Splashy fish...missed opportunity?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by suppoman, Feb 12, 2014.

  1. suppoman

    suppoman Active Member

    Oct 24, 2013
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    With Flappy bird not even cold in it's grave, Massimo Guareschi has decided to make a name for himself (Dong Nguyen style) by bringing out a rip off called Splashy Fish.

    I wont deny that I have downloaded this game, and like it almost as much as flappy bird, but it was released yesterday and is number 1 in the overall store of 35 countries as well as no1 in all categories it was placed in, no1 in 89 countries in Arcade games.

    Instead of bitching about the game, which I'm also guilty of, should we have jumped on the bandwagon, made a rip off beforehand and been able to rake in the bucks like Massimo.

    Has to be said, the guy may not be the most ethical or original, and the fish is very much like the cheep cheep fish in Mario World, but he's clearly a smart man.

    :(
     
  2. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    I think it depends on what type of developer you want to be. Do want to make games that have a bit of soul and originality or do you just want to make money at any cost?

    Money is not the only motivator.
     
  3. suppoman

    suppoman Active Member

    Oct 24, 2013
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    #3 suppoman, Feb 12, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2014
    Every idea is derived from another, Splashy fish is the same concept as Flappy bird but different character, different design, different obstacles... but its a proven concept. So as for originality... not many ideas are completely original.

    Lets face it, its better to make $50k a day than it is to make enough from an app to buy a beer or two for your friends. And with $50k a day, and all the press attention, you have a platform and a marketing budget to launch an app into the stratosphere.

    I am all for living in a perfect world where we can make millions for an original idea, like Snapchat or Angry birds, but in reality, for every 1 Angry birds game, there are 20,000 apps which get nowhere, lost in some limbo where they cant be found by the hundreds of millions of iphone users.
     
  4. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    Clearly the developer of splashy fish was not that passionate about games development but just wanted to make as much money at any cost.

    Not all developers are like this and don't spend there entire time looking at app stats waiting to jump on the next band wagon just to make a bit of cash.

    Sometimes it's is enough to have one good comment about your work and few beers with friends.
     
  5. suppoman

    suppoman Active Member

    Oct 24, 2013
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    Not for me, but then I'm very ambitious. I'm here to put a dent in the universe... I wouldn't have gone into app development if I didn't want to make something that matters.
     
  6. OnlyJoe

    OnlyJoe Well-Known Member

    Sep 29, 2013
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    Auckland
    Splashy fish lucked out really. Their game must have been waiting for approval while flappy bird was still on the app store. Then with it gone, people have gone with the clone that seems the most like the original. If flappy bird was not removed then I don't think they would have had quite the success.

    It is a clone, that is for sure. But burger king is basically a clone of Mc Donald's so that just how it goes. There is often room in the market for more than one of something. And from a business point of view what they have done is very smart. I mean the reality of making games is that you have to make games other people like, not the games you like. Unless making games is just a hobby for your.
     
  7. Hobbsicle

    Hobbsicle Well-Known Member

    Feb 28, 2011
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    I applaud that sentiment, but you also have to ask yourself, what kind of dent? How do you want yourself and your games to be seen? By "dent", do you just mean number of people downloading it, or something else?

    Making quick, casual games certainly isn't bad if that's the angle you want to take, neither would doing it for a time just to raise capital for the games you really want to make, but personally, I wouldn't want to leave a legacy that contains an obviously direct copy of a successful game just for a cash grab.
     
  8. suppoman

    suppoman Active Member

    Oct 24, 2013
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    By dent, I mean making something that people will enjoy and download in the millions. Something new that revolutionises a service, just like what my current app does.

    I don't think Splashy fish is very ethical, but the man was smart, he saw a popular concept, he stole the idea, he's making a lot of money from it. I think that's just how a certain Bill Gates got rich, stealing macintosh's GUI and calling it Windows. If rather be Steve Jobs anyday (even if he did steal from Xerox).
     
  9. zooom18

    zooom18 Well-Known Member

    Dec 20, 2012
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    #9 zooom18, Feb 13, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
    deleted
     
  10. simpleinteractive

    simpleinteractive Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2013
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    London
    Zooom18, very cool! looking forward to it.
     
  11. Rasterman

    Rasterman Well-Known Member

    May 10, 2010
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    Game Monger
    Tampa, FL
    Haha you are quite the optimist! Isn't the current rate that 1000 apps/day are released? Do you think there is a new "angry birds" released every 20 days, I sure don't. I would say maybe 2 a year. So that would mean for every mega hit there are 150,000 other apps! And when was the last one-man mega hit like flappy bird? minecraft? Those odds are in the millions...

     

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