4 ms·

Tiny Wings is a brilliant, fun game. It is one of those near perfect mobile "pick up and play quick" experiences. It all has good graphics and sound. It also is

Tiny Wings is a brilliant, fun game. It is one of those near perfect mobile "pick up and play quick" experiences. It all has good graphics and sound. It also is slightly derivative of Angry Birds without being a ripoff. In short, it's a very well made game that is worth talking about. Marketing something brilliant is easier than marketing something that is average. Let's face it, most Android and iOS games are mediocre.

saulrh 14y ago
The game also had the advantage of free ideation and fun-testing; Tiny Wings is a zynga-style copy of the best flash game from a small flash dev's one-experimental-game-a-week-for-a-year personal project. Tiny Wings' contribution was mostly brought art and a few extra weeks of development. http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-wings-thing/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-win... http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/
- Impossible 14y ago
  Although this is pedantic, wavespark actually is not a flash game, it was made with processing and is a java applet.
- alanfalcon 14y ago
  Woah! It's flat out wrong to characterize Tiny Wings as a zynga-style copy[1]. 1) Wave Spark was relatively well received, but nothing like a hit, 2) Wave Spark was not available for iOS devices (despite requests that the game be polished and ported), 3) The art and "a few extra weeks of development" is a night and day difference in Tiny Wings compared to Wave Spark, 4) Tiny Wings is also a personal project by a one-man development studio, and 5) Wave Spark is publicly aknowledged as an inspiration for Tiny Wings. Compare to Tiny Tower, a hit, polished iPhone game made by a two-brother development team that is then carbon copied due to its success by mega-corporate Zynga with exact gameplay systems ripped off wholesale and yet a claim of originality. McCoy doesn't begrudge Illiger his success with Tiny Wings... Why do you feel the need to hurl a vicious, unsubstantiated attack against him? [1]As far as I'm concerned, that's an incredible insult.
  - saulrh 14y ago
    True, there are mitigating factors. I just got annoyed when Tiny Wings was used as an example of a great game, particularly when the explanation of its success started off by citing its mechanics, and even more particularly when McCoy's focus on games is entirely about mechanics. Tiny Wings may not have copied much, but they copied everything that there was to copy. Tiny Wings is a better game than Wave Spark, but people keep citing it as an example of a well-developed game without realizing that Illiger didn't need to do any playtesting, didn't need to do any focus groups, and didn't need to actually have the big idea. I'm sorry if that came off more aggressive than I intended. I don't like writing long posts. I think that my perception of the situation might also be skewed by my preference for gameplay over art; I play Dwarf Fortress and Aurora, for pete's sake. I was also following the game-a-week project while it was in the process, so there's that.
- shinratdr 14y ago
  Like Minecraft is Infiniminer. In that it isn't and but is widely acknowledged as the inspirational root.
arrrg 14y ago
How is it derivative of Angry Birds? I don’t get that. Because there is a bird in it? That just makes no sense.
- guscost 14y ago
  The "adorable little bird(s) struggling really hard to do something impressive" theme is strong with both titles. That's how I read it, I guess.
  - arrrg 14y ago
    The angry birds never seemed struggling to me. They seem determined and aggressive to me, the furthest from the tiny wings bird you can get. Plus the art style is completely different, I wouldn’t ever get the idea to call angry birds adorable.
goostavos 14y ago
>Let's face it, most Android and iOS games are mediocre. "mediocre" seems generous; I'd say most are complete crap. My girlfriend finally made the jump into the smartphone world by getting an Android device. After excitedly poking through the app store, she disappointingly asked where people are remaking the same exact game over and over again. In the end, she downloaded Angry Birds, and Word Hero. Finding great --or at the very least mediocre -- apps should be at least somewhat easy and fun.. but it's not. It feel like a chore because to get to one good items, you have to sift though hundreds of items that, honestly, shouldn't have been made in the first place. The last 4 apps I've downloaded, I've instantly uninstalled after the first run. There's rough around the edges, and then there's shouldn't have ever been released.

saulrh 14y ago

The game also had the advantage of free ideation and fun-testing; Tiny Wings is a zynga-style copy of the best flash game from a small flash dev's one-experimental-game-a-week-for-a-year personal project. Tiny Wings' contribution was mostly brought art and a few extra weeks of development. http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-wings-thing/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-win... http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/

Impossible 14y ago
Although this is pedantic, wavespark actually is not a flash game, it was made with processing and is a java applet.
alanfalcon 14y ago
Woah! It's flat out wrong to characterize Tiny Wings as a zynga-style copy[1]. 1) Wave Spark was relatively well received, but nothing like a hit, 2) Wave Spark was not available for iOS devices (despite requests that the game be polished and ported), 3) The art and "a few extra weeks of development" is a night and day difference in Tiny Wings compared to Wave Spark, 4) Tiny Wings is also a personal project by a one-man development studio, and 5) Wave Spark is publicly aknowledged as an inspiration for Tiny Wings. Compare to Tiny Tower, a hit, polished iPhone game made by a two-brother development team that is then carbon copied due to its success by mega-corporate Zynga with exact gameplay systems ripped off wholesale and yet a claim of originality. McCoy doesn't begrudge Illiger his success with Tiny Wings... Why do you feel the need to hurl a vicious, unsubstantiated attack against him? [1]As far as I'm concerned, that's an incredible insult.
- saulrh 14y ago
  True, there are mitigating factors. I just got annoyed when Tiny Wings was used as an example of a great game, particularly when the explanation of its success started off by citing its mechanics, and even more particularly when McCoy's focus on games is entirely about mechanics. Tiny Wings may not have copied much, but they copied everything that there was to copy. Tiny Wings is a better game than Wave Spark, but people keep citing it as an example of a well-developed game without realizing that Illiger didn't need to do any playtesting, didn't need to do any focus groups, and didn't need to actually have the big idea. I'm sorry if that came off more aggressive than I intended. I don't like writing long posts. I think that my perception of the situation might also be skewed by my preference for gameplay over art; I play Dwarf Fortress and Aurora, for pete's sake. I was also following the game-a-week project while it was in the process, so there's that.
shinratdr 14y ago
Like Minecraft is Infiniminer. In that it isn't and but is widely acknowledged as the inspirational root.

arrrg 14y ago

How is it derivative of Angry Birds? I don’t get that. Because there is a bird in it? That just makes no sense.

guscost 14y ago
The "adorable little bird(s) struggling really hard to do something impressive" theme is strong with both titles. That's how I read it, I guess.
- arrrg 14y ago
  The angry birds never seemed struggling to me. They seem determined and aggressive to me, the furthest from the tiny wings bird you can get. Plus the art style is completely different, I wouldn’t ever get the idea to call angry birds adorable.

goostavos 14y ago

>Let's face it, most Android and iOS games are mediocre. "mediocre" seems generous; I'd say most are complete crap. My girlfriend finally made the jump into the smartphone world by getting an Android device. After excitedly poking through the app store, she disappointingly asked where people are remaking the same exact game over and over again. In the end, she downloaded Angry Birds, and Word Hero. Finding great --or at the very least mediocre -- apps should be at least somewhat easy and fun.. but it's not. It feel like a chore because to get to one good items, you have to sift though hundreds of items that, honestly, shouldn't have been made in the first place. The last 4 apps I've downloaded, I've instantly uninstalled after the first run. There's rough around the edges, and then there's shouldn't have ever been released.