Variations and mods should be okay. Sometimes their value might not be obvious to someone outside whatever niche-within-a-niche you’re in, and that should be okay!

I absolutely agree. To illustrate this: https://drmortalwombat.itch.io/missile-defence this is a wonderful C64-fan remake very close to its model. It is a well done, nice underground game that does exactly what the dev wanted to do. Yet it only works well if the "clone"-version has some quality. Creativity in gameplay might make a game worthwhile even if there are stronger technical problems, but if your "Tetris" clone sucks you are out of luck, nobody will want to play it nowhere.

While we may admire the lyrical artist who just pours the contents of their heart, not minding whether anyone will appreciate it… community has value too. I just wanted to mention it en passant, cause it’s a conversation that could branch out a lot…

I want to play the games made by lyrical artists, and I try to make games for people who search art in gaming. And I believe I neither can ( because this production require a professionell production and behavior) nor want (because these games do not interest me) to meet the requirements of the players who form the large of the "current market" as things are atm. If you want to make a living from game dev, this will of course not work out for you.