Mod edit: I've added the information from carloselcoco's OP into this one, but I'm keeping this thread open because it has more discussion
If you have ever been awaiting for StarCraft to come to the iPhone, iTouch or iPad, then you have probably already learned about StarFront: Collision. Developed by Gameloft, it is easy to agree that it is StarCraft for iOS systems.
Mobile game maker Gameloft has a reputation for making high quality games that look… familiar. But just because StarFront: Collission looks like a blatant ripoff of StarCraft doesn’t mean I’m any less excited about the fact that the game will be available later this week. Because let’s face it, wouldn’t you rather have a great-looking StarCraft clone for your phone than no StarCraft at all?
StarFront: Collision is due out for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on February 10th. The game follows the age-old story of three different races of warriors fighting over minerals on an alien planet. Races include humans, a robot race, and an alien race called the Zerg err… Myriad.
You can check out the latest game-play trailer after the break. It looks pretty much like StarCraft. But on your phone. Which is awesome.
Set to be released originally on Thursday, February 10th, 2011. Gameloft today updated their Starfront YouTube trailer of the game and has postponed the released until Friday, February 18th, 2011.
I am curious to see if you guys would get this game and what your thoughts on it are. For me, it looks pretty amazing and since Blizzard has refused to bring games to iOS systems (any mobile system really), I am really looking forward to this release even though it is basically StarCraft stolen and adapted for iOS systems. Doesn't matter that Gameloft was cheap by not being original. They are still amazing at bringing copies of other games to iOS systems. I can't wait until February 18th!
I think that ActiBlizz will probably try to sue them, but personally I don't care. It's not like this will split the community in two, this game will not be anywhere near as good as SC2, especially on the iPhone.
Yeah... that doesn't even look remotely entertaining. "Conquer the beautiful 64bit planet or take your eyes off the crappy iphone and check out your beautiful surroundings."
Eh, they're hardly "stealing" anything blizz created. The last original thing Blizzard created were the three vikings...I'd say that both this game and SC are based on WH40k, which is in turn based on classic sci-fi themes and cliches. Pretty much the same holds for warcraft-warhammer-classic fantasy stuff.
i think that instead of condemning this game, we should all buy it and then complain to them about the game balance just as much as we do with starcraft
Gameloft is well known for their rip-offs of popular games.
They've cloned
Resident Evil
Soul Calibur
Halo
GTA
Call of Duty
Guitar Hero
Uncharted
Pokemon
and a ton of other popular IPs as well. They're The Asylum of videogames, trying to cash in on the ideas and success of others on platforms where these brands aren't represented (mostly iOS). I guess it was only a matter of time before those parasites moved in on Starcraft. :/
I don't know about the other franchises but the Call of Duty title is actually pretty good and way better than the official CoD phone game. If there rest of their output does as good a job porting control schemes to the iPhone as that did then it's probably a good thing for everyone that isn't a giant publisher.
And for the record, they can't and won't be sued, because they haven't stolen actual art assets from these companies or anything.
I don't know whether they recreate these likenesses on their own, or just take the art assets from other games and modify them in such a way that they still remain recognisable, but are juuust different enough not to get them into a lawsuit.
On February 08 2011 05:31 Bobster wrote: And for the record, they can't and won't be sued, because they haven't stolen actual art assets from these companies or anything.
I don't know whether they recreate these likenesses on their own, or just take the art assets from other games and modify them in such a way that they still remain recognisable, but are juuust different enough not to get them into a lawsuit.
It's pretty despicable, really. :/
What's so despicable about it? Is it any different from the millions of other products that get ripped off and cloned on a daily basis? It's not like they're seriously trying to pass this off as a real competitive product anyway.
i might actually buy that so i can play it when im travelling. i will be the first starfront progamer! ...i just hope zerg doesnt suck as much as it does in sc2 :D
Name one major concept from a Blizz game thats really, truly original to only Bliz. Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft are HEAVILY influenced from the pop culture around us. I'm happy they didn't get sued for it. Otherwise, we certainly wouldn't be playing sc2 right now.
