Flappy Bird seems like it's the new thing when it comes to mobile gaming, people have been saying it's the next Angry Birds or Candy Crush or whatever.

What do you guys think about it? Do you like it or hate it and hope of goes away soon?

I think it's a neat little game, it's fairly addictive and is free (and it doesn't have micro transactions) for anyone else who've played it, what's your highscore? Mine is currently sitting at 102.

Everyone on twitter, all real life friends and very few of them I would consider "gamers", are all talking about this game. Seems that way.

Back in my days when we weren't ice skating uphill in snow storm, we used to play proper games.

Man, I really should start to redo these old flash games for phones. I'd be gazillionare by now...

It seems that with each new iOS/Android craze, it's reign is becoming shorter.
I want it to get to a point where sequels to popular games are being released weekly and popular systems or mechanics (perks or cover based shooting, for example) last a few days before they become tired. Or I want it to all die.

Why would someone put effort into a game to make it free with no micro transactions? I am not saying it is a waste because I am saying I don't know. What would the dev get out of it besides experience? Exposure? So people will pay for the next game?

Yep. I don't know what the case is for these guys, but it is a strategy that can make sense. You could add transactions, add a sequel with transactions... just get the name out there. Get attention for your studio and the individuals there.

Of all the dumb names...

@artisanbreads: Advertisements maybe? I'd imagine with a game this big the creator would be making quite a bit from ad revenue alone.

@mmzone: That game is exactly what I thought of when I played Flappy Bird for the first time.

If by that they mean, "A game that's really not good at all but nonetheless has somehow gotten huge exposure", then yeah, I guess it is.

I'm kinda surprised that Rovio isn't claiming ownership for the name "Bird"

Yeah all my friends on facebook are going nuts over high scores. It's not a bad game, though there's hardly anything to it. I'm sure Flappy Bird 2 will have a ton of microtransactions. Also why do simple games with birds get so damn popular?

@thehbk@artisanbreads They make money off the tiny ads on the main menu. Given the game's popularity, that's probably quite a bit of coin.

Never heard of this, how new of a game is it?

When I first heard about this game, I heard one family member brag to another family member, "My best is two!" to which the latter of the two responded, "I got three!" (These people were 18 and 17, respectively)

They showed me the game, and I got ten. And that's not to judge them or anything. I just kinda wish I could play a game with very little dynamics and make very little progression, yet still feel that level of drive. If this game did anything for me, it's made me realize how radically differently I approach video games to those two, who also both play video games a fair bit.

As for the game itself though, I dunno. I think there's worse you could do, considering that, from what I saw, there wasn't anything sinister going on with it.

I'll stick with tiny wings, thank you very much.

For fuck sake why did they lift the pipes from Super Mario? This is pissing me off more than it should but... seriously, they couldn't spend 5 minutes in photoshop drawing a wall or a building or ANYTHING?

Fucking IOS games, man...

Ah I see that makes sense. Haven't played it myself so didn't know about the ads.

@mmzone said:

Back in my days when we weren't ice skating uphill in snow storm, we used to play proper games.

Man, I really should start to redo these old flash games for phones. I'd be gazillionare by now...

I salute you good man, for I too have spent many an afternoon trying to fly a helicopter across a hellish landscape. Oh, the memories! The leaderboard scores!

seems like to hit it big on mobile, your game has to be bird related

I can imagine a Randy Bachman seminar for mobile game devs.

"your game must be bird related, and contain an adjective. The first level must be completed in 45 seconds, or less. Either the protagonist or the enemies must be grumpy and/or silly. Preferably both. And the game MUST appeal to kids. Kids buy 50 percent of all mobile games, and they make adult women buy the other 50 percent."

Ian Bogost has written a cool article about this in The Atlantic. Seems the developer is just a lone Vietnamese dude who apparently is shunning the limelight.

*edit* link

You sir are correct

I don't understand at all how this has become so popular. It's just helicopter. It's full of shitty ads and has no customisation or progression besides beating your old score.

It even uses the mario pipes for no reason.

This game is extremely simple, based on a existing flash game but instead of a helicopter its a bird, and still has ads.

Things get popular in the moble app stores based on placement (I was going to say "payola"but that's too on the nose). I don't know why anybody would think quality and popularity have ANYTHING to do with each other in this market.

@mmzone said:

Immediately after reading the gameplay description, my first though was, "Oh. It's one of those don't crash the helicopter games."

I couldn't pass 9. Fuck this game.

lol whatever, just another VLT made for phones.

These games are having a shorter and shorter lifespan at the top. Expect to have completely forgotten about Flappy Bird in 6 months.

Please point me to the alternate universe where anything is popular for good reasons :D

A buddy of mine suggested it to me last week. I found to be pretty frustrating at first. The arc of the wing flap is hard to get a good sense for without spending a lot of time with it. The hitbox on the bird is a little suspect as well. I got into a little back and forth score competition with the friend who suggested it and another friend. There was some fun friendly trash talking to be had, but I always dreaded getting my score topped because it meant I had to play more. There's something inherently irritating about smacking into the pipes. I also think there's too much time in between attempts. It could of took a page out of the Super meat boy/ Hotline Miami playbook on that one.

I ended up with a highscore of 57 before deleting it from my phone. If my friends ever beat me, I'll have to accept defeat as there's no way I'm going back to it. To be honest, I spent too much time playing it in the two day span that it held my attention.