模仿和抄袭一直以来就是游戏开发商公认的祸害，所不同的是，有些游戏是赤祼祼的剽窃，有些则是狡猾地游走于抄袭和原创之间，更神奇的则是出于纯粹的灵感撞车。下文即是发生在苹果应用商品中的几个游戏侵权案例：

导致游戏作品撞车的原因有不少，像《蔬菜武士》（Veggie Samurai）这款游戏明显是想沾沾《水果忍者》（Fruit Ninja）的光，从市场蛋糕中分得一杯羹，而《忍者学校》（A Ninja Dude: Ninja School ）则选择向《水果忍者》取经，结合自己的创意又推出了一个全新的作品。创意与模仿之间并不总是泾渭分明，《水果忍者》的遭遇正是这一现象的有力佐证。

还有一种情况，那就是天意所为，比如说《Fragmental 3D》与《Tetra 3D》的设计撞车事件。这两款游戏都具有《俄罗斯方块》（Tetris）的3D旋转效果，画面风格极其相似，而且两者的发行时间仅仅相隔6个月。乍一看，这两款游戏明显涉嫌抄袭，但深究内幕后才得知情况并非如此。

Fragmental 3D vs.Tetra 3D

《Fragmental 3D》的开发者扎克.金斯特纳（Zach Kinstner）表示，当他在游戏发行数月后看到另一款“克隆”产品也诞生后，十分惊骇，“如果单从视频截图上来看，很明显是那款游戏（Tetra 3D）的开发商偷了我的游戏代码，并设计了一些不同的功能和图片来掩饰这种剽窃行为。但是，经过我自己的一番调查，才发现那款游戏并不能算是《Fragmental 3D》的翻版。”金斯特纳是该游戏的独立开发者，因此游戏代码完全不可能在他不知情的情况下对外泄露，好奇心驱使他追查偷窃代码和破译应用程序的始作俑者，最后得出结论：这桩案子纯属意外。“我之前从来没听过《3D Tetris》，我自认为《Fragmental 3D》的控制系统是独一无二的……”虽然这两个游戏的画面风格相似，但控制系统却截然不同，从这一点上看，《Tetra 3D》剽窃《Fragmental 3D》这一说法仍然有待推敲。

视觉效果和背景风格相同确实可以归咎于偶然一说，但《Tetra 3D》的屏幕按钮功能居然也与《Fragmental 3D》如出一辙，这就不能用巧合来解释了。通过苹果的法律顾问团队，金斯特纳联系上了《Tetra 3D》的开发者费萨尔.萨伊德（Faisal Saeed），得知情况后萨伊德的惊讶程度不亚于金斯特纳，“我被那些自由职业设计师给坑了，他居然把偷来的UI设计卖给我！事先我也没听说过《Fragmental 3D》这款游戏，这事给我一个教训，那就是永远不要再和自由职业设计师合作了。”

尽管《Tetra 3D》涉嫌侵权问题，但这属于第三方责任而非两个游戏开发商之间的正面交锋，所以此事圆满收尾，双方开发者达成共识，由《Tetra 3D》一方对游戏进行改版，删除所有与《Fragmental 3D》类似的画面。金斯特纳表示，“按常理来说，除非他真想完全照搬我的游戏，不然他至少会对游戏进行一些改良，尽可能让游戏看起来像是原创版本，因为3D Tetris并不是什么新鲜玩意，只有独一无二的游戏才能让开发商获取最大利益。”

以上的游戏雷同事件只能说是纯属偶然，但像《Duck Hunt:The Game》这样的事件则完全属于剽窃典型。该游戏由SoftGamers公司发行，SoftGamers一向以创造《Doodle Taxi》、《HeartCatcher》这类低端游戏为生，《Duck Hunt:The Game》完全取材于任天堂公司的light gun经典系列，至少在任天堂律师勒令从苹果应用商品撤下该游戏前是这么回事。

Duck-Hunt

在今年8月份被撤架前，《Duck Hunt:The Game》这款游戏在苹果应用商店中几乎安然无恙地呆了两个月，SoftGamer公司的独立开发者阿森.特洛西亚（Arsen Torosian）表示，“我将游戏从0.99美元改成免费后，这款游戏才三天就收获了20万人次的下载量，荣升苹果下载应用排行榜的第四名，我想任天堂是从那时候开始才注意到这款游戏的。”任天堂在今年8月18日致函苹果寻求解释，苹果则转向SoftGamers，要求他们在5天内撤下侵权游戏，SoftGamers自知理亏，不得不从。

但是他们为什么一开始就要剽窃别人的作品？对此问题，特洛西亚表示无奈，“这是为了打响知名度的需要，我得先在苹果应用商店中推出一款游戏打开市场，然后才有制造其他游戏的本金。”但他并未透露该游戏究竟获利多少，只承认这款游戏刚推出时的确收益可观，但后来游戏收益跌至一天15美元，他就将游戏改为免费下载，三天后又立即把游戏改为付费下载，这种反复无常的价格调整手段，着实让该公司大赚了一把。

SoftGamers目前还有62款游戏正在制作过程中，但这些游戏无一例外都是原创作品，这还得归功于《Duck Hunt: The Game》，若不是这款游戏捞到的第一桶金，这些原创作品现在很可能不是难产就是夭折。

游戏克隆现象有多种原因，开发商们可要擦亮眼睛，提高警惕了，虽然有些克隆现象并非都是故意作恶，但前提是它们的存在必须要有合法的理由。

Copycats, Clones, and Coincidences: Tales from the App Store

Copycats and clones have long been the bane of developers – pretty much since the dawn of software. But while some releases are blatant rip-offs, others manage to walk a fine line betweenplagiarism and inspiration. Some even end up being little more than coincidence. So how do these situations occur? We take a look at the App Store in search of answers.

