Flappy Bird

Mr E

We have to have a thread about the mobile phenomenon (of the week) Flappy Bird. It lasted about 15 minutes on my phone before being unceremoniously deleted. It's just not a good game.

Developer Dong Nguyen caught lightning in a bottle, though. Apparently he is making $50,000 A DAY from ad revenue in this game. Absolutely flipping nuts.

From this Kotaku article about how he is making 50k a day from ripped off artwork, I found this tweet which lead to this flash game from 2011 (also on iOS and Android). Sour grapes? Maybe.

But you know what? It's better than Flappy Bird...

5starpool

I played it for 15 minutes and was useless at it with a high score of only 7.

KevIRL

Some load of $hit

jaykay74

Haven't tried it yet, will give it a go at the weekend but judging by everything I read I won't like it

steve_r

Included on Guardian's 40 best apps of 2014.....

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/07/best-android-apps-games-january-2014

Side Note: Anyone know if the Deus Ex game is any use?

Mr E

https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/432227971173068800

dongatory wrote:

I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.

Pretty odd, considering he has just done a graphics update.

rolexeagle1

Annnnd it's gone

dreamers75

http://kotaku.com/the-flappy-bird-fiasco-1519938266

"People prefer imperfect things," the creator of the incredibly popular, loved, hated and now-notorious Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, mused over Twitter last March, long before most anyone had ever heard of him or played his game. He was stating why he thought he'd be okay launching a video game that included some bugs. "They need something they can comment as a constructive feedback."P

Nguyen has received ample feedback over the last several weeks about Flappy Bird, his maddeningly difficult game about flying a yellow bird between a series of vertical green pipes. Some of the feedback has been positive, some of it brutal, some of it from happy gamers, some from angry gamers—some of it from from gamers so infuriated by the difficult yet charming Flappy Bird that in a roundabout way they'd seemingly come to love it. Some of it's come from the press, including one regrettable piece from Kotaku. I'll get to that, but, first, more about Nguyen's journey.P

Yes that game everyone loves, I have a high score of 1 and im happy with that.

Article sort of sums up what happened to that fcuking game!!!

pablomakaveli

I read something yesterday that said he was taking it down because he couldn't take the hassle from it anymore.

Otacon

Stolen from the GAF




Seriously though, the abuse I have seen online for this guy is pretty horrendous. Honestly, I thought Kotaku and Eurogamer would have been better than that.

Mickeroo

Apparently people are making a killing selling phones that have the game on them since he took it down: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/10/phones-flappy-bird-ebay-app-store

calex71

many places saying he was making 50k a day :eek:

I see we have one of our own looking to fill the void flappy has left https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.shaneobrien.tappybird
Maybe by someone who posts here ????

Edit: Just gave Tappy a spin , yup just as infuriating /well played Sir.

Retr0gamer

Mickeroo wrote: »

Apparently people are making a killing selling phones that have the game on them since he took it down: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/10/phones-flappy-bird-ebay-app-store

No they aren't. Those bids are from bots artificially raising the prices with no intention of ever paying. Humanity thankfully isn't that stupid yet.

johnny_ultimate

I'm going to be honest here: I think Flappy Bird is a really fun video game.

I was away with three friends over the weekend. There was a lot of train rides, buses etc..., plus an hour or two of downtime before retiring for the evening (and we were typically exhausted after hours and hours of walking and activities). And Flappy Bird became a really fun little competition through that downtime, a mini high score competition we could engage in if we were spending time waiting or queuing (alongside actual, y'know, conversation ).

And, having spent a bit of time with the game, it's almost gaming in its purest form - simple mechanics to learn and get better at. It's like many classic games in that regard - it actually requires skill, patience and practice, but the rules of the game are crystal clear and consistent. It's tricky at first, but you quickly find yourself adapting to the rhythm and style of the game. With a bit of friendly competition, it becomes particularly enjoyable and addictive.

No doubt it's imperfect - the last update helped make it much smoother than it was, but it's certainly not a slickly made piece of software, lacking in any sort of real 'oomph' or aesthetic power (and the hitboxes are hilariously liberal). The 'borrowing' of Mario assets was regrettable. But somehow it all works - a surprisingly accessible game with coherent mechanics that rewards those willing to adjust to its incredibly simple rule set. It's a 'game' in one of its purest form, and in the end its amateur, ramshackle production values are kind of charming. It's not going to change video game art as we know it, but there's little denying its addicting charms.