I'm going to tell you right now: You really, really don't want a video game industry where people can be sued for things like this. Game developers already hold patents on specific video game devices. Don't give big-budget publishers a reason to inflict their war chests on smaller devs.
Well actually they can't sue gameloft from having "similar" characters as starcraft characters as the starcraft characters themeselves are ripoffs from starship troopers and other fiction work.
Also blizzard has boycotted every single initiative to bring broodwar to mobile devices such as the ds and mobile phones, so basically its their fault.
I'm actually buying this game, it looks entertaining
On February 08 2011 05:58 cnas wrote: Name one major concept from a Blizz game thats really, truly original to only Bliz. Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft are HEAVILY influenced from the pop culture around us. I'm happy they didn't get sued for it. Otherwise, we certainly wouldn't be playing sc2 right now.
iirc starcraft was the first rts game with completely different factions. and diablos with the point and click control. not to mention bnet which is a free server where ppl can play games back then. thats to my knowledge though so feel free to correct me xD
On February 08 2011 05:42 LegendaryZ wrote: It's not like they're seriously trying to pass this off as a real competitive product anyway.
They're not?
Last I checked, Gameloft announced they sold over 20 million App store games total. If that's not real and competitive, I don't know what is. And that was a couple months back, that number has surely increased since then.
Also, I personally think it's borderline unethical to cash in on the popularity and success of another's idea and work like they do. There's being inspired by something and adapting it into something new, and then there's blatant copying constantly skirting on the edge of a copyright infringement lawsuit.
I'm feeling the same about knockoffs in certain other industries, like the aforementioned Asylum mockbusters.
And just to note, I think the only time a company has actually been successfully sued for infringement in a matter of "ripping off another video game" was Atari's case against Pac-Man clone K.C. Munchkin (Atari held the home rights to the game). Since then, you've had International Karate, you've had Fighter's History, and an entire world of video games that basically ripped off each other in some way or another. The only time that companies have really won any infringement cases is when they've held patents on various video game devices, most notably Sega's legal victory against The Simpsons: Road Rage for the use of an overhead arrow to lead the player (ala Crazy Taxi). (Yes, they were allowed to patent this.)
On February 08 2011 05:58 cnas wrote: Name one major concept from a Blizz game thats really, truly original to only Bliz. Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft are HEAVILY influenced from the pop culture around us. I'm happy they didn't get sued for it. Otherwise, we certainly wouldn't be playing sc2 right now.
iirc starcraft was the first rts game with completely different factions. and diablos with the point and click control. not to mention bnet which is a free server where ppl can play games back then. thats to my knowledge though so feel free to correct me xD
I think all those things are true, but what i meant was the concept of hero vs demons (diablo), man vs alien vs "predator" (sc) and man vs orc. What i get a sense of from the video is that they're really just doing what bliz used to do, but bliz just didn't get stuff from the same genre of game (a luxury from the early computer days). How it actually plays and how u control units and stuff like finding people to play against might not be very bliz-like, but I dont know, haven't played it.
Depending on the price, I'm probably going to get it just to check out the interface and how the controls work. I bet macro is very difficult and micro is all but impossible.
On February 08 2011 05:42 LegendaryZ wrote: It's not like they're seriously trying to pass this off as a real competitive product anyway.
They're not?
Last I checked, Gameloft announced they sold over 20 million App store games total. If that's not real and competitive, I don't know what is. And that was a couple months back, that number has surely increased since then.
Also, I personally think it's borderline unethical to cash in on the popularity and success of another's idea and work like they do. There's being inspired by something and adapting it into something new, and then there's blatant copying constantly skirting on the edge of a copyright infringement lawsuit.
I'm feeling the same about knockoffs in certain other industries, like the aforementioned Asylum mockbusters.
This isn't a competitive product because Blizzard isn't in the business of making iPhone games. Honestly you could make a more legitimate argument about blatant rip-offs in the Fighting Game genre or the MMORPG genre since those are clearly designed to directly compete with each other on the same platform. It may certainly be unethical, but it's a common practice that anyone who enters this kind of business comes to expect. Just like companies like IKEA basically rip off designs and makes cheaper copies of designer furniture, these guys just make cheap knockoffs of popular games. If you seriously think an iPhone game like this is going to take away sales from Starcraft or any other game that they've copied, you're just kidding yourself.
