Flappy Bird is gone, but 174 indie developers won't let it be forgotten

“Have fun, be supportive. Hate must not win.” This is the opening mantra for a large group of indie Android developers that are paying homage to the fallen Flappy Bird by creating their own games with a similar style.

The objective of the Flappy Jam project is not to create clones of the original, but simply to create a painfully difficult, yet oh-so-simple game that draws design inspiration from classic video games.

Twitchy Moth

The Flappy Jam project, with 174 and counting Flappy Bird inspired games, is going strong. Many creative and humorous Flappy Bird alternatives have been submitted, such as Twitchy Moth, created by Android Authority’s very own Gary Sims. Twitchy Moth has the same great 8-bit style graphics as Flappy Bird, the same simple one touch controls and the same frustrations experienced trying to beat your high score.

A few different styles of games, new controls and a few popular names have joined the movement. The creator of the popular Super Hexagon introduces a second control to his visually psychedelic Flappy alternative, Maverick Bird, letting you not only fly up, but dive down as well. One of the original endless runners, Canabalt, gets into the game as well, with Flappybalt. No longer do we side scroll for this one, instead our bird bounces back and forth like the good old square ball of Pong. Unlike Pong, we control the bird and attempt to avoid the paddles, which are made of spikes.

Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen removed the game from the app stores last weekend, claiming that he did not want the attention that comes with a #1 game in the stores. Nguyen also wanted to save us from ourselves, finding that users were far too addicted to his overly simple game. However, it is rumored that a letter from Nintendo, warning legal action over the iconic green pipes and background imagery, was the metaphorical pipe in the meteoric flight path for Nguyen. Much like in his game, the words “Game Over” popped up just when things were going good.

Immediately after the removal of the game from the app stores, users could still get their hands on a copy of it through various download sites, some people were even selling Flappy Bird equipped smartphones on ebay.

The Flappy Jam project, with 174 and counting Flappy Bird inspired games, is going strong. Have you looked through to find anything extremely unique? Which is your new favorite?

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7orrDq6ainJGqwam70aKrsmaTpLpwssuap6mxXZ%2BurnmSbWxxcWJk