Thirst for profit. Part 1. Attack of the Clones

I would like to present to the court of users of the resource my private investigation regarding the activities of Net Lizard - the company-developer of mobile (J2ME) games. It all started with the publication of the article “Thirst for money” in the next issue of the magazine “More Than One Game”. The answer from the developers was not long in coming. But first things first. And yes, I published this material at the request of the author himself, Yegor YourDestiny Tolstoy ,;)



Thirst for profit.

A play in six acts with a prologue.

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Prologue



What do PC and Java gaming platforms have in common? At first glance - a rather complicated question. Different target audiences - if the PC games are people not only of the youngest, but also of the middle and older ages, then in mobile games these are mostly children - from 12 to 17 years old. Few can disagree. Of course, there are separate instances for which Java is of interest even after the transitional age, but, recognize that there are very few of them, and they cannot affect the overall percentage. The next category of comparison of the two platforms is their technical characteristics. And here PC bypasses Java with a huge margin. Mobile phones have only now begun to gradually approach computer games 10 years ago. The scale of development companies is also incomparable - rarely more than sixty people in the office of a team developing a mobile toy. The exception, of course, are such giants as Gameloft , HangyGames and others. But even they cannot be compared with Bethesda , Rockstar , EA ... So what can they even have in common? My answer is the thirst for profit.

Unfortunately, almost everything in our world is done with money and for their own sake. Most of the actions of any person have a financial background, if you dig a little deeper than the surface layer. I will give a few banal examples from the same area - mobile games. Recall HeroCraft and their arcade game “Mu-mu: Doomsday” . Most of the players this project is not hooked. A month after the start of sales, together with our magazine, the developer company launched the contest “Mu-mu: Tournament Day” . Anyone could download a special free version of the game and try to score the maximum number of points. The winner received a decent amount to your account. Of course, this marketing move raised an interest in their creation, many, having downloaded this very “tournament” version, were eager to familiarize themselves with the full game. The number of such applicants very quickly paid for all the costs associated with the competition. But this is a normal case, because in this case, as they say, "both the sheep are fed and the wolves are safe." Let's jump in time a little bit more. Recall Qplaze with their STALKER Mobile . How many promises, beautiful screenshots and videos - all the gaming community was looking forward to the day the sales began. And what? In actual fact, this turned out to be a thoughtless shooting range, with terrible graphics and crooked gameplay. The question is, why was it necessary to breed such a PR company? And I already gave the answer. Above. For the sake of profit.

With this, I will finish the slightly prolonged prologue and proceed directly to the main action. Our hero is a Ukrainian developer of Net Lizard .



Act one. Beginner.



2006 March. The entire gaming community is blown up by the scandalous article “Opaque plagiarism” written by Evgeny Makarov, also known by his nickname Frant. In it, he examines many games from the company Net Lizard in comparison with other projects. And what is revealed? All, or almost all of them, are copied from the PC and console projects! Z Mobile - from the very well-known in its time game Z , Laser Squadron - with the toys for the Spectrum Laser Squad , Alien Agression - with the Laser Squad Nemesis , Excreman - an almost complete clone of Boogerman , and Prince of Egypt , as the name implies, completely “lapped” with Prince of Persia , a series popular to our day. As evidence, the author cites many screenshots, some of which I’m not afraid to use in my article.













For those who want to see the original, it is available at the link:

playgizmo.ru

Net-Lizard was not long in coming. The general director of the company, Alexei Reshetilo, attempted to write an official refutation of this article, where the main emphasis was placed on the encyclopaedic meaning of the word "plagiarism" and on the fact that the article was supposedly custom. There were a lot of unequivocal threats, which in the end were not confirmed by anything. For the curious, here are the links:

procontent.ru-1

procontent.ru-2

procontent.ru-3

procontent.ru-4

It would seem that these events should serve as a sufficient lesson for a still young and, in its own way, promising company. But ... it's time to move on to the next act.



Act of the second. Passage.



