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[Psy]

You can't not rip-off existing ideas. All ideas, no matter how original, are derived from something and, to be honest, I don't care how original a game is as long as it's fun, and I think a lot of people tend to put too much emphasis on being original to the point that it ends up hindering the development of their own games as they try to come up with the 'next best thing', which is borderline insanity.

[mirosurabu]

Playing my own games is rarely fun. Yes, I may have fun and pride in seeing my code work properly, but that's not equivalent to fun you derive from playing other people's games. The only time I had fun with my own games is when I worked on simulation games with lots of emergence. Or when I picked up a game I made several years ago.

I guess one has to drop overly-self-critical approach to game design and just let other people judge how good your work is. Or something. Or just give up on streamlining/commercializing and do whatever you want.

As for ripping-off, I wanna add at the risk of repeating what someone else said, it's really only problem when you blatantly go down the entrepreneur route of game design and just re-do existing game with different theme and art (e.g. Ninja Fishing). No legal troubles or anything, but it makes you look like a boring entrepreneur and not an honest game designer.

[C.A. Sinner]

Or just give up on streamlining/commercializing and do whatever you want.

As for ripping-off, I wanna add at the risk of repeating what someone else said, it's really only problem when you blatantly go down the entrepreneur route of game design and just re-do existing game with different theme and art (e.g. Ninja Fishing). No legal troubles or anything, but it makes you look like a boring entrepreneur and not an honest game designer.

I think it's sad how much game development (even a significant portion of "indie" game dev) is still driven by commercialism.

[Paul Eres]

especially since those games which tend to be the most commercially successful are those games which the author cares about / the author's "dream game" that they would have made even if they didn't make any money from it -- usually when someone tries to make a game to appeal to a commercial audience it doesn't work very well since most players notice that about it

[eiyukabe]

@Paul Eres that is a mean signature 

[C.A. Sinner]

especially since those games which tend to be the most commercially successful are those games which the author cares about / the author's "dream game" that they would have made even if they didn't make any money from it -- usually when someone tries to make a game to appeal to a commercial audience it doesn't work very well since most players notice that about it

tru, for indie games at least

[The Monster King]

who cares

[Dragonmaw]

“Originality is the art of concealing your sources”

“What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.”

“Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.”

“Originality is undetected plagiarism.”

“Utter originality is, of course, out of the question”

“Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.”

“Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.”

“About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.”

“Imitation, if noble and general, insures the best hope of originality”

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

Just some things to think about, in case you are worried about originality. Even the most "original" games are derivative in some fashion.

[Valentino @ MMG]

who cares

I agree. If you make a castlevania clone make the best damn castlevania clone you can make. If you want it more original, make him wield snakes.

You shouldn't worry yourself too much about being a ripoff(unless of course you are worried for legal reasons, but that's another issue!), just make games you enjoy . Finishing a title is hard enough without setting up unfair goals for yourself(such as creating a completely original title).

[eiyukabe]

If you want it more original, make him wield snakes.

You said it, now you have to make it. Too awesome an opportunity to miss.

[Geti]

"I don't have fun playing my own games" from CA Sinclair and mirosurabu:
You might be making unfulfilling games then - I've been having a lot of fun playing the game I'm working on at the moment and usually will only keep working on something if it's fun to play for me as I work on it. Obviously when you're doing the hard yards coding some tricky feature together you aren't going to be oohing and aahing at what you've done, but it could be a good idea to focus on fun mechanics for a while.
This holds for content based games games too, not just mechanics that are fun: if your adventure game isn't fun enough to explore, perhaps you're not making the environments fun enough to look at, or your maps (or mapgen output for those of us too lazy to get a map format together ) are too straightforward and bland. If your RPG battling system has become a grind of numbers and flashing lights, rip that bit out and put something interesting in its place. (I wish they'd do that with pokemon, I have no fun with those battles )

Making a game and not having fun doing it is pretty shit, so just my 2c.

[Paul Eres]

just because your own game isn't fun for the dev to play doesn't mean they don't have fun making games. they have fun *making* games, not playing them

[thatshelby]

There's nothing to explore when you created all of the maps, designed the placement, and placed all the vegetation meticulously by hand.

[C.A. Sinner]

just because your own game isn't fun for the dev to play doesn't mean they don't have fun making games. they have fun *making* games, not playing them

I enjoy playing other peoples' games plenty, just not my own (and I've already explained why).

[mirosurabu]

I definitively enjoy making my own games, regardless if I'm enjoying playing them afterwards or not. Well, that's true unless I'm doing a lot of "top down checks" which seems to put me at the risk of falling into "is my game good" trap, but that's a different story.