Just when you thought the furore over Flappy Bird had gone, its creator Dong Nguyen has shown off his latest creation, Swing Copters, which makes an annoying game even more annoying.
After taking the world by storm earlier this year for creating a game that was both equally frustrating and addictive, the game designer went into hiding and removed Flappy Bird from stores, despite earning a reported US$50,000 a day in advertising.
Now his Swing Copters has been showcased on Touch Arcade. The game appears to have advanced little in design but plenty in increasing the player’s frustration.
In Swing Copters, the player has to tap the screen repetitively and navigate a character with a propeller on its head through a vertical obstacle course while avoiding swinging hammers.
The video of the game released on the Touch Arcade site shows all the trademarks of a game designed to keep players tapping for hours but shows little in the way of technical improvements over its flappy predecessor.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Nguyen said he wasn’t capable of dealing with the sudden fame arising from Flappy Bird and talked about being harassed by paparazzi and journalists while deflecting allegations that he was a con-artist.
Swing Copters is due for release this Thursday, 21 August, for free, or for US$0.99 for an ad-free version.