obivously, the question strongly depends on how original (you believe) your idea is, and in what kind of environment you are, and how much you have already implemented, etc. But still I am curious what you think:
If you have an original idea for a game (as opposed to another breakout clone), do you keep it to yourself until it is publishable? Do you show your early concept to friends (to get some feedback perhaps), to a larger group of people (e.g. on a public presentation of any sort), or do you even upload a demo in early stage?
Perhaps the question could be rephrased like this: Do you believe in keeping your idea to yourself (until it is implemented in solid game mechanics) or do you believe in showing off your idea as early as possible to make people anware and interested?
Probably it’s somewhere in between these extremes, but I’d definitely like to hear some views.
There is a certain kind of person that will straight up rip off an idea blatantly if they can. I don’t understand how their minds work or how they justify it. I only know they exist. They must have no creativity of their own and they envy other’s creativity, it causes them to feel resentful towards imaginative people. Perhaps they build an illusion such as: “That idea was stupid, but I could actually do it better and make it cool”. I don’t know, I can only speculate.
I found one of my drawings on DA once where they had changed some Photoshop filters and actually made it look worse, then there was this whole description under it where the thief was talking about how they thought this character up. I sent the thief a long angry message and the pictures was taken down, but I can’t help but to wonder how many other art works, stories etc are stolen and circulate the web.
Well, Fez shared its spinny idea, and the idea was there for ages, everyone was loving it… as great as the idea was I don’t think a lot of people ripped the idea off, in fact sharing the idea for so long before release helped create a lot of hype!
Too bad Phil Fish was bitten by a zombie right after Fez release and started making all kind brainless statements!
I would probably do what ever is best for the marketing campaign. I’m in no way a marketing expert, but I believe timing is crucial. Starting early can be worse than starting late if you ask me, but thats a discussion for a marketing advisor and not me. Honestly though, if your worried about sharing which clearly you are - than Kalamona’s advice may be best, start small because if you go public you may end up worrying indefinitely.
As for getting ripped off, its possible, and its happened before, but it is an unlikely occurrence.
I don’t care if I share original ideas, as eskimojoe mentioned, they’re worthless unless they generate money, and the only way they generate money is if someone actually puts the time and effort to makes it happen, that is assuming that they’re capable and motivated enough to actually do it.
Let’s be honest here, if it was that easy, everyone and their mother would make games. But it’s not that easy, so there’s no need to worry about people ripping your ideas. Even if they did rip your idea, you’re still not gonna end up with the same game.
Its about implementation , Like we can all say we’re going to make a super MMO FPS , RPG, RTS mega game, but it takes a certain level of skill to create said game . Even if you can make that game their are different ways to pull it off . Think of all the FPS games , most were made by skilled folks, but each one has a certain flavor to it . Like Doom 3 isn’t the same game as Half Life 2 even though they have the same core shoot stuff mechanics
Some people do take your ideas and run with them, IF it interests them enough and they can see how to implement it. Implementation is a hurdle so it requires some commitment to want to go through with it. I think if you’re managing a business then you probably want to keep some things secret until the appropriate time, not that you never share but you use the opportunity of sharing at the right time to help the marketing and buildup. Sharing a raw undeveloped/unimplemented idea early on is likely to end up being a different product even if multiple people implement it, so the idea isn’t the be-all end-all but if it’s pretty innovative and unique I would think twice about letting on, as that can be a competitive advantage.
I say…keep your ideas, until you have something to show. Why?
Let’s say you have a neat twist on a common game mechanic.
Developing by yourself, it might take you a year.
But, you blab about it, and some dev team sees the potential. Zoom they get done in 3 months.
And, I disagree that there it’s just about original ideas. It’s not just about a totally original idea. By just adding salt to a meal, you can make it something much more enjoyable (profitable). A twist on an idea may NOT have been thought of, and may NOT be thought of anytime soon. Think minecraft. Or angry birds. All done before, to -some- extent.
And…the big question:
What do you really have to gain about blabbing early? Is it really that much more than if you just wait, create some solid game mechanics, and THEN show everyone? If it’s awesome (like minecraft), you’d still be rolling in the millions.
This is an interesting concept to think about… I’m coming at it from the hobbyist perspective, so personally share early share often But there is another side to the coin for sure… look at the Slenderman project here for instance. The project went viral in it’s early stages, and there is now competition copying (some paying direct homage, don’t want to make it all sound so bleak) the game and putting their own touches on it.
