Bring in the (mobile) clones

Indie game development over the last few years has arguably sparked a new golden age of creativity and a diversity, especially in mobile. But for every game like 80 days or Framed, we have other games that trigger enormous controversy. My go-to examples for last year are Threes and 2048. This came back to me recently when a group of game-industry veterans were asked to judge the best games of 2014 for the International Mobile Game Awards.

Slide and count

In the unlikely case anyone reading this doesn’t know the original game, Threes introduced the match-2 model of gameplay. You slide numbered tiles to add them together. First you add 1 and 2 to make 3, then match two 3s to make a 6. Great game. But then, at least according to the legend, 2048 was created in just a few weeks after it was launched, but because it was free (and Threes was paid), that game became a breakout success. Unsurprisingly, the Threes developer got upset that they had been cloned.

The trouble is that 2048 isn’t the same game as Threes. They are similar, extremely similar … but there are small but important details which separate them.

Threes tells you what’s coming, it makes every slide a simple one part step, and any mistakes I make are … well, my mistakes. Indeed Threes makes me realize what a terrible game player I really am. 2048, however, plays slap-dash with model. Swiping the screen moves my number tiles all the way to the edge. That is incredibly satisfying. It doesn’t show me what’s coming next (although I can kinda guess most of the time). The numbers are all doubles, which, forgive me, is easier to grasp than make a 3 and then make doubles (especially when I’m tired). 2048 makes me feel like I’m good at playing.

It’s about emotion

The emotions Threes and 2048 engender are different. That might be luck or judgment on the part of the 2048 developer; I have no idea. But it means that I play Threes when I want a real challenge and 2048 when I need a distraction. Both are valid.

There is a point where small differences in a game design becomes meaningfully different to at least some of its audience and it’s not always obvious.

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What differentiates Best Fiends from Puzzles & Dragons isn’t just art. It’s not just a reskin. It’s about a sense of humor and a Western design attitude. Indeed, you can take almost any successful game and trace back its ancestry to games that have gone before. Arguing about originality in design is a fruitless exercise.

Take a look on Steam. I’ve not tried to count the number of carbon copy 8-bit side-scrolling platform games or the number of first person zombie games. But do we hear the same outcry about cloning? No. This is because cloning is in the eye of the beholder.

When is a clone not a clone?

I’m sick of platform games, but when I see one like Hue, which allows the player to change colors in order to reveal solutions to obstacles, then I get excited. It’s a tiny change, but it’s vital to getting noticed and getting noticed is what matters if you want to be able to keep making games. The trouble is that familiarity is, paradoxically, just as important. Not only do we know how to make those games, but we also know that there is an audience for them.

Using what’s gone before isn’t limited to paid games. Despite the free-to-play business model having the ability to generate greater value per user than paid games, and hence a more stable industry, instead the model is being used to squeeze more and more revenues for the most successful games. We have hardly moved beyond the idea of buying an energy crystal.

A clash of clones?

The number of Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Saga clones is as depressing as it is inevitable. But how many break even? Even here, standing out is important to success.

Royal Revolt 2 and Boom Beach* are two examples where some attempt at innovation was made to the Clash of Clans concept offering something new. They didn’t beat Supercell’s original, but they both have generated measurable success.

But they didn’t keep my attention. As time goes by my interest in that version of monetization is waning and I suspect I’m not the only one. I’m tending to avoid games now that use some variation of the energy mechanic, especially those which have seem to ratchet up the costs ever higher if I want to keep playing.

Stand up and get noticed

If I’m right, then that means that there is an opportunity for those willing to innovate just enough to get noticed. Games like Crossy Road from Hipster Whale have proven that’s possible — a simple, repeatable experience that delights its players and where every purchase delights the player. Unlocking these characters may not actually change the gameplay, but when you see the money dropped when the Celebrity gets hit by a train, or the way the weather changes with the Emo Emu that brings joy. That stands out and takes what is arguably a Frogger clone and turns it into a delightful example of quality game design.

*Yes, I know Boom Beach is also from Supercell.

Oscar Clark is the Everyplay evangelist for Unity Technologies and author of Games As A Service, published by Focal Press.