“Y’know it kinda disincentivizes me from sharing progress when there are slop ghouls around every corner, AI or otherwise,” Holmér wrote in response to the spread of those preemptive clones. “Luckily these people are incapable of original thought and don’t know how to elevate this concept beyond what they’ve already seen.”

McPixel developer Sos Sosowski has been documenting numerous examples of fellow indie devs complaining of AI-generated clones making wholesale copies of their efforts. Sosowski says the situation puts indie developers in a hopeless bind when trying to promote their work: “Don’t share your game—no sales. Share your game—gets stolen,” he wrote. “How do you even survive as an indie in the current landscape? This is insane.”

Charlie Greenman, who posted one of those AI-powered clones of Holmér’s rotational Tetris game earlier this year, told 404 Media that he didn’t see anything wrong with what he did. “I feel like I had this brand new creation,” Greenman said. “When it gets to that point, is one song copying another? Is one game copying another? Whoever created Blox, Jenga, is that a copy of Tetris?”

Some think that added complexity and originality is the best true protection from blatant clones in this kind of environment. “If AI can copy your game overnight, it wasn’t a real game. It was just a quick cash grab built on a single mechanic, with no soul or vision,” Howltide Games’ Ivan Lago wrote on social media. “AI isn’t cloning actual games. It’s just making cheap knockoffs of stuff that was already an asset flip to begin with.”

But even if your game idea is cloned by AI slop merchants, that doesn’t mean you can’t build out the better version you always pictured. “In the very beginning, that first week, just every day there was a new AI clone [of the rotational Tetris prototype]. I was like, OK, well fuck me, I guess,” Holmér told 404 Media this summer. “But there’s way less engagement 1792490335, and I feel more in the clear to take my time to actually make something right, something good I can be proud of, and not just get it out there as soon as possible.”