Now… obviously the chances of a project going viral are extremely low, so this is rarely and issue… but it is something to consider.
I usually think that, if someone steals your idea, you can still have another one, so I usually blabber about it quite freely, but not too in detail, so I have the time to develop it with my personal take before someone does it before me. That said, it’s a delicate matter. Since having an idea means also start working on that, and as jc_lvngstn mentioned, if you’re by yourself it will take quite some time. So a team will have all the time in the world to steal it, develop it, and leave you with a lot of wasted time and small chance to make money out of it.
Anyway, I think that, as long as you’re not a famous developer, chances that your ideas are stolen are low, hopefully.
Not to mention that Slender too seems to have taken a lot from this Ludum Dare submission by Andy Brown.
If you want a prefect example of lose lips sinking ships look at Slender, it went viral before the developer had a chance to finish the pro version and now people are making clones like crazy. Now for the most part it wouldnt really matter if someone knew of your idea – because its unlikely someone would bother cloning it (unless it went viral like that). I suppose if the game was more complex then it wouldnt happen that people would clone it as easily
Yep. 5 teams can be making a game from the same core ideas and still end up with 5 hugely different games. So even if someone does “steal” your idea, the chances of them realising it in line with your vision are pretty slim. Furthermore, the chances of them using it to make your game are tiny. A game is much, much more than a linear extrapolation from a single idea.
And if they’re integrating it into another game, or it’s inspired them to make something new of their own, what harm has it done? Indeed, surely it’s a pretty good validation of your idea if other people think it’s good enough to use themselves, or feel inspired by it.
I’d probably get annoyed if someone stole my whole game, but most likely not for just an idea.
Also, the idea that someone stealing your idea (or even a whole game) means that you can’t make money off it is a bit silly, in my opinion. Take a look at the vast majority of highly successful commercial games out there, and even a lot of successful indie ones. They’re almost all retakes on previous implementations of existing and well thrashed ideas. Super Meat Boy is someone else’s take on Super Mario Bros. Call of Duty is another take on Medal of Honour, and both of those series have had a bunch of sequels. How many casually indistinguishable racing games are out there? Ideas are reusable, and usually it takes more than one attempt to get them right. (So it could be a good thing if someone else gets there first, as it means you can learn from it and make your own game better.)
Sure, but Slender went viral, none of the clones have, which means that Slender has a bucketload of attention to itself, and the clones all get to share a fraction of that attention between them. And if the clones are rushed to market, then they provide good learning opportunities for the original developer.
To be clear, I’m not saying there’s no value in being first to market. A few developers I know were beaten to market by a game that was virtually identical to their own but with a different graphical theme (it wasn’t a stolen idea, it was just a simple idea two teams happened to be developing at once). The game that hit the market first surfed the charts for a while, the other was a success but not a particular major one. If they’d got to market first, though, it could have been a different story - though that isn’t a sure thing, as other factors like the different graphical styles could make a huge difference, too.
Unoriginal Zynga types will only rip off entire finished games . Plus you have to keep in mind that Everything Is A Remix , no idea is just spawned from no-where .
Interesting, I hadn’t seen that one before. Almost the anti-slender concept, very interesting. Though I love watching the evolution of game ideas like that (Not sure if Slender was based on this or not, but interesting how similar mechanics rise and refine over time)
This is a very interesting thread for me because I just had to do a lot of soul searching to determine my take on this matter.
In my case, I decided that the idea itself was OK to share along with some screenshots to get the idea across. The actual mechanics of how I am doing it will be kept to myself for now until I can release at least a beta or alpha stage to the public. Also, there is a good chance that I could change something dramatically in the next 30 days or so…
With certain ideas it is probably much better to start trying to determine an interest level early on. I am still not sure even one person would ever even want to play the game I am making! I hope to get some feedback based on what I have released on it so far to make sure that what I am working on has at least some small audience. If I do not communicate what I am working on I miss out on any feedback that people may be willing to provide.
But there is another side to the coin for sure… look at the Slenderman project here for instance. The project went viral in it’s early stages, and there is now competition copying (some paying direct homage, don’t want to make it all sound so bleak) the game and putting their own touches on it.
(Not sure if Slender was based on this or not, but interesting how similar mechanics rise and refine over time)