The most important thing to remember is that similarities can happen for very different, often flattering, reasons. While Veggie Samurai might be a clear attempt to cash in on Fruit Ninja, a game like A Ninja Dude: Ninja School takes that slashing mechanic and builds it into a totally fresh product. The difference between inspiration and copycat isn’t always as cut and dry as this, but the Fruit Ninja situation illustrates both ends of the spectrum nicely.

Then again, sometimes copycats like Veggie Samurai are anything but.

Take the case of Fragmental 3D and Tetra 3D. Both games offer a three-dimensional spin on Tetris. Both offer similar graphics. And one was released only 6 months after the other. At a glance, it seems like a clear cut case of copycat design. Scratch the surface and you’ll quickly learn this isn’t the case.

Zach Kinstner, the developer of Fragmental 3D, was understandably shocked when he discovered such a seemingly similar title following only a few months after his own release. “Judging only from the screenshots, it appeared to me that the developer had somehow stolen my actual game code, and made various functional and graphical changes to hide the theft,” says Kinstner. “After my own research however, I simply found it difficult to prove to myself that the game’s functionality was a copy of Fragmental 3D.”

Kinstner was the sole developer on Fragmental 3D, making it impossible for the code to have been leaked without his knowledge. This led Kinstner to look search out information on code theft and app decompilers. In the end, Kinstner seemed willing to chalk much of this up to coincidence.

“I hold no claim to the idea of 3D Tetris. I do feel my control system is unique to Fragmental 3D, however, which makes the game into a very immersive experience.” Kinstner notes that, while some graphical similarities may appear to be more than coincidence, the difference in control schemes is large enough that it would be impossible to call Tetra 3D a clone of his offering. “My solution has a slightly higher learning curve, but it is innovative and intuitive for the player.”

Still, those graphical similarities can’t help but raise a red flag of sorts. Similarities in visual style and generic backgrounds concepts could easily be chalked up to coincidence, but Tetra 3D features on-screen buttons that are clearly borrowed from Fragmental 3D.

After contacting the Apple Legal team, Kinstner was put in touch with Tetra 3D’s developer Faisal Saeed. Saeed was just as shocked as Kinstner. “I was lied to and cheated by my freelance designer,” says Saeed. “He had the nerve of selling me stolen UI design.” While there may have been some clear cut theft here, it was committed by a third-party rather than the competing developer. “I wasn’t aware of the Fragmental 3D game. It taught me a lesson never to work with a freelance designer again.”

Kinstner and Saeed were able to come to an amiable understanding. Tetra 3D is set to receive an update in the near future that will remove the visual similarities from the game. “From a common sense perspective – and unless he was really trying to make a clone game — it seems like he would have every reason to be as original as possible,” said Kistner.” Since 3D Tetris is not a new idea, a developer benefits most from a game that stands out through both visual and functional innovation.”

While some situations like the 3D Tetris situation above can be chalked up to coincidence, and others to inspiration, some releases are just plain theft. Take Duck Hunt: The Game for example. Developed by SoftGamers, a company know for low-quality simple fare like Doodle Taxi and HeartCatcher, Duck Hunt: The Game is a straight up clone of the Nintendo light gun classic. Or at least it was until Nintendo’s lawyers had the game yanked from the App Store.

The game had been on the App Store for a little over two months before being pulled this past August, during which time the ducks more or less flew under the radar. “One day I changed the price from $0.99 to free and I got nearly 200,000 Downloads in three days,” said Arsen Torosian, SoftGamers’ sole developer. “That made my game the number four most downloaded application on the App Store. I think after that, Nintendo noticed.”

On August 18th, Nintendo sent a letter to Apple, and Apple in turn sent a letter to SoftGamers requesting they remove the game from the App Store within 5 days. Torosian complied.

But why make a clone in the first place? “I choose to make a clone rather than making a new game because of the publicity. My motive was first to make some money out of the App Store so I can continue making games.”

And make money it did. While Torosian refrained from providing us with a figure that summed up his two months of plagiarism, he confirmed that the game was initially profitable and then fell to around $15 a day after the initial release period. After setting the price to free for 3 days, Torosian switched the pricing back to paid and made “a good profit of it.”

SoftGamers has another 62 games in the works – none of which will copy other games – though the profits earned from Duck Hunt: The Game will no doubt aid in their development.

So there you have it. Game similarities can happen for a number of reasons, be they inspirational, accidental, or a deliberate cash grab. Developers take note: similarities aren’t always bad thing. Just make sure they’re there for the right reasons.（source：gamezebo）

声明：本文中文为游戏邦翻译，英文原文采用gamezebo，转载请保留版权信息，谢谢！