I’m not a game developer but if I were to make a game, the only ideas that come to mind seem to be “I’m gonna remake my favorite game but change these things I didn’t like about it!” but I heard that’s a bad idea usually.
I’m wondering how much change, and to which aspects (gameplay, mechanics, theme, etc), do you think is needed to make a game inspired by something instead of a rip-off?
I would call that a “knock-off” or a “clone”, not a “rip-off”; a rip-off is when the purchaser feels like they’re being cheated out of their money. e.g. movie theaters, airports, and anywhere else with “captive audiences” charging outrageously higher prices for food are classic examples.
Good point. But apparently they’re also synonyms