On February 08 2011 06:33 LegendaryZ wrote: This isn't a competitive product because Blizzard isn't in the business of making iPhone games. Honestly you could make a more legitimate argument about blatant rip-offs in the Fighting Game genre or the MMORPG genre since those are clearly designed to directly compete with each other on the same platform.
Yeah, absolutely. You could definitely make arguments for these, although I'm not aware of too many recent games where things have been as obviously stolen/copied as Gameloft usually does.
On February 08 2011 06:33 LegendaryZ wrote: It may certainly be unethical, but it's a common practice that anyone who enters this kind of business comes to expect. Just like companies like IKEA basically rip off designs and makes cheaper copies of designer furniture, these guys just make cheap knockoffs of popular games. If you seriously think an iPhone game like this is going to take away sales from Starcraft or any other game that they've copied, you're just kidding yourself.
Well, just because it's common practice doesn't make it any less unethical, so I guess we actually agree on all points. :D
You asked why I called Gameloft's modus operandi despicable, it's because I consider it unethical (as do you, apparently).
Move over SC2, there's a new heavy hitter in town.
Knock offs are nothing new and they all suck. Usually provided for a niche market as I can't imagine the market for that title being very big at all. If you're into that type of game then you're probably playing SC2 or some other superior game on a PC like a proper gamer.
Haha, gameloft makes me laugh. If you take the time to go through all of their games, you will see that their games are actually almost 100% rip offs of big time games. They have a game just like WC3 as well.
EDIT: My god, watching the video, these players have terrible macro.
On February 08 2011 06:38 Bobster wrote: You asked why I called Gameloft's modus operandi despicable, it's because I consider it unethical (as do you, apparently).
I suppose the only disagreement we may have is on the use of the word, "despicable". To me, reverse engineering or copying a product is far from it. Despicable to me would probably be more like the exploitation of sweatshop labor by clothing companies or deliberately disposing of toxic waste in an improper manner. Knockoffs like this really just amuse me more than anything else just like the fake LV and Coach bags you find in Chinatown for a few bucks.
I'll check it out. Even though Gameloft has an uncanny ability to make TOTAL CLONES... Even I'd admit, they are generally decent games. I've tried several RTS style games on the iPHONE, and this one actually looks like it might be the best in terms of mechanics.
I have been working for Gameloft for some years. Before they start making a game they make a research which computer, web or mobile game is widely played. After the winner is chosen they start copying it almost completely. The ppl creating the game are actually required to play the original game in order to copy it more accurate (in this case it is starcraft). The funny thing is that most of these ppl are not even remotely gamers so the decisions they make about the game such as controls, user interface etc are just retarded. When the game is 95% done the lawyers are involved and the dont-sue-us process of changing the game begins. BUT nothing can compare to the "world of lordcraft" :D.
Its just a game thats been done before. Also i dont understand people saying that it looks like crap, since its on the iphone, I think it looks alright. And don't judge it without even playing it.
Yeah I think its very SC2 like from the vid, probably a copy.
I posted this in the other thread, but I think that my sentiments are even more pertinent here because I don't agree with the "blatant" part. . . . well, at least not in the traditional sense. You'll see:
RTS is a genre that's hard to label rip-offs in. Why? Well, pretty much everything follows a StarCraftian formula (ooh, that sounded fancy. I'm definitely going to keep using that word.).
Human/Bug Alien/Tech Alien? That's the cookie cutter for everyone.
Warped in buildings? That gets done (some in a more human-esque, Red Alert, quick setup way, though).
Some close unit types? Well, I have news for you, you're going to have some that are somewhat similar no matter what (tanks!? MARINES!? WHAT DO THOSE HOOLIGANS THINK THEY'RE DOING!? Also, any type of mothership and most "bug" type alien units seem to be similar across games and genres in many ways).
