Attack of the Clones

[abenlen]

It's clear that Stardew Valley has been finacial and critical success. Given that it's raked in more profit than Call of Duty, and was the work of one talented person rather than a whole team of developers, it occured to me that this title might be a tempting target of success that other people might think hard about trying to replicate. I know nothing about game design, but it seems that a rural life sim would be easier to throw together than your average FPS.

Does anyone else think that it's likely that knock-offs of Stardew Valley will be popping up on steam soon? And is this a good or bad thing?

[kevinshow]

It's a good thing if the new game is done well. There is obviously a market for this kind of game, and after 2-3 years in game, you've probably done most of the things you wanted to in this game. More than that is just for completeness (such as being friends with everyone) or to keep your little farm going on longer. But there would be no strong need for daily farming as there would be better, more passive ways to make money (such as harvesting something every 7 days or 28 days or just letting out the pigs)

So part of the struggle of this game is to get to the point that you don't need to do anything else to make massive money, and any new games coming out that do this kind of thing would be OK.

[DigiScot]

depends how much of a clone, if it's a similar style of game with new features and done well, I don't have a problem with it, lets face it, the dev probably isn't going to do a SV2... tho Chucklefish may organise one if they can, but either way, it was my most played game of the year, if I can get more like it that are as good, I'm happy.

[Tomfoolery]

STER WERS

[Bob of Mage]

Isn't Stardew Valley sort of a clone already? It is very much like Harvest Moon which came out first on the SNES.

[Bloodreck]

Stardew was a already a clone but I don't think it's a good idea to copy it. Farming games are very popular, stardew made something very unique in it's own way.
People who don't like farming games enjoyed stardew, I feel like it would be very hard to create something better or similiar.
If you believe you are able to make a farming game better than stardew than go for it, just remember that this guy took 2-3 years making this game.
It requires a lot of dedication and I give him major props for it

[lemontyseven]

Originally posted by Bob of Mage:

Isn't Stardew Valley sort of a clone already? It is very much like Harvest Moon which came out first on the SNES.

Stardew Valley was intended to be a game similar to Harvest Moon, but on the PC, as there was virtually nothing in the genre on PC at the time.

[abenlen]

I have to admit that I am speaking from ignorance here. I've only played games on the PC, never on a console. Is SV really a clone of Harvest Moon, or just inspired by it?

Whichever the case, the success of this title does seem to indicate that there is a healthy market for this genre on the PC. Personally, while I'd love to see an expansion of games that aren't really rpg's or shoot-ups, I think that it might be very easy to make a very boring, bad game of this type. Still, I would love to see other authors try their hand at this sort of game and see what kind of creativity they might bring to the table.

[Scarletfox]

The fact that a game is similar doesen't necessary make it a clone. That makes it sound like it just is a carbon copy with a new textures.

Sure, more similar games would be good, bur they would have to add some new to the formulae.

[magically_magic]

Originally posted by abenlen:

I have to admit that I am speaking from ignorance here. I've only played games on the PC, never on a console. Is SV really a clone of Harvest Moon, or just inspired by it?

Calling it a clone is maybe a bit of a stretch, but it's definitely more than "inspired by." Take away the fishing mini-game, dungeon crawling in the mine, and Animal Crossing-esque museum collections and it's pretty obviously a Harvest Moon game that's been developed with adults rather than children in mind.

That said, all of those extra elements are also what set SDV apart and define it as its own game. So... imo not a clone, but a melting pot that used Harvest Moon as a base.

[SlackerBoe]

SDV is definitely a clone, but it's a very well made clone in a market that doesn't have any Harvest Moon games.