Splashy Fish Creator

Ever since Flappy Bird was taken off App Stores, a plethora of the game's clones have aspired to fill the massive void that it left.

One of the most successfull contenders happens to be Spalshy Fish by Massimo Guareschi, which was the top iTunes Free App last week. The game has now taken second place after another clone, Flying Cyrus. took its place.

IBTimes UK sat down with Guareschi to learn more about the developer's experience with Splashy Fish. He also opened up about upcoming projects from redBit Games.

App stores are filled with millions of Flappy Bird clones, what sets Splashy Fish apart? Why do you think it's so popular?

We tried to focus our attention to little peculiarities. In fact, we added many features that our players appreciated. We added five trophies to make the game more challenging and to personalise the fish, we used appealing sound effects. I remind you that other cool updates have still to come.

What do you think is better, your game or Flappy Bird?

In my case, I am totally focussed on Splashy Fish. I did not have the time to play Flappy Bird at all before it was removed from the App Store

How long did it take for you to make Splashy Bird?

Three people have been working full-time for three days

Flappy Bird created a new genre, one that is getting more attention than main stream video games.

These games are easy to play and more accessible to everybody. During their daily routine, people don't have much time for video-games. These kind of games can be played everywhere, for 2 or 5 minutes on the bus, or queuing at the Post Office. And since they come free, everybody can download them and have fun.

Many critics have said that developers are simply ripping off Flappy Bird to make a quick buck. What is your response to these kinds of allegations?

I think that in the field of video-games, everybody takes inspiration from somebody else. Flappy Bird has obviously been a good inspiration but, as a matter of fact, the game was born from my nephews' idea. They were playing the game and used to ask me for better features in order to improve the game. That's where the idea of Splashy Fish comes from.

How long did it take for your app to shoot to the top of the app store?

It was launched on the February 11 midnight PST and in about 15 hours, it became number one in the Apple Store

How many people have downloaded the game so far?

About 20 million people

How much revenue does your game make every day?

Splashy Fish's popularity was a bit above our expectations but we have to say that its revenue is in line with the income of our company redBit games, which is growing very quickly.

How many people play the game every day? How many times is it played?

About 250 million games per day; Between 5 and 10 million people per day.

Do you hope to work on more games from this genre?

We've been working on a similar game, which will be released very soon in the App Stores. We are enjoying a lot working on it.

What are you and your company bringing out next?

We have many projects for the future. In a few days, we will release a game of the same genre of Splashy Fish. Also, we are working on Haunted Manor 2, which is a graphic 3D adventure. We are also preparing a music game and many other games are in our plans. redBit games is definitely working hard in this period.

If not for Splashy Fish, what's your favorite Flappy Bird clone?

To be honest, I would like to see the original Flappy Bird back in the App Store.

What's your Splashy Fish high score?

81

Hundreds of our readers are wondering if splashy Fish has cheats. Does it?

Every time we make a game, somebody finds a way to cheat but this is not our intention. We would like to encourage players to play without cheating and to improve their skills only using their strengths.