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Originally Posted by adhominem
It does have nice production values, but it sure looks like a blatant Chuzzle clone to me (with graphic reskinning). I know the old saying about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, but this along with the waves of other clones in recent months (and clones of clones!) have certainly left me feeling somewhat disappointed by the "indie" game community.
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I'm wondering, if funpause had used the popcap framework, would you have felt like this towards the game?
And fwiw a few of us on here have already stated how we have played games like chuzzle before chuzzle was released. I agree Chuzzle has brought it into the limelight again as zuma did to puzzloop for instance. And I also prefer chuzzle to this game but that is only personal taste and not because this game is "bad". 2 or 3 games along with this style compared to all the hundreds of bejwelled clones and you are worried about this?
I can actually see a lot of value in your points,and I understand why you may be miffed, but I can not understand why you are concerned when you consider that popcap basicallly "owns" that particular market, and is not short of income from it so I doubt it has anything to worry about. A business does what it has to do to survive, it's all very well and good taking this standpoint from a position of success and security.
Maybe the smaller guys just saw an oppurtunity to get some income built up too, so they could continue making games at all. It is all very well and good wishing devs would create those strange / interesting indie games that you obviously look forward to - but like you - they have realised for the most part there is no market for them or it is getting harder to make a return on investment and they become mere "cool" curiosities.
When I started reading your comments I thought they sounded somewhat bitter - when I realised who was posting them I was shocked!!!
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as always I can see both sides though, I thought your post was a little harsh but everyone has a right to their opinion and I am sure you are not alone in thinking like this.
For instance, it is relatively "easy" to clone a game and "just change the graphics" as you say because every gameplay question is set out for you to try. And I am sure many of these clones look constantly at the inspiration game while developing to basically copy verbatim the features and nuances. This is a big part of game development and eases a big burden to those devs trying turn titles around quickly.
DrWilloughby mentioned above about how he had to make a lot of gameplay prototypes due to using 3D. I am the same. I am using a "familiar" and certainly not unique game mechanic as the core part of my work in progress (casual++ game)- and the problems 3D brings to the simplest of game play questions should not be underestimated. Controls and Viewpoints alone are a complete nightmare to get right compared to a simple cursor on screen "manipulating bitmaps".. this is what slows (us) type of devs down, along with the usual coding headaches of 3D. In 2D there surely is getting less and less you can do while remaining in the "golden" casual gamespace.. so along the line there will be clones though.
I guess my real point is "what harm is it doing you?"
and my other point is "I agree that imagination is seemingly beginning to dry up but I suspect it is not, it is infact people wising up to business sense like Popcap themselves did many years ago".
So, just to be clear I am not attacking your for what you posted, if you feel it you feel it - and I do too in some ways, but there is surely no need to worry about it for a company like yourselves? And if it is as a player you are worried, I can point you to many "unusual" indie-games not made for generic casual audiences that would be more than willing to take some of that mountain of cash off you?
Hey maybe POPCAP could help those devs taking risks and trying new things by starting to publish them too! there's an idea
peace to funpause and popcap.. your games are good and you are both making money, you should be happy!