[casual_games] RE: Copycats -- What Can Be Done? (Jamie Carlson)

[Kim Pallister]

Given that Dynasty is going to be distributed on MSN as well, this
thread caught my eye. 

Here's my 2c worth on the subject (all opinions my own and not my
employer's, yada yada)

- Jamie, You've spawned a good discussion. However, if you are going to
start accusing people of such things, the *least* you could do is
download the game, vs watching the preview video.

- While the game is up for download on BigFish, it's an Oberon-published
title (developed by Nevosoft).

- The "dislodging" of the 'launcher' actually is an interesting mechanic
change. You don't 'fire' the balls so much as swap them. In many ways
this is more a bejewelled & Zuma hybrid more than it is a Zuma clone. In
this way it's probably far more unique than many of the chainpoppers I
see come across my desk.

I agree the sound effects are similar, but I don't agree they are
identical. Running the EXE's side by side, I found Dynasty's effects had
more reverb and more of a tinny sound to them. Did they literally *copy*
them from the other app? If so, then yeah, that's a problem. However, if
they mimicked them, or their audio people just thought "yeah, that's the
sounds gems make when they collapse" or something, then I guess it's a
point for debate.

How unique does a sound have to be to make it copyrightable? How many of
the casual games out there have "coin collect" sounds that sound *a
little* similar to Mario on the SNES?

My 2c,

Kim Pallister

P.S. I think that "copy mechanic, change theme" may be copycatting, but
it addresses valid market demands. Some people may prefer a
Space/Pirate/Kitten/Diner theme to an Aztec/Egyptian/Asian theme. It's
unfortunate that we don't always see innovation with the gameplay with
these, but that doesn't mean there isn't market demand for it. 

Same holds true for first person shooters, RTS, and other games as well.
Sometimes it's the same game with 'aliens invading earth' vs 'space
marine invading alien planet'.


Jamie Carlson wrote:
> I've always been on the somewhat "ambivalent" side of the Copycat
fence.
> Which is to say that I really don't like how all of these developers
> just change the theme of the game but keep the core game mechanics
> almost entirely untouched, but what can you do about it? As this
thread
> has proven, it is a very tough legal battle.
> 
> Conversely, in the example of Luxor vs. Zuma, I think that the Luxor
> devs changed a pretty sizable amount to Zuma's Match-3 formula and
made
> a compelling alternative play experience that is more than worthwhile
on
> its own.
> 
> But... (and this really just seems wrong)...
> 
> Bigfishgames has a new exclusive Zuma/Luxor clone called "*Dynasty*"
and
> one of the things I love about Bigfishgames (any portals listening,
you
> should Clone this feature!) is that they have that little video Flash
> app running on each of the new game pages with gameplay footage. So
I'm
> watching the video for Dynasty and notice that they have a "free
> roaming" flying dragon (which seems to eliminate much of the
difficulty
> if you ask me, but I digress) and admit that is probably going to be a
> sufficient change to the gameplay to make it "different enough"... So
> that's fine...
> 
> However, when I turn up the volume a bit I notice that they are using
> some of the sound effects that are EXACT copies of sound fx straight
out
> of Zuma! (the "slow down" sfx and "explosion" sfx sound exactly the
same)
> 
>         Take a listen:
>         
>
http://www.bigfishgames.com/downloads/dynasty/index.html?src=bfg12y0xenl
0113
> 
> 
> I mean, the devs can't do THAT!  Can they?  To be fair, I suppose
> there's the chance that Bigfishgames lazily just added those sound
> effects for the video without thinking about it, but I'm very doubtful
> of that...
>