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Nine years ago the guy who made "Crush the Castle" did an ama on Reddit and said it was "kind of flattering" that Angry Birds completely ripped off his game and

Nine years ago the guy who made "Crush the Castle" did an ama on Reddit and said it was "kind of flattering" that Angry Birds completely ripped off his game and people enjoyed playing it. I wonder if he still feels the same way. https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iu1ih/i_am_joey_betz_the_creator_of_the_games_crush_the/ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iu1ih/i_am_joey_betz...

Auracle 4y ago
Way back in the day I had a flash games website. If I remember correctly there was another game like Crush the Castle that actually came first, though I can’t remember the name now. Anyways, it’s not like Angry Birds didn’t refine the formula. The slingshot mechanic was better for touch screens, the different birds types, and making the art cutesy.
- waste_monk 4y ago
  > and making the art cutesy. I can't find it but recall reading somewhere that the original "pitch" for angry birds was just a bunch of bird sketches submitted to a company-internal brainstorming session. Then they tacked on the gameplay etc. afterwards.
TillE 4y ago
That's how everything works. Literally every CRPG (and every crappy mobile game with an XP/level mechanic) owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons. WotC is a big company, and D&D is bigger than it's ever been, but like Diablo 4 is gonna net more profit than D&D makes in a decade.
- lelanthran 4y ago
  > hat's how everything works. Literally every CRPG (and every crappy mobile game with an XP/level mechanic) owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons And they owe almost everything to the lore from Tolkien's middle-earth.
  - notahacker 4y ago
    And Tolkein would be the first to acknowledge all the mythology he borrowed from and was inspired by...
    - Drblessing 4y ago
      And mythology would like to thank the cavemen for their compelling cave paintings and campfire stories, which laid the groundwork for millennia of creative storytelling. Without those early artists, who knows where we'd be? Probably still trying to come up with a punchline for "Why did the mammoth cross the glacier?"
- davemp 4y ago
  Yeah almost everything is iterative. WotC is more like SEGA in this scenario though because they only bought out D&D.
- pdntspa 4y ago
  So, what, D&D owns fantasy or something? Ha ha.... no. I don't recall Diablo ever messing about with THAC0 or D&D specific rules. Cribbing "level up" mechanics is about the same level as music sampling the amen break. An enormous debt might be owed, sure, but the concept is a public good now and said debt is uncollectable.
- badsectoracula 4y ago
  > owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons. And D&D owes to the wargames that preceded it. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
philomath_mn 4y ago
I mean the dynamics of the game alone didn't create the $1B valuation, it was also the execution around marketing, brand deals, movies, etc
- dehrmann 4y ago
  Wordle sold for ~3M, and it had a user base.
  - tech234a 4y ago
    That’s a more specific number than I’ve seen before, are you extrapolating off of the “low seven figures” mentioned in the press releases or was a more specific number released?
    - dehrmann 4y ago
      I was working off "low seven figures." I suppose that really means between $1M and $3M.
ArtWomb 4y ago
I'd like to open the floor, because many of us are coding away at a game engine someplace. What do you do, if you write a 2d physics library, and someone makes a popular game. How do you retro-actively acquire the licensing? Prudent thing is I guess to take the time to get your IP in order before launch. But it's extra difficult for cash strapped solo indies ;)
paulpauper 4y ago
'my idea was stolen' pretty much describes the past 40 years of tech, from the msdos days
- Gigachad 4y ago
  Because ideas aren’t owned or valuable.

Auracle 4y ago

Way back in the day I had a flash games website. If I remember correctly there was another game like Crush the Castle that actually came first, though I can’t remember the name now. Anyways, it’s not like Angry Birds didn’t refine the formula. The slingshot mechanic was better for touch screens, the different birds types, and making the art cutesy.

waste_monk 4y ago
> and making the art cutesy. I can't find it but recall reading somewhere that the original "pitch" for angry birds was just a bunch of bird sketches submitted to a company-internal brainstorming session. Then they tacked on the gameplay etc. afterwards.

TillE 4y ago

That's how everything works. Literally every CRPG (and every crappy mobile game with an XP/level mechanic) owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons. WotC is a big company, and D&D is bigger than it's ever been, but like Diablo 4 is gonna net more profit than D&D makes in a decade.

lelanthran 4y ago
> hat's how everything works. Literally every CRPG (and every crappy mobile game with an XP/level mechanic) owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons And they owe almost everything to the lore from Tolkien's middle-earth.
- notahacker 4y ago
  And Tolkein would be the first to acknowledge all the mythology he borrowed from and was inspired by...
  - Drblessing 4y ago
    And mythology would like to thank the cavemen for their compelling cave paintings and campfire stories, which laid the groundwork for millennia of creative storytelling. Without those early artists, who knows where we'd be? Probably still trying to come up with a punchline for "Why did the mammoth cross the glacier?"
davemp 4y ago
Yeah almost everything is iterative. WotC is more like SEGA in this scenario though because they only bought out D&D.
pdntspa 4y ago
So, what, D&D owns fantasy or something? Ha ha.... no. I don't recall Diablo ever messing about with THAC0 or D&D specific rules. Cribbing "level up" mechanics is about the same level as music sampling the amen break. An enormous debt might be owed, sure, but the concept is a public good now and said debt is uncollectable.
badsectoracula 4y ago
> owes an enormous debt to Dungeons & Dragons. And D&D owes to the wargames that preceded it. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

philomath_mn 4y ago

I mean the dynamics of the game alone didn't create the $1B valuation, it was also the execution around marketing, brand deals, movies, etc

dehrmann 4y ago
Wordle sold for ~3M, and it had a user base.
- tech234a 4y ago
  That’s a more specific number than I’ve seen before, are you extrapolating off of the “low seven figures” mentioned in the press releases or was a more specific number released?
  - dehrmann 4y ago
    I was working off "low seven figures." I suppose that really means between $1M and $3M.

ArtWomb 4y ago

I'd like to open the floor, because many of us are coding away at a game engine someplace. What do you do, if you write a 2d physics library, and someone makes a popular game. How do you retro-actively acquire the licensing? Prudent thing is I guess to take the time to get your IP in order before launch. But it's extra difficult for cash strapped solo indies ;)

paulpauper 4y ago

'my idea was stolen' pretty much describes the past 40 years of tech, from the msdos days

Gigachad 4y ago
Because ideas aren’t owned or valuable.