Flappy Bird : did you know this game was stolen from another one ? Yep..

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by nono6400, Feb 16, 2014.

  1. nono6400

    nono6400 New Member

    Sep 12, 2011
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    #1 nono6400, Feb 16, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2014
    Hi everyone,

    There some kind of injustice behind the Flappy Bird story.

    Here's the story of Kek, french game designer, specialized in annoying-yet-fun games. He started around 2005 to develop many many games, in flash.

    2009 : One of his just-released-on-facebook games is named Piou Piou VS Cactus. It's a very good success.
    2011 : For his first iOS and Android app, Kek decides to adapt Piou Piou VS Cactus. Check it here, on TouchArcade.
    2013 : Flappy Bird is released
    2014 : Two weeks ago, Kek learn about the existence of Flappy Bird... and its huge success. He did contact right away Dong Nguyen who responded that he "never saw his game before". He sure means he didn't knew it like he never saw a Mario game before :) But what can you do... except this side-to-side comparison :

    [​IMG]

    But Piou-Piou didn't get any success back in 2011. So Kek pulled it out from the App Store back then.

    Now he tries to get it back on the app store... And like many, he did get that message :

    [​IMG]

    Ironic. But as wel all know, it's hard to make Apple change its mind about those kind of things. So I thought it might help him to open this thread here...

    What do you think ?
    What should he do ?
     
  2. neilw711

    neilw711 Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2012
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    Virginia, USA
    There's something fishy about flappy bird becoming very successful. No one will know until they dig deeper but I don't think anyone has time to do that lol
     
  3. Primoz

    Primoz Well-Known Member

    Aug 14, 2012
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    I think its pathetic that this guy now wants someone else's success after he gave up on the game. And his game isnt that original either.

    Its definitely not right that he cant release it now though.
     
  4. javamex

    javamex Well-Known Member

    #4 javamex, Feb 16, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2014
    If I was him...

    I would alter my game sufficiently until Apple agree that it's no longer a Flappy Bird clone (so e.g. add some collectibles/enemy monsters or something, change the player character so that it's not a bird with fat lips...). Let's face it, it's not exactly a large, complex code base that needs changing...

    You could get into an argument about whether Flappy Bird was inspired by this or pretty much any other of the thousands of sideways scrollers where you tap to jump -- I'm sure even the author of Piou Piou vs Cactus wouldn't claim that he wasn't in turn inspired by the dynamics of other previous games. But whoever ripped off what from who, this argument isn't really going to get you anywhere, so I would really just focus my energies on being practical: if you want to submit the game to the App Store, then change it sufficiently so that Apple accepts it and move on.
     
  5. javamex

    javamex Well-Known Member

    P.S.

    I should say that what I do find frustrating, and where I sympathise with the Piou Piou author, in this and indeed other situations is that Apple don't give *details* about which game elements they consider too similar. Is it the tap-to-jump dynamics? Is it the sideways-scroller-doge-static-objects? Is it the style of graphics?

    In particular, I think one thing the indie development community is taking away from this is that there is clearly a market for having a mobile game with (a) very simple game dynamics and (b) a short attention span. These general characteristics are what I would hope could be borrowed from Flappy Bird without risk of Apple refusing your app. But the problem is: who knows...
     
  6. Foghorn Irrascible

    Foghorn Irrascible Well-Known Member

    Jul 20, 2013
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    Sorry but this guy wasn't the first to make an incredibly simple game about navigating a bird-like avatar between obstacles as it relentlessly moves from left to right on the screen, and he won't be the last. It's an incredibly basic concept, and there's other games since his but before Flappy bird that employ a near identical design.

    Regardless, the guy pulled his app years ago and only wanted to put it back to cash in on the freak success of Flappy Bird. Apple is right to say no, both because there are already way too many apps like that available, and because he blatantly is trying to leverage the success of Flappy Bird.
     
  7. MrMojoRisin

    MrMojoRisin Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    I made a game called "Flying Anus" 10 years ago and it stunk.

    Can I release my "poop" game to cash in on the success of another POOP game?

    Pucker up and get ready to smear the competition! Hope this doesn't end up on the rear end of the app store!
     
  8. Stingman

    Stingman Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Aug 14, 2012
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    The Bay Area

    Too late, I already made Flapping Anus
     
  9. MrMojoRisin

    MrMojoRisin Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    #9 MrMojoRisin, Feb 17, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2014
    Damnit! I was gonna make millions off of that game. :p

    On to my next idea, Floppy Man Sack! :cool:

    Expand to fly up, contract to fly down. Make it to the end before you run out of....yeah...

    Edit: I changed "Flappy" to "Floppy". Different game!!!!
     
  10. Dirty Harry Hannahan

    Dirty Harry Hannahan Well-Known Member

    Apr 14, 2011
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    Planet Earth

    I read that bots were used to create fake reviews for the game.
     
  11. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Incorrect, there was some sort of Twitter thing that was going around challenging people to come up with the most ridiculous iTunes reviews. When bots review games, that it'll look like is 90% of the reviews will be just inflating the star count with no text and 10% will be nonsensical stuff like "nice," "addictive," etc.

    If you looked at Flappy Bird reviews, the vast majority of them were very long and obviously uniquely written by humans.
     
  12. MrMojoRisin

    MrMojoRisin Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    So was this whole "phenomenon" the internet equivalent of the "cool kids" picking one "nerd" to make "popular" for a day just to prove that they could?
     
  13. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    No, I think people just enjoyed the game. This sort of experience was pretty typical:

     
  14. Lazer Kat

    Lazer Kat Well-Known Member

    Sep 29, 2013
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    I wish people could just admit that Flappy bird was so successful because it was such a great game.
    Sure, it was simple. Sure, it was annoying. Still it was a great game.
    It did everything right.
     
  15. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    Thats never going to happen, people have such huge varied tastes. N-Sync had quite a few number 1 albums but i dont regard them as one of the top music acts of the last 30 years.

    Simple games do well such as Angry Birds and others. I mean if this game was so 'great' its amazing no one picked up on it a year or so ago when it came out, review sites werent raving about it.

    Social media helped make this terrible game great, its a dire game just people seemed to have got caught up with the hype. Its depressing to see the quality of great games out on iOS and people seem to think this is one of the best games
     
  16. Cilo

    Cilo Well-Known Member

    Feb 2, 2010
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    Los Angeles
    Who cares.
     
  17. Lazer Kat

    Lazer Kat Well-Known Member

    Sep 29, 2013
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    #17 Lazer Kat, Feb 18, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2014
    Angry birds did so well, because it too, is amazing.
    It is one of the few titles that appeal to people of all ages.

    I never said it's one of the "best" games, but I will say that the Dev has done one of the "best" jobs of making a game that works well in a mobile environment (Dong Ngyen or Rovio).
     
  18. aikavari

    aikavari Well-Known Member

    Apr 24, 2011
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    Most games nowadays are copies of some other older game...

    Some developers even revive (read destroy) classics and transform them to mimic newer games. (I'm looking at you Dungeon Keeper)
     
  19. nono6400

    nono6400 New Member

    Sep 12, 2011
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  20. smegly

    smegly Well-Known Member

    Mar 27, 2012
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    NY, NY
    Yes, but without the cool kids.

    I have to speculate that the developer's motivation for pulling the game had to be due, in part, to feeling guilty over some sort of unethical pimping of the game and not simply because it 'ruined his simple life.' Nobody's going to hate getting 50,000 dollars a day or whatever that game was making just because of some pretty minor attention in the grand scheme of things.
     

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