2007 May. Fourteen months have passed since a major trial with Net Lizard regarding their craving for plagiarism. But the public again stirred up - this time on the basis of gambling, or rather, tapeworm. The victim in this case was the company Reaxion with its game Solitaire Top12 Multipack . It would seem - nothing particularly remarkable game, the usual prohodnyak. But, oddly enough, it attracted the attention of the very same Net Lizard .







The interface of the game Golden Solitaire is almost completely stolen from the original version, as well as the "key features of the gameplay." I will not reveal this story to the end. Anyone can learn a detailed discussion of this issue at:

MGDC.ru

This time, the fact of theft was not widely publicized, the story quickly hesitated.



Act three. Unknown.



Unlike the previous two acts, highlighting the facts widely known in certain circles, this will be considered new material. So, I'll start by tradition:

2007 December. A few days before the new year, NETSOFTWARE releases the 3D Lab game. Following the description from the official site, this is a first-person shooter about the Second World War. Exactly a month later, the next brainchild of Net Lizard - Diversant 3D appears. In addition, two games were preceded by two more shooters from the same companies - Bunker 3D and Sturm 3D, respectively. And now, for clarity, we will conduct the well-known game “Find 10 Differences”:



1. Description of game characteristics:



Bunker 3D (NETSOFTWARE)

- tech 3D game engine

- fascinating and thoughtful plot

- detailed graphics

- balanced gameplay

- levels are prototypes of real rooms

- high-quality music (8 soundtracks)

- high dynamics (average game speed - 25 frames / sec)



Sturm 3D (Net Lizard)

- High-tech 3D game engine

- super detailed graphics

- fascinating and thoughtful plot

- balanced gameplay

- 3 types of weapons (automatic pistol, rocket launcher, plasma gun)

- possibility of simultaneous shooting from one / two hands

- high-quality music

- high game dynamics



2. Logos of games:







For comparison, I played in both projects. And here Net Lizard did not depart from their traditions. Copied all the design elements (eagles, flags, portraits with Hitler), even the textures are similar! Although, of course, you can argue that this is the standard style of the Second World War games. But along with everything else, it produces a different effect.

Especially suspicious readers can find confirmation of the above data on the official websites of both companies.

And once again I will note that the games from NETSOFTWARE came out steadily before the corresponding games from Net Lizard , just leaving our heroes enough time to copy their ideas. And the truth is - why invent something new, because you can use the well-forgotten old ... or, as in our case, just someone else's new.



Act 4. Modern.



year 2009. Net Lizard broke out with a large number of new games that became “hits” in the territory of the CIS countries. But let's try to ask ourselves - is it deserved?

Let's go in chronological order. And the first in line we have Moon (Moon) - a strategy in 2D. Remembering the 2006 scandal, I tried to look for the roots of this game - and, as it turned out, they lay on the surface! Game of all times and peoples - Starcraft . Compare some graphic elements:







But I will be honest to the end - there is just “transparent plagiarism” here, when only the general ideas and style are stolen. This is not so scary. Although, along with the rest of the picture, this will not change.



Storm 3D . Painfully familiar locations, visual style, design items ... On closer inspection, it turns out that in this creation from Net Lizard a lot of ideas are borrowed from the well-known Doom .





The next number is Shiver 3D - another pseudo-shooter. The story itself here begins with the logo of the game. At first glance, nothing like. But what happens if you turn it upside down?







Yes it is. Quake has replaced Doom . So where do you get the “new” ideas, if not from the legendary hits? In this case, the plagiarism is not so obvious, but when comparing screenshots of locations you can see a lot of rather curious similarities.







Next on the list - Shadows of Egypt 3D - the first shooter completely in three-dimensional environment. Here I will pay tribute to Net Lizard for working on the technical part of the game. But here's the visual ... Judge for yourself:









As they say, no comments ...



Let me look into the near future. I think everyone has already seen the video of the new game from the very same Net Lizard , the technological successor of Egypt - Clone 3D . But even here, as usual, it was not without borrowing other people's ideas - we compare the design and plot elements with the well-known Red Faction .







And the highlight of this act is the Soviet Slots . Absolutely by chance in the Internet, I came across a very interesting thing - a PC game with the same name.









