
2048, success and me - terabytest
http://gabrielecirulli.com/articles/2048-success-and-me
======
pdeuchler
A couple of OT thoughts...

1) It was very odd seeing something go from the HN "new" page, to the front
page, to seeing people talk about it on twitter, to hearing about it from
friends who have no idea what a "github" is, to my mom asking me to help her
download this new game all her friends are playing. I still don't know how I
feel about it. And yes, for some reason I feel like I have some sort of
ownership simply because I found it early. An interesting case study of the
human psyche all around.

2) At the very least I think it's a great example that while we very often
find ourselves lost within the HN bubble, we need to remember that (hubris
aside) what we do everyday, even if it's just a side project we did for fun
one evening, has the potential to change the world in an instant. Exciting and
scary at the same time (and depressing when you realize you haven't tapped
into this potential yet).

3) It definitely pissed me off to hear of friends paying for the game when I
could have just sent them the link to Gabriele's github. (Note that I haven't
found any versions where you have to pay to download, I'm assuming these
people made some kind of in-app purchase)

4) While definitely in the extreme minority, I now have a couple curious
friends who upon inspecting the original github link found the repository, and
now are very interested in learning to code. I think we underestimate the
power of showing people the "behind the curtain" stuff so to speak.

5) My absolute favorite observation is the amount of people who "hate math" or
"just aren't good at math" who love this game. I think there's great potential
to use 2048 or a derivative as an educational tool.

~~~
atmosx
> _[...]we need to remember that (hubris aside) what we do everyday, even if
> it 's just a side project we did for fun one evening, has the potential to
> change the world in an instant[...]_

Really? So '2048' changed the world. I have this feeling that developers
_change the world_ more often than Cartoon/TV-heros _save thew world_ these
days. How many apps away from world peace?!

ps. Developers are the only group of people who are so disillusioned to
collectively think that their products _change the world_. That Steve Jobs
destroyed 3 generations with 1 phrase.

NOTE: nothing wrong with the app-creator. I'm really happy for him, it's just
that every time I read about a developer who _changed the world_ (writing an
application) I wanna burn my eyes on a brazier.

~~~
frogpelt
When 23 million people are talking about your little weekend project, you have
changed the world.

Maybe your definition of 'change the world' is too stringent.

Squeezable ketchup bottles changed the world too.

Instead of being so uptight about how people use the phrase why you don't you
start trying to create your own impact?

~~~
tensor
These days 8 million people talk about a monkey peeing in its mouth on youtube
[1]. It doesn't mean the monkey changed the world.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI)

~~~
Theodores
8 million people chuckled - and I bet you did.

Many of those 8 million had something unforgettable and bizarrely enlightening
to share with their friends, or not, as the case may be (if they don't really
have any friends). I would say that you underestimate that monkey, he has
brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people and he fully deserves his own
reality TV show. So, yep, he has changed the world.

I much prefer the world to be changed by things like 2048, which is like an
online version of the Rubik's Cube for our times.

Contrast with the world-changing ways of the politicians. Bush, Blair and co
worked very hard to take the world to war, yet, ultimately, they lost and it
was all a complete waste of time.

------
kohanz
_Thanks to the help of my parents and my friends, I realized that the only way
to get over this without feeling like I had missed an opportunity would be to
embrace it and produce an app. I wouldn’t be doing it for profit, though. In
fact, that is not what matters to me._

I'm slightly confused, because he repeatedly states that profit is not a
motivator, but then that menu screenshot of the app shows a "Remove Ads"
button, which presumably means there is some monetization in there.

I don't have anything against the OP monetizing the app, but if he had the
altruistic intentions that he claims, wouldn't the app be 100% free?

edit: seeing that I'm getting down-voted - it's an honest question. I don't
mean it to be accusatory. I personally think the OP should monetize his
creation. It's what I would do if in his shoes. I would just be honest with
myself about it.

~~~
jader201
I totally see where the OP is coming from.

12 years ago, I built a site I had absolutely zero intentions of making money
from. I had an interest in an upcoming video game, and thought it would make a
perfect mate for an online community. So I reached out and found a talented
guy online that was also interested in the game and also had the skills that I
didn't (web design), and in a couple months, we launched.

After about a year or two, money became a necessity: the popularity outgrew
the free bandwidth, and I was forced to find paid hosting. So I started
accepting donations. But that wasn't quite enough to cover the costs, so I
added ads to help supplement the donations.

But surprise, as the popularity grew, the revenue generated from the ads and
the donations coming in started to largely outweigh the costs, and now I'm
making a pretty decent passive income from it.

I could easily scale back to just donations now, but since the ads are there
and pulling in quite a bit (for a site mostly on auto-pilot), I have no
intentions of scaling back.

(I will say, though, that I don't go to the extremes that most do to monetize
their site. The ads are only in the forum area of the site, and are only in
two to three locations. No interstitials, no videos, no popups/unders, etc.
And they're located at the top, bottom, and right vs. right in the middle of
the content. Pretty much anything that would annoy me (banners don't annoy me)
I keep off the site.)

I'm not saying the OP is making money out of necessity, but just that I
understand going into something with the intentions of it just being a fun
side project, and then later realizing the potential of making money from it.

~~~
joshdance
I assume the site is what is listed in your bio? Nice work. Is it a full time
job sized income or some nice money on the side?

~~~
jader201
Yes, that's it. Unfortunately, not quite enough to rely on full time. I would
love for it to be, and I've thought about building a broader community to gain
a larger audience and potentially cover my income. But I just don't have
enough time to dedicate to side projects now, having a young family and all.

------
swalsh
He seems so worried about taking someone else's credit, that he's missing the
value HE brought to the table. He made the game approachable. The visual style
of the game made it more fluid, which made it more approachable. At least to
me, the two games he derived his own from don't seem to pull me in the same
way. The app has a similar appeal. In games, there's a lot of value in visual
design... he got the visual design right.

