Clone (computer and video games)

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In the computer and video game industry, a clone is a game or game series which is very similar to or heavily inspired by a previous popular game or game series. Some genres are founded by such archetypical games that all subsequent similar games are thought of as derivatives. For example, there was a time when all scrolling shooters were called Galaga-clones.

The term is sometimes derogatory, implying a lack of originality, but clones can be anything from a pure "ripoff", to a legitimate derivative or improvement on the original, or even a homage to it.

In the 1980s, making a clone of a game was not illegal, provided no outright copyright violation or trademark infringement was involved, but as the gaming market grew, large developers felt the need and ability to sue the developers of clones which were too similar to originals [1]. These look and feel lawsuits, such as Apple v. Microsoft and Lotus v. Borland, are not common, but remain an option for developers who feel their franchises are at risk.

At times, games can be considered clones by the uninformed gamer if they resemble a modern popular game regardless of whether or not the game that has been "cloned" was completely original or not. An example of this is the way the majority of isometric RPG titles are considered clones of Blizzard's popular Diablo game, despite the fact that Diablo wasn't the starter of that style of gameplay and was in itself heavily influenced by Ultima VII

Early arcade games such as Space Invaders have been cloned very widely especially in 1980s and still in early 1990s. Most of clones have been published by freeware computer game designers, but there have also been many commercially released clones of those games. Freeware released have often been very straight clones with only some minor elements and game's title changed.

Many famous titles by Jeff Minter were clones of arcade games in which graphics were turned from the original robot/spaceship graphics to animal creatures.

Commando (left) is seen as the source of inspiration for Ikari Warriors (middle) that was released a year later. Dogs of War (right), released four years later, still looks quite similar.

Llamatron (right) is a ten year after released humouristic tribute to Robotron (left).

[edit] Notable cloned games

Arkanoid. The 1987 release of the computer conversion of this arcade game - which itself is also a clone too - triggered a flood of clones made for leading home computers of the day.
Grand Theft Auto, possibly one of the most cloned games in recent memory (see GTA clone).
Commando (1985), a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up, produced many clones such as Ikari Warriors, Rambo II, Dogs of War, Leatherneck, Battle Isle.
Dungeon Master (1987) was the first 3D-roleplaying game (though early Ultima games had contained same kind of dungeons). It was followed by many clones, though it took few years before the clones really start coming. Some of the clones took the game idea to a sci-fi setting but most of them remained in fantasy world.
Tetris has been ported to all but the most obscure platforms, often under different non-infringing names. See Tetris variants.
In the 1990s, first person shooters were called Doom-clones. Doom (1993) itself was the spiritual sequel to Wolfenstein 3D (1992), by the same designers.
Great Giana Sisters (1987), famous platform game for late 1980s home computers, was a Super Mario Bros clone to the extent that its publisher was threaten to be taken to a court and the game was withdrawn from the markets.
The first Warcraft game (1994) was clearly a clone of Dune II (1992). The game idea of Dune II was taken from a sci-fi atmosphere to a fantasy world. At the time when the first Warcraft game was released, it was the second representative of its genre. Later Command & Conquer (1995), by the makers of Dune II, triggered the flood of Command & Conquer clones.
Famous early arcade games were cloned often, especially by freeware game designers
- Asteroids (clones include Stardust, Sinistar, and Minestorm built into the notable Vectrex console)
- Defender (clones include Star Ray, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Datastorm)
- Gravitar (clones include Thrust, Gravity Force, OIDS)
- Pac-Man (clones include Munch Man (the most popular TI-4/99A game) and countless others)
- Space Invaders (clones include Galaga, Phoenix, TI Invaders)
- Missile Command (clones include Liberator, Bio-ship Paladin)
- Qix (clones include Gals Panic, Xonix, JezzBall)
- Tron (clones include Armagetron Advanced, GLtron)