4 ms·

Yes exactly: the game doesn't try to sell you shit, just lets you play. That is refreshing and eerily quiet. Other than that, it has some winning elements: it'

Yes exactly: the game doesn't try to sell you shit, just lets you play. That is refreshing and eerily quiet. Other than that, it has some winning elements: it's difficult but not impossible. You can play it for 30 seconds or 30 minutes. It is simple. It has a goal you can endlessly pursue. It tickles the nostalgia of all those who grew up on games that this game "borrows" the visuals from.

kosei 13y ago
It has interstitial ads and banner ads that refresh during the middle of gameplay. For most game developers this is an absolute non-starter and considered a terrible game experience. I absolutely would not call that a "refreshing" take on freemium game design. Not to mention that it probably has horrific monetization and despite its high download titles it likely has poor revenues. Fine for a small development team, but terrible compared to industry norms.
- drak0n1c 13y ago
  He claims that the ads are making him $50,000 a day, which adds up to a few million dollars before the game dies. Totally fine for a solo dev in Vietnam. Sure the ads could be optimized, but given the game's simple pick-up-and-drop viral format, ads are definitely superior to making this kind of app paid or IAP instead. http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5385880/flappy-bird-collects-50k-per-day-in-ad-revenue http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5385880/flappy-bird-collects...
  - kosei 13y ago
    Exactly. Fine for a solo game developer, but when compared to most top grossing titles which regularly eclipse $250K/day (and are also long-lasting, whereas I'd guess Flappy Bird falls off the radar within a month or two). Ads never monetize close to the revenue that you can make from IAP - a typical ad installation will make between $0.005 and $0.01 per daily active user, whereas a decently monetizing free to play title can make between $0.03 and $0.20. Smaller userbase titles like card battlers can make upwards of $0.50. Again, fine for one guy, but I wouldn't call this a raging success of a title and something that free-to-play game studios will use as a framework, by any means. If it takes 50 million installs to make $50K/day, that's a really bad thing.
  - Someone 13y ago
    "which adds up to a few million dollars before the game dies. Totally fine for a solo dev in Vietnam." Totally fine? I would rate it quite a bit higher, especially in Vietnam, with a GDP per capita of $1755 per year (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD)
MPSimmons 13y ago
The only reason anyone plays Flappy Bird is because you can restart instantly. If you imagine another click between dying and restarting, it suddenly becomes incredibly harder to like the game, or get that fast twitch response. Instant gratification in this case is instantly trying again.

kosei 13y ago

It has interstitial ads and banner ads that refresh during the middle of gameplay. For most game developers this is an absolute non-starter and considered a terrible game experience. I absolutely would not call that a "refreshing" take on freemium game design. Not to mention that it probably has horrific monetization and despite its high download titles it likely has poor revenues. Fine for a small development team, but terrible compared to industry norms.

drak0n1c 13y ago
He claims that the ads are making him $50,000 a day, which adds up to a few million dollars before the game dies. Totally fine for a solo dev in Vietnam. Sure the ads could be optimized, but given the game's simple pick-up-and-drop viral format, ads are definitely superior to making this kind of app paid or IAP instead. http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5385880/flappy-bird-collects-50k-per-day-in-ad-revenue http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5385880/flappy-bird-collects...
- kosei 13y ago
  Exactly. Fine for a solo game developer, but when compared to most top grossing titles which regularly eclipse $250K/day (and are also long-lasting, whereas I'd guess Flappy Bird falls off the radar within a month or two). Ads never monetize close to the revenue that you can make from IAP - a typical ad installation will make between $0.005 and $0.01 per daily active user, whereas a decently monetizing free to play title can make between $0.03 and $0.20. Smaller userbase titles like card battlers can make upwards of $0.50. Again, fine for one guy, but I wouldn't call this a raging success of a title and something that free-to-play game studios will use as a framework, by any means. If it takes 50 million installs to make $50K/day, that's a really bad thing.
- Someone 13y ago
  "which adds up to a few million dollars before the game dies. Totally fine for a solo dev in Vietnam." Totally fine? I would rate it quite a bit higher, especially in Vietnam, with a GDP per capita of $1755 per year (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD)

MPSimmons 13y ago

The only reason anyone plays Flappy Bird is because you can restart instantly. If you imagine another click between dying and restarting, it suddenly becomes incredibly harder to like the game, or get that fast twitch response. Instant gratification in this case is instantly trying again.