FTL got ripped off:Space Rogue

[Zelnik]

So, I don't know if any of you have noticed this, but FTL is getting just about every aspect of its gameplay completely ripped off by Space Rogue. I hope the Dev's are looking into legal action.

[stylesrj]

So, I don't know if any of you have noticed this, but FTL is getting just about every aspect of its gameplay completely ripped off by Space Rogue. I hope the Dev's are looking into legal action.

And yet people never complain about Battlefield and Call of Duty Modern Warfare being the same thing. Or they take legal action against each other. Why is that?

[Sleeper Service]

Because Iteration upon a genre is only recognized as such once the genre is firmly established and no longer considered unique to a certain product? If three games use similar concepts they are considered copying each other, if three thousand games share similar concepts they are considered following a status quo.

There was a steam thread on the same topic recently...

In my opinion FTL revitalized a genre that enjoyed little fame before and with that created a market segment of something around 2-3 million people that small studios now start to cater to.

FTL is certainly to some degree unique, I'd say the concept of having a floor-plan of your ship and moving crew around as the battle progress is the main innovation of FTL. Anything else "has been done before" as far as I can tell.

The matter of whether this should be considered a clone is rather difficult to judge. Was Doom a clone of Wolfenstein 3D? Don't know if that comparison fits but... that was a similar situation I think. One game establishes the popularity of a genre, others follow. Because a marked and significant target audience are created. I guess games are more directly considered clones when the game or genre they draw inspiration from is still truly unique. No one considers Battlefield a Call of Duty Clone, right? (Which one came first again? Or are they both Wolfenstein 3D clones?)

I can understand that you don't want subset games to be “exploited”, by others copying what can be considered their idea. But I find it hard to tell when iteration of a genre ends and cloning starts. I quickly looked up video game cloning, that might seem arbitrary but wikipedia has a decent page on the topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_clone
It is pointed out that creating a patent for a game mechanic (lets say FTLs room-crew-system interactions) is rather difficult. I doubt that the Defs collaborate with this game's creators, but I also doubt that the Defs have any legal means to stop this game from being made.

And you said it yourself, you'd like to have a game that provides a similar experience as FTL provided. That is a a wish that the FTL community has again and again voiced over the last three years, so studios will eventually recognize that and cater to the audience.

[5thHorseman]

I'd be far more comfortable with this new game if you were on sailing ships instead of space ships.

And maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't like how busy the gameplay looked. I like the clear simplicity of FTL's tactical view.

[Dirka]

I'd also like to point out that simple mechanics aren't everything. To me, FTL is a classic because everything just fits: ambience, lore, soundtrack, visual presentation, and of course gameplay. It's tight as a drum and exactly my speed.

The "FTL-clones" Solar Crusaders, Spacewrights, and now Space Rogue may share some basic ideas as far as interface and mechanics go, but they also have a completely different feel than FTL. More hectic, more retro, more shiny, more open, what-have-you - I think that gives them their own identity.

So far, none even come close in charm to the original, but I may give Solar Crusaders a whirl when it's done. And maybe Spacewrights, unless the FTL Android port comes out in the meantime.

[tempthomas]

http://space-rogue.com

I took one look at their site, and was like, nope. One look at the graphics and I already know I'm not buying it. More importantly, though, the graphics are a HUGE differentiator. It's like the cartoon version of FTL, just based on those screenshots.

FTL, you have to understand, is a high quality game. You can tell just by looking at it, listening to it, playing it, watching other people play it. except for the end boss who is ridiculously hard and goes into power gaming.

It's ambitious,

For space rogue, using those graphics automatically relegates it to the dust bin for me. Maybe other people will buy it, maybe they like it. I don't. I can't.

My view is simple. Using FTL's gameplay is not a crime. Using its content is.