Yes, overall I think Gameloft is pretty much the epitome of lame, but this, minus the name, is slightly more par for the course as compared to their other total copies (I actually bought and played the God of War one they made. Mildly entertaining and I got it for a discount, so I was okay with it. Mind you, who isn't copying God of War nowadays? Everyone's getting copied!).
despite a lot of the negativity towards this, I'm actually inclined to try it out.... but only if it doesn't cost over 5$ thats the most im willing to spend from just looking at that video
I can understand how they can get away with this (it's not specifically copying...), but what gets me is the name. Like, you're automatically gonna be called out for this, why throw salt in the wound and almost CHALLENGE someone to take you on about it?
On February 08 2011 04:36 Slardar wrote: More like...... GAYLOFT?! AMIRITE?!
Yeah... that doesn't even look remotely entertaining. "Conquer the beautiful 64bit planet or take your eyes off the crappy iphone and check out your beautiful surroundings."
User was warned for this post
Not right at all... Not even close, but okay.
And what's wrong with the game? If it came out for Droid, I would get it in a heartbeat. Nobody is expecting this to be something you skip sc2 over, but it would be entertaining in between classes or on the bus or train.
On February 08 2011 04:36 Slardar wrote: More like...... GAYLOFT?! AMIRITE?!
Yeah... that doesn't even look remotely entertaining. "Conquer the beautiful 64bit planet or take your eyes off the crappy iphone and check out your beautiful surroundings."
User was warned for this post
Not right at all... Not even close, but okay.
And what's wrong with the game? If it came out for Droid, I would get it in a heartbeat. Nobody is expecting this to be something you skip sc2 over, but it would be entertaining in between classes or on the bus or train.
I was over exaggerating a bit ^^
Find better ways to spend your time then supporting a company that does nothing but rip-off other people's creativity and products to make cheap knockoffs and try to make a turn of the profit. I never said something was wrong with the game, I just don't think they deserve any money and won't give them any of mine, but that's just what I think.
On February 08 2011 05:07 universalwill wrote: i think that instead of condemning this game, we should all buy it and then complain to them about the game balance just as much as we do with starcraft
On February 08 2011 04:36 Slardar wrote: More like...... GAYLOFT?! AMIRITE?!
Yeah... that doesn't even look remotely entertaining. "Conquer the beautiful 64bit planet or take your eyes off the crappy iphone and check out your beautiful surroundings."
User was warned for this post
Not right at all... Not even close, but okay.
And what's wrong with the game? If it came out for Droid, I would get it in a heartbeat. Nobody is expecting this to be something you skip sc2 over, but it would be entertaining in between classes or on the bus or train.
I was over exaggerating a bit ^^
Find better ways to spend your time then supporting a company that does nothing but rip-off other people's creativity and products to make cheap knockoffs and try to make a turn of the profit. I never said something was wrong with the game, I just don't think they deserve any money and won't give them any of mine, but that's just what I think.
It is not practical to expect something new. Innovation is nothing but a recombination of ideas or objects that have already been thought up and created. Starcraft was a recombination of previous human efforts and so is the iphone. Gameloft just brought a starcraft-like rts to a handheld platform - of course you might think it easy and you could have thought of it first, but they are still the innovator will profit from realizing such an innovation.
humans and 2x alien races. 1 being biological and 1 being magical/technologically advanced is not a rip off of starcraft. it's the standard format for anything science fiction.
why does this thread even exist.
*EDIT* if the OP really did despise this game for ripping off starcraft 2 he did a really bad job NOT promoting it and NOT viral marketing it to NOT increase it's sales/popularity.
On February 08 2011 05:07 universalwill wrote: i think that instead of condemning this game, we should all buy it and then complain to them about the game balance just as much as we do with starcraft
they'd regret ever making this game
This...is amazing ^^
Hah I also think this is amazing. I love that idea ^_^
how does one judge whether something is plagarized or not as far as i can see i see soldiers. not marines i see tanks not siege tanks.
Since when were these aspects of RTS game not allowed? i think i just won a law suit. any other claims?
also the number 3. the three race ? if your tryin to make a law suit out of that... dont even bother. they can say tha 3 is what they decided was the number to achieve equialibrum balance point. and since when were games not allowed to use 3 race? and be blamed for plaragizing?
