Corgi Pro Skater - Endless platformer

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by FAAM, May 1, 2016.

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  1. FAAM

    FAAM Active Member

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    #1 FAAM, May 1, 2016
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
    Hi,

    I would like to introduce you to the game I have been working on for the past few months : Skate Dogs.

    It is inspired by Flappy Birds as well as Crossy Road. It is my first game as an indie and every comment is welcome. If people are interested I will continue posting some updates about development here. :)

    Here is a short preview of the game in action.

     
  2. ColinL

    ColinL Well-Known Member
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  3. Nitrome

    Nitrome Well-Known Member

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    I'm also familiar with Folmer Kelly's 'Skatedog' and this smells of shameless clone to me. If your going to make a similar game to someone at least have the decency to not so blatantly ape their games name! :(
     
  4. FAAM

    FAAM Active Member

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    Hi Colin,

    That's a fair question :)
    I have actually been working on this game for some months now, and it started from the idea of having a corgi riding a skateboard. The original name was actually "Corgi Pro Skater", and it's only when I chose to add more dogs to the roster that I changed the name.

    Now I have done my research and I discovered, to my surprise, that someone was making a game similar to mine. But that is pure coincidence, actually if you look for "skate dog game" on google, you will be directed to this game :D : http://www.gamesgames.com/game/skate-dog
    So I guess the idea isn't so original.

    To answer to you, SkateDog didn't influence me in any way, and it actually made me a bit nerveous to find out that I was working on a project that seems so similar to someone's else project. But after a bit of examination, I think both games are only sharing the theme of dogs riding skateboards. The art style and gameplay feels very different to me and I think they do not need to compete (At least I hope!)

    Hopefully, that explains that. Please keep up with your questions, I will be happy to answer them :)
     
  5. ColinL

    ColinL Well-Known Member
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    Ill give you the benefit of the doubt, can't say I'm 100% convinced though, the faces on the cactus look similar in style to the faces in Folmer Kellys version, amongst other similarities in the UI and flow.

    But I have been accused of making a clone in the past when I didn't, I isn't a nice feeling, I hope this is genuinely a coincidence.

    So a question regarding the game, When you are skating on a roof top, can you drop back down through the ledge. For example the death at the end of the video, could you have dropped down to avoid hitting the unjumpable stack of cacti?
     
  6. wondroushippo

    wondroushippo 👎🏻carter👎🏻
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    I'd still reach out to Folmer on Twitter and sort this out with him. Kinda like the two Dizzy Knight games, this seems best for everyone to sort it out amicably. Especially since Folmer's posted about Skatedog for a few months now, and you're probably gonna lose in the court of public opinion on this one.

    Also, Corgi Pro Skater was a solid name.
     
  7. FAAM

    FAAM Active Member

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    Thank you for your answer Colin! :)

    Indeed it does not feel good to be accused of copying someone's work, but I completely understand where it comes from! To be honest with you, when I discovered Folmer Kelly's tweet about a game called SkateDog, I felt like I had been stolen my idea. This was because I actually tweeted to Rami Ismail about my game idea a few months back. (Here is the tweet: https://twitter.com/_FAAM_/status/668117049693085696/photo/1 )
    But after seeing the other Skate Dog game, I just came to the realisation that it was simply not a very original idea and that I was never the first or the last person to think of a game with skating dog.

    Concerning the similarities: This is my first game as a coder, I decided to make it the simplest game possible. So it ended up being a classic 2D platformer which is probably similar to a lot of games out there. About the UI and the flow? It is completely "stolen" but from Crossy Road. It is just so simple and efficient that I didn't think about reinventing it. You will see when I post another video that a lot of things are actually inspired by Crossy Road. About the art style? My main goal was to make it as cute as possible, with pusheen and adventure time as an inspiration. This is also close to my "personal" art style as it makes it easier to create assets.

