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Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

mauronewmedia.com

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Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#31

Post by alanfalcon »

wiredfool wrote: post #11
trout wrote: post #7

I realized it while playing the game, and to a greater extent after reading the article, but it's a very meticulous game. The amount of detail and thought into all the aspects of the game are top notch. I really respected the architecture of some of the more complicated levels in regards to all the little angles, small blocks scattered, combination of material types, etc. In my opinion it's what the game is centered…

Angry birds reminds me a lot of the gameplay and level design of Lode Runner for the Apple IIe. Simple concept, artistic levels that were pictures or boats or houses, and totally addictive gameplay. Now all we need is a level editor for angry birds...

My current aspirations of real full time game development can be traced back to designing Lode Runner levels on my first computer, a Mac 512k. I used to design levels in MacPaint and pretend to play them, because I didn't know any better.

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#32

Post by benologist »

alanfalcon wrote: post #30
benologist wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because Crush the Castle's origins are in Flash casual gaming which is an audience of 100s of millions of people that predates / exists somewhere parallel to iOS casual gaming. Although Angry Birds has undoubtedly made more cold hard cash the CTC franchise (3 titles) would have plays in the 100s of millions by now.

There's no denying that Angry Birds is a cultural phenomenon (I've lost track of Angry Birds references on Conan, for example,) while Crush the Castle is... not. That transcends considerations like "times played" or even "money made".

I agree completely, I only disagree that the CTC franchise failed!

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#33

Post by train_robber »

patio11 wrote: post #14
train_robber wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed to that and tomkarlo's comment. But I wonder why no one's taking credit for the original idea. With so much publicity for Angry Birds that seems really weird. Almost all of the news posts about Angry Birds praise the team and seems to ignore the fact that it was not an original idea at all.

seems to ignore the fact that it was not an original idea at all Is this contrary to expectations? This is what we mean when we say, over and over again, that "ideas" don't matter a hill of beans. To misquote the best line of the movie: if they had had the idea for Angry Birds then they would have developed Angry Birds.

Agree that having an idea is worth nothing if its not implemented well. But I still find it strange that it never came up in any discussion about Angry Birds. And nobody protested, especially during this season of patent trolls.

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#34

Post by stenson »

pfedor wrote: post #3

Why do the houses containing pigs shake ever so slightly at the beginning of each game play sequence? I assumed that it's because the initial positions of the objects in the game are slightly off the equilibrium state, so when the physics is switched on they slump a little bit.

I gotta agree --- on one level (I forget which one) there is a golden egg wearing a hardhat... if you get the golden egg, that egg disappears. But when you restart the level and that egg is gone, the hardhat is still there, sitting in mid-air, as if the golden egg was there too. Then the physics turns on and the hat immediately falls to the ground. Pretty simple case of physics on, physics off.

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#35

Post by bambax »

What about the story?

As already stated in the comments, Angry Birds is almost identical to "Crush the Castle", another game, of which Flash versions were quite successful but mobile versions weren't. (It involves destroying castles with a trebuchet -- play it here: http://armorgames.com/play/3614/crush-the-castle).

It would have made for a more interesting article to compare Angry Birds and Crush the Castle (CTC) to identify differences between the two; as it is the article lists six attributes of success for Angry Birds:

1. simple yet engaging interaction concept

2. cleverly managed response time

3. short-term memory management

4. mystery

5. how things sound

6. how things look

Every one of those qualities is present in CTC, sometimes differently (different sound, different look) but most of the time EXACTLY in the same way (the first three items).

The main originality of Angry Birds is that projectiles are not inanimate objects but living (thinking) creatures, and the pigs (the victims) are stupid/despicable.

In CTC the projectiles are bullets and the victims are soldiers: the goal is to crush the castle but not really to kill the soldiers; the player doesn't care about them (and she certainly doesn't care about the projectiles). It's mostly an engineering project.

In Angry Birds the goal is more to kill the pigs than to crush their houses, and the player identifies with the birds. I would argue this (the story) is a key element to user engagement.

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#36

Post by whatusername »

benologist wrote: post #21
chrisbolt wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own Angry Birds, but I've never even heard of Crush the Castle.

That's because Crush the Castle's origins are in Flash casual gaming which is an audience of 100s of millions of people that predates / exists somewhere parallel to iOS casual gaming. Although Angry Birds has undoubtedly made more cold hard cash the CTC franchise (3 titles) would have plays in the 100s of millions by now.

Plays in the 100s of millions sure.

Unique users in the 100s of millions? I'm doubtful.

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#37

Post by DrStalker »

pgbovine wrote: post #22
DrStalker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally found Crush the Castle a lot more fun than Angry birds; you don't get stuck in a linear progression, and it feels a lot more "tactile" to me as bits slam into other bits and people scream and die.

as bits slam into other bits and people scream and die. hmmm, perhaps this appeal isn't as strongly felt by the general public as cute birds slamming into pigs?

I think the market has once again made it clear that my opinions differ from most people. I can rant about how terrible modern popular books, TV shows and movies are for a while if you'd like. :-)

Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?

#38

Post by kule »

I think they did a great marketing job. They released in December (good timing for Christmas) at the cheapest price point. Probably great timing to help it into the top 10 initially. Then they made sure they looked after their users by consistently giving new levels for free for the first 6-12 months. Heck they are still giving free updates now! People love that, in turn the more users took the time to give it good reviews which then helped sell to more people & keep it in the top ten.
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