Flappy Birds to be Removed by Developer

How do you know this, though? I find very weird that you know he used some sort of bot, yet Apple doesn't. Hmm.

Unless Apple does know..... and he told everyone he's putting down his game, when in fact Apple banned him! :-0!

But I still find this hard to believe. There's a reason we don't see cases like this more often, it can't be that easy, right? Or else, everyone would be investing 10k on much better games, and getting 6 figures every month in return.

What do you mean principles? against... crappy games? Is Flappy Birds a crappy game? I disagree, it's just a simple game, nothing original, but it has a nice mario look to it.

There's literally nothing wrong about making a simple game, and wanting to get revenue with ads.

Lets talk about principles when games use things like discrimination, such as racial or religious, in order to make cash; or maybe when a game is tricking, lying or cheating customers into buying something they don't really want; or big companies suing a small game developer for having 'candy' in their title, when that huge company have thrived by cloning other people's work.

 

I don't really understand why he would take down flappy bird, I mean its a really simple game. I don't expect someone to do that with a game so popular.
It could be issues the developer has maybe depression or something I don't know. The game has a lot of attention but how dose this have a negative effect on the developer? Personally I would be happy if my game had a lot of attention but I certainly wouldn't be negative about it. Perhaps he thinks he isn't ready to make a game like that.

 

I think he's a regular guy that made a small, simple game that suddenly got too much attention. I don't think that pulling down the game from the stores was marketing.
Do you think it has anything to do with the fear that Nintendo might sue him over the "stolen" artwork?

 

I don't think he has stolen some artwork from Nintendo, I mean its a really simple game but why shut it down due to the fact of death threats? what kind of Death threats? well we don't know. and I don't see how a game like this can ruin a simple life

 

It's not about the attention the game gets, it's about the attention that the developer HIMSELF gets. If you don't understand that, maybe you should look through some similar stuff in the past. For example Phil Fish. Don't forget that the audience we try to please/entertain can sometimes be really terrible/terrifying.

 

Another thing to consider: the guy who made it is from Vietnam. The several million (assuming) he's made from this game would be impressive and life-changing for most people in any western country.. in a country like Vietnam I imagine it would be even more impacting.

You hear countless stories of people who suddenly have tons of money from lotteries etc. having their life turned upside down because they're constantly hounded by long-lost relatives and shady people trying to make a buck.
This may just be case of a guy who's life drastically changed, some for the better (having lots of money) and some for the worse (the negative attention his game has brought him, as well as possibly being hounded by "opportunists" because of his new found wealth), and now he's trying to do what he can to stop what he might feel is an out-of-control train.

Not saying removing the game would necessarily be the best thing to do if this were the case, but you really can't judge someone for the choices they make in a situation like this without knowing all the details.

 

ITT: People who have yet to experience this kind of success talking big. I'd like to see all of you guys who say "What a wuss, I could take fame and abuse and death threats!" actually try it.

 

Well, that is bad luck then.
And the reason why everyone says, "Make small games until you reach a critical mass of a fan-base, or made enough money from your games ".

A lot devs put all their eggs into one basket, quitting their jobs and hoping for a huge hit, while developing a game for dozens of months, or years.
Everyone knows the mobile market is like a lottery these days, unless you're a big company with a marketing budget of several million dollars.

He on the other hand, did the right thing. He made the game in his spare time, never expecting any financial success from it. That came suddenly from nowhere.

Or maybe some people really want him to be a bad guy, and trying hard to find something negative about him, or his game...

 

Supposedly the unforgiving difficulty of the game spurred a lot of negative feedback and frustration, with millions of negative tweets etc... from people who got stuck or frustrated or reacted to the `brutally` hard lack of any learning curve etc. Many people hated it but couldn't stop playing it, drawn in by its compulsive addictiveness. Understandable a lot of people would project their frustrations at the author and who would want to be subject to all kinds of negative feedback. There was mention of death threats even.. whether that's true or not I don't know. But its interesting that it isn't so much that the author made people unhappy, it's that the game made them unhappy. I can attest also that playing it just a few times I found it really frustrating and brutal.. instant total death after a few seconds, game over, end of story. That's enough to make someone react with a sense of unfairness or despise. I don't know if he realized he was creating those kinds of reactions in people, probably just thought of the game as a self-contained system that people play with. Maybe he inadvertently created his own worst nightmare.

