Game Creator Finds That Knockoffs Can't Match His Awesome Game
from the winning dept
One thing game developers have always had, and will always have, to deal with is the dreaded copycat clone. It's something of a success indicator when you create something entertaining enough to breed like products. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or, instead of being flattered, you can go the Zynga route and sue folks using IP laws rather than compete with them directly. Or, if one were so inclined, one could take a page out of the Namco playbook and threaten a kid for making a Pacman clone. Defenders of these actions will claim that they're necessary. After all, a great amount of work and development went into those games and it seems unfair for a copycat to come along, use similar designs, and reap the benefits. How could the original creator compete with that?Here to show us how the original creator could compete with that is Rami Ismail, developer of Ridiculous Fishing, who was just a tad late to the iOS market compared with copycat Ninja Fishing. Instead of going legal, or even crying foul, however, Ismail just concentrated on making his game freaking awesome.
"When we released the game, we promised people that for $2.99 (£1.79) they would get Ridiculous Fishing without any further in-app purchases or anything," he told Digital Spy at PC and indie games expo Rezzed.The result? Well, Ridiculous Fishing got real big, real fast. Ninja Fishing did okay as well, but Ismail's game has the kind of cachet that only comes with a tightly developed game and a loyal fanbase. Built largely off of his promise to refrain from in-app purchases and his passion for his customers, the whole thing exploded on iOS once it was released.
"We're going to keep our word, but we want to emphasize that point that we were really serious about that. The plan we have now, if we pull it off the way we want to, we're going to double the content and add a completely new narrative arc, and explore that world a bit further."
"Then what happened, that bubble just exploded. Elijah Wood played Ridiculous Fishing and tweeted about it. That's mind-blowing. That's not something that happens. We didn't expect it to be this big - we hoped it would be this size. We really hoped this would be the definitive statement about creativity will always win, because obviously the whole cloning background is still there for us, right?A ton of downloads and one Apple design award later, Ismail serves as the perfect example of what the combination of fan loyalty and well-designed products mean in the war against game cloners. Instead of focusing on being angry and going the legal route, Ismail won because his game is better. Something to which the rest of the developer community should probably be paying attention.
"We still want to make this statement that Ninja Fishing did well, but Ridiculous Fishing wins because it was the better game. Better games win. That's what we hoped people would get out of it, and I think they did."
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Filed Under: competition, innovation, ninja fishing, rami ismail, ridiculous fishing, video games
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In app purchases
I grew up on games in a GUI environment Ina time when text adventures were all the rage with PC's, my family had a MacPlus. I grew up on the works of Duane Blhem and a few other titles.
Tell me, is it so bad to still enjoy the good old 2D Mac games if they are converted over like Stuntcopter, Zero Gravity, and Cairo Shootout?
If you plan on getting the Stuntcopter remake for iOS, make sure it's the iPad version since it has more of the old Mac feel to it :-3
Anyway enough rambling. Money is tight right now as I'm working to get my license recertified so I can practice again. I will definitely have to give Crazy Fishing a try :-)
One of the biggest things I can like and dislike about knockoffs is that they will always suck if done improperly. They bring a certain charm to life.
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Cached out
Not being a coder, I'm not really sure how tight development delivers that kind of cache. But I'll bet the game's cachet is something special, too.
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Re:
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By "cache", I guess you mean "cachet".
Now, has "copycat" anything to do with chronology? -- "Ridiculous Fishing, ... was just a tad late to the iOS market compared with copycat Ninja Fishing."
Besides being first to market yet deemed "copycat", it seems that "Ninja Fishing" hasn't copied the astounding features of "Ridiculous", so again, how's that being a "copycat" or "clone"? Isn't it just a similar motif?
Apparently a big factor was luck of being touted by some celebrity: "Elijah Wood played Ridiculous Fishing and tweeted about it."
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Re: By "cache", I guess you mean "cachet".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculous_Fishing
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Re: By "cache", I guess you mean "cachet".
Ninja Fishing was not the first to market. Ridiculous Fishing was. Ninja Fishing was just beat it to that particular platform.
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/emotions-decisions.html
I can't say in this case with any certainty, what I can say is that emotions do play a role, and I speculate that in this case good relations with your clients is essential for success as much as being capable to deliver on promises made.
This is what some people didn't understand yet, there is an emotional component to markets, and when played right you rip positive results, played wrong and you rip those results in spades most certainly. There are some sayings that I can't recall at the moment about how good news are fleeting but bad news are forever or some such.
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Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
http://randomtower.com/?p=909#comment-13382
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Re: Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
This doesn't make any sense. How can a competitor cripple a development, when basically they don't earn money yet?
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Re: Re: Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
Not even this experience has fully turned him from that.
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Re: Re: Re: Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
However, he should have been aware that copycatting is inevitable. This has been true for the entire history of the software (and every other field), so it's not like he couldn't have seen it coming. If that was something he couldn't emotionally handle, then he should not have released the game.
The correct way to look at it is that if your efforts are not being copycatted by someone, then what you're making is very likely to be worthless. Seeing a clone validates your efforts.
Also, just had to throw this in, copying an idea is a long way away from "stealing".
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
I'd take it as a compliment. They should too.
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Re: Too Bad Vlambeer Hasn't Learned Anything
This whole winning thing tired us out, we just want to make good games. Not better games than someone else, better games than our previous games. You use competition as your driving force, we'll keep our final responsibilities towards our games and fans.
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Why is there a PC on your desktop?
Clones simulate the market and because of them, you sell more of the original than would be possible without them.
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Re: Why is there a PC on your desktop?
It was great for the industry, and did make IBM a lot of money, but being the dominating evil corporation that they were, all they could see was how much more money they could have made if not for all the knockoffs.
Of course, they probably would not have made much more money in reality. The IBM PC entered a market that had many equally good Z80 systems already well established. People would likely have just continued buying those.
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Re: Why is there a PC on your desktop?
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true on consoles too
I found a Splinter Cell clone, Rogue Ops, for the GameCube, a few years back. I think I only grabbed it because it was only $10 at an EB Games (can't remember if it was new or used; I got Eternal Darkness new, also for $10, the same day iirc).
It was fun, but not nearly as good as Splinter Cell.
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How is it "winning" when your game is earning less than your competitor that's been out for more than a year?
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Re:
If Ninja has a hard core of players who pay regularly money for in-app purchases, then that game has a revenue stream that's simply not possible with the Ridiculous business model. Ninja could easily gross more even if Ridiculous has more overall players, and freemium games have a habit of staying longer in the charts anyway due to their constant revenue stream from active players.
"How is it "winning" when your game is earning less than your competitor that's been out for more than a year?"
First off, how is the game doing compared to if there was no competition? If both games are doing better than projected, then both games are "winning" - this isn't a zero sum game.
Secondly, the game has won numerous awards, is one of the best reviewed games of the year and has apparently sold a decent amount of copies. I'd call that "winning" even if someone else out there is also doing well - especially since both games were based off a free Flash game to begin with.
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My friend Zach Gage had a hand in it
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Re: My friend Zach Gage had a hand in it
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Personal Direct Injury
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Why is there a PC on your desktop?
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Also, just had to throw this in, copying an idea is a long way away from "stealing" :D :) :)
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