A word of caution...

You know its kind of sad this is the case but its a harsh reality. People who can, will steal your concept if you show it off and are not quick to market.

I'm saying this because in the past few weeks this has been on my mind. I've worked on my game project for three-ish years, and truth be told I've been in no great hurry to finish it. Its been a good learning experience. However I believe that a game company took the idea. The game I'm talking about is Everspace. Same control scheme, and the devs have even taken some phrases from my demo, like "Target data" in the cockpit.

I've got a close friend who has sunk a lot of money and time in to a similarly "grand" project. He's not your typical game dev. He's actually been the producer on the project. He recently said his goodbyes to the project, letting a few friends take over. The reason being another company copied his game and beat him to market. That game is called Blackwake.

The last story I have is of just a channel I've seen on Youtube featuring some CoD-esque ac-130 gunship demo.
Its quite high on the search list if you use the right filters. There's a similar game out now, called zombie gunship survival. I think its brilliantly creative however its a sad case that the dev showed off his work before he could capitalize on it.

Ac-130 project:

Zombie gunship Survival:

Blackwake:

Everspace:

So the moral of these stories is: if you are not serious about your project, but you still care, do not show it to an audience until you're serious. There's no point in jeopardizing it if you aren't going to be consistently marketing it.

[edit] forgot to mention that the makers of Everspace are a German company. Guess where the #2 highest view count is from on my channel?

 

Or, you know, it's a coincidence and you're making pretty unfounded claims against people who probably worked on that game for years.

edit: Yep, years. Everspace came to Kickstarter in August of 2015 with a whole host of actual displayed content and clear design goals. You're attributing what seems to be a pretty clear coincidence to malice.

 

Yeah, no offence, but your channel has like a handful of views and seems to be made up of just a series of WIP videos using very basic primitive or untextured art. I don't think the developers of the highly polished and professional EVERSPACE have been watching your videos and getting ideas. I'd say any similarities on simple phrases like "Target Data" are coincidental.

Also, you say yourself that your game is inspired by Freelancer. Maybe their game is inspired by Freelancer too

 

Is this for real? How many ways are there to say "stuff about the target"?

What is similar between the control scheme and yours? I haven't played Everspace but it seems all fairly simple and standard to me.

I've taken a lot more than this from games that have inspired my own.

 

You think someone stole Mouse Flight? Why would anyone want to steal Mouse Flight? Its garbage.

Mouse Flight is a generic space shooter. So is Everspace. So are a hundred different games that have been released. I'm sorry, but you had nothing original on your YouTube channel worth stealing.

 

Idea are cheap, execution is where the money is, I swear sometimes there is game that just pick the idea right from my brain, even if I have never told about them. Realize that you are made of the same influence than others, and with same culture and value the same conclusion will happen, try to break free from that, influence are bad for a creator (whatever people say, it's only good when you pick something "foreign" into something stagnant), brilliant idea in your head are actually not so brilliant is a thing I had discovered early. Similarly as a teen I used to love to joke trying to build the most tropey stuff possible, adding layer after layer of non sense, until I realize people genuinely liked that ... So don't try too hard either, again execution is key, the same concept don't mean the same game, it's call a genre.

 

Nothing is original. Your story has already been done. It's not just a phrase or a GDC rant, it's a truism.

I looked at that Everspace demo. I own that game. It's not called "Everspace" though, and it came out a number of years ago. Actually, I'm pretty sure I own that game twice, though one of them sucked so bad in the control scheme I only played it for about five minutes before uninstalling.

I am not saying they couldn't have taken things from your channel and your demos. Just remember that most video games take elements and even whole cloth from the ones that came before. Steal from one and it's plagiarism; steam from many and it's research.

 

Looking more closely at your other two examples, Blackwake is just Guns of Icarus on the ocean, which came out over five years ago now and they're probably trying to capitalise on that. As for your other example, AC-130 segments have been in CoD and Saints Row at this point and they're generally regarded as fun segments. They're probably copying those instead of an honestly pretty half-baked Unity demo.

