Creator of flOw decries flOw-esque Aquatica iPhone game
by Griffin McElroy 
on Jun 25th 2009 4:00PM
45
You might be confused as to why we just posted a YouTube clip from the 2007 PSN hit flOw at the top of this very story. See, friends, that's not actually flOw -- it's an iPhone game from developer Ketara Software, titled Aquatica: The Underwater Adventure, and it's the biggest ripoff we've seen since the harrowing 2007 adventure title (and Game of the Year contender) Limbo of the Lost.
Thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen, who released the code for the Flash version of flOw shortly after its release, responded to the app by tweeting, "I released flOw source for people to learn. I didn't expect to see it on iphone without quoting the creator." In the comments on the YouTube clip above, Ketara responded to Chen's claims by explaining, "actually, all the source code is completely, 100% written from scratch," informing him that, "in general, most games within each class are practically the same, just different graphics." (Psst -- your graphics aren't different, Ketara!)
As more and more commenters harangued the small developer for apparently copying the PSN title, Ketara began damage control -- first by apologizing to Chen and the gaming community, by adding attribution to the video and app description, then ultimately by pulling the game off the App Store altogether. Ketara promises that "nothing like this" will happen again, so we probably won't be seeing Petals: The Flying Floral Adventure any time soon.
Reader Comments (45)
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 5:32PM (Unverified) said
Hmm? thatgamecompany isn't making Fat Princess. I fail to understand what you did there. Sorry if I'm wrong.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:37PM seamonkey420 said
i got it on my iphone before it was yanked and it was free :P
thank you jailbroken iphone and disabling the killswitch.
and yes, it was identical to flOw :)
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thank you jailbroken iphone and disabling the killswitch.
and yes, it was identical to flOw :)
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:27PM (Unverified) said
The gaming community does however revolve around blogs that posted said Youtube videos.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:31PM Kabapu said
Surprised? Really?
You don't think ThatGameCompany's lawyers got in touch with him and said, "If you don't pull this app immediately we're going to sue for damages (which would probably exceed whatever measley amount he may have made) and put you entirely out of business" ?
I'm surprised he thought he could get away with it.
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You don't think ThatGameCompany's lawyers got in touch with him and said, "If you don't pull this app immediately we're going to sue for damages (which would probably exceed whatever measley amount he may have made) and put you entirely out of business" ?
I'm surprised he thought he could get away with it.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:09PM Arashikou said
The thing is, his initial statement - though sad and amoral - isn't really that incorrect... a lot of the industry IS just rebadging other people's gameplay with their own artwork. If he'd come up with his own art instead of ripping that off too, we'd probably be arguing over whether he should pull it, not why he already did. :(
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:51PM RyogaVee said
And its in Cocoa.
He ripped the concept but not all the code. It would have been MUCH better had he made the game and then sold the work / collaborated with the maker.
This is not too far different that that groups that ported Tony Hawk to the iPhone, Only they went about it the right way.
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He ripped the concept but not all the code. It would have been MUCH better had he made the game and then sold the work / collaborated with the maker.
This is not too far different that that groups that ported Tony Hawk to the iPhone, Only they went about it the right way.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 6:52PM (Unverified) said
Actually, you only need to interface with the hardware with Objective C. You can use C++ (and other languages) in conjunction with that.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:45PM JoseElMaton said
Jesus christ, they even ripped the sound effects?!?! I LOVE that game, man!
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:47PM (Unverified) said
Looks sweet - I would have bought it.
Cheaper $ as well.
Winner winner chicken dinner all round.
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Cheaper $ as well.
Winner winner chicken dinner all round.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:19PM Arashikou said
Have you ever heard of Demakes?
http://www.tigsource.com/features/demakes/
Those would make GREAT demake titles... They're right up there with Noiseless Mound and Contract Killer's Ideology.
Reply
http://www.tigsource.com/features/demakes/
Those would make GREAT demake titles... They're right up there with Noiseless Mound and Contract Killer's Ideology.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:53PM xnicox said
Actually, last night I read the original article and they had marked it down to FREE and I nabbed it before it was removed completely.
I can only hope that Chen allows someone to port FLOWER to the iphone or even better, does it himself.
That is of course if Sony didnt have a gripe
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I can only hope that Chen allows someone to port FLOWER to the iphone or even better, does it himself.
That is of course if Sony didnt have a gripe
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 4:10AM (Unverified) said
Flower will need to be powered down a lot to port it
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:58PM (Unverified) said
and I was looking forward to Petals: the flying floral adventure. Now I guess I'll have to settle for Creatures: gotta catch them all, or Last Fantasy 7: the magical adventure of Mako.
this is why so many people claim open source can't work: some idiot makes money off of copying the program, not just emulating the idea.
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this is why so many people claim open source can't work: some idiot makes money off of copying the program, not just emulating the idea.
