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[Smithy]

 Deus Ex clone 

[SirNiko]

All indie games are clones of all other indie games.

[DavidCaruso]

Deus Ex clone  

Man, I wish the world had more Deus Ex clones.

[Samtagonist]

Man, I wish the world had more Deus Ex clones.

It's looking like the Hitman series is being steered into a very Human Revolution direction from what I'm seeing. 

[Fission Mailed]

But in FortressCraft you can get  your own speshulized xbox live avatar!!!!!

[1982]

Minecraft really NEEDS to be cloned immediately. There has to be Minecraft FPS shooter, which has ALL the current features of MC but also PvP/PvAI action with firearms, satchel charges, landmines, grenades, artillery, etc etc. MC would be perfect wargame with fortress and factory construction, mechanical (railways) logistics, strategies, you name it. It would be true dynamic battle and war simulation. Jesus Notch won't make this, so there has to be someone somewhere to step up and clone the damn thing.

Sidenote: Ace of Spades is very arcade version of this, and even it is super fun.

[JWK5]

[Zaphos]

Minecraft really NEEDS to be cloned immediately. There has to be Minecraft FPS shooter, which has ALL the current features of MC but also [etc]. Jesus Notch won't make this, so there has to be someone somewhere to step up and clone the damn thing.

That sounds more suitable for a mod than a clone, possibly?

[1982]

Minecraft really NEEDS to be cloned immediately. There has to be Minecraft FPS shooter, which has ALL the current features of MC but also [etc]. Jesus Notch won't make this, so there has to be someone somewhere to step up and clone the damn thing.

That sounds more suitable for a mod than a clone, possibly?

What I've come across, you cant quite mod that at least yet(?). I think such changes needs to hassle with source code.

[eld]

Minecraft really NEEDS to be cloned immediately. There has to be Minecraft FPS shooter, which has ALL the current features of MC but also [etc]. Jesus Notch won't make this, so there has to be someone somewhere to step up and clone the damn thing.

That sounds more suitable for a mod than a clone, possibly?

What I've come across, you cant quite mod that at least yet(?). I think such changes needs to hassle with source code.

The sourcecode of minecraft is unofficially widely available, and in the future it'll be unobfuscated for official modding.

But if people went that far it wouldn't be a clone anymore, ace of spades is a first person shooter with a blocky reshapeable world.

[Nuprahtor]

A bit offtopic, but how about a Cave Story "metroidvania" rip-offs?

[marcus]

Personally, I think that people are generally fine with cloning for good reason. When it comes to mechanics, it seems to me as if 99% of games (indie as well as mainstream) do not really bring anything new to the table in terms of mechanics, and I don't just mean coming up with a completely new concept but even combining pre-existing mechanics in novel ways - most just use a template somebody else came up with. 99% of these "mechanics clones" don't get called out on this - it's just when somebody clones a more recently "discovered" set of mechanics that people seem to get upset. I mean, look at the droves of roguelikes about. I'm no expert, but the absolute bulk of them seem to play out pretty uniformly to me.

Personally, I don't think this distinction between "everybody else has already copied this to death, so it's fine" and "nobody else has copied this yet, so this is morally reprehensible" is really fair. If MineCraft had been a 20 year old game, had people been so bothered? I guess the real problem is perhaps whether or not somebody is making money at the expense of somebody else..?

(disclaimer: I haven't played any of the games the OP listed)

[st33d]

Most games start as clones, but do not end as clones. They take genetic material from other games and become part of a genre or a new mechanic entirely. Healthy games.

A game that finishes as a clone is an inbred game, a spawn of only itself.

A cripple, dribbling through its malformed face and seeking the ruin of its more perfect genetic template.

[TeeGee]

Personally, I don't think this distinction between "everybody else has already copied this to death, so it's fine" and "nobody else has copied this yet, so this is morally reprehensible" is really fair. If MineCraft had been a 20 year old game, had people been so bothered?

This is a very good observation. When a new metroidvania pops out on TIGS, everyone gets excited, even though it's a clear clone of certain two games. It's even in the name. When a Minecraft clone appears, it inevitably starts a shit storm. It's kinda weird, as they are on the same level creativity-wise. The only difference being that one is an established "genre" at this point, while the other is relatively fresh.

It's really hard to tell "good" cloning from "bad" cloning. Everything we do as humans is rooted in our culture and what we already know. Be it art, science or games. Iteration is what kinda makes this whole progress thing going.

I really only get angry at direct rip-offs. Like when some scumbag steals the assets or just makes something that looks exactly the same, and publishes it on the iOS for a quick buck.

[C.A. Sinner]

Personally, I don't think this distinction between "everybody else has already copied this to death, so it's fine" and "nobody else has copied this yet, so this is morally reprehensible" is really fair.

I think it's very fair because you're competing with your source material while it's still new. Clones are by definition not creative and are often made purely to cash in on a current trend. I find clones, especially of new games, morally reprehensible because I find uncreative games made solely for profit morally reprehensible.

There is a marked distinction between a game in the same genre and a clone which we've already discussed. Cave Story is a "clone" of Metroid in the same way that Halo is a "clone" of Doom (i.e. not at all).