 

Unless they stole your assets (Art, music, etc), I don't think taking your gameplay features should be considered stealing.

 

Dude. I'm certain they didn't steal it. Concepts aren't unique, and a lot of people came up with similar concept at the same time. Ideas are not valuable. Their execution is.

For example, this game:

Has a very high similarity to the idea I had a long time ago. Except that they made it, and I didn't.

You're worrying about minor part of designs that can be similar to yours by accident and think those are valuable. Games had drone sequences before as well:

Also, good luck trying to come up with unique control scheme for a flight sim that hasn't been tried before.

 

In 1993, I wrote a story about a magical boy whose parents were killed by the big evil of the story and left a scar on him in the shape of a lightning bolt (on his hand). I have proof. I also shared this story with friends when I lived in London in the mid 90s. That doesn't mean I'm going to accuse J.K. of stealing the story that was never published! Especially since I more or less ripped off Star Wars! And, also, that's where the similarities end.

 

An AC-130 iOS game was last updated five years ago. I doubt anyone is worried about other games being inspired by that game.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ac-130/id422223831?mt=8

 

What evidence do you have that the devs behind Everspace stole their idea from you? Isn't more likely that you were both inspired by similar games?

 

Put the tin foil hat down and drink some tea.

I was working on Brevis before Everspace hit Kickstarter and had almost *exactly* the same premise, control style, ship ideas, jump from zone to zone, upgrade system - even the freaking weapons were similar... Everspace is virtually what Brevis would have been if I had budget for a big project.

But since games like that are essentially inspired by games before them (as I was) and those games by games before them, and so on... There's no tin foil hattery going on.

 

This is very bold,, and to be honest a ludicrous notion.
Is your "game" even really - a game? Is it playable in any build, other than the Unity editor? Regardless - they didn't steal your game 'idea'.
Maybe you can provide a little more evidence of this 'idea' theft beyond those two coincidental silly examples. Two words in the cockpit are the same and people from Germany (population 81 million) infrequently visit your youtube channel.

Here is some factual evidence.
Your "first game" posted on your youtube channel on 29 October 2014.
Rockfish first posted on twitter about the game they were already working on 17 Feb 2014.
Prior to that employees including the CEO of Rockfish had worked on a game called Galaxy on Fire 2 - as FishLabs employees, released in 2009. Might check it out Galaxy on Fire is very similar to the eventual Everspace.

So when did they frequent your youtube channel and steal your game idea?

Example of different people copying a small segment of a AAA game first developed and delivered in COD4 in 2007. Hardly an original concept.

I'm strongly against people stealing other peoples IP and ripping complete game ideas and rebranding them as there own like many mobile companies - but this is just fantasy. Nobody stole your game idea. More likely your "game concept" was subliminally inspired by someone elses creation and you don't even know it.

 

if some one can reproduce what i have done 100%, i will personally give them a reward.

 

This is art.....it is normal that the inspire each other...also, games are art too... that's it.
...but maybe it's better not discharge all the cards on the table when the game isn't over yet..if you had anything truly original

 

I appreciate the honesty and reasoning guys. I'm not going to explain my thinking, because few would understand it and to be perfectly honest I am under no obligation to explain myself to anyone.

Yeah. I was wrong.

You know just because you're well liked on these boards I don't see how that gives you an excuse to be such a jerk. This may ignite a sh*tstorm, but who cares what you think anyway?

There was the opportunity to say something civil, like "I don't think anyone wants to steal your game concept, reasons being...x,y,z" but nope.

I am not quite sure what it is that makes me p*** so many people off at least online. I am not quite so sure what was so provocative about this.

[edit] I forgot to add, even with the thought of someone taking the concept in their own direction, I was not super upset by this. Literally could not care less. Truth be told, Everspace went in a completely different direction than I have been aiming for. This post was about a thought that has been pervading my consciousness for weeks now, not all about my project. Everspace is like 1% or 2% of what I've been shooting for.

