Rovio, really, I'm flattered.

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

A few weeks ago, there was a lot of buzz on the internet about a game Zngya was publishing, and how it was pretty near an item-by-item rip off of another game from a little 3-person independent studio. Many people came to Zynga’s defense, claiming the idea wasn’t original, so the indie studio had nothing to complain about. I saw both sides, and basically came away with the idea that this kind of thing was going to happen, Zngya has billions of dollars, so nothing would come of it.

Shortly after that Rovio announced it’s upcoming game Angry Birds Space. No details at the time, but still I got that weird, knotted up feeling in my stomach. After all, our game, Gravity Quest, had been on the market a few months and something just told me where all of this was going. For reference, the link to the post announcing the game is here:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2011/11/05/announcing-gravity-quest

In short, the description opens with: “Slingshot your way to success using only the power of gravity.”

Today, Rovio released the first gameplay pics. Just as I suspected, same concept. They even use the same translucent disc effect to indicate gravity’s influence as we did.

Now, granted, this is not a one for one copy. I wouldn’t dare claim that. Their version is clearly cuter and more polished. And people seem to be responding warmly to it. But on the site I first read about it this morning people are saying, “hey, what a great and novel idea, I’m surprised no one did this before.” That’s the part that hurts.

You publish a game but don’t have the resources to 1) make it awesome graphically (admitted), but 2) don’t have the money to promote it like Rovio, so your great idea that everyone will love goes unnoticed until some major studio co-opts it and makes (another) fortune.

I think the best any of us can do in such a situation is try to ride their wave and get as much peripheral exposure out of it as we can. Which, cynically, is why I really wrote this :slight_smile:

Thoughts? [import]uid: 64596 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 323031[/import]

#2

Wow I understand what you feel that is all I can ssy [import]uid: 17058 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92062[/import]

#3

Hi Shane,
I found this trailer http://youtu.be/lxI1L1RiSJQ for the Rovio game you mentioned.

They have found that after being on the #1 spot with Angry Birds, everyone has (literally) played Angry Bird and their position is now threatened == Reduced Income Stream.

So, they need a new game to rake in, and this is their new game. I will not say too bad, too sad mate. Coz yes, it is a polished, graphically spruced up version of your game.

People that have no idea that your game exists, will definitely agree that Rovio has such a great idea. Plus the marketing bucks behind it… you can’t beat that.

I feel for you… did you try to let the twitterverse and sites like Ars, TechCrunch, etc know that this game exists and was released somewhere last year in May by you. [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92066[/import]

#4

I tweeted to all 7 of our followers. Yep, we are that small. Tweeted to Carlos. Tweeted to Ansca. Like I said, we don’t really see this as a copy. If we had the idea, it is entirely possible that they did independently.

Just wanted to vent. It can get a little frustrating down here at the bottom sometimes. Thanks for the kind words. [import]uid: 64596 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92068[/import]

#5

@shane, what’s your twitter account, follow me and i’ll follow you. we’ve got the same number of peeps :slight_smile: [import]uid: 10379 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92076[/import]

#6

@ShamaApps. Thanks! [import]uid: 64596 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92079[/import]

#7

Hey, Shane, I feel for you. Your “vent” is very gracious indeed.

Naomi [import]uid: 67217 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92080[/import]

#8

@shane, yea the whole story is messed up… chances are though, that they (Rovio) don’t even know we exist. On the other hand, during your next update, make sure to add “angry birds space” to your keywords - maybe this will help to get you some more sales. [import]uid: 10379 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92094[/import]

#9

This is a stretch to say Rovio copied your concept. The idea of gravity based game play in 2D has been around for decades. And there’s the obvious example in 3D with Super Mario Galaxy.

To me it looks like they just followed the natural progression of their game concept by scaling out. You increase trajectory speed and increase the scale of the world and you get this gameplay.

It’s not surprising that someone else can independently deduce your game mechanic. I don’t think it’s fair to compare this to the Zynga situation at all. And it does you no good to dwell on this.

Keep your head up and keep working on new games! [import]uid: 27183 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92095[/import]

#10

@don, meh… I will disagree a little bit, angry birds space resembles shane’s title quite a bit, but what I will agree on is the fact that they probably didn’t know his game existed.

