At first, I and a couple other people decided that we wanted to make a game like the old Pizza Tycoon DOS game. Well, the first problem is that it already has been done (twice, in fact). Say hello to Fast Food Tycoon and its sequel Fast Food Tycoon 2. Well, then what if we allow the player to sell more than just pizza? What about other types of food like steak, burgers, fish? It could be a restaurant business sim game? Great idea? Right? Well, apparently someone else thought it was a great idea, too. Well, I guess there's no harm in being completely derivative of other games, right? [edited by - ares32585 on January 20, 2003 8:46:40 PM]

Keep in mind that being original shouldn''t be your only goal.

For instance: Blizzard doesn''t make completely original games, they just make damn good ones.

I will give you an original (IMO) idea right now: You play a human brain and have to control all the automatic functions, along with processing cognition and sending signals to body parts constantly. You could write little scripts about how each organ has to work and set up automatic responses to certain stimulii.

You don''t see graphics directly (in the sense we see them), but random MediaPlayer-Visualization-esque colors that represent the body as a whole and you have to keep the whole color thing in balance without really knowing perfect cause-effect with what you are typing at any given time. You just put in a command and see how it reacts.

Original? Sure! Fun-to-play game? Probably not...

Originality is the first game that gets a genre right.
Create a genre. Make a game using it. Get it right. You''re done. Easy.

Or not.

I just wrote out my first two ideas last week. Both are focused on taking exhisting games and creating the better sequel. Both games are multiplayer, but my ideas take them into the realm of massivly multiplayer persistent worlds. I asked myself if this creates a problem of originality or even plagiarism. I hope not. The hard part isnt the idea at this point, the hard part is getting them or some else to look at the idea.

That’s a joke that their can not be any thing original.

If companies keep the same old people then no way you will have original games with its own category. I have original games that have its own category but I am not in the industry since it’s who you know not what you know.

And the majority of people that designed games if you look at game design magazines all the designers say that they got in the industry by luck from knowing the right person and no one said from their creativity that they presented. But one woman that decided to insult the game company on what a crappy job they are doing and what utter garbage they come out with was hired on some things she said which won’t work for most companies since even the company that made the worst game of all time would feel they made the best game and doesn’t care what others think.

The game company like many other companies is that it’s a business and many of them lack ideas but want to stay for the money. I don’t see the head of many companies saying they want to leave since they ran out of ideas to let others come in. There is no way they will let another come in for many reason and since their lively hood depends on them staying and they believe they will make a hit sooner or later. This is one reason why you see many small companies springing up.

That’s what I heard, read, and know from.

A previous poster said: "There''s no such thing as originality."

That''s only true if you''re a curmudgeon If you set out to implement your own vision of a game, then someone may say it''s similar to another game, but there will be enough of your own personality in there that it doesn''t matter. But if you set out to clone a game from the outset, then naturally the end result will be completely derivative.

I think the key is to develop a game without the "It''s going to be like game X" mentality.

tough subject...
I saw this forum and thought I should add some input. not that I''m a programmer, but I constantly have the urge to create a really cool game i think up. But like I said I''m not a programmer and unless I work my way into some aspect of the gaming industry I probably won''t see these games created.

Anyway, after giving it some thought, all games have come about from other "games" in life. The whole concept goes back to childhood, so i don''t think its likely you will ever be able to create a new game never done before or that new genre. heres an example: Kids are always role playing. whether its cowboys and indians from a long time ago or cops and robbers or just house and dollies. its all roleplaying. The game industry has just changed various properties of these games like adding storylines, cool graphics, rules in an non existant world, online playability, and the list will continue to evolve. Of course everything has been geared in the game for a ceartain audience, the whole concept still remains the same. other similarities can be found as well such strategy games and their relation to strategy board games. I won''t go further but you get the idea.

Your creativity comes into how you will mix these things and change them to create somthing new.

well I''m gonna stop there and I''m not checking what I just typed for errors either. its off to bed for me.

Originality is cool, but it does not translate to fun, nor successful sales. So make a fun game without directly ripping off some other game and you should be fine. Not every game can start a new genre. If it''s really a X Tycoon you want to make, there are lots of non-food related businesses out there. Looking back on it, "X Tycoon" makes me imagine a game where you manage a big superhero-organization. Sort of like X Men being played from Prof. X''s perspective. Even if you wanted to stick with food-related business, it doesn''t have to be at restaurants. A commercial fishing simulation maybe?

I don''t see anything wrong with just remaking Pizza Tycoon anyway.

My original post was sort of tongue-in-cheek, though I don''t think it really came off that way. I was just trying to express some frustration that even though we knew we were going to be derivative, that it is often hard to figure out what will differentiate a game from other titles in a genre.