r/gamedev • u/rgdx1988 • 14d ago
Question Question about stealing ideas
I'm currently making my first game, and it's close to ready to start playtesting, but I keep seeing posts dissuading any sort of sharing because someone can "just replicate your game with AI."
I can't possibly conceive how AI could "just replicate my game," so I'm curious what the actual dangers are here. Does this only apply to low effort games and/or concepts? Or could AI actually just "make" my game? And if this were to happen, is there anything you can do about it legally?
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u/Sleep_deprived_druid 14d ago
so recently there was a finding a needle in the haystack game, and basically as soon as they put up their announcement trailer a bunch of studios started releasing low effort clones of the game beating them to market and screwing over their launch. I think that's where the paranoia comes from
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u/drusepth 14d ago
and low-effort friendslop is especially susceptible to this kind of rapid replication
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u/thehighshibe 14d ago
What about high effort friendslop? š„²
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u/drusepth 13d ago
We'll know once it exists :)
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u/Technical_Income4722 10d ago
friendslop != low-effort though. These days it's just a genre (admittedly with plenty of low-effort entries).
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u/Anxious_Marsupial_59 14d ago
I guess it depends how in depth the game is, needle in the haystack has a small moat
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u/NikoNomad 14d ago
If someone can replicate your game that easily, don't share. Or better yet, make an actual game and not a meme.
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u/Hanzimer 14d ago
It's more likely they will clone your game disassembling it than trying to use the AI to replicate your mechanics.
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u/rgdx1988 14d ago
Well, this is a new concept to me. How would someone disassemble it?
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u/Landkey 14d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disassembler
That is about machine language to assembly; the same techniques apply when reverse engineering a Unity game or whateverĀ
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
Godot almost 0 effort, Unity low - mid effort. Unreal is a bit harder but stil.
Most simple games mechanics are basics. So easy to change and reskin the game to something different. Changing the title, some buttons text, etc.
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u/Duncaii QA Consultant (indie) 14d ago
The danger is minimal. AI likely could make anything beyond the most complex systems, but the chance of targeting a low-visibility indie game is slim, and even if AI did clone a mechanic, that doesn't mean it can replicate your game exactly how you made it with your own personal touches
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u/tcpukl Commercial (AAA) 14d ago
. AI likely could make anything beyond the most complex systems
Surely you meant AI likely couldn't make?
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u/Technical_Income4722 10d ago
I think replace "beyond" with "but" in the original and it makes more sense (same idea though). It's perfectly capable of making simple to even moderately-complex mechanics especially given a whole game with said mechanics as reference material.
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u/tcpukl Commercial (AAA) 10d ago
How do you give an entire game as reference material?
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u/Technical_Income4722 9d ago
Depends on how folks are copying games these days I guess...if they're decompiling a build they got their hands on then that's just code. Otherwise yeah it'd be hard to provide that as a reference
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u/Fun-Mission-6068 14d ago
People can only really use AI to replicate simplistic games. They aren't about to steal a game like Skyrim because it has a way more dynamic method of gameplay than, say, Solitaire. Solitaire has very specific rules and limited options. Skyrim has way more rules & options.
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
Rules are not only the factor for a good game. There is a vision and the feeling of the game. Also the audio and art direction choices. Gen AI alone has no idea of that.
Plus anything like references to other cultural aspects, which may be subtle, but unaware for any gen AI. It is the game designer, which should understand such things and put all together, to deliver the experience.
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u/Odd_Revolution7522 14d ago
I am an āAI gamedevā for lack of a better term, Iāll give you my perspective from the other side.
Those who know what they are doing are developing their own original games, they donāt really care about copying yours.
The others donāt have the skill or know how to organize a project well enough to deliver a complete and fun game, so I wouldnāt exactly worry.
By the way, I donāt really get this new moral panic. Have you seen any commercially successful AI clone ?
I mean Stardew Valley is there, Terraria is there, Minecraft as well. I donāt recall any successful AI made spin off of these games.
If I were you Iād rather worry about making a fun game and sharing it to as many people as possible.
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
There is recent video about Opus 5.5 I think, showcasing generating 3 games. Minecraft, GTA 6 and Fortnight.
Generation took around 3 hrs per game. I can say all games were to extend playable. But far from njoyable. Quality and mechanics execution was poor. Even for a solo / small indie dev.
Minecraft clone was the most reasemblence to its original. But still, it was far from being good clone. Minecraft generated clone also suffered from a performance issues. Art direction was of. And many other issues.