~~~
tks2103
Visual design is important in games. Novel game mechanics are important in
games.

In this case, I think the mechanics were the difficult thing to create. And
the mechanics took months to refine.

Looking at the history of Threes -> 1024 -> 2048, I think the business
incentive for copying and polishing existing game designs is clearly superior
to the business incentive for designing a novel mechanic. Why make a novel
mechanic when someone can just copy it? That strategy is too risky.

I think the story of these games is a microcosm for the game industry as a
whole. More game sequels are released than original game ideas. And I think
that has to do with the incentives we create for game developers.

I think the creator of 2048 has priced his value about right. He knows what he
brought to the table, but he thinks his contribution is not the lion's share
of what made 2048 special. At the same time, he does not really know how to
create a system that values innovative games more highly. And all the while,
an opportunity to make a lot of money is whizzing by his head.

~~~
greggman
There's several extenuating circumstances no?

One, as original as Threes is it's unfortunately super easy to clone. 2048
being made in a weekend being proof. Yes I know it's not an exact clone. Let's
say then it was very easy to make a similar game.

There are plenty of popular games that aren't easy to clone quickly. So I'd
argue the lesson there is consider making something hard to clone.

Also, he open sourced the game. That effective says "please clone this". The
license effectively implies "feel free to copy this to phonegap and publish
it". Which once it was popular people did.

~~~
tks2103
Do you think ease of cloning is the correct metric to optimize?

Put another way, if a game developer thinks this: "This would be a really fun
game! But it would be too easy to clone, so I guess I will not make it. I'll
do something else." Is that a thought process that you would support?

~~~
greggman
I think it's reality. Do I like it? I'm mixed on it.

I'm sad that Threes didn't seem to get the attention that it kind of seemed
like it deserved. On the other hand I think even if Threes is arguably a
better game by some metric most people seem to enjoy 2048 more so 2048 brought
something to the table that wasn't there before.

If you think your game is easy to clone, rather than not make it, maybe you
should take that into account when releasing it. Maybe Threes should have been
free? Maybe knowing it would be easy to remake they should have invested more
in getting the word out? Or, maybe as you suggest they should have done
something else.

Basically I think it's reality. An easy to clone game has some risks that a
non-easy to clone game doesn't. You should take those risks into
consideration.

------
prezjordan
Really enjoyed this post. As someone who has been on the "Threes! was there
first!!!!" train since 2048 took shape, I think I agree with both parties.
Threes! is a polished game that people can pay $2.99 for in the App Store and
enjoy. 2048 is a free web game that's insanely approachable (it's free) and
people "get it" immediately. They both provide immense value.

I see where the Threes! devs are coming from because, well, a lot of people
called _their_ game a 2048 clone, and I'm sure it sucks to see people playing
a similar game instead of buying yours.

I also see where Gabriele comes from. The guy just wanted to make a game! He
wasn't trying to steal anything from anyone, he made a lot of people very
happy and he has nothing to be ashamed of, or worried about.

To be honest, I think if you take the intersection of 2048 players and people
who would pay $2.99 for Threes!, you'd end up with a pretty small group.

I think everybody won here.

~~~
taiki
I'm just happy he's willing to give credit where it's due.

That to me, speaks volumes towards the dev's character.

~~~
rantanplan
Yeah kudos to him. But wait, could he do differently at this point?

I mean after all this publicity and everyone(well too many to lie about it)
know it is a derivative of another game.

------
arandomJohn
Having played a lot of 2048 and Threes, I have to say that while 2048 is fun,
it is a shadow of the game that Threes is.

There is a polish and outright joy to Threes that the clones lack. While the
games are superficially similar Threes has a depth of play, complexity, and
game design that reflects true craftsmanship. They took an idea and put in the
hard work to make it the best they could make it. 2048 and other derivatives
play like a rough draft of Threes.

As a hobbyist game designer myself I can appreciate the difference.

I'd challenge any 2048 fan to drop the $1.99 on Threes and see what they're
missing.

All that said, I appreciate the awkward position Gabriele is in and appreciate
his effort to address what has been going on in an open fashion. He's not the
bad guy here. He has made a very good clone of an imitation of a great game.

~~~
combray
That's funny, I started playing Threes, was addicted to it for a while, and
when I found 2048 I never looked back. I find 2048 to be a clearly superior
game both in terms of visual clarity and repeat playing. The mechanics of
Threes are super annoying, especially the end game swipe when there are no
more moves, swipe through the pointless point tallying, click next, etc. etc.
etc. The cutesy noises and animations seem sort of unfinished to me.

The max card I've gotten with threes is 384, while the max card I've gotten on
2048 is 8,192. With Threes I don't really care about not getting any better,
while with 2048 I feel close to getting 16,384 and still think it's
interesting to do so. Threes just doesn't have the staying power, the
mechanics are simply more frustrating.

I've seen your argument before -- the big post the Threes guys did had it
also, that they felt their game was clearly better. I can understand why they
felt that way, but I don't get it. And given the taking over the world
popularity of 2048, I'm not sure that the evidence is there to support that
position.

~~~
caolica
Most of 2048's fanbase enjoys it because it makes them feel smart. It gives
them an adrenaline rush as they tap buttons or swipe the screen, watching the
numbers combine and become higher and higher. Some say that playing 2048 makes
them "feel like a computer", and that Threes does not.

If pushing buttons quickly and watching numbers fly everywhere /and somehow
not cause you to lose/ makes you feel like a computer, then Threes absolutely
does not make you feel like a computer. You can get pretty far in 2048 just by
rapidly pressing two buttons and then adjusting when the board gets messy.
That is the entirety of 2048's strategy. I've been playing Threes since its
release three months ago, and I still find that my scores are improving as I
notice new strategies. Threes has infinitely more depth than 2048, which is
what keeps me coming back for more.

The only reasons 2048 is more popular than Threes is that a) it's free, while
Threes costs $2, and b) it is EXTREMELY friendly to newcomers. It's absurdly
easy to get a 2048, while it actually takes thought to score high in Threes.

So yes, if you're looking for a mindless free time-waster, 2048 is the game
for you. If you're looking for a deeper, more polished puzzle game, Threes is
superior in every way.

