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I've made an open source flappy bird clone (github.com)

128 points by ellisonleao ↗ HN
Hi guys! Getting a ride on all the hypeness involved on Flappy Bird game, i've created a clone of the game, with almost all the elements involved in the game, using MelonJS , a fantastic javascript game framework. Hopy you guys enjoy!

https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird

90 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 174 ms ] thread
dmbass
Why is this important? What makes this different from any other open source game clone?
smallegan
The developer of Flappy Bird has removed it from the App Stores.
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kawsper
I suspect that a simple game like Flappy Bird will help us tremendously when teaching kids to make games in Scratch.

While this particular game might not be that important or different, I think the amount of game clones and interest in them is good.

One of the ways to perfect your skill is to mimic and clone something that you care about. Kind of like musicians play and make their own covers of their favorite music.

ellisonleao
Hi dmbass, thanks for your comment. I found this project interesting on showing people with no knowledge of game programming that we can do a "complete" game in less than a day. If you have some feedback or improvements to show, feel free to made a pull request!
cdcarter
Somebody made a project they were proud of. Some other people liked it and upvoted it.

Your attitude is why the creator of Flappy Bird took the game down in the first place.

If you don't like a submission, flag and move on.

code_duck
I don't think you're supposed to flag submissions you merely don't like.
jaredsohn
Desired features:

* track high score

* Use full screen on mobile (or lock the rotation)

* friendly mobile URL

Edit: Also, not sure what score is compared to 'steps' or how to increase it.

ellisonleao
Nice! I am putting some sound as well. Thanks for the feedback!
dapak
There appears to be a bug where you can get caught in a "death loop" on game start. Click to start the game, but let the bird fall and immediately die. Every subsequent restart of the game will lead to an immediate restart loop when you try to start clicking to play as the intro rises.

I'm using Chrome version 32.0.1700.107.

DanielBMarkham
Somebody should do a graph of all the clones that will flood the market.

I've got twenty bucks that says there will be 50 clones across all platforms within the next 30 days.

Having said that, hell, I'll give you an upvote. Best of luck to all takers.

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h1fra
What developpers don't understand is that people don't actually like/want that game.

It's an inexplicable trends, even if your clone is super awesome no one will want to play it (it apply for every clone it's not an personnal attack).

ssully
I am 100% positive this was just an exercise for the developer, not an attempt at getting people to actually play his clone. It also gives code for people who wonder what goes into making a game like Flappy Bird, which I have been asked twice in the last week by people who don't code for some reason.
arfliw
Wow this game is really hard. 20 minutes in and my best score is 3.
wavesounds
Seriously I'd rather walk on coals! People who enjoy this game must be serious masochists!
computer
fwiw: I discovered a strategy that works for me: don't look at the bird, but look to the top right of it. I got 21 and 20 in a row, after getting a high score of just 5 before switching to this strategy.
stefan_kendall
Hitbox detection is off, and the physics don't feel nearly as good. There's more to flappy bird than a bird moving through pipes.
duiker101
As someone that has never played the game, what's there more?
geocar
It's a matter of taste.

Flappy feels very polished, like if the tap caused him to lift even a pixel higher it wouldn't be as good of a game. This sort of thing doesn't come elegantly, but generally requires a lot of tuning of little variables and ends up farting a bunch of magic numbers all over your programs.

A game like Flappy seems like it should make a good demo app since it's simple, but it actually makes a terrible demo app since the "simple version" is so terrible that you almost feel like you should blame the platform.

freshyill
Off, but still WAY better than the original.
oneeyedpigeon
Which version: iOS or Android? Seems perfect on Android.
freshyill
iOS.

I just re-downloaded it from my purchase history, and it seems much better than it was when I originally downloaded it. I had deleted it after maybe 10 minutes because I found the hit detection to be so infuriating.

I'm still bothered by the fact that a game with a pixel art style would have blurry graphics.

[dead] qjfd054
Calm the f*k down. He created a nearly identical open source clone of a very popular game for you. If you want to make it perfect, do it yourself. He's done 99% of the work for you. Stop being such an entitled brat.
maxmcd
Here's a better alternative with almost identical physics to the original game: http://maxmcd.com/fb
muglug
Can confirm, is thoroughly addictive. Well done.
ellisonleao
wow! that's a nice implementation. Will try to improve my physics!
farinasa
Hitbox is off on this one too.
apunic
This is now the second Flappy Bird clone within 24 hours and sometimes I wonder what's going on in such people. Talented coders who can program like hell but are not able to find an own idea or at least to steal some neat idea and make it better.

Do they really think because it's open source or HTML5 makes it better?

ellisonleao
thanks for the comment man! This is a personal study project to show how it easy to code this famous game. It's not for personal showoff or something like this. It's to show to youg ones how it's easy to execute the game idea and to open their minds to other things.
jaredsohn
This is just the second Flappy Bird clone to make Hacker News; there are many others (you can find some on reddit.)

There is nothing wrong with developers seeing something they want to build and spending time building it. (Especially when it is so quick.)

One advantage of creating a clone in HTML5 is that the original game was not made in that way and it is easier to share that way via social media; perhaps one of these could get a lot of traffic.

ricardobeat
This is not the second one, nor will it be the last. Kongregate alone has dozens: http://www.kongregate.com/search?q=flappy

It's just hype. If people are motivated to learn new skills because of it, then that's a good thing.

ganeumann
I showed my son how to open the debugger and change the opening width in the pipes to make it easier. After he took a picture of a score >1000 to show his friends, he started to mess with all the other variables.

