Did my part and reported the steam page, don’t know if anything will come or it with the original copy not being on steam.
I think this is one of the first times I read news like this and go out of my way to do something about it, what scumbag Terry Brash is
People arguing a lot of legal stuff while I just think this was a dick move.
Same here. Terry didn’t even bother to change up the artstyle. Forget being inspired by something, his game looks like a straight-up copy. What a tool.
He told his friend about the game. I don’t think he would have done so if he copied or felt he had “stolen” anything. If he remade the game with this own code and assets then he put a lot of work into it and he can be proud of that (and telling his friend shows that he was). Comparing the game, i do think the clone is better made / more polished. So he really like the game and made a better version of it. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. IP has to be respected (can’t just copy assets or code) but if that’s the case then anything goes and that’s a good thing, it gives us better games.
Think PalWorld, for example, Nintendo, one of the most copyright abusing companies in the world, doesn’t sue them and it’s arguably a better game than anything Nintendo has come up with recently (no new / modern / good / 3D Pokemon games).
The “article” reads like a drama. The dude has all original code and artwork and a different game engine. The screenshots show a very simplistic thing… you wouldn’t sue someone because their stick figures look too much like yours. If the game was copied that quickly there wasn’t much substance there to begin with imo.
The entire design is a copy, down to the art style and color scheme…
I feel like it matters that he’s not selling it though… He liked the idea, added features he liked and is sharing what he made. He also mentions that it’s a clone. He sounds like a jerk, but like…
In a way, it’s kindaworse he’s making it free. He’s not profiting from it, he’s just screwing the other guy for no reason.
Guess I just don’t understand how it screws the other guy
Ok, so imagine that you’re hungry and you come across a sandwich shop that has your favorite sandwich for $15, but the shop next door has the exact same sandwich for free. Which sandwich are you gonna eat?
No, wait, that’s not important. Most people are gonna eat the free sandwich, so even if you eat the $15 sandwich, you’re statistically irrelevant.
Yeah, maybe some people that weren’t hungry are gonna get a free sandwich, but the people who were hungry are also getting free sandwiches, which means that the guy trying to make a living selling $15 sandwiches is gonna have to close shop unless he starts lacing his sandwiches with cocaine.
Maybe I’m bad at itch.io but it looks like they are both free. Lemme offer another analogy.
Your and your friend have sandwhich parties and one day you compare notes. Your friend’s sandwich is really good, so you make it yourself and add some things. Now you really like the sandwich so you throw a sandwhcih party with the new sandwich and tell everyone it’s based on your friend’s sandwich.
Then your friend asks why you coppied his sandwich and you’re a jerk about.
That’s how this reads to me
I didn’t realize he wasn’t trying to sell his game, so I guess we need a different analogy.
Ok, imagine you and your brother are making a website where friends can post about their lives and keep up with each other during and after college. You’re pretty open with your project and then one day the one weird guy in your friend group launches your project without consulting you. The project takes off and makes billions of dollars. You sue the weirdo and he gives you some money, but you’re still pissed about it. Did you get Zucked?
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Both games are completely free and without any sort of monetization, I do think he definitely should have linked to the original game and taken it down when the original creator asked, but a fan remaking a game doesn’t sound that unusual
No-one is profiting, no one is losing anything, why does it matter?
It says in the article that he explicitly stated it was a clone, so yeah. only bad thing was being kinda a jerk when asked to take it down
Humans care about belonging and fairness. Profit is one type of political good that can be distributed based on different criteria, for example by selling a good or a service or by stealing or copying someone’s code. But profit is not the only political good that exists. There’s also relevance. There is credit. There is legitimacy.
TL;DR: Money is not the only thing that humans care about. Humans also care about fairness.
I guess my only takeaway is that if I want to protect my IP then anyone who has access to the software should be required to sign a terms & agreement that specifically written to prevent this kind of thing, regardless IANAL, but i’m pretty sure this is all legal according to copyright law. The engine and therefore the code is different, the assets are custom and slightly different. If this were a trademark or patent related case then there might be a something else to go on.
Dude just destroyed his indie rep in one fell move. Regardless of what you feel of the situation, noone wants to “talk shop” with the guy known for stealing ideas
Reminds me of 2048 making a slightly worse clone of Threes and then releasing it for free.
If it doesn’t have Blackjack and Hookers, then it’s a shitty clone.
aptronymic!