~~~
combray
I think what you mean by the first sentence is "most of 2048's fan base enjoys
it because it's fun".

Your back and forth strategy doesn't work as you get to the higher point
levels in 2048 btw. It certainly may get you to 2048, but not really that much
further past that. The fact that the ideal strategy changes as you get to 4096
and 8192 is something that makes the game more fun to me.

If you like Three's better that's great, but like I said, I started with
Threes, got addicted to it for a while, and then moved on. I got addicted to
2048 for a lot longer than I did Threes. It's not a matter of one being free
or more accessible. 2048 is simply more fun, which is another way of saying
it's a better game.

------
stevenh
A few thoughts as someone who has developed games for iOS, Android, and the
web:

In today's world, if you want to retain implicit ownership of your product's
name, a simultaneous triple-platform release is not optional, it is required.
It must be performed in precisely the following way, or your launch will fail:

\- Register your game's domain before announcing it to the public.

\- Next, upload your iOS app to iTunes Connect and wait for up to one week for
the app to be approved.

\- Next, upload your Android app to the Google Play store; approval only takes
a few hours.

\- Finally, make the web version public, and announce the game along with
links to the mobile versions.

If you deviate from this order, then you're screwed. One example: I released a
game on the web and waited one day to upload the Android version to the Google
Play store. I figured that gave me a little extra time to test and check for
bugs, and what's the rush anyway? Nobody could steal a game in just 24 hours,
right? Wrong. My app was rejected because Google insisted my app was
attempting to impersonate another developer's app. The other developer's app
was simply my own website, stolen line for line, tossed into Phonegap, and
released the same day as my website. I explained this to Google in the appeal
form, even including a link proving I owned the site the other developer stole
it from, and they rejected my appeal without checking the link - I could
clearly see in my server logs that they never clicked on it. Google does not
allow you to file a second appeal, so I had to give my app an awful name no
one would recognize it by, and the clone received all the downloads and glory
thanks to the buzz my website's name was generating for it.

Another example: I was the first to publish an iOS app with the same name as
my website. After the app had been waiting for review for four days, I figured
it would be approved any moment now, and that it was safe for me to launch my
website. I launched, and it turns out that Apple's app review process is not
FIFO, because two days later, a clone with the same name and all the code
stolen from my site was already approved for iOS, yet my own app was still
waiting for review. My app was then rejected a few days later because it had
the same name as an app that stole my code... again.

Gabriele Cirulli is an extremely unlucky man stuck in an extremely unfair
landscape, and I cannot fault him for wallowing in the first of the five
stages of grief. If Flappy Bird's alleged $50,000/day income can safely be
assumed to be the average earned by the ads on any given #1 iTunes free app,
then the entity which first claimed the name "2048" in iTunes Connect is
currently a millionaire, because 2048 was at the very top of the iTunes free
app charts for weeks. Gabriele seems to believe or hope that the masses will
see his "repost" of his own app and be stricken by the desire to do the
ethically right thing and uninstall all of the rushed clones and install the
legitimate version and play it with all the fervor and excitement as if the
global 2048 hype still currently existed. Unfortunately this will NEVER
happen.

On a side note, Phonegap is only getting worse over time. Typical Adobe rot is
setting in; the last version had a catastrophic bug causing the xml manifest
to simply not be read during the build process, because a critical "for" loop
was referencing the child element of a nonexistent variable. They swept this
under the rug; countless hapless developers were mindlessly releasing broken
apps during this period. Half of Phonegap's documentation refers to "Cordova"
and executing "cordova" on the command line where it should say "Phonegap".
Commands that have different names between Cordova and Phonegap are still
documented as the Cordova equivalent, so one must use Google to find other
people who searched for hours until they themselves came across the
explanation that the same command in Phonegap requires the use of a completely
different word. It is an absolute trainwreck, but aside from that, the primary
issue for consumers now is that apps built with Phonegap no longer work
correctly on newer versions of Android and haven't for months, which is why
Gabriele's extremely simple and resource-minimal app is currently getting a
bunch of 1- and 2-star reviews in the Google Play store with complaints about
the speed.

~~~
dabernathy89
> The other developer's app was simply my own website, stolen line for line,
> tossed into Phonegap, and released the same day as my website.

> two days later, a clone with the same name and all the code stolen from my
> site was already approved for iOS

And there is no recourse when this happens? You can't report them?

~~~
poopsintub
As someone mentioned above, a lawyer. I feel it's extremely rare someone is
going to steal an unreleased game in the first place, If you're a well known
developer or big gaming company, maybe the probability goes up slightly, but
even then, a big game success is still a shot in the dark.

~~~
pyre
> I feel it's extremely rare someone is going to steal an unreleased game in
> the first place

This seems like an example of people throwing things at the wall until
something sticks. If all they have to do is copy-paste into (e.g.) PhoneGap,
and submit it to an app store, then why not? If it takes off, then they get to
reap the benefits. If it doesn't take off, then they've just wasted a little
bit of time and effort.

------
habosa
gabrielecirulli's success has been one of my favorite moments I've witnessed
on HN. Congratulations to him, it was/is an amazing phenomenon. I also think
we can take a few important lessons here to take the tech world a little more
out of the shadows.

1) As a few have said, show your friends the source code and say "if you could
learn to do this, you could have made 2048". It's not too intimidating of a
codebase and it might make some more people want to learn to code.

2) If you've ever met anyone who didn't see the point of open source, the
1000s of 2048 derivations are a public monument to FOSS. I have tried to
explain to my friends a million times what Github is, but then all I had to do
was say "yeah for that clone someone just forked the original repo and changed
yellow to blue" and suddenly they get it. I know that leaves out the part of
open-source where people contribute back to the original but it's a good
starting point.

3) This, or some variation of this, is why many of us do what we do. The power
for a few thousand keystrokes to become a worldwide phenomenon with the only
cost being $0.00 and some time. It's amazing how much influence you can have
from behind a laptop monitor. When people explain why I code/blog/read HN for
fun, what i tell them is that programming gives you an amazing sense of mental
potency. 2048 really maxed out the gauge on how potent you can be.