@shane - you might have a chance here to beat them to their punch. tweet the sh*t out of the fact that if people want to see/play a game just like angry birds space they should try yours! this really can’t hurt you in any way… especially if you use the hashtags properly. [import]uid: 10379 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92096[/import]

#11

Yeah, I seriously would be flattered to find out someone did walk into a Rovio meeting with my app and said, “hey, this is it, this is what we should do.” But even if they did (and I know they didn’t), they still would be adding a lot to the game/gametype with their graphics and overall finish.

I didn’t know about Super Mario Galaxy. But I’d dare say there are ‘very’ few original ideas out there and really all a developer can do is bring their own spin to it.

I have considered throwing up an edited description on the markets to try to grab some interest. A little tongue-in-check “Play the game that inspired Angry Birds Space” sort of thing.

Hashtags on the other hand, well there’s a reason I have only seven followers (correction, eight, thanks nemensiris!). Still haven’t quite got the hang of this twitter thing. [import]uid: 64596 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92099[/import]

#12

It’s sad when something like this happens, but I don’t think they “stole” your work (I mean, at least not like Zynga did with Tiny Tower).

You had an awesome idea, I really like the concept of the slingshot in the space… it has a lot of potential, and probably Rovio saw that.
The only thing (don’t take any offense from this) is that IMO, you should have polished the app more before releasing it, for example:

  1. Maybe adding a little story, a concept behind the gameplay
  2. Improve graphics. I know it could be expensive hiring a graphic designer, but if you believe the idea is great (and I think yours it is), paying some money for a nice graphic design is an investment. Also, you can hire someone who’s not yet a professional (for my next project I’m hiring a art school student… it’s cheaper than pros and also for him is an opportunity to increase its portfolio)
  3. Promotion. I mean, I tried searching your app on Google but couldn’t find the web page promoting the app…
  4. The screenshots in the AppStore are very, very important, and the one currently on your app page are a little low-res… also the description is a little short imo
  5. You should add a title and a nice description to the youtube video showing the app. Currently it’s Gravity Quest.m4v

As I said, don’t take offense from my comments. I’m not an expert, it’s just that I think the idea behind your app is great and with some changes you could really sell a lot.

But, I also think you can do something now and use angry birds space to promote your app (Angry birds space is coming out on 22 march).
Why don’t you add new screenshots to the app store, add a description telling that the inspiration for Angry Birds space is your app, maybe making a new website to promote it, a new youtube video and twitter status trying targeting ppl waiting for angry birds space…
I mean, just some ideas :wink: [import]uid: 9158 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92103[/import]

#13

Shedder,

Offended? Not at all. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I think your points are all valid and insightful. To each:

  1. We did originally have a story (and our beta testers liked it), but delivering that story was slowing down the gameplay. So we made the decision to cut it, which, in retrospect was not the right decision.

  2. At the time this was only our second game, and the team was all of me. This was more of a hobby I was experimenting with. My wife (now team member #2, fully on-board and spearheading our pr campaigns) was, at the time, willing to indulge my hobby, but we weren’t gonna cut back on groceries to support it, so I had to do everything in-house. Luckily we have made contact with several decent, local, new and interested artists, so things are looking up.

  3. Promotion. Yeah, there is so much to learn about this business. I put up a basic webpage to qualify for the Corona App of the Week contest but subsequently took it down recently to build a whole new site to support the latest app, and we haven’t gotten around to filling it in with “old” releases.

  4. The screenshots are taken right out of the simulator, from an actual screenshot. I’m a little at a loss as to make them any more high-res, especially since they conformed to the appstore/market requirements.

  5. I’ll take a look at some other YouTube videos and see what they have done.

I think all this simply shows that there is a lot more to being successful than just a good idea. Someone recently wrote that it is less important to get to market first, and more important that upon arrival your product is unassailably the best. Unfortunately that “someone” was a Zynga press release defending their actions in stealing (did I say that?) Tiny Towers. But it is still valid advice. [import]uid: 64596 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92105[/import]

#14

Shane,

I understand your frustration… it seems like game ideas are being reused, and in Zynga’s case (my opinion), blantantly copied.

I recently released my first game (word/puzzle type game), and I find it difficult to justify the expense of an artist for a game that might not recoup that cost. I’m also a 1-man shop (2 Twitter followers! I just followed you today… hope others can follow me), and it is difficult to ride the marketing wave.

I guess we just have to keep plugging away and hope we get that one magic game that is there at the right time. I wish you success with your game… it does look pretty cool. I am not a fan of Angry Birds at all, so I dont think I will download their space app. I’ll give yours a try. [import]uid: 114363 topic_id: 23031 reply_id: 92192[/import]