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 4:36PM (Unverified) said
Why would you say something messed up about Chinese people when Chen himself is probably Chinese?
That's like me defending my Hispanic friend by calling other Hispanics lazy and illegal immigrants. I'm pretty sure that would offend him too.
Don't be an insensitive idiot.
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That's like me defending my Hispanic friend by calling other Hispanics lazy and illegal immigrants. I'm pretty sure that would offend him too.
Don't be an insensitive idiot.
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 4:58PM Oldtaku said
Yes he's Chinese - born in Shanghai. That's what makes this extra amusing. This isn't a racial stereotype, it's a cultural stereotype - Chinese companies will steal and copy anything because they have no respect for the idea of intellectual property (whether they should is another debate). Even the national Green Dam spyware/filtering software turned out to be code ripped off wholesale from another program. This is such a cliche that Engadget even has a running 'Keeping it Real Fake' section which documents these.
So yes, I think it's a funny turnaround when a Canadian company takes the code of a Chinese guy, slaps a new name on it, and sells it.
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So yes, I think it's a funny turnaround when a Canadian company takes the code of a Chinese guy, slaps a new name on it, and sells it.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:05PM (Unverified) said
he should have just made it free to download. I don't want him to profit from theft, BUT I sure as hell would have liked to play "fl0w" on my iphone.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 6:58PM spin cycle said
So theft is okay as long as you don't profit from it?
What if Jenova Chen is currently working on fl0w for iPhone and this guys' knockoff means it doesn't sell well?
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What if Jenova Chen is currently working on fl0w for iPhone and this guys' knockoff means it doesn't sell well?
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:09PM (Unverified) said
From the description of the youtube video posted by ketarasoft:
"Please note that we have decided that it is in the best interests of everyone to delete this game from the App Store. We will also do our best to make sure nothing like this happens in the future."
I love the power of the masses ensuring justice is served.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 5:13PM Cabcru said
Not having played Flow, the reference is a bit lost on me (though I do recall screenshots). Reminds me somewhat of that crappy first section of Spore, really. Oh well, at least the iPhone indies can go back to lifting other games like Locoroco and cranking out Scorched Earth 'homages'.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 6:04PM (Unverified) said
Sony should sue this guy's ass. It's like tracing a famous piece of art and saying you created it. He should be ashamed of himself.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 6:53PM (Unverified) said
If he stole the code that's one thing. But if he just 'ripped' the game design, that's kind of tradition in game development, isn't it? Think of all the Breakout/Tetris/etc clones out there.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 8:02PM CitizenErased115 said
Yeah this is a huge rip off and the way they tried to play it off. Wow.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 8:31PM (Unverified) said
Last night I saw this on the AppStore and was going to buy it, but when I searched for it, it said it was free, and when I tapped on it, it said 1.99... I decided to wait not see if it would be fixed, but guess I'm screwed.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 10:33PM Nobledevil Gaming Optimist said
Wait.. they completely copied a game from one popular download service to another and expected no one to notice? Are they retar... well, actually, they MUST be.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2009 6:27AM MrHashbrown said
I'm very impressed by the way Mr. Chen handled this situation. If I had learned that one of my first games that made me get any attention was ripped off and redistributed even without my consent (monetary issues aside) I would probably flip out.
I'm just glad to see this didn't turn into a legal battle.
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I'm just glad to see this didn't turn into a legal battle.
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 8:04AM (Unverified) said
it doesn't even look as good as flOw. The controls in flOw are very fluid, such as when you tilt in a certain way to turn etc, your creature kind of folds/doubles back on itself, you can really turn on a dime. In this, you seem to be forced to make big flat loops. Also, it's far faster, the screen is cluttered with all kinds of extraneous crap that the original conveys far more subtlely. From the short clip, the behaviour of the enemy creatures also seems lacking.
Sure game clones are everywhere, from tetris to Geometry wars (though usually they're free/bundled with hardware). But this one seems to go just that one step further by lifting the fine details of the graphical style, the sound effects etc. of what was a very distinctive and pretty game. It's possible to make a version of tetris or even a geometry wars type game with just the memory of how the original game worked, and add some degree of your own spin to things. This was clearly made with a copy of flOw sitting there right in front of the coder.
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Sure game clones are everywhere, from tetris to Geometry wars (though usually they're free/bundled with hardware). But this one seems to go just that one step further by lifting the fine details of the graphical style, the sound effects etc. of what was a very distinctive and pretty game. It's possible to make a version of tetris or even a geometry wars type game with just the memory of how the original game worked, and add some degree of your own spin to things. This was clearly made with a copy of flOw sitting there right in front of the coder.
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 3:56PM easo said
Wait, this guy was surprised that someone stole and renamed his i.p. and put it in the app store? Of the 50,000 plus apps in apples store, about 40% are clones of some other i.p.
Another another 30% are glorified bookmarks(weather.com app, facebookapp, google maps app, etc).
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