Wouldn't it be cool if the industry had a company for each genre? and the reality is we are all working together through these few massive companies...only in different offices around the world in different cities/towns/etc.?
I think this competition thing would come to a close faster, but then again...no ones ever happy with what they have...and even when it came to getting more money as a reason to keep the conflicts at go... certainly never got any company anywhere...other than big headed egos at large for power and employees who like to brag to say they are the shit to all amateurs seeking approval to join in.
I currently work for a company that had a farming game on Facebook 6 months before anyone even knew who Zynga was. (we peaked at around 20 mil users before Zynga's raw ad dollars ended up mind controlling everyone).
I don't think there would be much debate here had Zynga copied the artwork of Tiny Tower pixel by pixel and maybe got a few wrong so that their game is 99.999% "similar". Everyone would be calling them lousy scum, but why would that be wrong and what they have already done is not wrong? As artists we would say because we were the original creators or that we did all the design, the "hard work".
Looking at it from a real game designer's perspective (not those idiot "idea guys" you run across from time to time), these three guys from Nimblebit did do all the "hard work" involved in making Tiny Tower (prototyping, balancing, making sure the game "feels good", and most importantly is fun), and Zynga has copied their work 99.999%.
@ambershee, Is that supposed to be a legitimate rebuke of fmnoor's argument? You don't have to agree with him/her, but do try to be constructive with counterpoints.
It's supposed to be a question, because their stance is considerably more defensive than anyone else in this thread. Knowing what direction someone is coming from makes a significant difference to how you recieve their argument, does it not? In a debate over which car to buy, you might weight someone's argument differently when you discover they manage a Ford manufacturing plant.
"War Hammer was cloned and made in to something virtual, that we call War craft."
Thematically, perhaps. You'll find the game mechanics are very heavily derivative of Dune 2. What's important to remember is that WarCraft is neither a direct copy of Warhammer, nor is it a direct copy of Dune 2. It may contain elements of both and is clearly heavily inspired, but noone hit 'Ctrl+C' on Warhammer's artwork / lore and then hit 'Ctrl+V' into Dune 2.
Which is why you can't copyright gameplay or ideas, just names and creations.
You can't copyright gameplay concepts (well, you actually can, but it's a hard to prove case), but that doesn't mean it's completely unprotectable. Gameplay can be patented. Thankfully, the majority of the real innovators don't tend to do this because: a) they want to set trends, be leaders of their field and see games iteratively develop b) they're not over-corporate dicks. Patenting gameplay mechanics is an entirely different topic and can of worms though, so let's not go there right now!
I currently work for a company that had a farming game on Facebook 6 months before anyone even knew who Zynga was. (we peaked at around 20 mil users before Zynga's raw ad dollars ended up mind controlling everyone).
They are evil.
If this makes you feel better...my girlfriend got addicted to farmtown when it came out, and convinced me to play it with her. I got crazy addicted to that game...played the shit out of it.
I remember when farmville came out..and then everybody started playing that..most of those people never heard of farmtown. Even then it pissed me off that somebody could do that. Because of that, I've never played a zynga game, and probably never will.
@gsokol haha that's so cool to hear! It's such a primitive game by today's standards but it was one of the first real big games on Facebook that helped pave the way for Facebook games (for better of worse!) I guess if anything you have to applaud Zynga's ability to advertise something that already exists and come out on top. :poly142:
copying is the highest form of flattery. They cant do better, so they take your idea. Or, they just really like your idea so they want to use it too.
It happens in almost every single game. This is a bit more extreme. I noticed it alot when I was playing mmos all the time. lots of them had so many similarities. Like, to the point where some of the zones were even named the same, or extremely close to. (Im thinking EQ2 and WoW here for this example. Wailing caves, wailing caverns, but for one of the noob dungeons)
Look at deadspace. It was the first time I had seen its unique style of UI. all the ui was either on the player, or directly infront of isaac. All the stuff infront of him was to show you what he could see. and everything behind him was stuff that was meant for the player only (like press x). The ui seemed to fade into the level, and be apart of the level. Then splinter cell conviction came, and they pushed that even further by putting all the directions you were given as part of the level. Its not exactly the same, but its taking the idea and improving it. There could have been something that did it before deadspace. but thats the first one i noticed
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I think this competition thing would come to a close faster, but then again...no ones ever happy with what they have...and even when it came to getting more money as a reason to keep the conflicts at go... certainly never got any company anywhere...other than big headed egos at large for power and employees who like to brag to say they are the shit to all amateurs seeking approval to join in.
They are evil.
Looking at it from a real game designer's perspective (not those idiot "idea guys" you run across from time to time), these three guys from Nimblebit did do all the "hard work" involved in making Tiny Tower (prototyping, balancing, making sure the game "feels good", and most importantly is fun), and Zynga has copied their work 99.999%.
That's not right, even if it is legal.
I did, you haven't posted anything.
It's supposed to be a question, because their stance is considerably more defensive than anyone else in this thread. Knowing what direction someone is coming from makes a significant difference to how you recieve their argument, does it not? In a debate over which car to buy, you might weight someone's argument differently when you discover they manage a Ford manufacturing plant.
Thematically, perhaps. You'll find the game mechanics are very heavily derivative of Dune 2. What's important to remember is that WarCraft is neither a direct copy of Warhammer, nor is it a direct copy of Dune 2. It may contain elements of both and is clearly heavily inspired, but noone hit 'Ctrl+C' on Warhammer's artwork / lore and then hit 'Ctrl+V' into Dune 2.
You can't copyright gameplay concepts (well, you actually can, but it's a hard to prove case), but that doesn't mean it's completely unprotectable. Gameplay can be patented. Thankfully, the majority of the real innovators don't tend to do this because: a) they want to set trends, be leaders of their field and see games iteratively develop b) they're not over-corporate dicks. Patenting gameplay mechanics is an entirely different topic and can of worms though, so let's not go there right now!
If this makes you feel better...my girlfriend got addicted to farmtown when it came out, and convinced me to play it with her. I got crazy addicted to that game...played the shit out of it.
I remember when farmville came out..and then everybody started playing that..most of those people never heard of farmtown. Even then it pissed me off that somebody could do that. Because of that, I've never played a zynga game, and probably never will.
It happens in almost every single game. This is a bit more extreme. I noticed it alot when I was playing mmos all the time. lots of them had so many similarities. Like, to the point where some of the zones were even named the same, or extremely close to. (Im thinking EQ2 and WoW here for this example. Wailing caves, wailing caverns, but for one of the noob dungeons)
Look at deadspace. It was the first time I had seen its unique style of UI. all the ui was either on the player, or directly infront of isaac. All the stuff infront of him was to show you what he could see. and everything behind him was stuff that was meant for the player only (like press x). The ui seemed to fade into the level, and be apart of the level. Then splinter cell conviction came, and they pushed that even further by putting all the directions you were given as part of the level. Its not exactly the same, but its taking the idea and improving it. There could have been something that did it before deadspace. but thats the first one i noticed
Notch replies to Dan Porter's (OMGPOP (Zynga just bought them for draw something) CEO) public Twitter bashing of a former employee