~~~
nathell
It's not only "not intimidating", it's actually a prime example of good
quality code. See
[http://blog.danieljanus.pl/blog/2014/04/02/2048/](http://blog.danieljanus.pl/blog/2014/04/02/2048/)

------
chrisBob
I don't understand the concerns about theft and ethical issues about profiting
from this. The license on GitHub says I am welcome to copy the source, modify
it, and sell copies. Maybe I take that too literally, but if you see a popular
game that people are willing to pay for, and there isn't already one in the
app store I think you _should_ take advantage of MIT licensed code and put it
up for people to enjoy. Anyone who doesn't like the idea is welcome to make a
better version and offer it for free.

I am strongly against blatant copies of apps someone is basing a business on,
but I support making apps based on open source code, and making fun games
available to as many people as possible.

~~~
KVFinn
>I don't understand the concerns about theft and ethical issues about
profiting from this. The license on GitHub says I am welcome to copy the
source, modify it, and sell copies.

Because 2048 was a version of 1024 but he didn't realize until later that 1024
was a version of Threes which was a commercial product in the app store. So he
kinda sorta MIT licensed someone else's commercial product.

They do have a tiny mechanical different but it's much smaller than what you
normally consider a clone.

------
clarky07
I'm sorry, but that is an absurd thought process. What on earth is he missing
out on if he doesn't want to profit? What is this once in a lifetime
opportunity being wasted? The chance to work for a month with no return?
That's an absolute joke.

I have absolutely nothing against him putting ads and IAP in the game to try
to make money, as money is in fact the main reason for doing work. What I
don't understand is this BS post. Sure he cloned a game style, but who really
cares about that. It's not even a little unreasonable to clone a game
mechanic. Does anybody think candy crush is a worse game because it is a
cloned mechanic? no, it is a highly polished and well done version, and it's
fine. Same goes for 2048 IMO.

The real question is what is the point of this post? Oh noes I didn't want to
profit off it and I felt bad, but I was missing a once in a lifetime
opportunity to waste a month of my life, oh what the hell let's put ads in it
anyway.

~~~
mackwic
-1: Your comment is aggressive and lacks empathy. Morevoer, you should interrest yourself in the free software movement and understand the motivations of the people behind. Books like "Richard Stallman and the free software revolution" might interrest you ([https://www.google.com/url?q=https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/fa...](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf&sa=U&ei=VuNpU7rDM8LgOvajgNgP&ved=0CBgQFjAD&usg=AFQjCNGo3l-BTEliDYYgKt0rHfxDpikemQ))

~~~
clarky07
Thanks I know what the free software movement is. Stallman I mostly find to be
a jerk. On Steve Jobs death: As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the
corrupt former Mayor Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone."

I'm sorry, but that is uncalled for. Free software might be a noble goal, but
as someone who makes software for a living I can't imagine why. Yes I want to
be able to run whatever I want on my computer. No I don't want anybody to take
my work and redistribute it.

~~~
CGudapati
Calling Stallman a jerk is definitely uncalled for. I personally think he is
the epitome of everything that is right with the Computer Science. It is your
prerogative to distribute the software however you like. Remember that
Stallman created something which most of us can only sapire about.

------
bicknergseng
Threes hardly came up with this combination game idea. I know for certain
Triple Town [1] has basically the same gameplay (except you drop instead of
swipe, some extra cutesy elements) and is from 2011, and I highly doubt it
originated the concept or gameplay. To use their example, I feel like Asher
Vollmer and Greg Wohlwend created Dr. Mario and not Tetris, and were shocked
when people started playing other Tetris knockoffs. I understand being
frustrated that someone else hit success with the same idea and different
execution, but I don't get the "my copy is novel" attitude. Feels like a 1
click buy patent.

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spryfox.tr...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spryfox.tripletown)

~~~
genofon
Totally agree, I read the letter from three and I've found it really annoying,
maybe they wrote that for marketing.. I understand how they can feel but I
don't understand how can someone have the courage to say that their game is
better.. Million of people choose something else that's a pretty clear sign

~~~
conanbatt
They made a game with lots of effort in design, then put a price tag on it to
make money off of it. Then someone else clones it makes it free. The pretty
clear sign is that free stuff propagates way faster than paid stuff. Which is
not a surprise at all.

~~~
genofon
to me it seems that they are only motivated by bitterness and pride:

1) they assume that people who played 2048 or similar will not use their game.
I think they could use 2048 for free advertisement, as they not the same
thing, what's wrong about downloading two similar game? expecoially when one
of them it's free

2) their game will not have nearly as many users as 2048, it's spread it's due
simplicity, ui and design

3) They say their game is better (also) because it's more difficult to play:
nonsense, games are not designed to be difficult but to be enjoiable

4) they knew someone will clone them, I think it's a risk to take into
consideration

I my opinion 2048 could only have boosted their sales, because it focused the
attentions of millions of people with this sort of games. I would like to see
the growth of the two compared

------
napolux
IMHO It's to late for the "official" apps. So many clones out there (let's
call them clones, even if they're maybe based on the original code).

I think that this is a big missed opportunity for him (even if he had enough
"success" from the original game alone)

~~~
nkuttler
Indeed. I just installed the official one and won't be using it. Ads, small
numbers. I use one from estoty entertainment lab which is ad free afaict.

~~~
conradfr
This is the one I have as well and there used to be ads when you lost IIRC.

I tried Gabriele's but it's indeed (sadly) inferior, by the size of the board
and the input lag (on my Nexus 4).

