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Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

flapmmo.com

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Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#141

Post by Bud »

corresation wrote: post #129
Bud wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason that every other app developer out there works on iOS versions first: you make more money that way. iOS customers spend more money and buy more apps.

Maybe the developers have a Macbook and know iOS? And if we're going to talk metrics, at the rate that Google Play spending has been exploding, it will be passing the iOS ecosystem sometime very shortly. By no stretch am I saying that anyone should target Android instead of iOS, but right now if one hits one or the other it is primarily driven by skillsets and not some objective evaluation. Ideally toolsets and skill…

Maybe the developers assessed the actual state of the market and made the decision they thought would garner higher profits? Just a thought. A much more likely thought than speculating that serious developers are randomly guided towards what platform to code for by what computer they happen to have bought last.

Once Google Play actually passes iOS, feel free to make that point. Not before.

As a recent employee of various startups and established companies in the mobile space, I can tell that you that the only pattern I've witnessed here is:

  a) decide what to develop for based on the market
  b) hire people that can develop for that platform
Not the other way round.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#142

Post by zamalek »

kookiekrak wrote: post #92
wgx wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did say you'd have more time on your hands.

check out reverse flappy birds, its pretty hilarious http://kookiekrak.itch.io/flappy-pipes p.s. i put it on facebook too! (unity + fb integration is amazing) https://apps.facebook.com/flappypipes

Now all the flappymmo author needs to do is have players controlling the pipes and have players controlling the birds.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#144

Post by 127 »

bluetidepro wrote: post #3

The phenomenon of this game absolutely boggles my mind. I've read all the articles about this game, and just can't seem to get how it got so popular so quickly. I feel like it's a just a giant troll or something, although I know that's not the case. Also, I still haven't understood the whole "Super Mario World" graphics rip of it?

Why is simple pop music popular? It is the same question. The answer: because it makes the consumer feel good.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#146

Post by tripzilch »

e28eta wrote: post #127
phaus wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the commenter you are responding to mentioned, the hit-box is much larger than the bird. If your hit-boxes aren't the same size as your sprites, players are frequently going to die when they didn't even appear to hit the pipes. So no, it isn't always the user's fault.

I found the hitbox so frustrating I took an airplay video of several games and was surprised when instant replay showed a 1 pixel collision between the bird and the pipe, when I thought I was clear. The conspiracist in me wanted to believe the pipes had additional gravity or something that caused me to hit, but practically speaking I wonder if we're simply used to games making hitboxes smaller than the avatar. I cert…

> I wonder if we're simply used to games making hitboxes smaller than the avatar.

Yes, it's an often-used trick to enhance the feel of gameplay. Generally you want to make the hitbox of the player, and of the "bad" things smaller, and the hitbox of "good" things (items etc) larger.

This is all (just one) part of the philosophy that the game should behave as the player intends to control it, which is not always equivalent with the literal interpretation of how the player controls it.

Another example is jumping in platform games, if you walk off the edge of a platform, many games will give you a few frames of leeway in which you can still jump, even if the character is actually in mid-air. (alternatively a game can make the platforms' hitbox slightly larger than they appear, but in my experience the leeway approach makes for smoother gameplay)

All of these tricks basically make a game easier to play, but in a way that feels very satisfactory to the player. The idea being, you can always make up for the level of difficulty by making the levels harder, the enemies faster, etc. This shifts the balance from hardness by frustration to challenge.

The fact that Flappy Bird obviously subverts this philosophy, I think is part of its wtf-intrigue. Whether the author of the game did it on purpose or not, is another question.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#147

Post by apitaru »

KVFinn wrote: post #86
apitaru wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Flappy Bird is a wonderfully well-tuned game. I've yet to see a clone that implements the finer details which made the original shine. Many games introduce difficulty through complexity. Here's a game that's simple to grasp, hard to play, yet not boring or frustrating. I wish this was acknowledged more often, as it might have made the developer feel more comfortable being associated with his game's meteoric s…

>I think Flappy Bird is a wonderfully well-tuned game. I've yet to see a clone that implements the finer details which made the original shine. >Many games introduce difficulty through complexity. Here's a game that's simple to grasp, hard to play, yet not boring or frustrating. I don't think Flappy Bird is any better tuned or has a better feel than any number of games. I have played many, many games far better on a…

Right, to my taste it's a better game (though very differently tuned beyond the puck-through-a-gap idea).

More than anything I was trying to respond to the parent's question about why the game works at all, especially compared to so many bad single-switch games in the app store.

(In writing this I just realized - Maverick Brid is not a single switch game like Flappy Bird. Not that it matters - even without the dive key it's superior).

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#148

Post by psykovsky »

johnward wrote: post #125
jonalmeida wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI: Requires Unity Web Player. googles "Unity Web Player" linux ... cries P.S: I'm on Chrome and UWP is supposed to work on it, but it doesn't.

I'm on chrome on mac and it doesn't work. I'm not installing plugins to play games.

It reminds me of flash all over again.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#149

Post by aardshark »

phaus wrote: post #66
drcode wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time the user dies they know it's their own fault.

As the commenter you are responding to mentioned, the hit-box is much larger than the bird. If your hit-boxes aren't the same size as your sprites, players are frequently going to die when they didn't even appear to hit the pipes. So no, it isn't always the user's fault.

It seems to be exactly the size of the bird to me.

Re: Massively multiplayer online Flappy Bird

#150

Post by DanBC »

bluetidepro wrote: post #3

The phenomenon of this game absolutely boggles my mind. I've read all the articles about this game, and just can't seem to get how it got so popular so quickly. I feel like it's a just a giant troll or something, although I know that's not the case. Also, I still haven't understood the whole "Super Mario World" graphics rip of it?

Flappy Bird, and the other apps made by the same developer, are perfectly tuned single mechanism games.

These are not new. Nintendo Game&Watch games were very simple and could keep people playing for hours. Mario Party (in all its many versions) featured similar micro games.

People love the idea of a game that has almost zero controls, with perfect tuning, and a simple to share high score.

Flappy Bird is also hard - I am hopeless at it. I love it for exactly that reason. I'm not great at games so if I can power through some levels I know the devs have just stuffed some easy content in there.

The problem now is in finding these apps. The tuning is tricky to do. The market will be flooded with poor quality clones. It'd be really tempting to allow IAP power ups - "hit one pipe without dying!"

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