Well, hell. That's my game!

So I've been working on my doom clone and had a very specific art style in mind, then 3d Realms went ahead and released this trailer:

This looks EXACTLY like what I was aiming for.

EXACTLY.

Like hauntingly so.

Change course?

Move on?

What do you think?

 

Post comparison screen shot and we will see, but thats like generic unoriginal setting n°666
Like what do you expect when you get your inspiration in the same place as everyone?

 

There are a lot of games that look like that.

 

For starters, I have zero faith in 3D Realms.

For seconds, If I recall correctly, your plan was to use existing 3rd-party Assets for your project. One of the problems with that approach is that you aren't the only person who can take advantage of it. Anyone with a similar or greater level of technical competency can do the exact same thing. The one advantage of personal, custom art, or of investing in exploring a unique art-style, is that it is much harder for other people to emulate. It is more work and effort, true. But that investment allows your work to stand out from the crowd more, and avoids the kind of scenario you currently find yourself in.

I'd say, go ahead and move forward if you are confident in your design and gameplay. As I mentioned earlier, 3D Realms are hardly the studio they once were. I would not credit them with much in the way of a competitive edge at this point. If not, I'd say retain what you've done with the gameplay, and maybe start exploring some alternatives for the art.

 

They have: marketing. And they're doing it. It looks like Quake, they say "from people who made Quake". That's enough to marketing you out, does not matter what you have. Even if they never release, they can and will make people wait for the game instead of buying someone else's.

I wouldn't move forward with a Quake clone this year.

 

IMO, if you have *only* the art style going for you, and nothing else, pivot. Do something else.

On the other hand, if you think you have gameplay, plot, mechanics, and other things that are interesting, sharing art style with another modern release isn't going to murder you. (So long as you don't do it poorly, which I'm assuming you won't.)

 

We're in an age of digital distribution, where indie games usually top out at $20, and are frequently sold for less. 3D Realms can't "make" anyone wait for anything. Not when the entry-level price is well within the average gamer's impulse range. And again, 3D Realms is not the marketing juggernaut you are imagining. Their name inspires nostalgia, not confidence. They haven't put out anything solid for a very long time.

 

Check your computer for spyware

 

Bah... that's nothing, I've been following this indie game, looks so good

I is hyped!

 

That looks really fun. For some reasons the shotgun doesn't feel satisfying from a viewer's perspective, at least to me. The handgun has screen shakes but the shotgun doesn't, that might be it. I wonder if that's intended.

 

Play to your strengths. If you don't have an art team, make the gameplay unique and interesting. Whatever you can do better than the other guy, maximize that. Don't try to do the same thing, but worse.

 

It could be a major positive thing.

It's not like that genre is built for players to play the game indefinitely like some others. They are going to finish all the content within a months time or so.

If the game does well you will have a new and healthy audience looking for more this type of game.

 

Two things...

First, aren't there already a number of other games which look similar to that anyway? What difference does one more make? As a contrary point of view, if yours is good then people could discover yours as an "alternative" to the 3D Realms one. Their marketing is going to remind people of games like this, and that could potentially help customers find other products, including your own.

Second, this is aimed at somewhat of a niche audience who may like a particular graphical style, but are also likely to look past just the graphics. Are the other aspects of your game well done and somewhat unique? If they are, make sure your own marketing highlights those aspects rather than just the surface level Quake clone stuff.

If the other aspects of your game aren't well done and somewhat unique... fix that?

 

You know what, I’m really doing this for me anyway and I think I should just do what I find fun.

Also, I saw prodeus on gggmanlives and do appreciate a lot going on there, but it’s just not what I’m looking to do.

 

Anyway if originality was your goal, taste is probably the worst enemy, since taste is based on what's existing, cobbling stuff from taste only repeat what you like. It's only when you have a new proposition to solve that you get original. (ie have to search a particular "aesthetics", not just in teh visual sense). It happen to me so many time, I learnt to look outside my influence to get stuff that have a minimum of difference.

Anyway my rambling is pointless since you just stated that it wasn't the goal lol, I guess it's more the shock of seeing your "vision" alive that prompt you to post. lol

 

Prodeous looks amazing with a level editor as well.

 

You cannot get upset or frustrated that somebody else decided to make a Doom clone. Doom (1993) was massively popular and literally iconic. It is completely normal to expect many more Doom clones to be created.

If you still want to make a Doom clone, go for it. If nothing else, you will gain more experience and knowledge by making another Doom clone, and you will be able to apply that to future projects.

 

This is very insightful! I have one project idea that I'm concerned is (visually) too close to my inspiration and I think you must be right about this. I need to think of some additional element to throw in. Something that casts everything in a new light.

 

You don't necessarily need "additional element" if they don't add a new perspective, ie a new problematic. But then you still stucks into stuff that interest you. Which mean branching out IS difficult as hell. Taking genuine interest in stuff that is "alien" to you is quite a skill to develop.

 

Yeah, I think I understand. It has to be a disparate element. Then you are forced to think of new, creative ideas in order to reconcile it with your original idea.

