Hey, there's a developer called voodoo.io out there who keeps ripping off of indie devs' core game concepts, and releasing a shitty F2P version on app stores before the indie devs have finished their games.
Goldman Sachs gave them $200m in investment recently, so they're not going anywhere soon, but you can encourage you and your friends to ignore the fuck out of their games.
https://kotaku.com/clever-indie-game-donut-county-isnt-even-out-yet-and-al-1827117824
@dzuk the whole of the .io genre is basically all copycat designs done quick. The low graphic quality and accessible design means mass market appeal and cheap production costs.
It's basically the phenomena of arcade knockoffs trying to milk quarters off of kids, but for the appstore age.
@dzuk ketchapp does that as well it's really shitty
@dzuk Can't wait for this to start happening on Steam as well (assuming that copycats haven't already infested the storefront)
@dzuk This must change. NOW.
Games are made for interest, not for money. They're meant to be played, not sold.
@dzuk If he “was Apple or Google and I built a wonderful thing like an app store, or built anything, if I built a raft in the ocean, I would keep the assholes off of it.”
Which is exactly why profit-driven app stores will always suck the life out of everything. They don't want to keep the assholes off, because the assholes make them money. Apple and Google profit from copycats and thus from sucking the life out of everything good.
@dzuk This problem exists on YouTube as well, with people posting smaller creators' videos as their own. It's a violation of copyright law, and Google will take the video down upon notice, but the person just reposts it and Google won't take it down a second time without there being a lawsuit filed, which requires paying $100 to register the copyright and then paying again to file the actual suit. Most individual videos are never going to make $100, so it's just not worth it.
@dzuk Just another example of how the law, Google, and Apple only care about the powerful.
@freakazoid yep, unfortunately there's not much that can be done in the short-term other than naming, shaming and spreading awareness :/
@dzuk Getting people to care about where their games come from does seem like the only viable option. I suspect it will be similar to food, though, with the masses never giving a shit. On the bright side, Apple users tend to be very image-conscious given that Apple is a jewelry company.
@dzuk I’m confused by how voodoo.io got the original dev’s core game basics before the game was released
@SelfsameSynonym trailers and gameplay footage have been around for quite a white now
@dzuk I think they'll find like so many other times in the past that true originality wins out in the end.
"This game's a lot like that shovelware app I bought, but I actually want to spend more time playing it than an average bowel movement. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"
There are also other devs doing this, not just voodoo, so keep an eye out.