I’d imagine it’s gut-wrenchingly frustrating when a Flash game creator discovers that one of his game’s ideas, mechanics, or even overall aesthetic has been cribbed by another party and then monetized on the App Store without his permission. Most notably in media circles, it happened with Halfbot and its fantastic title, The Blocks Cometh [$.99], and it’s possibly happening right now to Andrew Morrish, the creator of Super Puzzle Platformer. In a strange twist, various games web sites are reporting that the ‘company’ that made a victim of Halfbot is also the same one responsible for this specific and supposed theft.
The game Morrish claims is cribbing his title is I Hate Puzzle [$.99]. DIY Gamer reports that the games are, basically, mechanically the same. As you’ll see, they also definitely resemble each other in a profound way. In the following image Morrish tweeted, the game on the left is Super Puzzle Platformer, while the one on the right is I Hate Puzzle. Take note of how the assets are flip-flopped or toned down between these two titles:
The developer listed on I Hate Puzzle is Domi Games, the same house that, according to a GameFront report, lifted the Flash game Tiny Hawk in the past. According to the reporting in that specific article, Domi Games is a new name for Edison Game, the company that started The Blocks Cometh brouhaha.
There’s a lot of loose ends here, but it strikes us as odd — provided these theft reports are indeed accurate — that Domi Games is still allowed to distribute on the App Store. On a platform as closed as this one is, you’d figure something like a ban from Apple wouldn’t be out of the question. I wonder how this will shake out.
[Via GameSetWatch, DIY Gamer, @int_main, and Gamefront]