 

Not disparate elements but new subject matter entirely.

For example I was making a basic zelda clone but set in caraibean setting, I choose the maroon and the traditional women garments as a visual element to mirror the iconic clothing of link, because it's a strong visual motif ...

Now then I had to realize that maroon mean dealing with slavery, dealing with the condition of black woman, and the dearth of resources on how to represent afro textured hair and the darkest skin. This lead me to go into place I would never go questioning how I do shader (beyond just mimicking surface level effect), gameplay (redefining navigation in space), story (mental model as gameplay), to look for new aesthetics (many rules are useless for underrepresented features), to get a better understanding of the potential public that could identify with the character (which mean understanding new set of tastes and values, and understanding historically why they end up that way), to get back at math which I'm terrible at (said underrepresented features have some interesting problem), etc ...

In some way it got to me to separate being "creative" and being a "creator":
I was a creative, I had develop a huge library to get any creative proposition and turn it into something apparently new, that was the disparate elements and fit them into a coherent whole. It's actually quite easy, there is known "transformation" to apply to a work to get something "interesting", it is taught in all creative classroom, like hitchcock said "start with a cliche, don't end with one". Being creator is all about teh meaning, it's how you get "starving artist" following a ineffable question, meaning mean you are obsess with the fitness of the expression to that meaning.

Once you get into that mindset, you start to realize that being creative lead you to the same thing, endless expression of the same set of meaning, you haven't broken free from "interest and taste", it's all about permuting the comfortable. Meaning can lead to existential crisis, which is where the tortured souls trope of artist come from, it's a place that can be agonizing and uncomfortable, but in which you feel like you are looking for greater stuff. Creator can actually do stuff that are superficially similar, but by injecting new meaning make them new again, they "feel" different, you have actually change the whole logic of the work.

For example, horror movie have been running in circle for a while, it's not that there wasn't any creativity, they had a lot of that, it's just that there wasn't any new meaning. Up until Jordan Peele two movies, which are debated and actually hard to classify (horror or just thriller?) because the underlying meaning logic has been shift to new existential threat not expressed before, despite the movie being not doing any new thing superficially. And you can tell, because the public seems to be obssess with what the movie actually mean, rather than how it look, it has a deep resonance, and that's the difference between being creative (remixing the same values) and being creator (redefining the meaning).

 

What looks similar to your game? The trees? The creatures? The bricks? You didn't describe anything specific.

Without any details of your game, it's very hard to say if it's too similar or what you should do.

That trailer didn't seem to have a terribly unique style, it looks like Doom with some kind of Harry Potter vibe. Is this what you were going for too?

 

If this is EXACTLY the game you were planning to make, THANK them instead! You won't have to make it anymore! You can just play and enjoy your exact idea! Then, move on to newer ideas using whatever codebase you have, or at the very worst, whatever experience you've gained!

EDIT:
I'm actually serious about this. I was making a turn/squad-based tactical game in 2010, and Firaxis' 2012 XCOM was so much what I really wanted that I just indefinitely shelved my idea, and just played a ton of XCOM.

 

I was thinking it actually looks a lot like Skyrim. As if someone was playing Skyrim thinking it would be even better if they had a shot gun.

 

I was going to say that too, at least the interiors.

 

Looks good
I wonder if there is some simple and friendly user 3d framework to achieve games like this ?
I'm not an expert with unity ...

 

Hi Kayode!
You would probably need some asset in the store to avoid the programming bit, and learn the basics of 3d modeling like blender. I'm not aware of you having done anything in 3d, but I think it's something you can adapt to after a slow start to get the basics. You should probably start with low poly modeling, do skinning and ringing, then go to sculpting to get high level details and learn baking.

 

Thanks man
Yeah i'm not into 3d and its true knowing the basics should be a must
I dont want to create Red dead redemption levels in 3d lol but some simple stuff probably not even full 3d but with 2d using faux3d effects.
Anyway thats my thoughts

 

You can then stay in unity3d 2d mode, there is hook in the latest unity to support lighting and normal map to get that, I think unity have entry level tutorial aimed at artist with no coding experience in the new learn section. You should probably check there!

 

I'm also working on something similar(my original idea was pretty much a straight spiritual successor to Quake1, though its changed since its inception), just going to forge ahead. These new throwback titles are great imo, there's still a hungry crowd for quality shooters and the market is nowhere near the saturation point as say retro side scrolling platformers.
I'm not so sure you should be that easily perturbed by a similar or competing product, I'm certainly glad people didn't just stop creating fps's after doom was released.

 

LOL wow
Are you implying all those call of duty games are not fps ?
@neoshaman
thanks !

 

I dont think you understood what I said

 

Until you post a video or show you already published some demo of your game long time ago, it's hard to believe they copied you.

The game has nothing special it's a quake like fps, many indies made or are making such game type.

So it's hard to say who is copying who lol



If your game is already very advanced, just keep working on it.
Bring some changes, change the theme and world background, or bring new gameplay twists to make your game lot more unique.

 

I don't think that's being claimed here.