this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 46 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There's just no decency in people these days

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

TL;DR I think most people are full of goodness.

In this instance that's definitely the case that it's shitty behaviour IMO but in general I still hold dear to my view that most people are good and it's my default position on new people I meet, with some bad vibe exceptions, until proven otherwise.

It's like the old Mr Rogers quote about looking for the helpers. I see (and try my best to also do and am so lucky to be married to someone the same) so much good in this world.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Calling this dude a douche-canoe is too generous.

This man is an absolute douche-barge.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

A discharge barge.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago (1 children)

People arguing a lot of legal stuff while I just think this was a dick move.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (8 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 5 months ago (8 children)

I agree that it's all original code and art, I would even say that he's well within his right to post his clone since there doesn't seem to be any copyright-able IP he could be infringing on.

But I wholly disagree with the notion that "if the game was copied that quickly there wasn't much substance there to begin with". There are limitless examples of world changing inventions that were trivial to build, but no one had thought to do it, and the same goes for art. The difficulty of making something isn't what makes it genius, in fact it's usually the simplicity of a genius idea that makes people go "damn, why didn't I think of that, it's so genius!"

It sounds like this guy accomplished little more than burning the few bridges he had, and dragging his own name through the mud. Just...not a smart move.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (11 children)

The entire design is a copy, down to the art style and color scheme...

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This looks much more egregious than palworld/pokemon. Palword has very distinct gameplay from pokemon and adds many features and gameplay elements that nintendo has never done. It's much more similar to Ark if anything in terms of gameplay. The only thing it takes from pokemon is the fact that it's a creature collector game and a couple of the pals look like they were generated by ai trained on a database of creatures from other games, but even that isnt conclusive. It definitely takes inspiration from Zelda, but again thats a few gameplay elements, not the whole game.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

If you have any interest in playing a good Pokemon game, Pokemon Legends Arceus is excellent. Palword may be just a bit better, but if you have a lingering nostalgia and a desire for some fresh and well executed mechanics in the Pokemon universe, PLA slaps.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don't respect the way IP is abused by large companies. I support short-term IP as I think it does help individuals in a net-positive way for everyone.

I could be convinced that short-term IP is bad too, but regardless I think long-term is the the big problem. Games from the 80s should all be public domain by now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

No. I just don't respect ip.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I respect that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The only laws I respect are gravity and conservation of momentum, and even those are debatable

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

And manslaughter

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah pretty much. You can't copyright gameplay mechanics, so there's nothing illegal about it. It's just a dick move.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Tell that to ~~Zod's snapped neck~~ the nemesis system.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

That's a patent, not copyright.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

That's disgusting behaviour

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

All my games are Foss. honesty if that happened I would be more upset they didn't want to just collaborate on the same code

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Reminds me of 2048 making a slightly worse clone of Threes and then releasing it for free.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

And enormously outperforming the original, too. A shame, I like threes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If it doesn't have Blackjack and Hookers, then it's a shitty clone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

aptronymic!

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