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Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

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11–20 of 236 posts

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#11
post #2

"Then he hit a button, and Flappy Bird disappeared. When I ask him why he did it, he answers with the same conviction that led him to create the game. 'I'm master of my own fate,' he says. 'Independent thinker.'" Good for him. The world needs more people with this attitude.

Or he spent money on buying votes for his game and rather than deal with a ToS breach and lose his money, he took it off the market.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#12
post #10

three he's working on simultaneously: an untitled cowboy-themed shooter, a vertical flying game called Kitty Jetpack and an "action chess game," as he puts it, called Checkonaut, one of which he'll release this month Don't say the names of his to-be-released games; someone might grab the app names now. (Unless they're already approved but hidden; though Apple usually doesn't allow "in-progress"/beta app submissions)

They're likely preliminary titles anyway.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#13
post #3
post #2

"Then he hit a button, and Flappy Bird disappeared. When I ask him why he did it, he answers with the same conviction that led him to create the game. 'I'm master of my own fate,' he says. 'Independent thinker.'" Good for him. The world needs more people with this attitude.

I agree. I love this guy. I bet that very few of us on HN would have done what he did. I certainly wouldn't have. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but it was right for him, and what is impressive to me is that he realized that. That kind of self-knowledge is a wonderful quality to have or develop.

I think to myself that I definitely wouldn't have, and that I would have weather the storm of the press outside my house, and just focused on that great payday (everyday).

But from what I've heard, the paparazzi changes everything and it really is life-changing. So hard to say either way.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#14
post #9

I heard it was just a reskin of a premade game he got off an asset store. Is that not the case? This article made it sound like it was an original idea, but I thought it was just that one button to go up, no button to go down flash game. Is that not what it is?

Slight variation (which may have been done before) where you tap instead of holding. Your upward bounce has a predetermined strength that makes minor course corrections impossible. It's definitely an added challenge.

Re: Asset store reskin, I have no idea. But FWIW I hadn't heard that accusation before.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#15
I'm reminded of a time in elementary school when I opened a Pokémon booster pack to discover a Charizard. I thought it was the best day of my life, but all my friends wanted to trade me for it, and I began to hate my Charizard card. I even had a nightmare in which Charizard blew fire at me. Alas, fame and fortune are quite the deception.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#16
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I love this guy. I bet that very few of us on HN would have done what he did. I certainly wouldn't have. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but it was right for him, and what is impressive to me is that he realized that. That kind of self-knowledge is a wonderful quality to have or develop.

I think to myself that I definitely wouldn't have, and that I would have weather the storm of the press outside my house, and just focused on that great payday (everyday). But from what I've heard, the paparazzi changes everything and it really is life-changing. So hard to say either way.

A software developer/entrepreneur is not a rock star. The paparazzi will disappear and the game be forgotten in a few weeks.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#17
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I love this guy. I bet that very few of us on HN would have done what he did. I certainly wouldn't have. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but it was right for him, and what is impressive to me is that he realized that. That kind of self-knowledge is a wonderful quality to have or develop.

I think to myself that I definitely wouldn't have, and that I would have weather the storm of the press outside my house, and just focused on that great payday (everyday). But from what I've heard, the paparazzi changes everything and it really is life-changing. So hard to say either way.

With millions of dollars, you can just get stuff delivered to you for a couple of weeks until the press sees something else shiny. I've been straight-up bedridden for longer than he lasted under the attention of the press, and there is no way it's more restrictive than that. The guy's choice was his to make, but I do not buy that he had no choice.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think to myself that I definitely wouldn't have, and that I would have weather the storm of the press outside my house, and just focused on that great payday (everyday). But from what I've heard, the paparazzi changes everything and it really is life-changing. So hard to say either way.

A software developer/entrepreneur is not a rock star. The paparazzi will disappear and the game be forgotten in a few weeks.

What made his move puzzling wasn't that he didn't like the attention (I totally get that) but that it seemed obvious that pulling the app would make it worse, not better.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#19
Ah dangit, another famous Nguyen (along with Dat Nguyen) who I'll be asked if I'm related to. It's especially interesting and cool that he's still in Vietnam, and I'm not surprised that was a heavy factor in just waking away...$50,000 a day, even a year, is a lot of money. My uncle was making less than that (a year) in Saigon and yet could still afford to rent a massive house with courtyard, 2 servants and a nanny, and a SUV with a driver.

(BTW, dong is the name of Vietnam's currency, something that is probably worth a lot of jokes in the Vietnamese media)

Also, becoming a viral success (regardless of quality of the game) from Vietnam is a much different and rarer accomplishment than doing it from America (or any place where the world's media is more attuned to). Kudos to him!

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#20
"Nguyen wanted to make games for people like himself: busy, harried, always on the move. "I pictured how people play," he says, as he taps his iPhone and reaches his other hand in the air. "One hand holding the train strap." He'd make a game for them."

I found myself playing in this exact manner many times while riding the subway. Even when I would go just one or two stops, it was convenient way to spend the time squeezing in a few games of Flappy Bird without worrying about concentrating too hard on any one game, or being concerned about getting cutoff in any one round by having to leave or dodge a bystander.

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