Johann Sebastian Joust Clone Disappears, Developer Responds

@Hailinel said:

Because JSJ is an indie darling and thus both it and its developers are immune from criticism and scorn from the enthusiast press, no matter how justified. It sucks, but there's a segment of the indie dev community that pretty much has the press by the balls.

This.

And then people wonder why I think so little of indie gaming.

Wait a minute.

So someone made a game that used the same kind of mechanics as JSJ, and now it's been taken down as some threat of "cloning"? What exactly IS "cloning"? I mean, I look at Call of Duty and think "man, a lot of games cloned the fuck out of that"...or "man, Singularity cloned the fuck out of Bioshock". I mean, if the guys behind JSJ don't have a copyright, then it doesn't matter if someone released a game that was similar or not. They could release it and get the copyright/patent/whatever and say lay claim to it.

*ugh* Politics in gaming...

@YukoAsho said:

@Hailinel said:

Because JSJ is an indie darling and thus both it and its developers are immune from criticism and scorn from the enthusiast press, no matter how justified. It sucks, but there's a segment of the indie dev community that pretty much has the press by the balls.

This.

And then people wonder why I think so little of indie gaming.

Please tell us more about how indie gaming has ruined your life.

@scottygrayskull: That's all I could think about when I heard the game was on the Iphone, seems dangerous for the phone. I really don't understand the controversy here isn't "game cloning" bullshit? I mean, they used none of the original game's code, no assess, no intellectual property. They took an idea, exploited an open market and offered a competitive product. Isn't this what all game companies do?

@Gunder said:

@YukoAsho said:

@Hailinel said:

Because JSJ is an indie darling and thus both it and its developers are immune from criticism and scorn from the enthusiast press, no matter how justified. It sucks, but there's a segment of the indie dev community that pretty much has the press by the balls.

This.

And then people wonder why I think so little of indie gaming.

Please tell us more about how indie gaming has ruined your life.

Thinking little of indie gaming is not the same thing as believing that it's ruined a life.

If anyone ever wants to play a round of Joust, we could meet up at PAX Prime. I'll be having enough controllers around most of the time.

Also stop these insulting accusations of "indie darlings". Die Gute Fabrik never said anything negative towards anyone, and Papa Quash could have well existed further on without anything evil happening. Sheesh.

i want mama quash

HURRY UP AND PUT THE GAME OUT IF YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE CLONING IT

JESUS I WANT THIS GAME SO BAD

JUST TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY ALREADY I DON'T CARE HOW

@C418 said:

If anyone ever wants to play a round of Joust, we could meet up at PAX Prime. I'll be having enough controllers around most of the time.

Also stop these insulting accusations of "indie darlings". Die Gute Fabrik never said anything negative towards anyone, and Papa Quash could have well existed further on without anything evil happening. Sheesh.

So...why doesn't it still exist? it seems like Papa Quash was taken down more or less because of a media-generated uproar over the fact that the game is based on mechanics similar to those in JSJ. Mechanics which, as far as I know, are not patented, and are thus subject to fair use.

The closet case of copycat game mechanics that I can think of that actually went to court was when Nintendo sued Enterbrain around a decade ago because Enterbrain published a strategy RPG that was essentially Fire Emblem in everything but name. Nintendo felt that they had a case because the game was developed by Fire Emblem's own creator after he split from Intelligent Systems and started his own company. But Nintendo only won the case on appeal, and the game in question, Tear Ring Saga, was to my knowledge never removed from stores.

@Hailinel said:

Thinking little of indie gaming is not the same thing as believing that it's ruined a life.

Thank you.

"Indie gaming" is 99% of the time the media manufacturing hype for things that wouldn't be given the time of day if it weren't for said media pretending it was "engaging" and "innovative." Most of the concepts done on the NES, and the rest would be laughed off as "not a real game" by the vary same people defending them were they made by a Nintendo. The entire movement, and nearly all games in it, are nothing more than the gaming media's last gasp at looking important as publishers start communicating to consumers directly via online marketing, youtube, facebook, etc.

@Hailinel said:

So...why doesn't it still exist? it seems like Papa Quash was taken down more or less because of a media-generated uproar over the fact that the game is based on mechanics similar to those in JSJ. Mechanics which, as far as I know, are not patented, and are thus subject to fair use.

Indeed. The only reason this is an issue is because the media has taken sides, and how dare anyone do anything even remotely like their darling?!

If there are any Danish Bombers here who've played JSJ, I'd love to know how much this game is "inspired" by Vælte Dine Kammerater versus how much it just is Vælte Dine Kammerater. I personally would find it funny if the indie darling weren't that original either.

Personally, I think the real reason it was taken down was that they realized that creating a game where it is not only possible but likely that players will knock the controller out of their opponent's hands was a lot less of a good idea on an expensive mobile phone than it was in a video game console peripheral.

@Kazona said:

How can something be a clone of a product that isn't even out yet?

XBLIGs and iOS games based off Minecraft's alpha/beta posed the selfsame ouroboros quandary.

When it's out there, it's out there.