[KVFinn]

>I think Flappy Bird is a wonderfully well-tuned game. I've yet to see a clone that implements the finer details which made the original shine.

>Many games introduce difficulty through complexity. Here's a game that's simple to grasp, hard to play, yet not boring or frustrating.

I don't think Flappy Bird is any better tuned or has a better feel than any number of games. I have played many, many games far better on a Ti-85 and they don't even stand out.

And it is boring. There's no escalation or change over time. Once you can get to 50 you can get to 100 or 200. It's like bouncing a ball on a paddle and trying to get the highest score.

I would suggest http://terrycavanaghgames.com/maverickbird/ if you are looking for something better.

[apitaru]

Right, to my taste it's a better game (though very differently tuned beyond the puck-through-a-gap idea).

More than anything I was trying to respond to the parent's question about why the game works at all, especially compared to so many bad single-switch games in the app store.

(In writing this I just realized - Maverick Brid is not a single switch game like Flappy Bird. Not that it matters - even without the dive key it's superior).

[Guillaume86]

+1 When I got an iPod Touch (1st gen before the iPhone even came out), I installed a helicopter game on the same principle (itself cloned from some flash game), but easier at the start and with progressive difficulty, me and my classmates were hooked, played this for hours. It was way better than Flappy Bird except for the design IMO.