Hypereides
Member
But none of the charm.
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Zynga are so shameless - Nimblebit responds
- Thread starter Meier
- Start date
But none of the charm.
IndieJones
Member
Hmmm, I could have sworn that Tiny Tower wasn't available on Android. I 'm going to correct my ignorant ways and support the original.
Edit: never mind! Android Market says Tiny Tower is incompatible with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. All I want to do is love you, real TT, why you gotta go drive me into the arms of another skyscraper simulator?
Edit: never mind! Android Market says Tiny Tower is incompatible with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. All I want to do is love you, real TT, why you gotta go drive me into the arms of another skyscraper simulator?
Weird, I installed on mine, from market.android.com even.
graywolf323
Member
has Zynga actually done anything that couldn't be called a ripoff?
Haunted
Member
It's not like Zynga doesn't have any experience with these. They mostly settle them out of court, the last time we had this documented (Mafia Wars) was for 9 million iirc. Which is nothing compared to the money they've made off of it.
Zynga's other successful games, (Farmville, Cityville, Mafia Wars, Café World) were also made in the same way. Completely copying another company's idea from an existing game, only changing the assets and the name.
Haunted
Member
Can you ripoff Chess and Scrabble and Hangman?
The worst part is that Zynga bought some really talented game developers (2 of the studios formed by ex-Ensemble people) and has them developing this social bs.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
well, tiny tower's fault is that they decided to go the ultra-cool-stylized 2bit "Crappy old graphics" look.
zynga will beat them because their graphics "look better."
sorry tiny tower, your game appeals to a market of people who actually like to think artistically about games. your market actually only cares about something not looking dumb or old and if its fun.
zynga will beat them because their graphics "look better."
sorry tiny tower, your game appeals to a market of people who actually like to think artistically about games. your market actually only cares about something not looking dumb or old and if its fun.
Gameloft gets too much hate. The game's aren't great but they typically scratch an itch that isn't already getting serviced on the platform.
Gameloft typically brings games (made by large studios) that are not common to the platform.
This is shamelessly ripping off a game (made by 3 people) that is already available on iOS devices.
Gameloft typically brings games (made by large studios) that are not common to the platform.
This is shamelessly ripping off a game (made by 3 people) that is already available on iOS devices.
Lord_Byron28
Member
Words with Friends? I know they bought the developer and it is a complete and blatant rip off of Scrabble. It's become extremely popular these past couple months. I know very few friends who aren't playing it through Facebook or their phone. Now they are also pushing Hang with Friends and Scramble with Friends which seem to be taking off.
Neoriceisgood
Member
People actually prefer the graphics in Dream Heights?
I'm a HUGE sucker for pixel art so.. no.
I don't get any enjoyment whatsoever out of Tiny Tower but I can appreciate the art style.
Not that I want to side with the big bad shitty soul consuming corporation in this matter, but copying is the foundation of the games industry (and most other creative mediums), so while Nimblebit might be playing the victim, this stuff is the norm, not the exception.
Of course, perhaps they can sue if its close enough and win a payoff so they can retire young. Zynga won't care!
Of course, perhaps they can sue if its close enough and win a payoff so they can retire young. Zynga won't care!
Haunted
Member
Completely different levels of ripping off, imo. General inspiration vs 1:1 copy of an existing game (with changed assets).
Not that I'd want to defend Nimblebit (really dislike what Tiny Tower does) or that it would make Zynga ripping them off less of a sham. Morally reprehensible any way you slice it.
TinyTower and SimTower are quite different. Mega Mall Story has much more in common with ST than TT does.
Now, I don't have iPhone/iPad so I wouldn't know, but does the Zynga game use both in-game currency and Zynga Dollars (or whatever they call it) that people buy to get better in-game items (like micro-transactions)?
On the other side of things, does Tiny Tower have that model? Or does it not have those micro-transactions?
On the other side of things, does Tiny Tower have that model? Or does it not have those micro-transactions?
Tiny Tower has in game bucks you can buy. But they're kind of a shitty deal and you'd have to be really stupid or lazy to buy them.
boiled goose
good with gravy
sure it is a ripoff.
I dont hear too many people complaining about Kinect Sports being a ripoff from Wii sports though. Pretty much the same thing. Take an idea, change the look a bit, change a few things, bam.
I dont hear too many people complaining about Kinect Sports being a ripoff from Wii sports though. Pretty much the same thing. Take an idea, change the look a bit, change a few things, bam.
whalleywhat
Member
feint_ruled
Member
Don't Zynga explicitly tell their employees to look at successful games and recreate them? They won't be shamed by this, just congratulating themselves on a job well done.
