Yesterday I was snarking at Asier Marzo, the developer of the apparent Android Duck Hunt rip-off Duck Retro Hunt. But the guy is winning me over.
Here’s what I sent him, after running an item about his studio Infinity K and their seeming interest in making games that look like other people’s games or at least share words in their titles — “Bejeweled”, “Hexagon”–that seem designed to confuse consumers.
My email:
Hi Infinity K folks,
I’m a reporter and was wondering if you could tell me more about your approach to making games. Specifically, isn’t Duck Retro Hunt basically using Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game and characters (the dog, specifically) but without their permission? Do you anticipate that you’ll run into problems with that?
Also, I noticed you have games that include the words Bejeweled and Hexagon in their titles. Are these games original creations? Or were they inspired by Bejeweled and Super Hexagon?
From the outside, it seem like you guys are taking other people’s games and trying to convince people to download your versions. Fair assessment or not?
Thanks
Their reply:
Hi mate,
It is always nice to see a happy player : )
I am a mediocre wannabe researcher in the field of augmented reality and I made a study comparing touch, tilt and AR controls in a mobile point&shot game. As it was nice to play, I released it. Duck Retro Hunt is not a rip-off and I am really happy with it because I reckon that it is the only game featuring the three controls. Nonetheless, I have to admit that the only decent enough control is the tilt one.
The next game that I have in mind for making a version with augmented reality is The Incredible Machine. I am really eager to develop a chain reaction game in which virtual pieces can be combined with real pieces in your actual room. I have planned to call it The Interreality Machine; however, I will follow your piece of advice and name it The Incredible Retro Machine.
Bejeweled Jungle bears no resemblance with Jewels, bejeweled or jungle madness. Maybe the only thing that they have in common is that all of them are puzzle games similar to Columns or PuyoPuyo. Hexagon Breaker is an old game of ours http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/ip_review.asp?… , its first name was iHexagon. Nevertheless, in my opinion they equally suck, certainly it was not a good job from our part.
For small individuals the App name is 75% of its survivability. It is not an excuse but if you just search “hexagon” or “snow bross” you will know what plagiarism is. Contrarily, we always make our own sounds, graphics, code and try to add something to the gameplay.
Sincerely,
Asier Retro Marzo
P.S: Just kidding, thanks you for your time and sorry for the offence.
How can I mock this guy? Totally charmed. You win this retro round, Asier Marzo.
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