There wouldn’t be many video games if it wasn’t for the people who build on the backs of those who have come before. We wouldn’t have Halo if we didn’t have Doom. We wouldn’t have Limbo without Donkey Kong. Hell, we wouldn’t have any of the games I write about here without the original Rogue.
The question is, then, what is acceptable when copying the ideas of an existing game? And more importantly, when does that copying go too far? These are the questions I’m left thinking about when considering the curious case of dire decks (it’s lowercase on purpose), a free game on Itch.io, and another new game with a demo out on Steam that looks just like it.
Standing on the shoulders of kindanice
I’ll start you at the point where I became aware of this situation, and that was when I read a xweet by game developer kindanice.
In that message, he calls out another developer for copying his game, dire decks. Here’s what he wrote, along with the image included in the post:
hi everyone. @terrybrash copied my game “dire decks” and is releasing it on steam under a different name without my permission. i have tried to get him to take the game down but he is unwilling to do so. not sure what to do in this situation…
Based on the images, this feels like a fairly open and shut case. There are numerous similarities beyond the basic gameplay concept. Wildcard doesn’t only play like dire decks, but it uses the same graphical style, the same fonts, and even the same colour scheme. It’s not exactly subtle.
Games by Terry Brash
Terry Brash has made three games, according to his Steam profile. Wildcard is one of them, but there are two more for us to consider. Perhaps these games shed some light on their creator?
One of them is called Gunrun and it’s a survivors-like with cute graphics. As confirmed by the developer himself over on the Steam forum, it’s distinctive visual style is heavily inspired by SNKRX. Nothing wrong with that…
The next game is Tiny Survivors. Regular readers and roguelike aficionados will be aware of Tiny Rogues. While there are differences between the two, Survivors has copied many of the same UI elements and the Brash game is, in my opinion, derivative of RubyDev’s brilliant little roguelite.
Is that a problem? I’m not sure it is in this instance either, as there are several key differences between the two games. It’s similar, yes, but it’s also not a direct copy. At worst I think this could be considered “passing off” – broadly speaking, that’s when someone tries to fool people into thinking something is official when it is not.
Check out Tiny Rogues (above) and Tiny Survivors (below) and make your own mind up on how similar the games are.
“Happens every day homie”
What I didn’t know when I first saw the post above was that the two devs had already been talking for some time.
According to kindanice, who explained it to PC Gamer, he had been in touch with Brash for a while. (There’s more great detail in the write-up by Comfy Cozy Gaming, who also had a chat with kindanice.)
The interaction between them was friendly at first. They had shared admiration for each others’ work. However, things soured some time later when Brash revealed his new game, Wildcard. According to reports, he was open about copying dire decks.
In the back and forth between the two devs, kindanice told him that copying someone’s work wasn’t cool, noting that some of his fellow indie dev friends also thought that the situation was “weird” and that he should try and have the copycat game taken down.
“I’m confused, what’s weird here?” Brash allegedly replied. “I liked the game, so I made a clone with extra stuff. Happens every day homie.”
And so Brash has refused to take the game offline, saying “I accept my fate” with regards to any consequences. It’s clear that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, nor about any of the pain that he’s causing the developer whose work he stole. This sarcastic post by Brash reveals exactly how unapologetic he is.
What can be done?
This is where it gets tricky, especially considering the points raised at the top of this page. While it’s clearly a clone of dire decks, technically, Brash has made Wildcard from scratch, and he claims to have added new features.
Wildcard is still on Steam although as per comments made on social media, it has been flagged on Valve’s platform by several people. I’ve also seen people review bombing Tiny Survivors, and the community notes feature on TwitterX has been put to good use, too.
Is this going to be enough, though? The game remains available to download at the time of writing.
More importantly, what does mean for kindanice, who is working on an enhanced version of dire decks and plans to release it on Steam? I can’t be alone in thinking that it would be deeply unfair for the developer to have to directly compete with a game that is essentially a copy of his work?
Who is Terry Brash?
Not only is he sticking to his guns and keeping the game online in the face of widespread criticism, Terry Brash also has people arguing his case over on TwitterX.
I can’t prove anything, but my gut tells me that the individual going to bat for him is a friend/accomplice, or maybe even an alt account for Brash himself (as highlighted by people in the comments on the original thread, who noticed similarities between their bio texts).
“He spent months painstakingly recreating elements of of dire decks, then spent more time making more content with its systems, tuned the gameplay, added more systems, changed things. It’s a remix,” argued Cameron Reikes, who seems to have taken the same ethics course as Brash.
Everything above has left me wondering: is Terry Brash even a real person? I mean, if I was going to start stealing other people’s ideas and making derivative games based on things that I didn’t have the wit to come up with myself, I’d probably create a fake persona to hide behind. Maybe that’s just me, though.
Summing up
I think it’s best if I leave it there because there’s nothing I can prove conclusively given the resources at my disposal, and anything else would be pure speculation on my part. However, I did want to throw my opinion in the ring as this whole debacle has twanged my sense of justice.
In fact, it’s probably worth noting that this kind of thing happens all the time. Mobile storefronts are riddled with cloned games, and it’s clear that Steam has a similar problem even if it’s not as serious.
In this instance, however, I think it’s especially distasteful because these are indie devs. Brash and kindanice had even been friendly at one point. It’s one thing when a one man indie dev copies something by Popcap, it’s another when someone you know takes your idea and runs with it behind your back.
I think the best thing that we can do is get behind the original artist, who is the victim in all of this. Having your work stolen from you is a horrible feeling, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back from this.
Head over to kindanice’s Itch.io page, play some of his games, and keep an eye out for the official version of dire decks, which is apparently in the works!
