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Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

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Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#111

Post by khafra »

ghempton wrote: post #29
johnnyo wrote: post #28

Some feedback: The UI needs some work. Running on an iPhone 3GS, it felt very laggy, many of my touches didn't register correctly. Tap to rotate is an odd concept, and combined with the lagginess above, I was always moving when I wanted to rotate, or vice versa. Maybe two fingers to rotate? Move the advertising. Having it right on top of the playing field caused me to accidentally click it when trying to move around…

Thanks for the feedback. An iPad 2 was my primary testing device so I surely didn't give the iPhone version the UI love it needs.

This explains a lot. If my thumbs were 1/3 their present size, moving the blocks around on my iPhone probably would have been a lot easier. I recommend increasing the area you can touch to "grab" a block by at least 50%, and adding some sort of visual indicator of the position and orientation of the block outside the thumb-occlusion. Other than that, it's a great game.

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#113

Post by jamesjyu »

untog wrote: post #72
ghempton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything was done by yours truly in Fireworks. I wrote a custom extension that I use to create both the artwork and the levels inside of Fireworks.

Great to hear someone else using Fireworks. I feel like it gets ignored by Adobe in favour of Illustrator, but it's really a fantastic tool.

+1 to that as well. Fireworks is indispensable as part of my design tool chain. It's the best and simplified world of illustrator and photoshop.

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#115

Post by bradleyland »

zyb09 wrote: post #86
mmaunder wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging or not charging for an infringing work isn't relevant. Personally I hope they give him a job with a hefty options grant.

There's no infringement here, the pigs look different and there doesn't seem to be any stolen art or something. So Rovio probably couldn't do anything anyway.

"So Rovio probably couldn't do anything anyway."

I've talked about this a few times on HN, but this is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's armchair litigating. Rovio could absolutely file a case against this developer. How far it would go would depend largely on the judge in the case. You can bet that Rovio would, if they decided to, file with a court that historically rules in favor of their position. This would mean that, at a minimum, this developer would have to retain counsel and pay the thousands of dollars it would cost to get the case dismissed (not a slow process). There would be depositions, discovery, inquiry, and a slew of other bullshit that comes along with being sued.

You see, this is how the game is played. It's not a matter of who is right or wrong. It's not even a matter of what the rules say. It's a matter of who has the bigger bank role to pay for attorneys that are good at playing the game.

I know because I've been in this scenario. Prior to the plaintiff filing suit against us, everyone said the same things:

"They don't have a case!"

"This is baseless, it will be thrown out!"

"What a stupid premise, they'll get laughed out of court!"

This was not from one or two people, and not from laymen. This was from virtually every attorney I talked to (6 of them). We're now 3 years in to the suit and the judge seems content to extend the trial date in to the year 2012. The courts are in the business of having people in court. Never forget it.

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#116

Post by nachteilig »

Luc wrote: post #106

Those birds in the third screenshot look pretty much the same as the Angry Birds to me (I didn't compare them directly, but I don't think that's necessary anyway). You're also directly advertising this with reference to Angry Birds (see title of this post). I'd say you're pretty much flouting basic trademark law here, and the only way for Rovio to react is to protect their trademark, or lose it. It's all the more lik…

The birds are a question of copyright, not trademark. And one doesn't lose that for failing to defend it.

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#117

Post by starwed »

nachteilig wrote: post #116
Luc wrote: post #106

Those birds in the third screenshot look pretty much the same as the Angry Birds to me (I didn't compare them directly, but I don't think that's necessary anyway). You're also directly advertising this with reference to Angry Birds (see title of this post). I'd say you're pretty much flouting basic trademark law here, and the only way for Rovio to react is to protect their trademark, or lose it. It's all the more lik…

The birds are a question of copyright, not trademark. And one doesn't lose that for failing to defend it.

I don't think its that simple. Wikipedia says

>A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories, such as those based on color, smell, or sound.

I'd be surprised if Rovio doesn't consider the general appearance of the birds as a trademark. If you see a game in the app store represented by an angry bird like image, that's clearly going to create consumer confusion about the origin of the game.

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#119

Post by Luc »

nachteilig wrote: post #116
Luc wrote: post #106

Those birds in the third screenshot look pretty much the same as the Angry Birds to me (I didn't compare them directly, but I don't think that's necessary anyway). You're also directly advertising this with reference to Angry Birds (see title of this post). I'd say you're pretty much flouting basic trademark law here, and the only way for Rovio to react is to protect their trademark, or lose it. It's all the more lik…

The birds are a question of copyright, not trademark. And one doesn't lose that for failing to defend it.

That bird design is to Rovio what Mickey is to Disney...

Re: Show HN: I Created the Inverse of Angry Birds

#120

Post by kirubakaran »

vidarh wrote: post #62

My two year old would probably love that - he sympathises with the pigs and gets upset whenever he accidentally hits one of them with the birds. Doesn't seem to care as much about the birds.

Perhaps because pigs are mammals and hence more closely related to him than birds?
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