On February 08 2011 06:15 TheBlueMeaner wrote: Well actually they can't sue gameloft from having "similar" characters as starcraft characters as the starcraft characters themeselves are ripoffs from starship troopers and other fiction work.
Also blizzard has boycotted every single initiative to bring broodwar to mobile devices such as the ds and mobile phones, so basically its their fault.
I'm actually buying this game, it looks entertaining
Actually, starcraft came out before starship troopers.
In korea there were millions and billions of Starcraft 1 clones, and I never heard of Blizzard sueing anyone.. Besides, PC gaming and Iphone gaming industries are hardly in competition afaik?
On February 08 2011 06:15 TheBlueMeaner wrote: Well actually they can't sue gameloft from having "similar" characters as starcraft characters as the starcraft characters themeselves are ripoffs from starship troopers and other fiction work.
Also blizzard has boycotted every single initiative to bring broodwar to mobile devices such as the ds and mobile phones, so basically its their fault.
I'm actually buying this game, it looks entertaining
Actually, starcraft came out before starship troopers.
Starship Troopers is from 1959. Don't think Starcraft is that old.
The novel, which has 0 pictures, 0 images of the bugs. Starcraft which is pre SST movie. And the dev's have even said they drew their inspiration for the zerg from the alien movies, not SST. So don't spew ish about a pictureless book.
On February 09 2011 01:31 Kletus wrote: You guys are missing the big picture; the fact that this game has local play already puts it leagues ahead of starcraft2.
ahaha EPIC but not really lol, yea they can make this shitty SC wanna be game if they want, hopefully it plays better than it looks, if I had an Iphone i would srsly be tempted to buy this just to see how it was
On February 09 2011 01:21 Arkless wrote: The novel, which has 0 pictures, 0 images of the bugs. Starcraft which is pre SST movie. And the dev's have even said they drew their inspiration for the zerg from the alien movies, not SST. So don't spew ish about a pictureless book.
But where do you think Aliens got some inspiration from? Everything is derivative. Since the beginning of culture.
Its a freaking mobile device. What do you expect? Some technological revolution that sets it apart from all the other mobile RTS games out there? Wait...
Did you look at Starcraft and 'hey, that's a lot like Dune 2, and Command and Conquer! What a complete rip off!!'
Its only because mobile devices are a technological step backwards is why these seem like cheap knock-offs. The reality of the situation is they face a lot of design and development challenges in taking an already well-established genre, and making it work on a mobile device. They can't just copy-paste a bunch of code and call it a day. They've got to make it functional, graphically viable and make it intuitive through a totally different interface than a mouse and keyboard.
Maybe they succeeded, maybe they didn't, but passing judgment before trying the thing is juvenile at best.
RTS players, like you guys, like the complexity and depth that comes with more than 2 races. Command & Conquer, et al, weren't strategically deep because the units were all basically the same. What are the 3 obvious race choices? The humans, the super-advanced guys, and the bug-like guys. Space Marines/Eldar/Tyranids. Terrans/Protoss/Zerg. Humans/Predators/Aliens. Terrans/Celareons/Mantis (if you played Conquest: Frontier Wars). Whatever you want to call them, its the same basic theme.
You've got the physically weak, but highly adaptable and ingenious humans guys, you've got the all-powerful, high-tech, but held-back by tradition and the status quo guys and you've got some swarm of uncontrollable hive-mind slaves.
I think if you legitimately look at Gameloft's games in specific as someone already pointed out in this thread, all they do is take all the mainstream brand games and make a cheap knockoff. I'm not having unreal expectations of "originality" this is how THIS company operates and it's nonsense.
Geez, you can 0RAX.. (even those his scvs are out, his marines comes out and makes it 1/XXX) (edit: Oh, nevermind. Your mining SCVs dont count as supply??)
Also, saw this update an hour ago, never heard of the site, but FWIW:
Bad news, everyone! Gameloft has delayed the release of StarFront: Collision to February 18. In the meantime, you can either play Starcraft to get your RTS fix, or keep watching the trailer over and over on repeat. For a week.
I spend between 80 and 100 minutes a day on mass transit. I will probably buy this game as something to play during that time to get a strategy fix, because most of the "strategy" offerings on mobile platforms are either turn-based or absurd and not-really-strategic.
