BlockShift dev comments on controversy, regrets, more
The Android title BlockShift popped up on Google Play a few days ago, and it wasn’t long before the game received a great deal of attention for its similarities to Pushmo.
Developer Stephen Walther has since commented on his game, speaking about its similarities to Nintendo’s eShop release, his regrets, and more.
Take a look at what Walther had to say below.
Walther first acknowledged that he was “in the wrong” since it “was way to close to Pushmo.” However, he says that he originally had plans to add in different forms of gameplay:
“I will let you know that I do believe I am in the wrong. BlockShift in the form that it was released was way to close to Pushmo. The game that I release was not the game that I intended to finish with. I had planned to change the goal around and many more dynamics, but I wanted to upload that so more of my friends (who cannot sideload my apk builds) could try it out.”
Walther has admitted that BlockShift’s similarities to Pushmo came as a “huge mistake”. This was amplified by the game’s description, which did not mention Pushmo or its other inspiration, Catherine. Although this was later corrected, the description was modified after BlockShift started to receive backlash.
Speaking about BlockShift’s QR code support, another feature Nintendo fans will remember from Pushmo, Walther stated:
“Now the biggest knock against me at all is the 100% Pushmo support and QR codes. I mainly implemented this on my friends behalf (who also own and love Pushmo) so they could import their levels easier and test bugs and new block types or game elements. It didn’t even dawn on me how much anger this would cause. In my incredible lack of ‘success’ in any way shape or form I did not know what to expect when anyone from the general public would acknowledge what I did, It was an absolute foreign concept to me and I’m glad this ordeal opened my eyes and will hopefully make me a much better developer!”
BlockShift has now been removed from Google Play, bringing this “saga” to an end for now. Overall, Walther is “not displeased with everything that’s happened”:
“Overall I’m not displeased with everything that’s happened. Although I still think BlockShift was not necessarily legally wrong, if I know people are going to be interested in it I would prefer it to be more unique. I’m glad I was able to make a game that did not go unnoticed. My lack of experience simply got the best of me, but everything that has happened has helped me significantly. Hopefully what I make in the future can be loved by anyone because everything about making and playing games is incredible.”
Thanks to Kevin for the tip.