The last time I made a post about something like this, what upset me was the work investment. I mean the person on YT asking about how I did everything was kind of irritating. Granted I was wrong to be a jerk about it. I still think that if I hadn't been sleep deprived and woken up early none of that would have happened. I am proud of my work and to just give it away is not my idea of fair. Its my choice to make.

 

I don't intend to play a judge in this matter. But I suspect what he meant was probably just that your game is worthless as a reference that some commercial studio would want to base their entire game on, not that it's worthless even as a quite cool looking prototype, which I think it really is.

And I think people in this thread have used such strong words to rebuke your claim, because it contains quite strong accusations against likely innocent game developers.

I suppose there's no need to harbor harsh feelings against anyone in this matter, because everyone gets mistaken sometimes, and it's not a big deal unless that person adheres to his or her original position even after it's proven wrong.

 

Your word of caution is true, regardless of if someone actually did steal your idea. But this is just human nature, we see something awesome, for instance a painting, and we ourselves have a canvas and paint... we want to emulate the awesome paintings we have seen in the past in hopes of achieving their success and stuff like that.

Sure, sometimes a company or individual can blatantly copy something from an existing product, often with no legal issues at all, but I feel like if your working on something, and a competing product comes out before your done, just learn from it. Avoid the parts of that game you think they didn't execute well, make your game more fun, better smoother mechanics, more features...

I wouldn't be so quick to say "it's been copied" as much as "they had a very similar idea and POSSIBLY they stumbled across your game and took inspiration from it... but I'd focus on outdoing them now. Don't let some existing product stop you from working on something you had passion for. If nothing else wait longer to release yours in hopes the other will go stale and not take potential traffic from you.

 

Nothing to do with my number of likes. Everything to do with the truth. MouseFlight isn't worth anything in the state shown on YouTube. Even with full source access it wouldn't be worth stealing.

I originally did. Then I edited it for stronger wording. Your accusation was ridiculous and delusional, and someone needed to point that out to you. Now that you realise you were being silly, we can move back to being civil.

You falsely accused competent developers of direct IP theft. Amongst the game dev community, there is no crime greater then IP theft. That's why people got upset.

If I rocked up on your doorstep and accused you of stealing my car, you would have the right to be upset. Nobody likes false accusations.

 

Anyone can say they had the idea first. I also had some game ideas, and it was surprising some of them have been used in some games, sometimes there is people having the same ideas or grouping ideas.
You could find Rogue like with generated cities and car combat, Dark Souls game with mechas and planets.
Anyway ,anyone copies anyone, there is clones Rogue Like and or Minecraft everywhere.

If it takes three or four years to release some alpha or prototype (not focusing enought or lack of motivation ?) there is more chances other people will make it before you (i was surprised some indie small team made in less than one year an early access of a complete version of their game ).

Last point, there is room for anyone, even your Everspace game lol
I found the game too borring and repetitive, lacking very different ennemies behaviours and sizes, i would liked slower projectiles you can dodge, ships able to drop colored zone trap that would slower your movement or prevent weapons firing etc ... or very different combat areas, like ones beeing closed like a city dome or some huge underground areas, there is lot of crazy ideas possible.
If you can do better than how repetitive and generic is Everspace, i think you can still make it if you didn't loosed motivation.

This is so easy to do and so true nobody like that.

 

I've never seen you make anything worth even looking at a picture of, yet somehow these other guys have ripped off your ideas... get a grip on reality.

 

Just went to check on your latest video of mouseflight..

I can REALLY see the ideas ever space stole off you.

so blatant.

 

Well... you're upset by someone calling a control scheme garbage. Compare that to someone who comes along with direct and personal accusations of theft. That's why your post was so provocative.

 

Dude, give people some credit. We're not talking about quantum mechanics here, and are not discussing topics beyond comprehension of mere mortals.

While BoredMormon's response was on a rude side, it is still a good idea to listen to what people say and think about it. When you "don't care" about what someone said, the best idea is not to respond (because if you respond, then you care).