~~~
napolux
Same on Nexus 5. Maybe it's Phonegap. Dunno.

------
danielweber
Very interesting insight. I don't always agree with the decisions he made (and
he doesn't even agree with the decisions he made), but it's a pleasure reading
someone's feelings as all the stuff of the modern world hits you at once.

------
notatoad
it's kind of sad that so many people insist on a native app. 2048 has always
worked great on my nexus 7 just using a browser, there's no need for an app.
Developers shouldn't be forced to put in extra work porting webpages to native
code just to ensure they don't get overrun by cheap clones in various
platform's app stores.

~~~
zodiac
What about those without data plans? Wouldn't it let them play 2048 when
without Wifi?

~~~
streptomycin
HTML5 AppCache could be used to easily allow offline play.

~~~
scott_karana
On my Android phone, it seems to aggressively cache "web apps", so after I
added it to my home screen, I've been able to play it when out of Wi-Fi and
data reception.

~~~
judk
Whoa, this is a great hack. I get so annoyed when my browser cache dumps and
tries and fails to reload a page that I had already loaded. Write up this tip
as a blog post and submit to HN :-)

~~~
scott_karana
It's probably not worthy of a blog post, since it's just a regular feature of
Chrome. :-)

    
    
      Menu button > Add to Homescreen

------
beobab
I would have done nothing with the initial success too. I have a very definite
"freeze" reaction to stress, which causes quite a few problems for me. I can
sometimes progress to "flight", where I run away from the problem, but "fight"
is very often out of reach.

------
diziet
Quick thing -- you should title your iOS app something like '2048 - The
Original Version', not '2048 - by Gabriele Cirulli'

~~~
shairosen
And here is some design feedback according to Wired: "Design Is Why 2048
Sucks, and Threes Is a Masterpiece" [http://www.wired.com/2014/05/threes-game-
design](http://www.wired.com/2014/05/threes-game-design)

------
iambateman
I added that thing to my homescreen and played it as an "app" for weeks. The
only problem is 2048 gets really boring once you have a framework for how to
do it.

It's nice to see the background of how he was feeling during that time. The
(relatively muted) outcry of "derivative" never felt fair to me. His game is
more fun to play than Threes. Millions of people agree.

~~~
spiek
It's funny that you say that 2048 "gets really boring" after a while, but that
it is "more fun to play than Threes".

It's interesting that the balance and effort that went into Threes resulted in
a game that (to me) is more complex and possesses more staying power. However,
it is still regarded as not as good as a game with more immediate
gratification and significantly less staying power.

edit: for clarification.

~~~
adwf
I'm always wary of game designers who espouse "balance" all the time. The only
place you ever need balance is in a multiplayer game as people like be on an
even playing field.

In single player games however, too much striving for balance can lead to a
very boring game. One of the classic failures in this regard was Elder
Scrolls: Oblivion. It had a balancing mechanism for all the enemies in the
game, so that they leveled up in step with the player. However, this meant
that every single monster was almost the exact same challenge, all the way to
the end. ie. You may have leveled up and increased your damage output, but the
monsters have increased their hitpoints and it still takes the same 3 attacks
to kill anything. It removed all sense of progression from the game.

So it just goes to show that too much balance can really bore people! You need
to hook a player and get them interested by giving them a sense of
progression, of achievement.

Some ways that you can give a sense of achievement is by letting them work out
optimal strategies, min/max'd character builds, etc. These can be
unintentional or artificially included (eg. super weapons near the final boss
fight).

tldr; People like a sense of progression, even if that is achieved by having
an unbalanced game.

~~~
jmduke
I don't quite agree with you here. I think Elder Scrolls is a bad example to
give because the series as a whole is probably one of the most unbalanced RPGs
there are: even in Oblivion, the 'balancing mechanics' you refer to just
encourage more unbalanced play -- as opposed to, say, Galsiah's Character
Development in Morrowind which is ultimately a balancing mechanism but
promotes more aspects of gameplay and prohibits undesirable behavior.

Balance is best used as a function to encourage meaningful and difficult
gameplay, which I'd argue can be defined largely as the number of interesting
choices a player has to make. I think 2048 does a poor job of this relative to
Threes: after around a week of play I was able to consistently win using the
corner strategy. In Threes, the variance in tile distribution means there is
no such panacea.

(That being said, I agree that pursuing 'balance' in a game is like pursuing
'colors' in an artwork. It's a road to reach some desired destination: not a
goal in of itself.)

------
ScottWhigham
FYI for those searching for this on Android: (1) it isn't on Amazon yet (or at
least I couldn't find it), and (2) to find it on Google Play, you have to
search for Gabriele Cirulli if you want to find the actual game he's talking
about. He links to the app in his post but, because I had a bit of trouble
finding it, here it is:

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabrieleci...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabrielecirulli.app2048)

~~~
jonquark
If anyone else finds it on Amazon I'd appreciate a link, my phone (Jolla)
doesn't have access to the Play Store.