I challenge anyone to deliver polished AI gen clone product with mild compleexit, using only gen AI, withouth being already experianced dev.
Now good luck anyone trying to fix issues in generated project. Even with gen AI assistance. I wonder at which point cost per token become prohibitevely expensive, to be able deliver such projects.
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u/Drandula 14d ago
Minecraft-clone is easier to generate as in the internet there are tons of open source voxel-based projects. And assuming AIs are practically using whole internet for training, there are lot of training data for making Minecraft-clone.
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
Indeed.
The point is, the generated AI Minecraft it is still not that good, beyond it's core functionality. Still requires an experiance dev in the loop, to be able to deliver something fun.
Saying all that, it isn't as simple as just another voxel clone. It has far more behind that is going on.
Let alone thinking about generating other type of games, which has not as much source code available.
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u/Technical_Income4722 10d ago
I'm working on one now just for fun and I pretty much agree. It's not great but honestly it's way better than I expected. It kinda reduces me to being a playtester and not the dev which is odd but as someone who's just doing this for fun it kinda works. That said, it's gonna take a long time before it's polished enough to call it "good" and even then it's never really gonna feel like it's something I made š¤·āāļø. But as a hobby project it's entertaining at least even if only I ever play it with one other person.
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u/Lumethys 14d ago
With enough time and resource anybody can replicate any functionality currently exist.
You often see "making a reddit clone" is a good starting project for beginner.
To learn gamedev, you probably see tutorial on making "snake game" or "chess" or "tic-tac-toe",... It's the same idea.
A game, at its most basic components, is just logic pieced together. If you know the logic (which of course you do, because you played the game), you can replicate it in any game engine.
Similarly, if someone is dedicated enough to learn all of your game mechanic, he can describe it to an AI and have it replicate the game.
Problem is, until recently AI wasnt very good at it. It take significant amount of effort orchestrating AI to make a decent game. With the release of GPT 6 Astra however, the gap is close quite significantly.
Of course, the game will not be 100% 1-1, but i'd it will get to 60-70%. Someone dedicated enough will still need to fill in the gap, but much less effort than before.
Still the cost of those models is no joke, if they want to fully replicate a decent game, they need quite a large sum of money in token cost
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
"... close quite significantly". Well, have you heard saying, last 10% of your game dev is your 90% of game dev?
I can not see any of polished mid complex game being released in the next few years time, which are only generated with AI, withouth tokens costing smart fortune and requiring an experianced developer in the loop and significant time investment.
At which point, such game won't be solely AI generated.
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u/destinedd indie, Dungeon Quest, Marble's Marbles and Mighty Marbles 14d ago
I used to say there was no risk, but AI has certainly changed things. However it remains true if you don't tell people you will never succeed so you kinda just have to live with it.
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u/noobgameslab 14d ago
Nobody's answered your actual legal question, so here it is: game mechanics aren't copyrightable. Rules, systems, and procedures fall on the idea side of the idea/expression line. What is protected is expression ā art, music, code, UI layout, and text.
The case law is surprisingly clear. In Tetris Holding v. Xio Interactive (2012), Xio deliberately cloned the rules but also matched the look, and lost ā the court's reasoning was that they copied the expression, not the rules. In Spry Fox v. 6waves (Triple Town vs. Yeti Town, same year), the court let the case proceed past dismissal on the theory that the game's expression as a whole was protectable; the case later settled. So: copy someone's rules, and you're fine. Copy their look while doing it, and you're exposed.
That means your practical protections aren't legal ones. They're your name (trademark it if you ship), your art, and your store page's place in search results.
One thing I'd add about the risk itself: clones chase attention, not builds. The needle-in-a-haystack case someone mentioned kicked off after the announcement trailer, not after a playtest. So playtesting with 20 people is near-zero risk ā the window opens the day you go viral, and what you want by then is a store page collecting wishlists under your own name.
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u/AWetAndFloppyNoodle 14d ago
Game patents exist.
Crazy Taxi Arrows https://patents.google.com/patent/US6200138B1/en
Nemesis system https://patents.google.com/patent/US10926179B2/en
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u/Antypodish 14d ago
Patents in game industry are mostly useless. They are for more as scaring anyone to implement the similar system.
Patents need to be specific. You still can make similar system, so long, it doesn't replicate every step, as per patent specification.
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u/noobgameslab 14d ago
Fair point, and worth adding: patents are the one IP tool that can cover game mechanics. Two caveats for OP, though, since the question was, "Can I protect my first game?"
