I know, coming up with a great new idea is good and fine most of the time, but maybe this one time you want to create a remake or an own version of a game you like, for whatever reason. Maybe it isn't available on the gaming platform of your choice, or you just want to get started without the hassle of coming up with your own ideas for the first few projects. So, how far do you have to stay away from the original game if you want to publish your work? Using a trademark or copyrighted name is out of the question of course, but how close are you allowed to resemble the gameplay/bonus/special items to avoid getting into trouble?

Well, I have no idea, beyond not using the same names for anything in your game. One thing you might try though is parodies. Even if you are stepping on the line of copyright law, if you do a parody well enough, it would probably be more readily accepted.

It depends what you mean. You could make an FPS which copies GAMEPLAY of classic games, and similar types of weapons, and if it was really slick people would like it.
You could make a soccer game and it will likely be very similar to other games, and that's fine as long as you find some ways to improve on your competition.
On the other hand, a more story-driven game would be harder to clone.

What about puzzle game mechanics, like Tetris or Bejeweled?

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Original post by c-Row how close are you allowed to resemble the gameplay/bonus/special items to avoid getting into trouble?

My article 61 might offer you some helpful insight into this frequently asked, and difficult to answer, question.

You can't copyright an idea or concept. What you can copyright is graphics, sounds, music, a name, characters, and the game itself. Just because something resembles something else doesn't necessarily make it copyright infringement...otherwise the thousands of identical FPS's out there would all sue each other XD

For example, many people in the old days of game-designing would write games similar to e.g. pacman, make the graphics different, and name it something like "Chomp".

Make your game as different as possible whenever possible.
Listen to some of the interviews by the team that made portal. They started off indie and their design philosophy was that "innovation costs nothing."
It's the one thing that can set small developers appart.

I guess I'm essentially just reiterating what others have said, but think you're in the clear as long as you change the names, graphics and sounds (including music).

Copying the "format" of the game should leave you in the clear. Of course, if you made an exact clone of Mario sans everything that is Mario, it'd probably be a great learning experience for you but not really anything other people would wanna download, install and play.

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Original post by Tom Sloper My article 61 might offer you some helpful insight into this frequently asked, and difficult to answer, question.

Good article. It does a good job at illuminating in a very 'matter of the fact' way the pitfalls of taking too much inspiration from other's intellectual property.

The one thing I would amend is for point 5:

"-What if the only thing I want to borrow is the gameplay - say, the idea of jumping on things and collecting coins?

-Fine. Don't worry about it."

In the particular example given it's not an issue but there are instances where game mechanics are patented, the "arrow indicating next destination" type mechanic from crazy taxi for instance. There's an article on gamasutra describing a few more of these: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3562/the_designers_notebook_damn_all_.php