    This project is my first as an indie. It was never meant to be the most awesome and original idea. It is mostly about me learning how to use the tools to make games by myself, so that I can actually make cool and original games later on. But copying a another dev's game, wouldn't be a great learning experience. I understand that clones in the mobile game industry are a pain, and I hope my explanation will clarify this issue. :)


    Now about the controls:
    There is only two actions that you can do. Tap the screen and you can jump or double jump, or swipe down and you can either get back to the floor or go through the platforms. So yes, you are correct when you say that you would be able to go off the ledge. My levels are created randomly with blocks that are generated one after another. Since I decided to use the portrait mode only, I thought it would be interesting to concentrate on a vertical design. If you are in the middle of the screen, is it better to come back to the ground, or to try to jump? And to force the player to react and find the best path, instead of having them just randomly loose because they chose the wrong path.
     
  8. Nitrome

    Nitrome Well-Known Member

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    Your tweet with Rami helps clear the air for me and he gameplay seems like it has core differences.

    I think the main bugbear for me from the start and still now is the name. Skatedogs seemed too coincidental a name after seeing similar gameplay.

    As Wonderoushippo said the Dizzy Knight guys seemed to sort it out and one of them changed the name. Perhaps you should consider the same as I doubt any of this would have kicked off if the name had not been so similar?
     
  9. kripa1415`

    kripa1415` Well-Known Member

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    this game looks so cool
     
  10. Nitrome

    Nitrome Well-Known Member

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    BTW this is not officially announced yet but I feel it could be later seen as misleading if I don't say that Nitrome Have agreed to publish Folmer Kelly/Sets and Settings game 'Skatedog'. So there a interest from Nitrome in this thread beyond being a fellow game dev.
     
  11. FAAM

    FAAM Active Member

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    Hi Nitrome (from Nitrome games I assume, pleasure to meet you as I have been a fan for a long time now :) ),

    I totally understand the reaction, although it doesn't feel nice to be called a copycat. I think I have been a bit hasty by posting my video without much context. I knew about Folmer Kelly's Skatedog, but to me, we have two clearly different games, so it wasn't a problem. Also since there is already a game named SkateDog out there, it didn't seem like an issue, it is not the most original name. But this is valuable feedback, and it makes me realise that there might be need for a name that isn't so generic.

    As I mentionned, the original name of the game used to be Corgi Pro Skater. Which was a name that I prefered, but there was two issues with it. People would have trouble remembering it, and the game isn't focused on Corgi but on the fact that you can unlock different dogs. So I switched to the most neutral name there was.

    One thing that I forgot to mention is also that the name is not set in stone yet! I am not a native english speaker and it is hard to come up with a catchy name. I have been talking with people who came up with names such as "Frontside Doggy", which somehow feels really wrong. So it is a work in progress and I will welcome any propositions. Also as a disclaimer, I am super bad at naming things. The main dog in the game at the moment is called "Doug", to give you an example. :D

    I just want it to be clear that my game is in no way a clone of someone else's work. I want to be making original games and have good relationship with fellow game developers, and making a clone of someone else's work by claiming it my own would not be working towards that direction. This is my first game as a coder, so I decided to go with the most common genre so that I could be learning easily. The end goal was to have a generic gameplay but polish it to a point where I could be proud of the quality of the product. The other selling point was also the fact that skating dogs would be funny and original enough so that it attracts people attention, but I guessed I failed on that last point.

    Anyway, if it still feels unclear I will be happy to answer your questions.

    Kripa1415> Thank you very much :)

    Here is a longer video of gameplay:

     
  12. Nitrome

    Nitrome Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for your kind words about Nitrome. We have had our fair share of conflicts over games in the past so I certainly don't want to try and label you a copycat. I accept your video demonstrates different gameplay and your tweet shows intent to make the game from some time back.

    If you could consider changing the name that would be appreciated. It is really Folmers game so I don't want to speak on his behalf but as Publisher I know having different names would avoid any potential conflicts on the App Store.

    Search would certainly be compromised and I don't feel it would benefit either party to cause any confusion to the App stores editorial teams.

    good luck with the game!
     
  13. fabianb

    fabianb Well-Known Member

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    I don't want to throw oil on the fire, but Nitrome, it almost feels like you demand an indie dev to change it's name of the game. Why doesn't your game changes it's name. Why him and not you?

