Android game developers StickyCoding, who are the folks behind the air traffic control game Flying Aces, have received a cease and desist letter from an iPhone game development company called Firemint. Firemint claim that Flying Aces “plainly is derived, at least in part if not entirely” from their own air traffic control game, Flight Control. The folks at StickyCoding, clearly a little bemused at the claim, replied, asking if they were being accused of using any of Firemint’s graphics, audio or code, to which Firemint responded:-
“The similarities between Flight Control and Flying Aces are striking. They include but are not limited to the visuals of the game, including but not limited to the airport configuration (the location and intersection of runways and location of helicopter landing site with a big H also defining location), the aircraft types (jets, props and helicopters), the stylistic approach to the games, and the screen designs.
The functional aspects of the games are also strikingly similar, including the games’ premise, the games’ mechanics, the manner in which a pathway tracks the planes to their respective landing locations, the off-screen alerts at the edge of the screens, and the fact that there is accelerated arrival as the game progresses.”
Two things strike me as I read through the list of complaints, firstly, surely all helipads have a big ‘H’ on them? If that’s the case, then the inventor of the helipad surely has grounds to sue Firemint. But, more seriously, there are plenty of air traffic control games out there, including the hugely popular Air Control (by Logisoft Games) and Flight Director (by Camel Games). The legality of the C&D is still being debated, as it’s not clear whether Firemint have any legal case, but there will be plenty of developers watching this one with interest, as, should Firemint’s claim be upheld, many games which have been inspired by, or are simply copies of, existing games will be at risk, meaning great swathes of the Android (and iPhone) games market may have to be removed for fear of similar legal action.
For now, it’s important to note that, so far, it doesn’t look as if there’s been anything more than a threat of legal action, so it’s conceivable that this is nothing more than a bullying attempt via an empty threat. But then, I’m no legal expert, and there’s no denying that Firemint’s game came out first.
I’m with the complainers on this one. The game’s identical, and there are numerous other total rip-offs on the Android Market as well. It’s great that Android is open, but it shouldn’t mean it’s one massive free-for-all when it comes to stealing other people’s ideas and passing them off as your own.
This sort of thing is as old as time. Painting it as “iPhone vs. Android” is just sad.
@Max Howell – Actually, it was never our intention to paint this as an iPhone v Android thing, but I can see now why it might look like that. I’ve changed the post’s title to remove the iPhone reference as I guess it’s original form could’ve been construed as an attempt to stir up an anti-iPhone post, which was never the intention here. The fact remains, this is an Android related story, and we’d have still ran it even if Firemint had released the original game on the Commodore 64.
If I were the devs, and this does turn out to have some legal wind behind it, I’d try to enter into some sort of licensing deal with Firemint, rebrand the game, and coordinate future development. It’s super common for different companies to be behind bringing one title to multiple platforms. No reason this game can’t follow suit.
I find it amusing this came about right after the Pocket Gamer awards (which just finished) in which Firemint won best game of the year for their traffic control game. While the overall look of it might be very similar the actual concept of this style of game is fairly old and I’m pretty sure Firemint didn’t come up with it. I was issued a C&D order over something I developed last year and after contacting the company numerous times to work something out, I never once got a response.
@Max – This article has nothing to do with iPhone vs Android at all and was nothing was ever mentioned in the article about some iPhone vs Android scenario.
It is indeed a strange thing as Firemint’s game is basically a dumbed down version of Air Traffic Control, originally released in 1998 and subsequently released for a couple of systems like the Game Boy Advance. Find out more at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Traffic_Controller_%28video_game%29. Additionally, there have been numerous air traffic control flash games way before April 2009, the release date of Firemint’s “original” work.
On the other hand it’s clear that Richards Android version is heavily inspired by Firemint’s version. However, that would mean that Camel Games is looking at a bit of a dark future as all the Camel Game games are complete copies of original games such as Crayon Physics, Ragdoll Blaster and so on. Especially Ragdoll Blaster is a near 100% copy of the original down to the level and art design.
It’s a delicate topic and i wouldn’t want to be either party.
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