So my question is what would you say is right and wrong when it comes to making a game with a similar theme, or play style to things like this?
Also, better yet. If we were to get specific, how would someone go about making a game like Pokemon without crossing into fan game territory, or just general problems from the reminders? I use this example because I know lots of professionals have done this, even a game on Facebook uses something like Pokemon; they call them Mogas.
So I am really curious to see what others think is right and wrong here, and what not.
ID:686408
 Apr 20 2012, 4:22 pm
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Just make sure you have more than one game you're getting ideas from. When you're using existing games for ideas you'll end up taking lots of ideas from the games. Whether it's intentional or not, it's easier to copy ideas from other games than come up with your own. If you only have one source and you take 80% of your game from it, you'll end up with a game that's almost identical to it. If you have multiple sources, you can still take 80% of your ideas from them but you'll end up with something that's not like any of the games you were inspired by. If 80% of the ideas for your game came from five other games, the end result might only bear a 20% resemblance to a game you were inspired by.
BYOND's anime games (and it's boring "original" games) tend to take ideas from just one source (or maybe a few very similar sources). Other BYOND games, that aren't necessarily fan games, take ideas from multiple games. It's not that they're more original, just that they used more sources, more interesting sources, and used them in more interesting ways. | |
There's a difference between 'inspiration' and 'cloning' that people simply don't seem to understand.
People see something cool and want to make (another) game about it. But they're not allowed to outright copy it, so they change some names and 'technically' it's not the same. Except it is exactly the same thing, and I'm not sure that they're even fooling themselves. This is just cloning. It doesn't give us anything new or interesting, it basically just means the 'owner' of that game gets to feel self-important for a bit. Taking inspiration from something is different, and simply means that something you found cool about one genre, franchise or whatever helps shape part of your own creation; you don't copy it outright, but anyone who's familiar with the old thing can see similarities. | |
That's a great way to look at it. I see some very good points and suggestions here, and I also have to agree with you, Deathguard; people don't get the difference between cloning and inspiration.
I'm really glad to see some sensible developers with this point of view. Things tend to get so ugly with BYOND and Anime mixing these days. I'm personally extremely tired of seeing all this "original Naruto game" stuff. I understand that they intend to imply it's not a rip, but I just can't stand seeing the words original, and game with something like Naruto or Pokemon in between them on BYOND. There are far too many hub posts related to fan games for those to leave me any tolerance for it. If only younger, and more newer developers would put in the extra time and effort to make more inspired games, and less clone games. I know that's little more than just a dream, but I can't help wishing for it and doing whatever I can to help it occur. | |
I think our community doesn't know the difference because Icon Ultima is a really "popular" game amongst those on the forums, however nobody brings up the fact their tile sets come from Anime rips and resources that have said "Please give credit".
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I'm all for people making ninja games and the like, but unless they're attempting something new with it, it might as well not exist.