 

I don't know ... I think I could accept a few death threats for $50K a day ...

Well, as long as the threat of dying wasn't actually too high

 

It could be worse than that, actually. If you're too wealthy in the wrong place you become a target, which could be literally life threatening.

Anyone read Stranger in a Strange Land? You may remember that the mentor character deliberately didn't want to get too rich.

Plus, if he's not from a westernized nation then he'll quote probably have a very different attitude to both money and public attention to anyone here. Believe it or not fame and fortune aren't universal desires.

 

When your wealthy in not so rich areas it can have an extremly bad effect on your "friends". I have wealthy relatives in South Africa, full time body guards and walls around the house. They have to travel with scouting vehicles and heavly armed guards. Who wants to live like that? How does it feel to be hated and molested by almost everyone in your country? Your scared to let your dog out because it might be took for ransom.

You might take the 50k in your situation but it might not be in this his best interest for himself or his family to become wealthy. Money isn't everything, when you finally earn it you quickly find this out. This guy might have been doing games for fun and sharing it with people brought him happiness, he didn't ask for this train not on rails.

 

Yatzee talks about it in let's drown out at 24:27
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2qj5UMDgk

 

Wow, Yatzee seemed nearly human not a massive douchebag in that video.

 

I'm not jealous. Men like Tesla, pascal, Euclid are men I'm envious of. Not this guy; or any game developer for that matter.

 

I think the biggest question is: Why is it Flappy Bird that's getting so much attention?

There are a ton of noobie projects on KickStarter and Greenlight. And there are lots of very simple mobile games released.

But Flappy Bird goes full nuclear. I don't know, maybe the public has a strange infatuation with birds (see Angry Birds)

 

It's not easy, you need around 20K dollars, and hoping not getting caugh by Apple. It still happen every day...
You can also call big advertising network (like I did), and they will quote you a price to be on top of the chart for your launch.
And the hard part is to stick on the top. Flappy bird was so hard and simple that journalist tried to find why it's on top (they don't know the cheating), and invent all sort of logical reasons. It creats a buzz -> you stay on top.

Apple ban big successfull App every year for that, but like any cheat, it's not easy to prove. And when you have so many eye balls on flappy bird, you also need to convince the crowd...
This is in Apple EULA dev. And Apple can also ban people who bought a big amout of download with advertising (you are forbidden to game the charts system). But when you are EA, it's ok

 

This is the problem, too many people here talk about everything don't get off their backsides and do it but still have an opinion.

 

@wildfactor: I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe that this guy invested 20 grands on a game like flappy birds. Sounds like a very risky business, too big investment for such a small freeware, and still facing the possibility of being closed by apple... but what do I know?

Been checking out your stuff... LOVE your game! ♥♥
I wish you the same economic success as flappy birds (needless to say don't take it down when your income is peaking!)

↓ This is gold.

 

You know what looks really fishy? This one And that is a paid app.

Nguyen's focus on the other hand, was obviously not the money. Otherwise he wouldn't put just some ads into his apps.

Just my two cents

 

I don't get the hate and conspiracy theories against this developer. Anyone could've made this game but he was the one who made it and got lucky, I'd say good for him.

It's just a small little tap tap game, why would anyone send death threats or whatever over it is quite unfathomable to me.

 

Wild Factor, you're talking out of your ass. The game was released long time ago and got in the tops due to a number of accidental events.

 

Dont you guys have some games to develop or something? Let the story die, he bailed, good for him, id do the same once my friends starts turning to S*** and email is filled with "i hope u get skincancer on ur balls" everyday.

Move along, these discussions seems to spawn some horrible opinions.

 

You're right accidental event make it stick to the top, but it probably got a little push before that

Well you can google Flappy bird + bot on google and you will find detail analysis (app fake commentary, strange rank climb on all of his app simultaniously etc..) .
http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/flappy-birds-smoke-mirrors-scamming-app-store/

Hey my ass is pretty smart sometimes. And I appologize of being always against the common thought. I know it's not always politically correct, but that's the way I am and I won't fake it.

Is Flappy bird a cheater ? Do your opinion yourself, but avoid finding something in this game that explain it's success before reading the analysis.

