Here’s the thing about Flappy Birds

I made a video about flappy birds being taken down. you can watch it here if you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGk9vfyNaS0

Lots of people have pointed out some stuff to me that I didn’t cover in the video though. Most notably youtuber AlphaOmegaSin covered this stuff pretty well but I’ll recap it here.

- The game uses a very derivative (if not directly copied) gameplay style of an existing game. (Helicopter? Pyong yong? etc)

- The game has a very derivative art style. The classic ‘Mario pipes’ are basically lifted right from their game.

- the game is certainly not 'high culuture’ and not even a 'real’ game. its just a simple little piece of shit distraction. at best, its a 'mini game’.



these things are all very much true. You can’t really argue about that.



So why was Flappy Bird so successful? The truth of the matter is every app developer and every game maker in the world wants to know exactly that.



They are all trying to figure out what you and I want to download, what we want to play, what we will talk about. what will get us to spend our money or endure their ads.



But this simple little fat billed bird who can barely fly captured the world’s attention even for just a few weeks.



Why?



Was it the simple and derivative game play? Was it the stolen art assets? Was it the fact that it was such a simple game? Or was it in spite of these things?



The reality I think is very simple.

- The game was very accessible. Anyone could play it. Anyone could do well.

- The game had some charm. Not the same charm that a new Mario or Sonic game has, for sure. But considering its budget and its team of one developer, it certainly managed to have some real style and charm.

- The game was different in a sea of bullshit. In-app purchases for games you’ve already bought? Want to buy extra lives? Want some power ups? Nope. Fuck that. All you get is a bird, some pipes, and good luck. That’s it. ITS A COMPLETE GAME in a marketplace filled with fractions of a promise of a game.



Basically, its time was right.



Its the kind of simple thing that threw back to the late 1970’s when games were very simple. When there simply wasnt enough space on a cartridge or a floppy disc to put that much 'game’. Not only did it manage to fill this simple limits, but it managed to do so with a bit of charm and a bit of class.



That’s why Flappy Bird captured the heart of the nation. For the first time in YEARS on mobile, we got a complete game, designed by someone who actually gives a shit, for free.



I hope to see more games like it.