My Prototypes: Clones Game

Another prototype I’ve worked on recently is a side-scrolling puzzle-platformer, the central conceit being you are able to create life-limited clones of yourself to perform helpful tasks in areas you can’t reach. During gameplay you can switch control between your ‘original’ self and any of your clones, but only for a short time, until the clone dies.

The idea is vaguely based on an old platformer called The Swapper (2013), which is a game where you can create clones of yourself to aid progression. I have never actually played this game, just seen a handful of trailers and screenshots, but something about the idea stuck with me, and stayed lolling around in the base of my brain ever since.

More recently, the chatter in the media about billionaires looking into extending their lifespans and the contant itch in my skull to make a puzzle-type game despite it not being one of my strengths, discovered this discarded idea slumped against the back wall of my cranium, and the three of them decided “Fuck it, we’re not doing anything else I guess?” and became this Clone Game.

The plot involves the player character needing to escape a space station that is slowly falling out of orbit. They appear to be the only inhabitants of the station, and as systems fail onboard, it becomes clear they really need some help getting out. “But wait! The cloning technology I’ve been developing up here could come in useful!” they think, and they use it to clone themselves to help bypass obstacles. Each area of the station has several cloning booths, and the player can find computer consoles from which to generate a new clone at their booth of choice.

Puzzles start simple: e.g. a locked door that is locked from the other side, so they log on, clone themselves at a booth on the far side of the door, and use their clone to open it. Then the puzzles become more complicated, involving switching between multiple clones and performing timed movements and actions to avoid hazards, including the station security system, which really doesn’t seem to like the fact that clones are running around inside it.

As a game, I became more excited about making it the more I thought about the narrative. Initially the idea was a fairly perfunctory ‘mechanical’ puzzle-platformer, with the player creating these clones as tools. But then I started to think about how these clones would feel about being used as disposable assets. Especially if they were also mental/intellectual clones of the main character – they would most definitely know they were being used. How would they react to suddenly existing, and knowing they only had thirty seconds to exist before dying, but “Oh, could you open that door for me first?”

To be fair, I had more fun thinking of how those conversations and interactions would work, and not work, rather more than the puzzle aspect itelf. So I started planning a more scenario-based gameplay, where you would have environmental hazards that required clone support to get through, as opposed to traditional “put clone #1 here, then clone #2 here, press the button, move clone #2 there, move player up and use the lever to let clone #1 etc. etc.” logic puzzles. This felt more interesting to me, and would allow me the writing freedom to explore the interactions between the player character and their clones.

And, of course, as often happens with my ideas, another clone game came out as I was thinking this one through – The Alters. Different setup and gameplay, but also heavily focusing on the interrelations between multiple clones. I guess I should be thrilled that my ideas are good enough for others to come up with them too and get a full game developed and published, but at the same time if game devs could stop thinking of new ideas for a couple of years so I can get one of mine out, that would be great. Ta!

Tony.