Johann Sebastian Joust Is Latest iOS Cloning Victim

That could be the worst advert for anything ever. I don't ever want to be near someone who downloaded that now.

This game looks fun. Too bad it is a clone. But the idea of having this game on a portable format is pretty cool.

"Johann Sebastian Joust has been in perpetual development, despite endless positive press, for a while now, and it’s still unclear if it will see a proper release on PlayStation 3 or otherwise."

So I can't buy the original? On any platform? Despite the game being shown off over the last year? And I'm supposed to dislike clones?

Whole thing reminds me of TF2. Valve showed all the gaming press TF2 in the late 90's/early 2000's, went quiet for 7 years, the whole industry was influenced by the early coverage and yet TF2 still did fine when it was finally released.

@Kraznor said:

You know, at some point I can't exactly blame them. Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about this game for awhile and it sounds fun but...I don't have a Move. I don't want a Move. I also like it when games actually come out. Sooooo, iPhone seems like a natural fit, these "rip-off artists" actually completed their version in a timely manner, and the Johann Sebastian Joust people have some lessons to learn for next time. Don't show your game unless you're about to actually release the thing.

Jdaman is right, they borrowed a mechanic they saw elsewhere. So what?

God, I couldn't agree more! Nicely stated.

All I hear is whine. You don't hear Mojang crying about all the Minecraft clones, well because he can't. This and Minecraft are new genre's (dare i say), and if you can't release your product shortly after showing it, then don't show it all. UsTwo has every right to be inspired. They didn't copy anything, because Johann Sabastian Joust doesn't have a copyright on the anything related to the concept... oh wait, YOU CAN'T COPYRIGHT GAMEPLAY MECHANICS!! You can't only copyright intellectual property as it pertains to story, characters, plots, names, titles. I'm thankful that gameplay mechanics aren't able to be copyrighted. Think about how stifling every genre in gaming would be if Wolfenstien 3D copyrighted many of the concepts it created???

I say good on ya, UsTwo. I'm going to rush out and buy it!

Yea, it does suck for Die Gute Fabrik, but they should have known better than to disclose a unique game mechanic without any intellectual property protection or realistic prospect of release. It is also just a single game mechanic that isn't really revolutionary. If they can still manage to produce a great all around package, they'll still see success. For example, all the Minecraft clones that came out on X-Box Live prior to Minecraft's PC or X-Box release, and yet Minecraft was greatly successful. If Die Gute Fabrik is banking only on that single game mechanic, then they have done nothing but stumble upon a good idea. In the real world, nearly everybody stumbles upon great ideas, however, knowing how and when to execute that good idea is actually the skill to be praised.

All that said, the game seems more like a short lived gimmicky experience, one that will be even shorter when putting an expensive smartphone at risk.

The stupid thing is Johann Sebastian Joust isn't out, when it rightly should be. Now that Papa Quash got officially released first, technically JS Joust is a clone of Papa Quash. You can't clone an unreleased game. The developer of the iPhone game may have stolen/borrowed the idea, but any claims of cloning are limited, due to the fact that JS Joust isn't commercially available. If the developers of JS Joust had released the game, it would be a different story.

Great idea making people drop $400 devices with glass screens on the floor, rather than relatively sturdy $30 move controllers.

Then, more than 2 years after first showing off Johann Sebastian Joust without making the game available, and the idea being pretty simple, I'm not sure I'd call this cloning in the traditional iOS use of the word. Have a look at the TIG Source forums, and you'll see that considerably worse ripoffs and clones than this is an every day issue on iOS, and in many - if not most - of those cases, it's not just the concept for the game that has been cloned, but the actual art assets are often ripped straight from the source game, and are published on iOS under the false banner that it is an official iOS port of a popular indie game.

People tripping over themselves to post post post about how much they don't care, and others being contrarian for the sake of it. Oh, internet.

And before anyone tries to claim they're not just being contrarian: the alternative is that you really do believe "I don't sympathize with Die Gute Fabrik because I wanted their game NOW NOW NOW" is a statement you want to associate yourself with having made. Decide for yourself which is worse.

Sorry guys, but while it does stink, I was never doing to buy a move or a ps3 for that matter, just to play jsjoust. It's great that it's on the iPhone; would have been great if the original developers got to design it, but look how long it's taking them just to make a ps3 version.

it's his fault for taking forever to release it.

Cloning a game that doesn't even have an estimated release date? How about don't show your game off if you're never going to release it, or else people will copy the ideas and actually get shit done with them?

It's [b]really[/b] hard to feel sorry for anyone about this. If your team can't finish their project, then maybe you need a better team. This is a business, not a charity. People won't wait forever.

I always thought it would make more sense on a smartphone, and hell maybe someday i can actually play this damn game.

I'd feel a lot worse if I broke my iPhone over a $40 Move Controller

@buft: Yup, and just about everyone has a smartphone/iPod, where as very few own a Move, let alone multiple Move controllers.

@l4wd0g said:

I'd feel a lot worse if I broke my iPhone over a $40 Move Controller

was just gonna say anyone who plays this on their phone or pad is a dumbass, move controllers can take a drop. phone? not so much.

the crowd playing this game looks hell of hipster

These people who do the cloning are among the first to complain if their own work gets stolen.
 

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@patrickklepek said:

"The studio told Gamasutra that ex-Big Brother UK contestant Sam Pepper contracted Papa Quash from Ustwo..."

Uuuuuuhh... what?

@Elazul said:

@patrickklepek said:

"The studio told Gamasutra that ex-Big Brother UK contestant Sam Pepper contracted Papa Quash from Ustwo..."

Uuuuuuhh... what?

Yea I tried to reread that several times and it still doesn't make sense.