Moreover, the lists of mini-games are also almost completely identical. Interested in this fact, I contacted the developers - Sky Horse Games . My suspicions were completely justified. They did not sell the license to publish the mobile version of their game. The answer of their co-founder is given below:



"Dear Egor,



I confirm that our company Sky Horse has not transferred to anyone the right to use the materials of the game Soviet Gaming Machines.

We don’t know the owners of the netlizard.net site through which the illegal mobile version of our game is distributed.



Respectfully,

co-founder of Sky Horse LLC

Vladimir Nevzorov "



There is clearly the same "opaque plagiarism". And, perhaps, just in this case, Net Lizard will finally have to answer for it in full in front of Sky Horse Games and their publisher “New Disc” .



Act 5. Unexpected.



year 2009. The time is the same, but the scene has shifted slightly. But first things first.

After the publication of some articles in our journal, some readers declared them to be “registered”, although they were warned about the subjectivity of the assessment of the game by the authors of the review. Nevertheless, there were shouts from all sides “how could you ...”, “yes, it is not worth it ...”. But - that's not the point. Around this time, a very interesting letter from the very same Net Lizard comes to the editorial e-mail. I will cite the passage:



“I would like to discuss with you in such cases Fin. terms on your part

(as if in support of your journal), suggest what option for

you have an acceptable, what would the articles about the gaming industry from our

Companies were described as colorfully as they deserve. ”



As an editor-in-chief, I was outraged, especially in connection with the latest criticism of us. So what is a developer if his games can't get a good mark without bribes? But this means that all their praised places in the “tops of the CIS countries”, in fact, is also the merit of money alone? What is easier - to pay a certain amount to content providers and get first place in the rating. And hence the increase in sales of the game. And, as a result, profit. In the current crisis, such actions on their part can have a very negative impact on less eminent developers, which is not good. I decided not to leave it just like that and continued our discussion in order to get more evidence of the bribery attempt.

Excerpts from our answer:

MTOG - “But“ financial support ”is a rather interesting question ... I would like to hear your specific suggestions regarding the amount and what we will have to do for it ...”

“In general, let's consider with you this question more deeply. What exactly do you want from our magazine? Frankly, we have long been waiting for such a correct and deliberate step from you. Therefore, we ask you to provide us with your financial means to pay for our PR and laudatory ones, or our other ... hmm. Opportunities. We ask you to describe everything as clearly as possible, to whom, what and how. "

Net Lizard - “... Write down your fees or rates with those with whom you are

already working, and that's all ... "

MTOG - “The procedure of“ barter ”is quite simple: you transfer a certain amount to your WebMoney account with a protection code, we write an article, show it to you, if everything is ok, after publishing the next issue, you tell us the protection code.”

Net Lizard - “Okay, you can try to work with you then, no question ...”

At this point, I thought it reasonable to finish our correspondence, since all the evidence is already there. I will declare once again publicly - we do not sell articles. And do not buy. And no matter what size the developer or publisher, whether he offers us money or threatens to court, our opinions about a particular game cannot be changed. By the way, such attempts on their part have already been, and more than once, but only now I decided to finish the job and tell our readers about it. Know who you contact and idolize. Money does not smell? No, just in our case they smell, and this smell is pretentious.



Act 6. Final.



It is said that people change over time. But life often proves the opposite, as in this case. That in 2006, that in our time, for Net Lizard everything was decided only by money. From here - and such a huge amount of plagiarism, because it is much easier to steal other people's ideas than to pay people who will invent them themselves. Hence the bribes, which, I am sure, they offered not only to us. And judging by the absence of any publications on this account, others agreed. I want to appeal directly to their director Alexey Sieve. Remember, not everything can be bought. And not all need to extract the maximum benefit, which includes dirty money. Money made by fraud.

I hope that with this article I opened my eyes to what is happening in the mobile gaming industry. But do not forget that not everyone is like Net Lizard . There are conscientious people who are trying to bring something to our hearts with each game. Be honest with everyone.



Egor YourDestiny Tolstoy



Thirst for profit. Part 2. onterritus. Argumentum argentarium