------
arek2
If someone wants to cure his addiction, here is my variant of the game - 2048
with AI autoplay and taking back moves:

[http://www.kongregate.com/games/random_strangers/2048-analyz...](http://www.kongregate.com/games/random_strangers/2048-analyze)

Also, 511 is a variant of 2048 on a 3x3 grid, completely solved:

[http://www.kongregate.com/games/random_strangers/511-game](http://www.kongregate.com/games/random_strangers/511-game)

------
benjamincburns
I think Gabriel's aversion to profiting from this creation is laudable, but I
wonder how much of it is driven by a sense of guilt over the reaction from the
creators of Threes. That said, I'd hope that those guys would get in tough
with Gabriel and have a candid conversation which amounted to "okay, seriously
dude - make some money already!"

------
robomartin
This comment might not be the most popular but I happen to think it is right
on point.

At twenty years of age this kid got a chance of a lifetime and blew it. This
is tantamount to getting a winning lottery ticket and throwing it in the trash
KNOWING that it is a winning ticket.

I get all the altruistic stuff. I do. I also get that business and innovation
is and has always been about doing it different, better and faster than the
other guy.

There's nothing ethical about recognizing the opportunity of a lifetime and
ignoring it out of a really questionable sense of duty. This is some really
faulty decision making.

Let me put it in more simple terms: A good person can do a lot more good with
money than without. Period. End of story.

This can take many forms. If he felt so strongly about owing to prior projects
he could have offered to share in his new-found fortune in some equitable way.
If he really didn't want a pile of money he could have taken as much as he
felt he needed and donated the rest to worthy causes. Perhaps support FOSS
efforts, help entrepreneurs in his country, launch an incubator, etc., etc.,
etc.

I know people who are currently relying on the benevolence of friends to have
a place to sleep. I know one person who is probably within a couple of months
of seeing his last dollar go through his hands.

The idea that someone is dealt a hand like this one and he absolutely blows it
out of some juvenile mental fabrication takes on a very different context when
you see people who's lives could be changed in massive ways with just a few
hundred to a couple of thousand dollars per month. At some level I could see a
person not taking advantage of such an opportunity as incredibly naive and
selfish. Don't do it for you, do it to help others. What could be better than
that?

Here's my back. Ready for the arrows.

------
pdkl95
The thing I found most interesting about the 2048 was the sudden assortment of
variations that immediately followed. It was a perfect example of how the
thing we call "culture" works: people recursively sharing their interest in
something, often without even trying ("hey, that looks cool. What are you
playing?").

It is also a powerful argument in the idea (described very nicely by Lawrence
Lessig[1]) that culture and creativity are _hindered_ by copyright. While git
(via github.com) made it technologically trivial to clone the source, it's the
lack of the "don't touch it - somebody will sue me" barrier that allowed a
huge number of people to try their hand at a variation.

To re-use a quote used by Mr. Lessig[2], said by composer John Philip Sousa as
the technology of the phonograph (and the ability to restrict the _use_ of
music through copyright) quickly became widespread:

"These talking machines are going to ruin artistic development of music in
this country. When I was a boy, in front of every house in the summer
evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day,
or the old songs. Today, you hear these infernal machines going night and day.
We will not have a vocal chord left..."

I believe talk about "profit" or "lost opportunities" misses the forest for
the trees. The potential of future _personal_ profit on a small game like this
can be very hit-or-miss, but the contributions to our _shared culture_ have
already been huge. The fact that the game caused an incredible amount of
attention - with _multiple_ people sending messages about taking the idea
further - is conclusive evidence of the cultural impact it had.

The reaction by the authors of "threes"[3] (linked from this article) is an
interesting example from the other side. It is clearly annoyed at the loss of
profits that 2048 _may_ have caused. Their game is also proprietary,
restricting the possibility of making a legal derivative work. this eliminated
one of the big sources of initial "word of mouth"/"viral' attention their game
received.

I'm not trying to argue for the elimination of copyright[4] or other sweeping
changes. For some works - especially games and other works of art - the
monopoly benefits of copyright are probably worth the loss of some popularity.
I simply suggest that there are other benefits besides "profit". As this
article mentions, even stuff like "lack of stress" can be a huge advantage;
knowing you've been able to impact so many people is something many artists
dream about and hope for their entire lives[5].

TL;DR

If you're thinking of trying to squeeze some profit from a small work like
this, you may want to consider letting it spread in our shared culture and
taking the fame and reputation as the author of a Cool Game/App.

\--

[1]
[http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strang...](http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity)

[2] _ibid_.

[3]
[http://asherv.com/threes/threemails/](http://asherv.com/threes/threemails/)

[4] While I do believe we _should_ eliminate most "IP" laws, that argument is
for another day.

[5] said best by the comic PFSC:
[https://31.media.tumblr.com/2cbf666fc1881d6c0f158a6bece2bb95...](https://31.media.tumblr.com/2cbf666fc1881d6c0f158a6bece2bb95/tumblr_inline_n1pvuxI0iS1qkzcmz.jpg)

~~~
pauselaugh
Bullshit. Culture does not consist entirely of repeated derivatives, that's
the thing we call "being a poser," and that is more specifically the shitty
part of culture where someone takes a good idea claims it as their own.

Culture doesn't have a built in versioning system in place, so when something
does all the right things it isn't a given that the predecessors are given
credit. There are far too many derivative works that completely crush the
inspiration and predecessors...

The reason why is that the derivative work has nothing to do except tweak and
improve the initial work, where the initial work had to concept the thing and
give it a form out of nothing.

Convenient then, that someone comes along and takes something 90% good and
makes it >90% good and everyone claims how it is better and so important that
they brought such innovation to it.

Zzz.

The app store, steam, even triple a titles are glutted with this revisionist
crap. So when you look around and see 9999999999 clones and attempts at
"betterment" for every 1 work you'll know why.

~~~
judk
You seem to be unaware how so much of what seems "original" to you is derived
from prior art. This is strange, because you describe (and deride) the
phenomenon moments before you ignore it.

------
allthatisgold
I understand where he is coming from about the stress and the relief he felt
when he renounced the idea of developing it for mobile.