    Just wanted to point this out. Good luck with discussing further about this.
     
  14. ColinL

    ColinL Well-Known Member
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    I actually think Corgi Pro Skater is the better name, its got good comedy value to it. I don't think its an issue that you have other characters. Tony Hawk Pro Skater has other characters you can use. The Corgi is the main character.
     
  15. folmerkelly

    folmerkelly Well-Known Member

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    Hi FAAM!

    I'm the guy making Skatedog. Someone DM'ed me on twitter pointing out this thread because they thought it was a clone. Your posts clearly show that you are in no way are cloning Skatedog and I think it kinda sucks that almost all the posts in your game's thread are about cloning, especially as this is your first game. So let me just say: I think your game looks very slick, and I love the way you handled the HUD / buttons / game over loop :)

    It's unfortunate that we're both working on a mobile game about dogs on skateboards at the same time, but c'est la vie, these things happen. I do think it'd be great if we could resolve the naming situation, so if you want to discuss that further please feel free to send me a PM or hit me up on twitter (I'm @folmerkelly, my DM's are open). Besides the confusion that similar names might cause, I hate to say it but I'm afraid that you'd end up having to deal with clone accusations if we kept the names as is.

    @ everyone else: I would appreciate it if discussion in this thread would be about FAAM's game, it's clearly not a clone so that discussion is dead. Thanks!
     
  16. Nitrome

    Nitrome Well-Known Member

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    hi Fabian,

    I'm not demanding anything. I don't think 'if you would consider changing the name it would be much appreciated' is a demand?

    Having the same name is not good for either party. Nitrome may be publishing but it's not actually our game so we don't make the call on the name. At the same time we feel some responsibility to do best by the developer were working with so we would like to try and resolve the situation.
     
  17. Bivis

    Bivis Well-Known Member

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    Skate Dogs or SkateDog its an obvious name for a game with a dog and a skate.
    For me, it sounds like an unpleasant coincidence, and naming it a clone or a copycat seems too excessive.
     
  18. ColinL

    ColinL Well-Known Member
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    I don't think anyone is naming it a clone or a copycat now, I don't think anyone was calling it a clone at all really. The timing was truly unlucky though, they both seem to have started around the same time and have similar concepts and names.

    But based on the above conversations both parties seem in agreement that it was just an unlucky coincidence.
     
  19. FAAM

    FAAM Active Member

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    Hi FolmerKelly,

    Thank you for commenting on the subject :) It is nice to hear that there is not really any problem, as it is a silly situation. I really didn't think I would have got myself in such a situation when I started working on this game, and it caught me a bit off guard when the cloning questions appeared. But it is all good, and I am happy that we are having this conversation before any of the games are out, so that there isn't any resentment, or damaged caused. In the end I think there is enough space out there for two games with skateboarding dogs :D I will definitely contact you on Twitter so that we can sort out the name thing, we can discuss that in private.

    To everyone else: Thank you for your support, and thank you for keeping the conversation civilised. There was valid questions and I hope everything is clear now. After all, I created this thread to receive feedback on the game, and that includes the name. Hopefully, I will get as much interest in the content of the game when it is released :p

    And I am talking about content, might as well give you a sneak peak of my work at the moment. Here are the other characters that you can unlock in the game. Please let me know if you like them.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. wondroushippo

    wondroushippo 👎🏻carter👎🏻
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    Yeah, especially after seeing the game in action, they're definitely starting from a "dog on skateboard" idea but from what I've seen you share of SKATEDOG, they look different enough. Just glad everyone's being totally reasonable. Game looks like clone at first, developer explains and provides evidence that it's just similar, disagreements hopefully sorted out, we all move on with our lives.

    And thinking about it, Corgi Pro Skater is a fantastic name. And even if there are non-corgi dogs in the game, it's not like Tony Hawk was the only skater in Tony Hawk Pro Skater...so what I'm saying is, I'm putting my hat in the ring for Corgi Pro Skater. Or Tony Bark's Dog Skater, that's a freebie.
     

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