Noodlecake and Hyperbolic Magnetism’s new game Chameleon Run comes out this week on April 7th – for real, after a couple of date flip-flops – and there’s an interesting story behind the game’s development that’s been catalogued by developer Jan Ilavsky. Notably, the game has been cloned several times with its name stolen over the past 3 years. See, the original protoype was created as part of the Ludum Dare game jam series, and posting source code is one of the requirements of participation. Unfortunately, some people went and published games based on the prototype that had virtually identical physics as the Ludum Dare version, not to mention identical gameplay, and the same name! Thankfully, the first clone was actually removed from the mobile app stores by the developer, but other games titled Chameleon Run have popped up on that lawless hive of scum and villainy, Google Play.
The whole story is pretty interesting to read, and features some more details on how Ilavsky had to make the original prototype of Chameleon Run with just one hand, and how the look of the game has evolved over time. Ilavsky is colorblind, so that proved to be a challenge in how he made the game look since he wasn’t experiencing it in the same way that others see it. Chameleon Run releases on Thursday, April 7th, for $1.99 without a single drop of IAP.