In general, when you get an idea, a good timeframe to make it happen is around 6 months (if you're working alone), and if it is going longer without significant progress, it is possible that your project went stale and became neverending. If your project takes too long there will be a ton of people with similar ideas that will have the project finished.

The latest video on your channel is an early test that a lot of people here could make in a DAY. Maybe two days. It is a very early test/prototype without art, so there is literally nothing to steal.

Basically... if you're getting enamored with your results, then you definitely should stop doing that. If you care about your project, pick the work up, add a planet or two (possibly procedural ones), make some arts, and throw in bunch of enemies, fx, etc. When you have artwork, some ships, some planets, and some hud, then you'll be at phase where you can talk about people borrowing your ideas.

 

If BoredMormon was rude, now this is negative infinity!

 

These type of comments always amuse me. It just doesn't happen. At least not in this scenario. First off, the idea that serious developers, the ones capable of producing games like the ones referenced, are getting ideas from one of the billions of videos of beginner "look what I made in Unity!" videos out there is completely ridiculous. Pro developers don't spend time watching videos like that. Not enough time, and much more relevant/valuable content to keep up with. It is a safe bet they never saw those videos, nobody did, 30ish views, especially over several years, makes that very clear. I've gotten way more views for junk videos of squirrels and stuff that I only posted to share with sister.

Second, the idea that pro developers are looking for ideas is also silly. Again self-evident. If you look at every new user post, who is just starting, they have 'awesome' ideas that want to make. So do you think people are successful, skilled developers, don't have their own ideas? EVERYONE who makes games at any skill level or any field has tons of their own ideas. Anyone from noob to vet, engineer, artist, producer, IT, QA, anyone, is sitting on at least a half dozen ideas the want to make. No one is looking to "steal" ideas, they are trying to get theirs built. No one wants your idea.

Thirdly, after looking at it, it is a very generic. One of my first unity projects used the exact same controls, and that was in 2012. I didn't copy from anything that I remember, it was kind of common sense (and easy to build) control system. It is too generic, and has been around forever.

Lastly, it is true that game ideas do get ripped off/cloned/inspired by. One of my early social games was completely cloned by Zynga, right down to the UI, theme and color pallet. But it was also a top game, and huge hit. That happens often. When people rip/clone games they do it because the source game was a proven hit. Why would anyone clone a simple pre-prototype/hobby/experiment game, when they could clone a proven title?

As other folks have pointed out, it is in poor taste (and completely silly) to claim or even think the folks that produced those game were incapable of coming up with simple idea like that on their own, and were inspired by a video that clearly they didn't watch, and would invest millions into bringing to market. It's just not cool to make claims like that (especially in a developer community). Until you are a game developer, its best not to judge or make assumptions about those who are.

 

I am guilty, i admit .. i stolen ideas from: Wow, Blade&Soul, AsheronsCall, Starcraft, Rift etc.. But i manage to reproduce my game equal to this tittles? Heck no(i dont even want to).., so who have copyright on shader teqniques? Game mechanics ?
I think now in 2017 i think its pretty much impossible to make up something new never used before, for me its more about creating something decent and fun to play, since i am making games, not going to the Olympics for innovation.

Did blizzard take idea from old titels like Ultima Underworld when making world of craft? Yes indeed, does it matter? no...

Dont worry Brainee..

 

Either way, it's a business world. It can be cost effective to let other people develop prototypes and do research and implement gameplay ideas and to then be able to see them from a video. That acts as a 'template' and then it's easy to copy. The business world is cut-throat war. It's competition. People are fighting to be the best and rise up above everyone else, taking advantage wherever they can and capitalizing on whatever advantage they can think of. Welcome to planet Earth.

 

But there is a real failure in the business world now days, what is determined as "best" can just be a flop that just looks good but really is down deep rotten product crap.
Its like "new" and "flashy" is automatically categorized as AAA best and good. Look at new movies that is coming out, and the top 10 games for 2017, allot of floppy crap that you can just put a floppy disk. Maybe just 1 game that is worth the title as "best" for 2017.

