Andrew J Smith is CEO of Spilt Milk Studios, a two-man indie developer that recently released its first game Hard Lines and is working on a new title Smash the Block.

As a designer, I often think about inspiration and where I get my ideas.

Sometimes a fully-formed mechanic will leap into my head almost totally unbidden during a presentation (this most recently happened at Mobile Games Forum 2012), and sometimes I'll be playing a game and think "Damn, I wish the developer had done this instead of that."

But most of the time I just think "Hmm, wouldn't it be fun to…" and get some notes down.

If I dig far enough into it I could probably put my finger on the source of all my inspiration, but that would be pointless.

Ultimately, I end up going with what feels good to me; what feels worthwhile as a designer - something that improves my ability to design - and from the perspective of the consumer.

After all, I have to make games that sell if I want to support myself and make more.

Subjectivism 101

But at this stage I often wonder, what is it exactly that the consumer values in their favourite games?

It likely varies a lot between different games and different people. It's very subjective. But I can split it into two broad areas.

There is the dressing or aesthetic of the game, and then there are the mechanics, the play of the thing.

But as soon as you try to separate them, you hit on a truth – they're interrelated. You can't separate them. They add up to what I call, for (desperate) want of a better word, the game's feeling.

Some games have a certain feel, and this is what makes them distinct from others in the same genre. This is why you prefer Call of Duty to Battlefield, although both are about shooting, or Sonic to Mario although both are about running and jumping.

These are obvious examples, but some people will prefer Yeti Town to Triple Town, Dream Heights to Tiny Tower, or Shariki (look it up!) to Bejewelled, no matter what we think.

The chase, cut to

So how do I view the current hot topic – cloning?

Well, I co-created Hard Lines, openly inspired by Snake and Tron.

It's both aesthetically and mechanically directly inspired by games that have been popular in the past (admittedly many years ago) and I'm comfortable with that. I'm happy to go as far as saying we kinda cut both games in half and stuck them together.

And so I find it hard to draw a line between what we did with Hard Lines, and what someone might do if they 'rip off' just one game. Ultimately the fans of the game dictated that Hard Lines is a great game in its own right, and the obvious similarities are secondary to the fact that we made a best-in-class version of a familiar genre.

That's fine with me! Job done!

A new clone

I am currently working on Smash The Block, similarly spurred into life by the arcade classics Arkanoid and Breakout.
Smash The Block started with one thought – I don't like bat-and-ball games very much. I can see the appeal, and lots of people fondly remember them, but I don't get on with them.
Shatter on PSN/PC is a good reimagining, and Wizorb on XBLIG/PC is another recent high quality twist.
Smash The Block will be mine, and the key twist to the game is that you're not just trying to avoid dropping the ball or smash some blocks; you're trying to protect a race of cute little creatures called Chumps from the orb.

Fits the bill

But again, is there really a huge difference, morally, from taking a game and making one simple change compared to not changing anything other than platform, or pricing model, or aesthetic?

I enjoy being a designer, and I enjoy making my own twist on the classics, and I'm sure I'll do a few more Spilt Milk homages. I like being able to contribute to the legacy of our industry by creating games based on the works of some of our forefathers.

There are other elements at work. It's partially down to the form factor of the iPhone and Android handsets – they suit short playtimes, and simple interfaces.

Not only that, but the circumstances in which I find myself making games (small budgets, fast turnaround etc.) mean I am unable to embark on any bigger projects – anything where I can start competing with the brands, licenses and Infinity Blades of the market.

If I was a giant corporation with tons of money and staff, would the games I'm putting out be looked upon in a different light? I wonder if the public would see them as more cynical.

What's my motivation?

If I was in movies, I like to think I'd be making short films at this stage, and they'd probably be my takes on established classic genres of film.

That's pretty standard for movies and television. But as an industry, we're really hung up on genres – nobody really minds if someone else makes an action film, or another rom-com comes out (except for fatigue).

Nobody calls out Seth Rogen as a 'copycat' for making rude comedies popular again.

But that's because they have genres primarily defined by content, not mechanical (or in their case stylistic) considerations.

But we, being the interactive medium, are focused on what it is the play does and how. I reckon the sooner we move to more games focusing on the 'why' we're playing (characters, worlds, stories etc) then the sooner we'll move away from 'Oh, no not another FPS' syndrome.

The origins of genre

If you go back far enough in time, you find the first game in a given genre.

To be inspired by that is simply natural. Pong begat Arkanoid which led to... Well I don't know but you get my point. Back in the day, nobody really cared that Arkanoid and Breakout were the same game.

I think it's because today's society of gamers is so well connected, and communication is so instantaneous, so clones are more obvious.

But it does make me wonder if the broader population care. How could they if they don’t know about it, and would they even really care if they did know?

The distinction

However, I feel I should wrap up with this; being inspired by a game that came out last week, to the point where you just copy it, or attempt to replicate what it does for a player in the most detailed ways, is a) boring as hell for any designer worth their salt and b) morally bankrupt.

What it comes down to is this.

If you want to know if you're ripping off another game? Go and look at yourself in the mirror.
You can follow Andrew's thoughs via Twitter.