What happens when a bad game that's selling very well suddenly gets pulled from the Android and iOS app stores? Infamy.
Flappy Bird is the now unattainable mobile game where you attempt to guide a bird through a series of sewer pipes by tapping on the screen. Last week, the game was pulled from sale for reasons. Either the creator grew tired of the backlash over the poorly designed and/or intentionally extremely difficult game or larger game companies threatened legal action for stealing artwork straight from their games (namely, Nintendo, cause those sewer pipes, grass, and ground design are the same as Super Mario Bros). Now, you can't even submit a game with the word "Flappy" in the title because Apple will tell you you're profiting off of another game's notoriety. Google is also rejecting clones and games with "Flappy" in the title, but they aren't saying why.
Fortunately, this is 2014. Game designers are very good at keeping things alive if they want to. Flappy Bird clones are all over the place. None are as clever as FlapMMO.
FlapMMO is a massively multiplayer online platformer clone of Flappy Bird. Instead of playing by yourself, you can watch as hundreds of other players attempt to traverse the too-familiar drain pipes armed only with the click of a key.
Let's break this down a bit. The FlapMMO developers have created video game commentary through the cloning of a video game. You think Flappy Bird couldn't have been that hard? Then why are only 27% of players able to even get through the first drain piper opening? Why is there a seemingly permanent stack of fallen nubby birds piled on the screen before you even hit the obstacles? And how come the number of players just keep going up and up as your session continues? The game is giving you a visual representation of the frustration of the solo experience by showing how much everyone struggles to control this game. There are platformers that do this with solo play, but I'm not aware of too many other games that use the live footage of everyone's failures to bolster your own enthusiasm for doing better.
FlapMMO is doing some new things with the concept beyond the visual commentary on the difficultly level/horrific design. You can now set up private servers for you and your friends to play on. You can add your nickname to the screen to ID your character, just like any other modern MMO. A leader board is also in development. There are also alternate skins of the game that prove how easily the original Flappy Bird designer could have avoided any alleged legal issues. Do you really think Nintendo wants to lay claim to sperm floating through blood red tubes on a blood red background?
FlapMMO is a bizarre hybrid of criticism, clone, and humor that is free to play online.
What do you think of the whole Flappy Bird hysteria? Share your thoughts below.