Developers should really not focus on competition but rather push the quality of there own production. Real competition comes from effort not marketing technique. I see desperation but not qualification...

Failure nr2. Most games that comes out just looks like movies, where the heck is the gameplay?
Business failure, fake news. And now players starting thinking by them self rather being click bate food for the industry. I tell you the steam community is hot now days, people talk. Far Cry5 ? what a floppy disk..

 

Have you compared the prototypes that a professional shows interested in? Narbacular Drop (Portal's prototype) may look like it came out of the Nintendo 64 era but it was far more of a game than the prototype the OP has spent years working on.

 

I'm glad you posted that, really puts it into perspective that getting the prototype going holistically is more important than anything else.

 

The original Zombie Gunship was released in July 2011 on the App Store. The AC 130 game first released 4 months before that.

I'd say the difference in success here came simply down to the app name. People have been crazy about zombies for years now, and if I had a choice between playing a game called Zombie Gunship or AC-130 (which sounds like an app used to run an air conditioner remotely), I'd go for the Zombie Gunship game.

 

Game Jam topic: Air Conditioner + Remote Control

 

People copy ideas everywhere, and who cares about who had the idea first ? lol

It's a very nice game prorotype.

 

His response may have been on the rude side, but I think that was the point. I don't think he really thinks your game/prototype is garbage, more so just you came in making a blunt, rude, unfounded accusation of other developers, so he just did the exact same thing to you? Did it feel nice to have your game called garbage? No, do you think it feels nice to be accused of stealing someone else's IP for equally little reason? Don't think so

 

... there are many ways to add zombies to that.

 

Zombies again ? what a lack of imagination.

 

No offense to the original poster but there are so many space sim type games coming out right now. Game genre's are cyclical for sure. Remember all the C&C rts clones, Battlefield clones, Civilization clones, World of Warcraft clones, the list goes on. Survival games are all the rage, but instead of zombies, they are space planet survival Empyreon, Osiris, No Man's Sky, and about 12 others I don't care to remember.

Look at it this way, if you've thought of it, then at least 10 other developers have. The question is can you implement the gameplay well, have good graphics, fun, and get it to market within a reasonable amount of time. If all you have is an idea and never do anything with it then is it truly yours? I've come up with a lot of ideas, but once I do my due diligence I change my mind because it's been done to death or it's the current fad.

 

yeah and most of does clones failed because they where not as good as the original..

 

Despite there is some copying concepts, i find Osiris looks and plays great, and exactly this is a change from zombies again and again. It is far from perfect but i find it appealing, only thing it would make me buy it would be a long solo campaingn with involving story and progressive goals like survive, build a ship , travel to neightbour planet to get artifact and so on.
I think we could have some great games if some copies would add more original ideas , and make some deep changes to the original gameplay or try to make it different in some areas at least instead of just throw in survival , crafting , zombies and call it done.

 

I just thought of a real cool concept, zombies that are alive and never been infected.. If anyone steals this never heard of concept, I will be mighty angry..!

 

Your concept is still based on zombies used in thousand games lol

 

If they're alive and not infected by anything, would they not just be human(tm)? I mean, I've never seen a game with humans(tm) in it..

TM'd before someone else gets the same idea.

 

Voodoo zombies are mind controlled or possessed.

 

What if we stopped with the zombies entirely and moved on to robots already? Robots are cool, zombies are boring.

 

Unless they're not.!

@Murgilod

Sounds too ambitious, let's settle for robot zombies and call it a day.. My word, I really think we could fit right in at a major company as lead designers.

 

and what about Robots-zombies

 

About a year ago, on sort of a dare, I built an inverted zombie shooter fps where you played the zombies and had to infect/kill the humans. You moved and bobbed like a zombie and it was really difficult to aim because of swaying. You died often and respawned into a nearby zombie. It was mildly amusing.