The only problem with this of game is that if we thought mastering mechanics in SC2 was difficult with a mouse and a keyboard, I can only imagine how difficult mastering mechanics with an inaccurate touch screen will be.
On February 09 2011 01:21 Arkless wrote: The novel, which has 0 pictures, 0 images of the bugs. Starcraft which is pre SST movie. And the dev's have even said they drew their inspiration for the zerg from the alien movies, not SST. So don't spew ish about a pictureless book.
But where do you think Aliens got some inspiration from? Everything is derivative. Since the beginning of culture.
Aliens were modeled after art by HR Giger, I'll venture that the bugs from SST were inspired by bugs.
On February 09 2011 01:21 Arkless wrote: The novel, which has 0 pictures, 0 images of the bugs. Starcraft which is pre SST movie. And the dev's have even said they drew their inspiration for the zerg from the alien movies, not SST. So don't spew ish about a pictureless book.
But where do you think Aliens got some inspiration from? Everything is derivative. Since the beginning of culture.
Aliens were modeled after art by HR Giger, I'll venture that the bugs from SST were inspired by bugs.
Yeah, I think the inspiration for the xenomorphs stops somewhere within that man's twisted mind.. I watched a 2 hour interview from my alien quadrilogy box-set, what a crazy individual. The derelict space craft featured in the original and aliens was actually modeled after the vaginal canal and some other inner workings of the female reproductive system.
Pretty standard... And to those who say SC was ripped from Warhammer 40K, well you guys have obviously never heard of a genre called "Science fiction". Obviously ideas are transplantable from one setting to the other, it doesn't mean they're copied or stolen. By that logic Agatha Christie ripped off Arthur Conan Doyle.
On February 09 2011 01:21 Arkless wrote: The novel, which has 0 pictures, 0 images of the bugs. Starcraft which is pre SST movie. And the dev's have even said they drew their inspiration for the zerg from the alien movies, not SST. So don't spew ish about a pictureless book.
But where do you think Aliens got some inspiration from? Everything is derivative. Since the beginning of culture.
Alien is commentary on Vietnam. Aliens on the other hand, can't say. I suppose it drew inspiration from Alien.
Dude I have a million questions about this game and it's actually REALLY QUITE SOLID. But I'm not sure if there are bugs or what...
- How in the hell do you take workers of min/gas? It seems like once a resource node is mined out I cannot remove my drones?! Also I think there might be a bug in the game where you run out of resources and "recycle" the building, you lose your drones but don't gain your food back. - How do you make a new "command center?" - I hit the pop cap too easy and it seems like you need another CC in order to up your food (via upgrades)
I was expecting a mediocre title and I got a fairly solid RTS on the iPhone. It's basically StarCraft with some "EZ" thrown in to make it work with the touch screen.
Yeah I've got to agree, rip off or not, it's a pretty good game.
The campaign is only so-so, but this game is definitely worth the $6 just for the multiplayer. The controls/interface are actually really solid, and it's a shit-ton of fun.
I think it might have a few balance issues and online play is mostly just rush's at the moment, but once you get to the higher ranks, there are some super good games.
@Wheat: you can't take workers off of resources. Once they're mining, they're mining. And workers that are mining don't count towards the population count, so you're not missing out on any food. And yeah, you can't rebuild your main base, which seems pretty stupid.
On February 18 2011 00:12 djWHEAT wrote: - How in the hell do you take workers of min/gas?
You can t
It seems like once a resource node is mined out I cannot remove my drones?!
Nope but if you are zerg( don t remember the name) you CAN move YOUR " minéral recolt building"
Also I think there might be a bug in the game where you run out of resources and "recycle" the building, you lose your drones but don't gain your food back.
Drones / harvesters when they are makin a building or in a harvest building dont use food.
- How do you make a new "command center?" - I hit the pop cap too easy and it seems like you need another CC in order to up your food (via upgrades)
I don t know.
But this game seems a bit too much cheesy. People that I have faced just send me 2 workers and build 2 auto turrets or mass auto turret at home. And consortium/ terran is a bit avantaged because they have autorepair...