Someone made the same game. But one month earlier... what to do?

eimie

Member
Hello, everyone,
I'm a little at a loss right now:

About a month ago I released the game Sticky Faces. This is a puzzle game in which the goal is to connect different characters with each other and finally fill a target area.

Here is the thread from the forum: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/sticky-faces.87421/

I was very happy with my work and found the game concept really good and innovative. Therefore I started to develop an extended version about a week ago: more levels, additional game elements and so on.

A few minutes ago (plus the time to write this post) I found this video about the 2021 GMTK Jam:

Game number two is called Sleepy Blocks. It was released about two months ago and, apart from a few minor details and another art style, it is exactly the same game.

If I hadn't developed it myself, I'd assume Sticky Faces was a ripoff from Sleepy Blocks. Even the name is pretty similar ... 😰

Now I'm at a point where I honestly don't know if I should continue with the Extended Version of Sticky Faces at all.

What would you do? Thanks for your opinions. 😞

Edit: I decided to take my game down temporarily until I know how to proceed. You can reach it via eimie.itch.io/sticky-faces, but you will need a password: sticky
 
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HeadlessOne

Member
Hey Eimie,

There were 5,817 entries to that game jam alone, 5,329 the year before 2,590 the year before that... itch.io has over 436k games on it. do you really think they are all unique ideas?
Even in that video he said "this year we saw a whole bunch of puzzlers where blocks join together".

When it comes to puzzle games with simple easy to understand mechanics and simple graphics it is going to be pretty rare that you are not going to be similar to something that already exists... i mean candy crush is just basically just reskinned bejeweled and it was one of the most popular games on the app store at one point so don't be discouraged, just go out there and make it the best of the bunch.

Even triple A games suffer from this... take a look at youtube reviews for pretty much any half decent 3d game with a character that has real time swingy weapon(sword, axe,etc) combat and i bet you half the reviewers at some point say "like dark souls"

don't give up just because you assume people will call you a rip off.

i think the only reason this kind of thing would cause me to re-think working on the game was if i was working more as a commercial entity trying to make the game commercially viable... knowing there are many competitors in the same space (especially if you are aware that they have significantly more resources then you) might make you think that its not worth investing the time into a product that might get lost in an overcrowded market.
 

eimie

Member
Thank you for your detailed answer and the kind words.

Well, I actually thought about offering the extended version as a desktop download for a fee and using the current version as a kind of demo. But I didn't expect any significant profit anyway.

After sleeping on it for a night, the matter seems to me a little more relaxed than yesterday. In the video itself, you can see games with a similar concept right from the start. So the idea doesn't seem to be THAT new after all.

But my problem is that Sleepy Blocks and Sticky Faces are actually amazingly similar. The sleeping blocks or faces, the almost same name and release times that downright scream for rip-off ... and I just don't want to be that guy who pulled off another indie dev. Somehow it makes a difference to me whether you clone a well-known game or a small title. Even if it's not a clone at all, but a really crappy coincidence. 😞

I am definitely open to further suggestions and will decide in the next few days how to proceed with Sticky Faces.
 
I am definitely open to further suggestions and will decide in the next few days how to proceed with Sticky Faces.
You could try contact the other developer directly. They (might) not believe your story.. at least not 100%, but it's a good place to start; let them find out from your own mouth, perhaps you can work out something with leaves you both happy.

I think your game is well designed; you should be proud of it. I had tried it out the other day, and it's a polished little gem. I'm sure you'll find a good working solution.
 

eimie

Member
You could try contact the other developer directly. They (might) not believe your story.. at least not 100%, but it's a good place to start; let them find out from your own mouth, perhaps you can work out something with leaves you both happy.
I've already thought about that. But you named the problem: nobody will believe this story. And that's exactly what will always stick to this game. And that sucks. 😞

I have no problem if someone says Irrlicht Apprentice was a Sokoban clone because it's true. But I'm not in the mood to pretend Sleepy Blocks doesn't exist, nor to lie that it has been inspiration for Sticky Faces because neither is true.

I have therefore decided to keep the game semi-public for the next time: it will only be accessible via the link in the forum and with the password given there. So it is out of the race, but still available for those interested.

Maybe I'll do some kind of re-release in the future when some time has passed and the other game had enough time to spread and succeed. Possibly even in the form of an extended version. That seems like the most elegant reaction at the moment. In the meantime, I'll take care of other projects. :)

Thank you both for your support!
 

woods

Member
this would be a good spot for a dev log to come into play ;o)
you dont have to document EVERYTHING.. but a running log of your project is definitely a good idea..

start date, core concepts, basic overview, etc..
daily, weekly, monthly, when i get around to working on it, etc... updates to your progress may be helpful



build a timeline as your project grows.. now you have a lil more "backup" when it comes to who made what when
 

eimie

Member
That's a really good suggestion. A while ago I actually started tracking the progress of bigger games on Twitter, and maybe I'll expand that to smaller games as well.