Tiny wing is far better in any point than flappy bird. It got top by an heavy press coverage at its launch.

 

Thank you for your kind word !

 

I don't think the guy would spend thousands USD buying downloads and then bail out when the game got too much attentions.

 

TB has now weighed in on this topic...

 

Oh great the top free game is a clone of flappy bird and number two is ironpants another clone, with flappy bee at the #5 spot, flappy plane is #20, . At least something like clear vision is an actual game that took some effort at the #9 spot.
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/top/united-states/?device=iphone

Its not like the best games are rising to the top its all about trends more then anything else, we saw the same thing with slender. 10% of the top 100 games are minecraft based.
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/ap...s-maker-for-minecraft-pc-edition-multiplayer/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/blocky-roads/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/block-earth/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/hide-n-seek-mc-mini-game-worldwide/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/779245518/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/multiplayer-for-minecraft-pe/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/ap...kour-edition-skins-editor-for-game-minecraft/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/eden-world-builder/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/survivalcraft/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/minecraft-pocket-edition/
http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/skins-pro-creator-for-minecraft/

 

looking forward for flappy minecraft then! it happen for doodlejump, angry birds, candy saga, minecraft, what s next? who will push the new trend? fabulous story of the apple store! looking forward the next episode and hopefully being part of that story!

 

I don't get it, why is this the rage at the moment? What's so unique about this game?
It just reminds me of Jetpack Joyride that's been out for eons.

 

But Jetpack Joyride doesn't have a cute little flapping bird, does it?

DOES IT?!

 

Maybe not everyone that has said it could cope but some people can easily deal with S*** being slung at them.

 

It is quite literally "so bad it's good." Bad hitboxes, unoriginal artstyle, bad hitboxes, unforgiving difficulty curve, bad hitboxes...

 

Zombies
Slenderman
Flappy Birds

Predict the next trend.

I vote for Flappy Zombies

 

At least Flappy Bee doesn't use the same exact interface design. I mean come on clones can be cool, but seriously Fly Birde is the cheapest thing I've seen in a while.

Wishes come true. Lol

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.BpmaTech.Flappyzombie

Flappy Zombie
Bpma Tech - February 6, 2014

Check out the reviews. Hilarious

Beautiful. This game is an inspiration to all generations and game developers. It should be ported to every console in existence so I and everyone else can enjoy this masterpiece. The graphics are only comparable to something created by Picasso in this colourful playing experience. This is the best thing ever to happen since Jesus. 5/5 thank you very much goodnight.

 

How about Flabby Pigs ? : p

 

holysh.... didnt took much to see all these clones... there at least 100+ clone on the store in less than few days...
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=flappy&c=apps

the mobile gaming world will never stop to surprise me...

 

I haven't played the game but it looks like a simple, small game. No bad at all. Just very simple and very small.

This whole Flappy Bird debacle is really weird, though. A dude makes a tiny game and it becomes popular. That's cool. The dude decides not to distribute the game anymore. That's cool. His life, his game, his decision. But hardly something the whole Internet needs to make a big fuss about.

 

the fuzz is a simple dude reach millions of poeple , as develeloper we have such a powerfull tool of communication and bring emotions, we all have a bit of dong nguyen in us...

 

50k a day? That's insane. If I were him getting overwhelmed by success, I would hire some businessmen to take care of things. It's not like being an actor where you step outside and everyone notices you. All of the attention just remains on the computer.

 

made with unity free!!! enjoy!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.BlackHorizonStudios.FlappyTappy

 

Not sure if trolling or serious.

 

Aaaaand that's why I don't see why there's such a big whoop over Flappy Bird being removed. Another game just like it can be made in about 5 minutes.

 

The fuss isn't because the game was taken down, the game was taken down because of the fuss.

 

Fair enough

 

Well, it seems that you can't win either way:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/10/angry...-themselves-after-game-is-taken-down-4298381/

 

As I was saying... another one could be created in 5 minutes. The logic of some people (talking about the death-threaters). Really all they have to do is either wait and 100 more games like that will be available on mobile or just look and they'll find plenty already available.

Methinks there should be a Ludum Dare style competition to make a Flappy Bird game just like they did with that whole "candy copyright/trademark" incident.

 

You know what'd be good? If blog sites stopped adding to it.