I think the lesson we can all learn is that we should do both, reduce stress
and pursue the goal, otherwise it might be too late and you might regret it
for the rest of your life. Someone he knows could have developed the mobile
app for him. He could have offered them money right away or a percentage of
profit. If he doesn't know anyone, I'm pretty sure any company would have
jumped at the chance if they were offered a reasonable percentage.

Even if you are blocked, at times of stress try to think of what the possible
alternatives available to you are. Write them down on paper, cross them out,
write them again until you are happy with your final decision.

------
kondro
My suggestion would be if you've enjoyed 2048 in the past and you think
Gabriele should be awarded that the least you can do is go and download and
review the app to bump it closer to the top of the popular results.

And if you think that you've gotten USD$0.99 of enjoyment from the game now or
in the past (like I did), you should pay for the upgrade.

App Store: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2048-by-gabriele-
cirulli/id8...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2048-by-gabriele-
cirulli/id868076805)

Play Store:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabrieleci...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabrielecirulli.app2048)

------
chrissnell
Am I the only one who feels like his new "native" version feels slower than
his web app? There's a brief but noticeable delay between my finger flicks and
the sliding of the tiles. I wonder if this has anything to do with his use of
Phonegap.

~~~
ctdonath
Yeah, feels like there's more "inertia" needed. Subtle, but noticeable. Longer
pull to make a move happen.

~~~
duskwuff
It's not a matter of "inertia", it's an outright delay. I suspect it's double-
tap detection kicking in.

------
TeeWEE
Dont forgot 1024, 2048 etc are all a huge rip-off of threes. Its a ugly copy
and people are trying to provit from the creativity of somebody else. I hate
it personally.

Also 2048 should have asked threes for permission. In court, i would have
decided in favor of threes.

------
higherpurpose
For authors/creators that feel themselves in situations like that, should see
this talk, it might help:

[http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_a...](http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating)

I hate seeing people quit because they've been _too_ successful all of the
sudden, like the Flappy Bird guy, too, and not necessarily because "they've
made it" and don't want to work anymore, but because they're freaked out about
launching a "failure" next (at least in comparison with the previous breakout
success).

------
cyphunk
I appreciate the authors honesty but perhaps it is hard to notice that he (and
all of us) will always justify our choices. He chose not to profit and thereby
uses the Threesgame authors angst over clones as reason to support that choice
as being right. However, if he had made profit I could have written a blog
post for him about how Threes benefited from the clones, or various other
reasons one would use. The more weight your choices seem to have the easier it
will be to find reasons for them after the fact.

------
johnlbevan2
I'd be tempted to create the phone app but have any proceeds go to charity -
that way you take the opportunity, gain kudos, avoid greed, and give something
positive to the world. Perhaps also including a prominent link to Threes as an
acknowledgement of their founding status and to help drive the popularity of
their original app. That said, if to do that you need to put your regular
income stream on hold to focus on the project, I can understand not going that
route.

------
eco
It's a shame it's not a truly native app. Input response is very sluggish even
on my LG G2 (high-end phone with a Snapdragon 800).

------
heyadayo
Based on some of the performance issues with Android 4.4 phones, I would
strongly recommend that you port your code over to the Game Closure devkit:
www.gameclosure.com and www.github.com/gameclosure/devkit

It's MPL licensed, super easy to get started with, and very fast. It's pure
javascript/canvas however, and doesn't support CSS or DOM-based UI.

------
utunga
Thinking about this dilemma it seems to me it would have been
better/faster/easier/more ethical to add an affiliate link to the 'original'
threes app. That way everyone wins. And while that was there start work on the
definitive 2048 app *(maybe even collaborate with the threes creators to get
that out faster).

------
MrScruff
The difficulty for the Threes guys was that they spent a lot of time polishing
what was a very simply concept. Nothing wrong with this, but it made their
game straight forward to clone. If someone was releasing Tetris for the first
time in the current climate they would have the same problem.

------
alecsmart1
Can someone please enlighten me? The number one 2048 app in the iOS store is
by some company called Ketchapp. It looks pretty much the same (very similar).
Did they all clone the web version by the op? Has op released his own version
after a month? How does he expect to climb up the charts?

------
fallinghawks
Thanks for the post. I suspect the creator of Flappy Bird had similar feelings
of shock, worry, being overwhelmed, and the need to defend himself -- but was
unable to get to the point of reconciliation.

I thoroughly enjoyed 2048, played several variations, and even made one myself
with photos of raptors :)

------
junto
I've been playing the mobile web version daily since this hit HN. It is a
great little game for those times when you are standing in a queue or waiting
to see someone. Who cares who came up the idea first. Yours is very mobile
friendly. Credit goes to Gabriel for that.

------
md224
> Many of the people around me, however, didn’t feel the same. My friends and
> parents thought that my choice was honorable, but at the same time I was
> probably throwing away a chance that I would be unlikely to get a second
> time.

> A few days later, all of the issues I thought I had overcome crumbled back
> on me much harder than before. I had started to regret “wasting” this
> opportunity, and I felt as if the people around me were disappointed by my
> actions.

It can be really disorienting when our intuitions and convictions clash with
those of the people we listen to and trust. The cognitive dissonance can be so
great that we find ourselves desperately trying to reorient our perspective to
dissolve this conflict, as Gabriele manages to do:

> Thanks to the help of my parents and my friends, I realized that the only
> way to get over this without feeling like I had missed an opportunity would
> be to embrace it and produce an app. I wouldn’t be doing it for profit,
> though. In fact, that is not what matters to me. All that matters is knowing
> that I didn’t waste a chance, no matter if I’m going to succeed or fail.

This is not to say that Gabriele "sold out" or did the "wrong" thing. Rather,
"right" and "wrong" are concepts we assign to actions as we fit them into our
own patchwork of moral attitudes, and are probably more malleable than we'd
like to believe.