But in this case a dev log would honestly not have helped as I made the game in a couple of days. Sleepy Blocks definitely existed two or three weeks before Sticky Faces was even the start of an idea in my head and I'm pretty sure there could be more games that work similarly and are even older 😅. I think it's like HeadlessOne said: the odds that someone made a similar game are pretty high for such simple concepts, even if they feel fresh and unique. I also think that's ok. Only the stylistic similarities between the two games and the short time difference are just really big crap in this case.

Fortunately, however, I can say that after the initial shock I picked myself up again and can honestly be happy for the maker of Sleepy Blocks. It's time to look ahead again :cool:
 
If I were you I won't care about if it has been made by someone else or not, unless it has been copyrighted. But making a clone game that's not stealing their code and assets is nothing wrong. And you know full well, neither you nor that person was aware both parties was making a similar game, likely you both made a clone of an existing game because both were inspired by it. If you feel the name sounds similar, which I feel is not. Well, since his been made public, if you feel necessary then rename yours, or if you want to go a step further, add some more differentiating features.
 

Khao

Member
It happens. No idea is ever truly completely unique. Sometimes you come up with something really interesting and new only to later find out someone already did something similar. So many different people working on so many games around the world, someone is likely making something similar to you.

It actually happened to me. I'm making this weird mix of a platform fighter, pong, and a party game, featuring multiple characters with unique abilities (it's the game on my sig!). I'd never seen anything like it before, so I always thought it was an extremely original idea...

Until well over a year later, I found out about Ultra Space Battle Brawl, which was released the same freaking year I had the game idea and made a prototype. There are some key differences but the very basic concept is identical, with it being a weird mix of a platform fighter, pong, and a party game, featuring multiple characters with unique abilities.

I was... pretty dissapointed at first and it was extremely discouraging. "What should I do? Should I stop? Should I find more ways to make the game different? Should I contact them?" After a while, the question ultimately became, "does it even matter?"

And the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that the answer was "it really freaking doesn't what the heck are you even worried about".

Don't lose sleep on your game being similar to somebody else's. If it is similar, there's really no reason to change it. The goal is still the same. Make the best version of your game you can possibly make. If you do it well, your game will stand out on its own. Don't be worried about the similarities. Worry about the elements of your game that are the most important and elevate them as much as possible.

Also. Never forget that FPS games were called "Doom Clones" in the early to mid 90s. Now it's a genre. Of course, it's a bit painful when you're working on something you think hasn't been done before. But if you discover that it actually was... again, the goal stays the same. If you truly believe that your game is worth making, you don't need to rely on the condition that there's nothing like it. The game is not going to be worse.
 

Evanski

Raccoon Lord
Forum Staff
Moderator
A person has probably already made the game idea you have before the person that saw that person that saw that person that you saw, made the game idea.

But no one, has ever made your game, using that idea.

Ideas will always be copied and new ones hard to find.

But no one has ever used an idea, like yourself.
 

eimie

Member
Hello again,
wow, thanks a million for so much encouragement!
I guess I overreacted. By the way @Khao , it's good to hear a testimonial from someone who has experienced something similar before.

Nonetheless, for whatever reason, it feels right to me to keep the game restricted for a while. Last weekend I started a remake of Irrlicht Apprentice (and today I will even start a WIP dev log here in the forum). I'm making quick progress and when I'm done I'll put Sticky Faces back on puplic again and take care of the extended version.

So again: many, many thanks to all of you! Without you guys, the project would almost certainly be dead now.
 

Joh

Member
this is very weird, it's unfortunate but very ok for you to have a similar game to an existing one. Having participated in the Jam Sleepy Blocks came from, it is the least of your problem, while probably the best and most known of the bunch, there were A LOT of such games in the Jam (even the video says it). All twist and variants of it were probably explored. I doubt the Dev would even think you copied them.
I dont mean any of this in a negative sense, just that you are likely overly self-conscious. You are free to do what you want but I don't think hidding it is warranted.
Ironically I also had a very similar game to one I was making come out. Now the game were distinct enough that I can entirely believe it was coincidental. It's the aesthetic that was suspect. It just looked like a superior version of my style, but I thought my style was fairly unique, no reason one would go for it(I went for it to hide my lack of talent, but they clearly had some). It demotivated me and I stopped working on it. but thats mostly because I had a lot of other projects (thats bad). I still want to revisit and complete that game, in reality seeing another game like yours only says that you aren't crazy and your idea probably has some appeal!
In fact, being like a popular game can be a good thing, unlike what we creatives tend to think (want to make something new and unique), something familiar has a lot of appeal. If your game is good enough to stand on its own, no one will care it was a copy of something(they might even welcome it). (fortnite from pubg; genshin from botw; crowsworn from hollow knight)
 

eimie

Member
I dont mean any of this in a negative sense, just that you are likely overly self-conscious.
Yeah... guess you got me. I shouldn't take myself so important. Seems that I only needed someone to tell me. 😅

I feel like I'm playing ping pong right now, but the game is public again.

Thanks for the detailed answer.
 
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