What if someone has made something close to your idea?

#1 If it is a good idea, then move forward and make it your own (as you intended it). It seems that so many games that have come out were almost as if the design team were leeching my brainwaves. Like the Eternal Scrolls games. I had that idea when the world was 2D and I was thinking in 3 (because Jet was cool enough to make a RPG...I mean, Wizardry had lines, right? But Jet was full 3D!).

Then I played them and found that they bored me to tears. Thank God I didn't actually set foot down that path. I would have ended up with a game that I didn't want to play, and that's a sad state for an indie or hobbyist.

#2 I second David's response.

#3 Unless they ripped you off odds are it's not an issue.

plus many people come up with similar ideas but they don't always work out the same.

#4 Good I am glad to hear that, my concern was coming off not original or like a copy cat. The last thing I want someone to saw is I have no creative talent. The good thing is my idea is for a different system. I am thinking about pitching it to GG to see what they say. We'll see thanks for the encouragement guys!

#5 I'm with the other posters here. It's not the idea that makes a game, it's the implementation. Someone could make a "sci-fi themed, first person shooter" about "man stopping invading aliens" and it's probably not going to be a Halo-clone, for example.

Besides, I've actually read articles that encourage independent game developers to basically find a niche and fill it. In which case, lots of games within that niche will be similar.

#6 I came up with the idea for a story all on my own about a lone girl fighting for survival against a corrupt govt. Then I saw FireFly & Serenity on DVD. I swear I *NEVER* know what that was abotu before & then when I saw that I thought "bummer... been done!" :D

#7 FireFly/Serenity... now thats implementation.... I waiting for ever to not see the final movie becuase then I knew it would be over. It's funny once I got started in games I told myself that I would work with him some day.... I don't know how but I will work with Josh W. someday.

#8 Do what I do: watch it over & over. Then it's never over with! :D

#9 There were two excellent hybrid games released around the same time, many years ago.
The creators of each were previously members of a studio that split up, and there were
obvious design details that must have been ideas the greater group had before the split.
But both turned out great, although not all that famos. The games were Sacrifice and
Giants:Citizen Kabuto.

If you think you have a solid idea, keep thinking about it. Have some friends give their
opinion, and maybe slip some ideas from the game in various forums to get scattered
strangers shoot down any bad ideas :)

#10 Yeah I am working on moving forward with the game. I have a studio working on the demo in order to pitch it to some publishers. Hopefully I will have something to display in the next couple of months.

#11 Date your ideas NOW so that if they decide to go Rockstar on you, you will have evidence showing the date of your ideas.

Then use it to your advantage. Use other projects with similar features and style as part of your presentation to any funding sources as proof of interest in your genre/style of project.

#12 You could join them, and add your input.

#13 More than likley I will join the studio as a associate producer or something at that level if everything goes well and we get some coin. I will also be doing some work for them helping them setup contracts with other companies in the area. Turns out all my years in sales makes me a perfect fit for Biz Dev consulting.

#14 22 years ago I had an idea for a game. It was way ahead of it's time, and most
definitely WAY ahead of the available technology. (back then a 10 megabyte hard
drive cost $1,000. Yes, that's MEGAbyte..)

Technology caught up with the idea about 5 years ago. However I've seen similar
games come out that were "close" to what I had in mind, but didn't really hit the
nail on the head, as it were.

I'm only just now able to devote time to the development, and I'm plugging away
at it, hoping that even though there will be similarities between my game and
several others, that there are enough differences that it will draw people into it.

My question in this area is, how close can you get to someone else's idea without
incurring the wrath of their legal department. I mean, there are several games out
there where you're an independent hit man for hire. Certainly another company
can't plant their flag and say "We own the IP to the idea of the player being
an independent hit man for hire, and we didn't say you could use it.". Can they?

#15 I would doubt that. I mean if you have a different lead character, story and graphics I don't see how someone could get you. But I do remember Capcom sueing Data East of Fighter's History.... I dont know that is a good question... where is the Game Attorney

#16 New sub-genres have to come from somewhere. Imagine how unpopular id Software would be if they tried to stop people from making first-person shooters at all!
Some weeks, it feels like that's all we get, though, so perhaps they should have ;)

#17 Intellectual property is about trademark and copyright. Patents come into play, but for the most part the technology you are using to create video games is considered "prior art". That just means you can ignore patents for the most part. So that leaves trademark and copyright.

Copyright is copying someone else book, software, media, etc. Making another FPS or racing game or whatever is NOT under copyright as you are author for the game itself. Which is protected under copyright for the executable, the code, the artwork, the sound files, etc.

Now we have trademark. This can be a name, a symbol, a graphic, etc. Something like "Final Fantasy" is going to be trademarked. Or the Xbox symbol will be a trademark. The windows quad color thing is a trademark too.

So what does this mean? Don't use their names, their copyrighted materials, their symbols, etc. Now there is a way to mess with them and that is called a parody. You could make a game called Dumb to make fun of Doom, but it must be a parody and it must be obvious.

So that really leaves everything wide open. Make any game you want, just don't walk on others people's IP and you will be fine. Don't make a game called Halon. Call it something else. If it is too close to someone else game then change it. If it looks like a cheap clone people will walk away.

Quick sanity check. What parodies are in the game Morrowind?
1. Indiana Jones
2. Luke Skywalker
and probably a lot more than I can remember.

Did Lucas Arts stomp on Bethesda? No, because it is obvious and really more of a compliment than a rip off.

#18 Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has ideas and many of such ideas only vary in execution. You can give two people the very same idea and they will both run in different direction in terms of how they execute it.

Ideas are vapor, only physical finished product is what counts. Just dont make you game to be a clone of their game and youll be fine, execute your idea, per your vision, and your own original workmanship etc and you'll be fine.

#19 Indeed. I am working on this now along with some other things. Apperantly its time for me to make a .plan post

#20 This is such an INTERESTING topic. I just powered on to ask about this and it's already here. I have a game idea which im currently working on and around for a Mecha MMO(rpg that's non linear) and i'd like to add more things to it to make it seem like a "militant world of tomorrow" where you can live out a boring or productive "life" as well as persue and form a story of your own. The programming team will probably commit seppuku, but i am certain that this story (i haven't dated it yet or sent it to myself in the mail) and gameplay will be remembered and reproduced again. The problem? Parts of the game play seem similar to those of some playstation games that i have seen on youtube AFTER i have began the writing/plots/mech designs. If anything, i'm scared Kojima studios, Bandai, mech assault and possibly who ever owns Full Metal Panic may hunt me down. How far along the lines of simularity can one go? If my mech has a part that looks similar to something on a gundam, is bandai allowed to sic their team of legal persuit ninjas on me?