Showing a prototype used to be the easiest way to attract attention. Today many indie developers think twice. The reason is AI-generated clones: coding tools such as Claude Opus 5.5 can reproduce the mechanics of a game shown only days earlier, and the copy can ship before the original.
The clearest case comes from Alliance Arts, the studio behind Drunken Goddess Reflux, a game inspired by Russian roulette with a demon as opponent. The team had planned a public demo tied to Steam Next Fest, but cancelled it. In a social media post, the team wrote that the demo could be used "to quickly imitate or replicate the game's presentation and gameplay with AI or other tools, and such works could be released before our launch." The public demo has been replaced by a closed test, open only to players who agree to rules on posting and streaming.
The problem is not limited to small titles. Digital Sun, the studio behind ReVamp, a "tower defensevania" due in March 2027, replaced its public playtest with a smaller Discord session starting October 29. Its statement said that "a large public build of ReVamp felt like too big a risk." Spookitchen, a two-person Korean team, also pulled its demo on October 20 after learning someone was cloning the game with AI.
The concern has earlier roots. In March, developer Freya Holmér showed a prototype of a Tetris-style game built around a rotating pivot, but within days clones made the idea playable before she could release her own version. She later said that every day brought a new clone, though attention on those copies has since dropped and she feels freer to take her time.
The debate inside the community is heated. Charlie Greenman, who made one of the clones, says he saw nothing wrong with it: "I felt like I had a brand new creation. Is one song copying another?" Ivan Lago of Howltide Games replies that if AI can copy your game overnight, it was never a real game.
Meanwhile the situation weighs on how indies promote themselves. As developer Sosowski puts it: "Don't share your game, no sales. Share your game, it gets stolen." Prototyping, which once built an audience, now risks exposing a project to whoever copies fastest.
No comments yet. Be the first!