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[ness io kain]

because night game absolutely pioneered the concept of black silhouettes on a gradient background.

Exactly.
I did this three years ago.
There's no way that was the first time it had happened.

[GregWS]

Point being, I wouldn't have posted this if it wasn't a full blown clone.  And the fact that it's nifflas only matters because he seems like a really nice humble guy (and pretty much everyone that's met him seems to back that up).  It's one thing if some asshole had his game cloned, but nifflas isn't some jerk.  But yeah, this goes beyond just being "another rolling ball game."

And for those of you that think it's all a big joke: stfu.  Stealing IP is serious business, and it's very important to shut it down, and fast, whenever it happens.  If the App Store will remove Edge for frivolous reasons, surely this can be shut down for legitimate ones.

[deathtotheweird]

Oh my gosh, someone made a game on the iPhone about a rolling ball and they completed it before someone else completed a game about a rolling ball!

you're pretty stupid if you don't see the fact that it's basically a clone. you would be just as pissed if someone made a game with a character as a star with ugly ms paint graphics, public domain soundtrack, and the main premise of running wouldn't you?

[Mentalpatient109]

oh wait i forgot to watch the video. disregard my previous claims this dude is maybe a dick and such who knows.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

ugly ms paint graphics

That was a little low.

Anyways, I'll admit that it's suspicious, but I don't see why this guy should get blasted. He's already pointed out that nifflas' game looks awesome, it doesn't look like he's trying to steal the guy's thunder. It's not impossible that two people have the same idea.

I mean hell, my adventure game that I'm working on may be word-for-word identical to some IF out there, but that doesn't mean it's ripping it off. If you actually care about the issue and don't want to hurt indies, then you should hear both sides of the story.

Has anyone even considered inviting this guy here to make his case? You should at least give a guy a chance to respond before you decide to boycott him and try to run him into the ground.

oh wait i forgot to watch the video. disregard my previous claims. this dude is a dick and such.

Actually watching the video did the opposite for me. Maybe I just notice small details more, but aside from being in the rolling ball genre with the same visual style, there seem to be a fair amount of differences.

[Matt Thorson]

Yeah, you should at least talk to the other guy before crucifying him.

True, I'd be pissed if he cloned my game. But I'd also be pissed if some random jackasses convinced everyone my game was a rip-off of another game, just because that other developer was more popular than me.

I've been through a similar situation with the whole Jumper/Meat Boy thing. The key is not to freak out and you can come out ahead even if you seemingly got the short end of the stick. In the case of Jumper/Meat Boy, the result was I struck up a new friendship with an awesome indie dev (Edmund), can say that it definitely wasn't intentional, and realized that both series' (Jumper and Meat Boy) have their own styles, nuances and fanbases even if they're superficially similar. Maybe this is a similar case.

[Melly]

No more personal attacks will be tolerated in this thread.

[Lon]

Here is a link to easily compare the footage of the two games.

Clearly, the visual styles appear very similar.  I dare say that at first glance, both games appear almost indistinguishable from each other.  Both have black silhouettes, gradient backgrounds, highlights on the ball, material hanging from platforms, similar grass, similar spiral plants, similar ambient music, similar motion of the ball and similar game mechanics.

So, they have all these similarities, what about the differences?  Well in NightSky the game looks much prettier, it looks as though you don't have a jump button, the puzzles look superior, game play is much more diverse and planned out, more varied and creative mechanics, the music is much more interesting, ball movement looks great, the sound effects are awesome, over all looks (and sounds) way more polished, beautiful and enjoyable than Trundle.  

Sometimes games are similar just by coincidence (a related discussion may be found here).  Some games are just blatant rip offs.

Well, this thread has been helpful.  I am now looking forward to playing NightSky once it is released.  

No more personal attacks will be tolerated in this thread.

[Derek]

Yeah, this game is totally a rip... like BigLon said, it's not just the fact that it's a silhouette rolling ball platformer (which is already pretty specific), but all the little details are also the same.  It's kind of embarrassing that the guy is pretending he's never heard of Night Sky.

Still, probably not worth fighting over.  Nicalis should put their energy into finishing and releasing Night Sky!

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Another worthless developer using one game as his 'design doc'.

The stupid thing is that he's doing himself a disservice, because this just paints him as a plagiarist with nothing to offer the market. If he has done great level designs, controls, and everything else it all pales beneath the fact that he intentionally tried to take the bread from someone else's mouth.

[Lon]

Hayden says it well.  Also I think Derek is right, probably best to focus on that fantastic NightSky.  I would imagine that a lawsuit would not be worth the time and money unless a substantial amount of money may be won from the defending party.  Perhaps, if any action is to be taken, a complaint to Apple or a Cease and Deist letter would be a viable option in order to discourage further development and distribution of Trundle.

When I first glanced at this thread I confused two very different games with each other: NightSky with Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.  Both of which look exceptional and am looking forward to owning them both.  

I've also been meaning to pick up Crayon Physics, but for what ever reason didn't purchase it during the 'pay what you want sale'. XP

[Adamski]

Yeah, a blatant rip, although I dunno how Nifflas's is prettier, they look exactly the same to me. Perhaps Nifflas's has more grass blades or something.

I think a lot of people are tired of physics-based ball games now to be honest 

[s0]

Another worthless developer using one game as his 'design doc'.

The stupid thing is that he's doing himself a disservice, because this just paints him as a plagiarist with nothing to offer the market. If he has done great level designs, controls, and everything else it all pales beneath the fact that he intentionally tried to take the bread from someone else's mouth.

Well, I'm pretty sure he's just looking to make quick money with someone else's ideas, that's what about 80% percent of iPhone devs seem to do anyway, unfortunately. He probably couldn't care less if he makes himself look bad.

On a sidenote, wasn't there a Tumbledrop clone on the Appstore some time ago?

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Even most of the iPhone developers that are ripping off someone else's game design tend to bring something new to the table. Even popular games like Doodle Jump were based on Papi Jump, but added enemies and a new art style and such. The way this directly emulates the art and content is unforgivable.

On a sidenote, wasn't there a Tumbledrop clone on the Appstore some time ago?

Yeah, there was. These things happen, and unfortunately they're a big part of why I'm shy about showing works in progress.

[Alex May]

What happened with that, was it just never approved or what?

[Christian Knudsen]

I'm always reminded of this sci-fi short story whenever these things happen:

http://beccas-book-blog-documents.blogspot.com/2009/12/whos-cribbing.html

You should read it. It's really great.

[LazyWaffle]

Oh man, this is terrible.
Anyone following Nicalis's progress know they are working on NightSky for a long time and then this random dude not only clones NightSky but is planning to sell it. What is worse, NightSky may be accused of "rip-offing" this Trumble game when it's released.

Disgusting.
Clearly deserves the "EXCELLENCE IN: RIP-OFF" award.

There's actually an IGF category for that. It's called "SEUMAS MCNALLY".

[Craig Stern]

Wow. That's really rude. You do realize that Seumas McNally winners frequent these boards, right?

[ChevyRay]

Haha, because Enviro Bear is clearly a rip off

[PKBT]

Well, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. I can't recall the number of times someone had ripped off another's game entirely for their own benefits.

I guess it's just pure laziness on their own behalf of innovation and creativity, huh?