The he asked me to teach him how to make his own game.

Win.

sebastianavina
now teach him wireshark and let him hack/stalck some of his friends.
justinpombrio
Why would you assume that someone is not able to think of their own ideas simply because one of the things they have made is a Flappy Bird clone?
[dead] qjfd054
It's one of the top posts on HN. Clearly people are interested. As a a lead programmer at one of the top venture backed companies in the SV, I find this work phenomenal. What the * have you done?
muyuu
Text-only version http://www.philome.la/VideoJames_/the-pipes-are-my-solitude/...
kremlin
I love that! Difficulty level is similar to Flappy Bird; the only difference is that slowing the game down doesn't give you an advantage in the text version.
ssully
This sums up my time with Flappy Bird perfectly
kazagistar
Oh god, it generates history each time you flap...
Aardwolf
When you die you have to use the mouse to restart. That is super annoying, I want to keep my hands on space.
helium
The enter key works for me...
ellisonleao
Hello aardwolf, you can press the enter button to go back!
lisper
I took this clone and tweaked it so that pipe gap starts out big and gets narrower as time goes by. Makes a good little coding exercise, and I find it a lot less frustrating to play that way.
bdcravens
Are you going to put that up on Github?
lisper
Probably not. It's only two lines of code.
ecnahc515
You should fork it, and contribute this back as an adjustable setting!
lisper
It's only two lines of code. Hardly seems worth it. I could post a diff, but it really is worthwhile figuring it out on your own.
DanBC
Are you tempted to add a lot of source code comments, because this is an educational project?
ellisonleao
That's an excellent question! I am thinking on a blog post explaining all the development process alongside with the commented code
aluhut
I don't get it. This is a clone of that very old Helicopter Game. Which I played for some hours then never touch it again. What is it that people are so addicted to?

I am really looking for some clever games I could play on my phone (WITHOUT being online all the time) but everything I find and people seem to like a popping bubbles and this. This can't be it...please...

gamegoblin
The difference is that with the helicopter game, you have control over the vertical acceleration. With this game, the control directly applies a vertical impulse. Slight difference.
oneeyedpigeon
This game is also much harder than the helicopter game
babuskov
I still find Badland much more enjoyable and interesting.

I would really like to see the user engagement metrics for Flappy Bird and Badland, compared to install base.

thelukester
Actually the addictive factor reminds me of a Joust on rails. Take away the left/right controls, and idea is similar to the 1982 arcade game. If you've never played it before, check it out on MAME.
beefsack
Which is a clone of an old Palm Pilot game called SFCave: http://www2.sunflat.net/en/games/palmcave.html

There is nearly nothing original in this game, not only was the core game play stolen, but most of the assets too. It really angers me that it has done so well when a lot of other game developers who worked a lot harder can't succeed.

shortly
success should be correlated with hard work? why?
tensor
A better question is why shouldn't it? We all like to think that hard work equals success. For those without success, they want to believe this because that means that they can be successful simply by working hard. For those with success, they want to believe this because it means that they earned and deserve their disproportionate wealth.

Nobody wants to think that success is due to luck. For the wealthy, that means that they are not as great as they think they are (damages ego), and for the poor, that means that there is no sure way to become wealthy.

Of course reality is a bit more complex, hard work can lead to wealth, but it's not a guarantee. Luck factors into everything in varying amounts. Aside from extreme cases like this, luck comes into play in terms of where you were born, who you met and became friends with, or even when you live or whether or not you were first to some arbitrary line.

To me, all of this means that people should be a hell of a lot more humble and realistic than they are. I get the impression that the author of Flappy Bird might realize this, so props to him.

Kenji
Install NES and SNES emulator on your phone and play the old classics, then ;)
maaku
Uh-oh... there goes a month of productivity for me.
mkesper
Try Andor's Trail. Completely Free Software, no rights needed, fun for days (if you are into CRPGs, that is). http://andorstrail.com/
aluhut
Thank you very very much. This is already much better then everything I had on my phone yet :)
unterstrom
Is Flappy Bird the new "Hello World!" for game engines?
jaredsohn
I think what makes flappy bird hard for beginners is that there isn't a practice mode which would let you play in invincible mode.

Dying at the first (or maybe second, third, or fourth) pipe makes it hard to get into a rhythm.

I considered making a Flappy Bird Practice iOS game, but am concerned about getting the physics right for the work you do with it to be meaningful.

Fasebook
Is this a joke or did I completely miss the point?
herokusaki
A word of warning: looks like you're using the original ("'original'"?) copyrighted assets from Flappy Bird. Legally speaking, you can't distribute those and your Github repo could be served a DMCA takedown at any time. Consider finding CC replacements.
[dead] herokusaki
A word of warning: looks like you're using the original ("'original'"?) copyrighted assets from Flappy Bird. Legally speaking, you can't distribute those and your Github repo can be served a DMCA takedown at any time. Consider finding CC replacements.
KNoureen
Am I the only one who reacts on the graphics rip-off?

Sure, clones are okay in my POV but when it goes to a level where even the graphics are identical to the original...

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