Is it okay if I create a game in honor of Metal Gear Solid 1?

Hey guys,

I am having a bit of a struggle here trying to express myself as good as I can... But there is this thing that has been worrying me for the last couple of days.

So basically, the thing is that I love Metal Gear Solid. I love it soooo so much, and there is no sense in wasting time trying to explain you how much I love it, simply because there are no words to describe something that is deeply related to someone's childhood. But I'll try anyway and make it as short as possible, so if you're interested (and also a MGS lover like me), go on and read what I have to say, or just skip to the end (the question)

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Metal Gear Solid and The legend of Zelda have been an important part of my gamer childhood. I was something like 6 years old when I first saw MGS on my cousin's Playstation 1, and I was already very fascinated... Not too much time later I then tried it for the first time for like 15 minutes or so and I was stunned.
Then I have seen something like 90% of the game at my cousin's place:
I remember going to my cousin's house only because I wanted to see that "awesome sneaking game" and OH guys was it fascinating watching my older cousins play metal gear... We had a lot of fun (or at least, I did... perhaps I was just the annoying cousin for them... but they always respected me!).

Then, for many years I somehow "forgot" about it (but never really did, I only had to wait for the right moment to have the entire series in my hands and my own personal playstation for me to play the series)... And that was probably the most intense summer of my life lol

I played through the entire series in like 3 weeks... And I just simply LOVED every single second of it. The story, how everything is perfectly glued together, the gameplay... just everything!
I made a promise to myself back when I was a kid: that if I one day would have come to understand how the development of videogames work I would create a videogame in honor of Metal Gear Solid and Hideo Kojima... And now many years have passed and well... here I am.
I passed many years experimenting with the Source Engine and modding (spent a couple of years mapping for counter strike and trying to grasp the engine as best as I could), and then finally releasing my first real project "tr1p" on ModDB as a Half-Life 2: Episode 2 mod...

Then I started learning Unity and gathering as much experience with it as possible... And now, today... after having successfully released my first Asset Store asset MeshBrush I am now trying to orient myself into making my childhood dream come true.

I already created an extensive videogame design document (started out as a badly organized pdf document and grew stronger the last couple of weeks). I even eventually found 2 teammates who are willing to help me out with this project.

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So now to my question: would it be a problem if I created this game very very similar to MGS1? I have the maximum of respect in regards to Konami, Hideo and what they did with the franchise (not sure about those new ones, but for me Metal Gear Solid ends after the credits of the fourth... and for my point of view everything up to that point is pure PERFECTION).

I had already some ideas in mind: it would be a mobile game which takes place high up in the mountains in a secret bunker base. You are a (female) spy trying to find out intel about weird projects going on in those labs as reported to you by your contractor; it's about an eventual terror strike which could potentially ruin the world as we know it today.
You will have to sneak past guards, surveillance cams, keycard-encrypted doors, etc...
I am really worried that Konami and Hideo Kojima are not okay with me creating something too similar to their awesome game, and since I do not speak Japanese and do not know how to contact them, I thought that maybe starting by asking you guys here would help me go a step forward towards making my childhood dream come true and develop a game that some people are going to like.

Sorry for the huge story post, but I felt the urge to share this with you devs and passionate gamers out there and I really hope for a sincere and clear response

Thanks in advance and greetings,

-Raphael

 

Gameplay isn't something you have to worry about cloning. Just don't use specific names or likenesses and you're fine.

 

Hm thanks, I didn't have in mind using any of the names in the game anyway. I am really only trying to dedicate my stealth game to MGS as good as I possibly can in terms of gameplay mechanics, fun and style
So there is really no risk of me having legal trouble with konami for having used their gameplay style?
Like for instance having very very similar GUI (the selection boxes and the minimal health bar at the top left corner, using keycards for doors, the plain and simple sound effects, etc...)... How can I know the "limits"? Sorry if it seems like I am being too much of a "coward" here, I just wanna make sure that I am 100% on the legal way

 

Gameplay can't be copyrighted. That's why there are all those clones of Threes. But this is probably not the best place to ask, since it's just a bunch of random game devs. If you're that paranoid, contact a lawyer. That'd be the only way to be sure. Copyright and trademark laws can get really weird it seems.

Generally you're fine unless you're using ripped assets (which would by copyrighted I believe), or trademarked names or characters that look like trademarked characters - that sort of thing. Even very similar is generally OK. For instance, the pipes in Flappy Bird are apparently very similar to stuff in Super Mario or something, but it's fine if the assets are created from scratch and not a pixel perfect copy. Personally I'd want to change things up a BIT just for sake of variety, but legally it sounds like you'd be OK to me. For whatever that's worth.

 

Don't worry about Konami at all, in fact there are a couple of guys remaking MGS1 in modDB and Konami gave them their blessing, it was going to be called Outer Heaven. Sadly though they have given up on the project and the page from modDB was closed for some reason.

As one big MGS fan to another i'd say you try the MGS games that came out after MGS 4, Snake's story ended in MGS 4 but in Peace Walker the character development for Big Boss is astonishing! Not to mention the game stands by it's own merit very good. Ground Zeroes is great although the story is very short but TPP just looks amazing.

In my game I also started by trying to recreate a game that i loved but as i was going on forward with it and learning more and more i had so many ideas to implement in it that it now has grown from a stealth game to a genre of it's own

 

Hmmm okay, I'll go for it then thanks for the info

 

Yep just do it, I'm doing the same in honor to Tenchu and would love to see your project!

 

Sure, as soon as I have something to show I'll post it here in this very thread

 

Quote: So now to my question: would it be a problem if I created this game very very similar to MGS1?

Well,.................Splinter Cell did it. Lol!

And there is Rogue Ops too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Ops

And don't forget SPY FICTION! Lol!

Oooh........Zelda the WInd Waker has some "sneaking," stages as well.
Especially in Ganondorf's pirate sea base.
Love that stage.

Enjoy!

 

It really depends what you mean by "similar". I've made a game that could be considered "similar" (see my sig) and Metal Gear was indeed a pretty significant influence, but it's also clear from playing it that there are other influences and that we were doing our own thing, too.

It might also be worth checking out the EA vs. Zynga thing where Zynga allegedly made a game using The Sims as direct reference, down to the GUI design and art. That's the only case I'm aware of where action has been taken over this, and from memory they weren't attacking the game design, but the fact that it was more or less a re-implementation of near-identical content.

 

If you're using any names or existing IP, make sure to get the owners consent first, signed and in writing.

The last thing you need to kick off your indie development career are legal issues.

 

Yup! Which is why I asked here
I won't be directly using any names from MGS, and the story takes place in another universe and another time we could say... I just think that the GUI and the gameplay style will be very similar.