It's good a advertisement for Tiny Tower, though.
It's good a advertisement for Tiny Tower, though.
CecilRousso
Member
A bit interested to. But is Tiny Towers actually good, or just popular?
AdventureRacing
Member
Yeah kinect sports didn't change anything except using an entirely new input device which essentially made the game nothing like wii sports (and even then plenty of people still complained). If you wanted to use a better example i would say sonys version of wii sports would fit better (even then it changed a lot more than the game in the OP).
That's slightly different to just making essentially the same game with different graphics with the same control method on the same platform as the original.
Wrestlemania
Banned
Popular. It's very compelling to begin with, then after a few days of restocking where you step back and look at what you've achieved, you realise it's pretty much garbage.
BudokaiMR2
Member
Not really a fan of the Tiny Tower gameplay but it did have an endearing charm to it.
All the people saying they like the Dream Heights art more need to have their eyes checked. Zynga art is ALWAYS horribad. Good god its so generic.
Hope Nimblebit gets some free marketing off this at least....they are basically doomed to be forgotten once Zynga pours millions into marketing their ripoff.
All the people saying they like the Dream Heights art more need to have their eyes checked. Zynga art is ALWAYS horribad. Good god its so generic.
Hope Nimblebit gets some free marketing off this at least....they are basically doomed to be forgotten once Zynga pours millions into marketing their ripoff.
oh, shut up.
Riposte
Member
I don't know... in this case I think it does. Like, even if those three dudes intentionally used up all their energy and power to be terrible they would be limited by their resources. Maybe they'll make a game. A single cheap, trashy game, but only a game. At Zynga they have two thousand-whatever employees doing their best to be the absolute worst. I believe the main difference between "creation" and "destruction" is whether the end result resembles something of use. With that in mind Zynga can only be described an as monolithic engine of destruction. Scotching the earth and clouding the skies with fiery ash on a scale rivaled only by some art I've seen on a Magic: The Gathering card and in some parts of those Animatrix films.
(But hey, I always down for some destruction if it happens to lame phone game devs.)
So the chinese Mario Kart ripoff was ok because there's no MK on iOS?
Macho Madness
Member
I don't see anything wrong with it. Was Crash Team Racing okay because there was no Mario Kart on PS1? Of course it was. Mole Kart is a terrible game that doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Mario Kart. No one is going to replace Mario Kart with it. Even if it was good though, Mario Kart is never coming to iOS so it is harming absolutely no one.
Tiny Tower and Dream Heights are on the same platform competing for the same users. I can definitely see the bad blood there, especially when Zynga offered to buy NimbleBit and they turned the offer down.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Downloaded Tiny Tower, will give it a whirl when I recharge my battery.
Red Liquorice
Member
Zyng!
Riposte
Member
Dear fakewesker,
Crash Team Racing wasn't a direct imitation of Mario Kart (Super, 64, etc).
lol, no. It's harming Nintendo because their exclusive games are a big reason for buying their consoles/handhelds. And that chinese game wasn't just "similar", it was a literal reskin of MK. Even Blur takes many ideas from MK, but it's not the same thing.
That's debatable.
It's looks like Tiny Tower which has had it's soul sucked out... :-/
Throwaway123456789
Member
What?? The Mario Kart rip-off thing took the models, tracks, textures and the whole shebang directly from Mario Kart. How can you not see anything wrong with that?
Macho Madness
Member
Of course I don't think it's okay to rip off tracks and other assets straight from another game. My point was that no one is going to buy an iPhone or iPad for Mole Kart over a 3DS for Mario Kart. The game is very, very bad and isn't a good comparison to this situation. That's all.
Zynga's game is on the same platform, at the same price point and pretty close to (or exactly) the same quality. You are quite literally getting the same game experience as Tiny Tower (except for graphical style differences).
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
The funny thing is there is always this little guy...
The games have nothing in common.
The games have nothing in common.
Not a good port, I'd recommend The Tower SP on GBA over Yoot Tower iPad.
What is it a ripoff of?
The three guys have made literally millions of dollars off Tiny Tower and won Apple's iPhone Game(?App?) of the year, I don't think they're worried about being "beaten"
They didn't change anything here other than the store names and products. It is literally a complete copy in every realistic regard.
It isn't a Kinect Sports vs Wii Sports example. It's innumerably more egregious.