Evolution and natural selection are both concepts that people are extremely familiar with; as time goes on, entropy causes all things to change their form. From species to structures to ideas, all things gain complexity. In natural selection, the change best fit to the situation is the one that stays alive, and thus prospers. This can lead to some extremely strange evolutions in certain circumstances, and as time goes on those can become commonplace.
This principle stays true in the evolution of games over time; one could posit the idea that a game like Starcraft 2 is the evolution of Starcraft, which takes ideas from Westwood Studio’s Dune 2, which takes ideas from Herzog Zwei, and so on, until we get back to games like Chess and Go. From Starcraft, however, we also get potential mutations in the form of custom maps, such as Aeon of Strife, mutating again in Warcraft 3’s custom game creator into DotA, evolving into Dota 2 while at the same time mutating into different versions like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, and Smite, all entirely different takes on the MOBA genre. Again, however, natural selection plays a part, and Dota 2 and League are currently the most popular models. And indeed these “mutations” have become extremely commonplace, with Dota and League both dragging in new players and new interest in an (arguably) far greater magnitude than Starcraft 2.
It is, then, not such a great stretch to use a natural selection-esque approach as a resource for design ideas. Take, for example, the spider. The base recognizable traits of the spider include: producing silk, 8 legs with two mandibles, multiple eyes, and a predatory nature. Certain spiders expand on certain qualities that take to these traits well; jumping spiders capitalize on their good eyesight, powerful legs, hunting instincts, and ability to produce “dragline” silk to guide their jumps, but do not build webs. Web-building spiders, conversely, are extremely sensitive to movements (some even being able to differentiate between the frequencies of vibrations of each strand on their web), but have poor eyesight; jumping spiders that prey on web building spiders, however, take both of these things into account, mimicking the vibrations that caught prey would make, and luring the host spider close enough to attack.
To use this in metaphor, take a traditional platformer, like Sonic or Mario. Sonic has an emphasis on speed, and a consistent “flow” feeling, leveling being specifically designed to provide a “perfect” path to the finish if navigated correctly. Mario has more of an emphasis on platforming in particular, and the concept of several different hazardous variables all being used concurrently. Platformers released after these games have been able to take inspiration from some of these aspects, games like Canabalt and bit.trip Runner focusing more on the “flow” concept, using good sound design and aesthetically pleasing speed aspects to reinforce this, whereas games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, and Super House of Dead Ninjas expand more on the “puzzle” and “timing” aspects of Super Mario Bros. There is still an emphasis on speed in this game, but not on “moving as fast as possible”, and more on “navigating this puzzle as fast as possible”. Entirely on the other side are games like Antichamber, Rochard, Blocks that Matter, etc., that put a far greater emphasis on solving the various complicated puzzles than on speedy platforming.
Evolution is a natural part of life, and in this vein, many popular games of today have common ancestors in games created long ago. Modern games may have a lot more to offer than old arcade games, but modern games also owe almost everything to their ancestors existence in the first place. At the same time, when people say things like “this is a ripoff of an older game but with this one new thing added”, that statement means entirely nothing; the entire concept of evolution is “descent with modification”, a mutation of an existing species evolving into it’s own entire species over time, adding more and more diversity at every split. Everything is based off of one common ancestor anyway; in broad terms, everything is already a ripoff; not just of the first video game, but of the first game ever played. It just so happens that so much time has elapsed that “this one new thing added” has built up over time to the point where the current population of mutations is extremely diverse, and have so many new things that there are more differences than similarities.
In conclusion, evolution is a natural thing, so one should never complain about their favorite games changing over time. It’s a natural thing, and you never know; maybe the latter mutations may fit their environment (and your tastes) better than their predecessors.
