Source: The Verge - All Posts
Article note: I have a whole set of thoughts about this stuff:
1. Most games (and ...everything...) are situations where there are several similar creations around the same time, and which one gains traction is not easily predetermined. It's usually not the first or most sophisticated one. See Minecraft for example, there were a plague of blockworld games around that time, and it was not the first or fanciest. Likewise most Apple products. And, you know, transistors.
2. The 2048/Threes situation (FOSS, similar but not exact clone, made for fun/education, under a different name, distributed for free) and Wordle and appstore clone called Wordle (Trying to hustle a quick buck on someone elses' idea _and_ name recognition) are substantially different things. I don't really have a problem with making Free replacements for any thing where it is technically easy to do so. I played a ton of the https://www.fiveletters.xyz/ clone that isn't a one-a-day, and a little of the "I wrote Wordle in a tiny bash reading from the system spellchecker dictionary" stunt doing the rounds the other day.
3. I get yelled at for this one, but 2048 is a more satisfying idle game than Threes. The absolute regularity of 2048 makes it meditative. The powers-of-two thing tickles computer people.
4. The simultaneous, unavoidable rentseeking and gatekeeping by the large incumbent tech players is a menace to society.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — and the most profitable way to make a mobile game
