I stuck with something in Cocos2dx ... I'm trying to deep clone one of my classes that inherits CCNode. Basically i have.... GameItem* pTemp = new GameItem(*_actualItem); // loops through all the blocks in gameitem and updates their position pTemp->moveDown(); // if in boundary or collision etc... if (_gameBoard->isValidMove(pTemp)) { _actualItem = pTemp; // display the position CCLog("pos (1) --- (X : %d,Y : %d)", _actualItem->getGridX(),_actualItem->getGridY()); } Then doesn't work, because the gameitem inherits CCNode and has the collection of another class that also inherits CCNode. its just creating a shallow copy and when you look at children of the gameitem node in the copy, just point to the original? class GameItem : public CCNode { // maps to the actual grid position of the shape CCPoint* _rawPosition; // tracks the current grid position int _gridX, _gridY; // tracks the change if the item has moved CCPoint _offset; public: //constructors GameItem& operator=(const GameItem& item); GameItem(Shape shape); ... } then in the implementation.... GameItem& GameItem::operator=(const GameItem& item) { _gridX = item.getGridX(); _gridY = item.getGridY(); _offset = item.getOffSet(); _rawPosition = item.getRawPosition(); // how do i copy the node? return *this; } // shape contains an array of position for the game character GameItem::GameItem(Shape shape) { _rawPosition = shape.getShapePositions(); //loop through all blocks in position for (int i = 0; i < 7; i++) { // get the position of the first block in the shape and add to the position of the first block int x = (int) (getRawPosition()[i].x + getGridX()); int y = (int) (getRawPosition()[i].y + getGridY()); //instantiate a block with the position and type Block* block = Block::blockWithFile(x,y,(i+1), shape); // add the block to the this node this->addChild(block); } } And for clarity here is the block class class Block : public CCNode{ private: // using composition over inheritance CCSprite* _sprite; // tracks the current grid position int _gridX, _gridY; // used to store actual image number int _blockNo; public: Block(void); Block(int gridX, int gridY, int blockNo); Block& operator=(const Block& block); // static constructor for the creation of a block static Block* blockWithFile(int gridX, int gridY,int blockNo, Shape shape); ... } The blocks implementation..... Block& Block::operator=(const Block& block) { _sprite = new CCSprite(*block._sprite); _gridX = block._gridX; _gridY = block._gridY; _blockNo = block._blockNo; //again how to clone CCNode? return *this; } Block* Block::blockWithFile(int gridX, int gridY,int blockNo, Shape shape) { Block* block = new Block(); if (block && block->initBlockWithFile(gridX, gridY,blockNo, shape)) { block->autorelease(); return block; } CC_SAFE_DELETE(block); return NULL; } bool Block::initBlockWithFile(int gridX, int gridY,int blockNo, Shape shape) { setGridX(gridX); setGridY(gridY); setBlockNo(blockNo); const char* characterImg = helperFunctions::Format(shape.getFileName(),blockNo); // add to the spritesheet CCTexture2D* gameArtTexture = CCTextureCache::sharedTextureCache()->addImage("Character.pvr.ccz"); CCSpriteBatchNode::createWithTexture(gameArtTexture); // block settings _sprite = CCSprite::createWithSpriteFrameName(characterImg); // set the position of the block and add it to the layer this->setPosition(CONVERTGRIDTOACTUALPOS_X_Y(gridX,gridY)); this->addChild(_sprite); return true; } Any ideas are welcome at this point!! thanks