Falling Balls and Tangerine Panic
I’ve noticed a few comments on the iTunes App Store mentioning the similarity between my game, Falling Balls, and another game you’ll find around the net called Tangerine Panic.
True, the resemblance is remarkable. And Tangerine Panic was done at least a couple of years ago. So, did I rip it off?
Actually, if anything, it’s the other way around. Tangerine Panic was based on an experiment I did on bit-101.com back on October 26, 2001. In fact, you can still see it in the old lab:
https://www.bit-101.com/blog/?page_id=1164
Or, hell, go right to the SWF: https://www.bit-101.com/content/011026.swf
Or even the FLA: https://www.bit-101.com/flafiles/011026.fla
A couple years back, someone made a Facebook App based on that old experiment. Tangerine Panic:
https://apps.facebook.com/tangerine-panic/about.php
As you can see, they changed the spiky things to orange balls and added in some dialog. The stick figure is EXACTLY the same.
Someone clued me in to this game, I checked it out and contacted the creator and I am now credited on the Facebook app about page.
So there you go. I didn’t make a dime off the original experiment, and haven’t made a cent off of Falling Balls. Tangerine Panic is syndicated on a dozen game portals. I’m not saying they got rich with it, but they made infinitely more than I ever did, and I’m not credited on any of those sites, even the creator’s home page. Just on the Facebook app page. I don’t have a big problem with that. Just want to set the record straight in case anyone thought I did something funky there.