Game Creating is a Cloning Process

[Bassman_2]

I was just in another forum and we were talking about a sequel to the Batman game (even though AA hasn't even come out yet. One suggested that Gotham City would be too large and it would be a Spider-man clone.

I stopped reading there. I've had it with these statements on trying to bring something so original that it has its own genre. There is nothing original left in the world until we get to mind-control gaming. Maybe even then we still wont have something original so as to not be an FPS or RPG or whatever.

If games were not "clones" of Doom and Wolfenstein, we wouldn't have the great first person shooters of today (which your opinions on which may differ,and there are so many).
If games were not "clones" of Spider-man 2 (or another sandbox, spiderman was mentioned in thread) we wouldn't have Prototype, InFamous, GTAIV, and so on.

In fact, these games are all based on real life.
Doom and Wolfenstein is based on people with guns shooting at Nazis and demons (would be hallucinations or something in real life). Call of Duty is based on the military.
Sandbox games are based on the regular city life, except you don't have superpowers in real life and you are not a Mafia member that can actually survive that long without dying.

So since everything is based on something, pick your favorite game and point out what it stole from the real world.

My example: Bioshock- *may have a spoiler if you're that picky*
1) FPS
2) RPG-elements
3) biotechnology
4) the sixties
5) airplane crashes that set the story in motion
6) civil war
7) the name Jack

Continue on with whatever game you want.

 

[Bassman_2]

So no one wants to post?

 

[Jaebird]

I don't define using the same gaming conventions and mechanics as cloning. You can't expect everyone to come up with some 110% original genre. But, developers can take the basic standard of, say, an FPS, and rework that formula into something new and fun.

As for the supposed Batman: AA sequel, I for one would love to run around as Bats in a virtual Gotham City. But something like this would be too far down the line to speculate upon. I mean, we could get a critical success like Spider-Man 2 or Grand Theft Auto 3. Or, we would end up with a Incredible Hulk: The Game (2008).

 

[lostclause]

A game should have something unique or just plain fun. Halo's vehicle sections, GoW's cover-based combat, Ac's free-running, ME's visual style, blinx's time controls etc. Something unusual isn't that hard and even something unoriginal done well can redeem a game.

 

[sumanoskae]

I disagree, there are plenty of original ideas I can think of. just because something takes inspiration from something else doesn't mean it's unoriginal, example, spider-man 2 looked at the GTA formula and saw that it would be a great setting for a superhero game, and infamous took that formula and added a moral system to it, also games like assassins creed innovated by simply expanding the technology allowing you to climb on virtually anything

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

it's only a clone if you think that way,of course then your stupid and shall be ridiculed in someone elses topic,this one for example.

bye-bye

 

[Haydyn]

They are not clones. Just games that are created to play just like existing games. Like the way every Zelda game has the same mathmatical function to it. Hero+captured chick+adventure-lives=death.

Basically remaking the same game using the same formula. Some sequels are more like remakes.

 

[Bassman_2]

I don't like it when games are called clones, in case some didn't understand.

 

[TransMando]

There is a "convention of story telling" that all genre of games/books/movies fall under. A game that feels like a 'clone' is an example of bad story telling.

Good games tell a familiar story in a unique way. Halo definitely took the space marine story outside its usual convention as did RE4 in redefining the survival horror genre (though some can argue that it is now more of an action game). Games that feel similar to old ones are more based on game play mechanics and appearance that stick too closely to a generic beginning middle and end. A game clone is a lack of consistent ideas unique to the game concept put on a disk and sold for $69.99 at your local electronics store.