I was once faced with a very lucrative offer from a major tech company to work
on analytics for their popular ad engine. I was extremely conflicted about
this as I happen to dislike online advertising, and _especially_ search engine
marketing. To my horror, the majority of my friends and family encouraged me
to take the position despite my ethical qualms, as the benefit to my resume
would be enormous. Up until this point my own ethical intuitions had more or
less aligned with those of my peers, but suddenly I found myself alienated.
Was I stupid to pass up this opportunity, or were they wrong to tell me to
take it?

It was one of the most difficult decisions of my life, but I decided to turn
down the offer. It was liberating, in a sense; I came to realize my own
ethical agency and that I could choose for myself what "right" and "wrong"
meant. But it was also a lonely decision, one whose "rightness" was not shared
with those I cared about.

I'm not sure what my point is here, except to say that I'm glad Gabriele found
peace with his decisions. When you believe one thing and everyone else
believes another, it can be difficult to know whether to change your own
beliefs or not, especially when the content of those beliefs is something as
abstract as "right" and "wrong." In some sense, there is no right choice, only
the one you make.

------
embwbam
I just want to say I think you made the "right" choices along the way even if
they maybe weren't the most savvy financially. I hope you profit from your
app. It's hard to know what to do and stay motivated. Good luck!

------
armandososa
That was a good read, but I think that in the fear of losing an opportunity he
ended up blowing it entirely by releasing a PhoneGap app which is very slow
and unresponsive even when it's very well designed.

~~~
judk
Phonegap was more than competent for simple CSS slides/fades on the phones of
2010, when I published a game technically similar (wrt HTML+JS architecture)
to 2048. What went wrong on the meantime?

------
jmzbond
I find it interesting that this is the first I've heard of the original game.
Before now, I had only ever seen/ played the Doge version. Thinking about what
that says about me...

------
TheMagicHorsey
I prefer the original Threes game. But this is a cool game too.

------
davidgerard
Question: why does the app need "full network access"?

~~~
terabytest
Hey, Gabriele here. Nothing weird going on. It just uses it for Google
Analytics (the official library has a bug where it won't work unless it has
full network access on Android). Of course, there are also the ads, and they
also make network requests.

~~~
davidgerard
Cool. Installed!

------
chris_mahan
My son asked me yesterday if he could play 2048 on android. (I showed him the
js version on my computer)

I hope there is the option to tilt the phone to make the tiles slide...

------
dynamic
Great post. I don't know why you feel so hesitant--it's your design and
implementation that made the game a hit.

Looking forward to trying your app version.

------
justgetout
oh ok. since you have a blog entry mentioning Three's Dev open letter I think
you can keep stealing credits from their hard work.

------
cdoelling
Its good to have the story and perspective behind the evolution. An
interesting business lesson on the threat of fast followers.

------
munimkazia
It's a pity that phonegap apps don't perform nearly as well as a natively
written one, especially on older phones.

------
Larrikin
I downloaded it from the blog post but I find it sad I couldn't find it from
the Play store search

------
3lackRos3
Thanks to gabriel. 2048 made me interested in learning javascript. Forked and
had fun.

------
artursapek
Every week I see more people playing it on the subway in NYC. Congrats mate.

------
rikkus
Put a price on the app, I'll be happy to buy it to say thanks!

------
paromi
put a popunder ad on the game page (web), its not that anoying and you can
make like 200+$/day with 100k -150k visits /day. let me know if you need help
with setting up.

------
enterx
The whole 2^11 movement is fascinating.

There is a chance for world peace. ;)

------
stillsut
When you're 20 years old, and you get 20 million hits, you should have
something reallllly good that you're working on to justify not pursuing your
breakout hit.

------
markcrazyhorse
Very awesome game, i'm addicted to it.

------
jestinjoy1
Self plugging?

------
softvar
Awesome success story ! Inspiring !!

------
FilhoDaPuTa
I have been playing the 2048 for Android in the Top 1 of 2048 apps and now
tried this guy original. Well it sucks..

the original programmer 2048 is so slow and laggish in comparison it makes it
unplayable for who's coming from the other one. Visuals are also better.

~~~
FilhoDaPuTa
Why are you down voting an helpful critic to the programmer. Only praising
comments allowed ?

~~~
sergiotapia
Your username is kind of against the rules here. Maybe a mod can help you
change it?

------
melloclello
Good on you for staying cool man

------
jff
I can understand why but DAMN the article from the Threes! people comes off
really bitter.

------
grrrando
Well, we all have the opportunity to steal things in everyday life. But in the
human space outside of the twilight zone we call "HN", there are laws that
keep people from profiting from stolen material. Unfortunately, you're enabled
by the app stores and their allowance this type of theft. Calling it an
opportunity doesn't mean you should take it.

You already had the gift of recognition, even for something that wasn't truly
your own creation. Did it need to be milked further, or could you have moved
on and created another game, riding your reputation? That's a big "if", but it
would have been the right thing to do.

~~~
DanBC
Stolen? Come off it. Games have a long history of being cloned and improved
on.

~~~
grrrando
Agreed, but I'd argue that the only "improvement" 2048 made over Threes! was
its pricetag.

~~~
TallGuyShort
I disagree - I can't stand the look of Threes, or the inconsistency in the
first couple of stages of arithmetic.

~~~
jamiltron
But that's what makes Threes superior, for me - the needing to add 1 and 2,
and the fact that they don't match each other makes for a more difficult game
that requires much more thought. The fact that you can make matches with the
basic tile that has the highest percentage of popping on the board every moves
means that there are less consequences to not making the optimal move each
turn.

That's just my opinion of course, but 2048 seems annoyingly easy - so much so
that the up right down left repeat strategy is very valid to score a somewhat
decent score when compared to some players.

