Let me preface this by stating that my intention is to challenge myself to successfully create & launch a game on the Play store. The ethical side comes down to whether I should monetize it or not.
So I’m busy creating a game that is essentially a clone of another game (70% or so), and I want to find out from the community if there is an ethically safe way to do this while monetizing it with ads, without compromising the original game or creator. How should I be crediting the original game?
I guess it depends how much of a clone it is; is it just an artistic reskin with the same gameplay in pretty much every other aspect or does it draw from the same core essence but with a decent chunk of new stuff added to the table?
I’d say the content is unique (items, enemies, locations) but the game play feel is about the same. The look and feel will depend on where the art and design takes me.
if you don’t want to share details on your specific project, can you give an analogy? Say the game you were cloning is super mario bros, what’s your clone ended up like?
Let me give you the exact game rather… I’m creating a clone of Merchant. The essence of the game is still the same (ie. craft and sell/equip items, collect resources with heroes/workers) but the content itself will be different (ie. items, locations, era)…
I want to focus more on the “tycoon” aspect rather than the Hero/Questing side of it.
People who clone games typically aren’t concerned with crediting their source material. Quite the opposite, in fact, as they often intend to steal credit for themselves.
If you’re cloning the game as a learning experience without intent to publish, I’d say forget about giving credit, because no one’s going to see it.
If your intent is to clone the game and publish it, I would ask: Why are you cloning the game in the first place?
It’s one thing to draw inspiration from a game, or better, multiple games at once. If I were making a 2D platformer that uses Mario-like world structure (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, boss, 2-1, 2-2, etc), but uses the upgrade system from Metroid with a magic system similar to Zelda 2 and the ability to copy enemy powers like Kirby’s Adventure, I don’t think it would be expected or even appropriate to give credit to the inspiration material. My game would be a unique-enough interpretation of those systems that it qualifies as it’s own thing, I feel.
But if you’re just copying someone else’s gameplay ideas and structure, or their UI and their graphic style… Why are you bothering? Maybe consider how you’d feel about someone copying your original idea and tweaking it only slightly and selling it as their own work. That should give you your answer as to how you should proceed.
I’m not looking to create an exact clone, but rather a similar concept that I feel would make it more fun. Perhaps even target a difference audience. I want to focus on the tycoony/crafting aspects rather than the RPG ones.
Essentially different art style, different goals/focuses, similar gameplay flow.
Personally I wouldn’t feel guilty about monetizing it if it doesn’t steal drastic income from the original game.
Well the fact remains that if you feel your game is similar enough to the inspiration source that you’re considering crediting that author, it calls into question what your game is adding to the conversation. If the change in gameplay mechanic you’re describing is that big of a deal, then the game is different enough and you have no issue, I guess.
But to answer the original question, there is no standard or general practice for crediting the person whose game you’re cloning, no. Since it tends to be done mostly by the unscrupulous.
Might be wrong about it, but I think that crediting original game might actually cause trouble due to trademarks. Basically, if crediting will be seen as implying that you’re affiliated with the original game, then it’ll be a trademark issue.
Then it is a completely different game, and not a derivative of original.
Basically, the way I see it, if you hijack ideas from another projects, but make your own content, then you’re not required to credit, because ideas are not copyrighteable. However, if you really, really, feel like crediting the original, a good idea would be to contact the authors directly and ask if they want to be credited and how. This is something worth doing if the original prodject is small and maintained by a group of individuals, or is a free project.
If the original is a big game by established company… then it is probably not worth it.
That doesn’t seem like cloning to me, so I think you are in the clear. Being inspired is what drives creativity, and it seems like you are merely making a similar game in the same genre - but with your own twist.
If you really want to give a shout out to the original, call it your inspiration. That’s what it really is, after all. You may be copying some of the mechanics, but you’ve done a lot of work to make it your own, and a lot of work just to make it period.
If you’re not literally ripping out assets, there’s nothing morally wrong about making a clone of a game, especially if you’re upfront about it being a clone. I mean you write the code, you work or buy assets for it, the effort is yours, you are simply basing the game design on a previously existing game. Nobody owns game design ideas.
The feelings of the original creator do not affect the morality of the action. It’s certainly nice if you take their feelings into consideration, but you’re not obligated to. If you’ve put work into creating a game based off their idea and you do a better job and deliver something that people genuinely like more then you’ve done a good thing.
So yes, if you think people will buy it, you should definitely monetize it. If you believe your work has value, be confident in it, otherwise, you should reconsider this whole project not because of the ethics, but simply because it might not end up being worth doing at all.