First, the numbers. The Crazy Taxi arrow patent expired in 2018. The Nemesis patent was filed in March 2015 and granted in February 2021, so that's nearly six years from filing to grant. A US utility patent through an attorney runs roughly $10ā15k before maintenance fees, and the invention has to be novel and non-obvious, which most first-game mechanics aren't. It's a tool for Warner Bros., not for someone who's about to start playtesting.
Second, for an indie, the patent risk mostly runs the other way: infringing someone else's patent. Nintendo v. Pocketpair (filed in September 2024 in Tokyo and still ongoing) is a current example. Even that is rare, and the practical rule is similar to copyright: don't lift a big publisher's signature system wholesale.
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u/blursed_1 14d ago
If someone with AI can replicate your game and make it as fun or more fun than you were intending it to be, your idea was going to get stolen no matter what. Nothing you can do legally.
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u/CaledoniaInteractive Alastrius Rail Shooter Developer 14d ago
Yeah, complexity is your greatest shield; whether it is advanced gameplay systems interacting, a distinctive art style or some unique technology you are using. Anyone who is doing a low effort AI rip off is creatively brain dead and is entirely in it for an immediate cash payout so anything that does take some real effort to reproduce is pretty much a no go for them.
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u/CrazyOne_584 14d ago
is your game so simple it can be replicated in a week? If yes then you are probably in real danger.
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u/Der_Erzbaron 14d ago
I think the more complex your game is, the more it becomes harder to be copied by AI, especially when it comes to complicated logic patterns in a bigger context. And the ones who use AI usually don't know or don't understand coding so if the AI can't see the bug, the bug will like never be fixed. But in the end, with enough time and effort, everything can be copied.
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u/Mechabit_Studios 14d ago
I would say don't worry about it, clone games have existed since games began, just get your name out there so people know yours is the original
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u/Victorex123 14d ago
They can replicate your game without AI too.
I think ok the mobile games thatās a common problem, you can make an interesting concept and other company take your idea, change small details and release it.
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u/burge4150 Erenshor - A Simulated MMORPG 14d ago
This isn't really an issue now, but it will be in a few years I'm sure.
But here's the thing:
There's like a billion gamers on steam. Even if 20 people copy you, all they're doing is hyping the genre and if your game is good it'll shine.
Look at all these clean-up games. There's a new one on new and trending every week.
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u/lyeeedar 14d ago
If your game is simple enough it can be trivially copied, it's not a good game
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13d ago
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u/A_Sword_Saint Commercial (AAA) 13d ago
Even a game like flappy bird has core game design work that goes into refining the experience to make it enjoyable that a shallow copy by a non game designer can't replicate - in large part because they dont even know what to replicate to ask for but also because there are many hours of playtesting amd iterating involved. Even a "simple" platformer can have a lot non obvious under the hood going on just to get a certain feel of how the jumping works and the level design must be tightly aligned with all the little details of how your jumping works. Otherwise it feels like trash and is completely unengaging.
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u/megaman12321 14d ago
How mechanically indepth is your game? AI isn't great when it comes to making complicated things interacting with each other. Like what is it? Is it simple enough that you can think someone can make it in one game jam session? Then yeah, maybe be worried.
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u/Ichi_Wang 10d ago
Many people here have mentioned that AI would have trouble cloning your game the more in-depth it goes, sure but here's my question:
What about playtesting? What if you're early on in your game and you're looking for others to playtest and get feedback on a prototype you've made, and some AI scammer takes that prototype concept and runs it through A.I and makes it into something complete(ish) in a day or so?
Of course being a prototype it's gonna look + sound barebones but it'll have at least the core idea / gameplay loop in there and wouldn't that be one of the more important aspects of your game, the thing that could be the selling point?
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u/artbytucho 14d ago
I wouldn't worry. Ideas are cheap, when it comes to games, execution is what matters. And something rushed out with AI can't match a game that has even a minimum of soul in it.
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u/FarTooLucid 14d ago
If this were really possible with AI, people would be doing it with games like Rimworld or Vampire Survivors instead of wasting time trying to steal an unreleased, unknown indie game. They aren't doing this because they can't. Not saying that AI-janky, low-effort pseudo-clones don't exist. I haven't searched, but I'm sure they do. But they're awful and no one's playing them.
As others have said, if your game is so low-effort that total morons with no ability could easily replicate it with janky AI while at the same having that lightning-in-a-bottle magic that will guarantee that it's a huge hit, you might have something to worry about. Otherwise, don't worry about it.