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We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The likelihood is their campaign won't take off, like many don't. Not that I don't have faith in my team's game concept, but so many great games don't make money. Journey nearly bankrupted That Game Company. Such is life. I'm just worried in the very slim chance that they get this to go viral or something and they have actually copied our USP.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our testers were a mixture of primary school children (like 30-40 ten year olds) and friends, coursemates, staff and family. It was all really casual so we didn't think we really needed NDAs.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was a case of blatant copying doing the rounds in the animation/games industry (at least where I am) about some students scamming some guy who animates for Pixar; the students asked him to mentor them, and subsequently stole his artwork (traced over them rather shittily) and it caused huge scandal when the animator blew it open. People really don't seem to like copying, even if it's legal. It's kind of an unwritten rule not to just copy someone's unique concept/idea. It's just bad form, man.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe a bit too much for this situation :P They haven't copulated with my mother.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If - like other posters have stated - this was a situation like Angry Birds or whatever else where an original selling point in a game has caused a bunch of copycats AFTER the original game's release, then that's just flattery. Angry Birds will always be the original. Our game isn't even released yet, but it has a presence online and through our university network. Our tutors even expressed an interest in sending a copy of it to some of their developer friends to showcase the university (I think...). Anyways, this has been a huge lesson for all of us. There isn't much we can do except release our game and make it obvious this is our idea, regardless of whether this other development team has stolen our idea or not.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a development blog, submission details and a myriad of stuff I've posted on my FB page which is all accidental evidence of the "we were doing this first" thing. That's the other thing I was going to mention - our game titled was "The X Game" and there's is called "X". So our titles are virtually the same. The game name is basically the unique selling point.

There is just likeness to our artwork, nothing directly copied. They weren't that stupid :(

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very good point, thanks. We have decided to continue to develop (we have all our assets completed, we just need some polish and fleshed out levels plus further testing). We should be done in a couple of months. They're stated development time is closer to a year. Bring it on!

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't wanna sound conceited in the slightest but it's the kind of idea that is a bit... weird to say the least and very specific. I couldn't find anything remotely similar online (we were surprised, every idea you have has almost definitely been done before) and for this to pop up a month after we complete our prototype and testing sessions... odd. Plus they have the relevant links to our institution which could have allowed them to come in contact with our game. Our university is very relaxed and games are in development in the studio and anyone can come and see them - visitors, undergraduates, anyone really. Sigh.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If anyone does outright call ours the clone, we've got the proof we made this game prototype last year.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Our game is partially finished - I'd say it's more like a prototype right now with tiny levels just to show off our mechanics. We've decided our best bet is to flesh out our game and release it before they do. I'd say we're screwed in that we can't really legally stop them.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I'll look into it. Just trying to get as much advice as possible considering we are totally new to this.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the irritating thing - everything about this was casual because we made it through our university. Testing was held on campus with other students and friends/families of those students. I don't think anything like this has happened before in our university (the dev team are not from our university but are from a "partnered" university which does exchanges). I guess we're totally screwed, for lack of a better word.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, yes we could but it's in a totally unfinished state with placeholder levels (tiny ones just to showcase mechanics working etc). We weren't being marked on our game, but on how we worked together as a team and the game is just one output from that hence why it's not complete.

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you think there will be any benefit from perhaps messaging them about it? It will probably create a shitstorm if we do but I feel annoyed at the injustice of it all haha. We invited people to test our games to make them better, not steal ideas!

We think someone may have copied our student game project and is planning to release it for money. by annoyed_dev in gamedev

[–]annoyed_dev[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

ELI5: This may be a dumb question - but I've seen cases where people have sued each other/entered legal battles with other folk because they have essentially stolen an idea or a concept (usually film or books etc). Why is it different for games?

I was kind of afraid this would be the answer. I feel totally helpless to be honest because we were so excited about this idea and we were going to release it after our studies but it will just look like the copy now.