Oh, and the whole abuse directed at the developer is disgusting, and both the 'gamers' and media involved in that sort of thing should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. Who the hell are these people?

calex71

Yeah some of the twitter stuff etc was of the kind that would get you arrested in the UK and a few other countries cracking down on it, seriously vile stuff.

I mean the guy didn't do anything wrong really compared to the number of criminally rubbish mobile games out there except as Johnny says he made a game of old almost that doesn't hold your hand and rewards patience and practice, and the maturity of the comments reflects the attitude of a section of todays gamers and society as a whole too. Thats another thread I think.

On the plus side to all that and OT I did notice in one of the comments on one of the sites with abusive comments mention another game called "Ridiculous Fishing" I tried it out ..... wow what fun possibly the best money I;ve spent on an app store :eek:

johnny_ultimate

Ridiculous Fishing is a fantastic game, again simple mechanics but obviously in that case brought to life beautifully (and the ending is actually pretty brilliant).

I simply do not understand how anyone able to operate a keyboard could hurl abuse or death threats over something as trivial as a video game. Mind boggling stuff. I also don't get why this game was picked on - sure, it lacks traditional polish, but it's a small, simple game from a developer clearly finding his feet and happened to strike gold. The web is a cruel ****ing place at times.

I also don't know why simplicity is so frowned upon. Some of the greatest games ever made are incredibly simple and accessible. If anything, finding that sweet spot of 'one more go' is one of the most difficult things for a developer to achieve.

2smiggy

i like flappy bird , only problem is my high score is now 75 , making it difficult to beat. it was much lower for a good few days , meaning i had some chance of beating the score every time i played. now it would take a miracle

johnny_ultimate

If you can get 75 you can get higher I'm on 114 at the moment, and a few days ago the 50 mark seemed insurmountable. Consistency is tricky, but any run could turn out to be the one you need.

2smiggy

well i did jump from 52 to 75 , and have got 74 since, only for nerves to take over. I'm not sure, but do the hit areas become more forgiving after the first 10 or so pipes ? i seem to die on the first few or else in to 20/30's easily

Grumpypants

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I simply do not understand how anyone able to operate a keyboard could hurl abuse or death threats over something as trivial as a video game. Mind boggling stuff. I also don't get why this game was picked on - sure, it lacks traditional polish, but it's a small, simple game from a developer clearly finding his feet and happened to strike gold. The web is a cruel ****ing place at times.
.

It's nothing really to do with the game, when anything reaches a certain level of popularity it becomes "cool" to hate it whether that is flappy Birds or Justin Beiber.

Mix in the very easily led gaming public who like/hate what they are told to like/hate and an unhealthy does of internet hard men and you get those results.

It is odd the way flappy birds got hammered for "ripping off" copter gameplay and Mario artwork while something like Hotline Miami had praise rained down on it as it was "inspired by" the 80's top down shooters and TV shows.

I thought flappy birds was a real throw back to what the industry used to be like when I first got into gaming and that is one guy making simple addictive games in his bedroom and sharing it.

Retr0gamer

There's a big difference between making art inspired by a decade and outright stealing art work. One is fine the other is outright illegal.

Other than the blatant copyright theft I've no problems with the game existing.

I got a good laugh out of this though:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-12-fall-out-boy-to-release-flappy-bird-clone

"Rome wasn't built in a day, but this game was".

Well played Fallout boy.

rolexeagle1

http://flapmmo.com/

Mr E

It's all dying down (slowly but surely).

Google and Apple have stopped accepting any more Flappy Bird clones (google just consider it to be SPAM).

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-17-apple-google-now-rejecting-flappy-bird-clones-reports-suggest


To get a game job in China, you need to play Flappy Bird for 20 minutes.

http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-proficiency-required-for-game-developer-job-1524271238

Mr E

Dong Nguyen gave an interview to Rolling Stone. Fascinating read.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-flight-of-the-birdman-flappy-bird-creator-dong-nguyen-speaks-out-20140311

His explanation for pulling the game is plausible too. Obviously he can't be responsible for what people do as a result of playing his game, but imagine getting messages like these -

But the hardest thing of all, he says, was something else entirely. He hands me his iPhone so that I can scroll through some messages he's saved. One is from a woman chastising him for "distracting the children of the world." Another laments that "13 kids at my school broke their phones because of your game, and they still play it cause it's addicting like crack." Nguyen tells me of e-mails from workers who had lost their jobs, a mother who had stopped talking to her kids. "At first I thought they were just joking," he says, "but I realize they really hurt themselves." Nguyen – who says he botched tests in high school because he was playing too much Counter-Strike – genuinely took them to heart.