Flappy Bird, and the other apps made by the same developer, are perfectly tuned single mechanism games.
These are not new. Nintendo Game&Watch games were very simple and could keep people playing for hours. Mario Party (in all its many versions) featured similar micro games.
People love the idea of a game that has almost zero controls, with perfect tuning, and a simple to share high score.
Flappy Bird is also hard - I am hopeless at it. I love it for exactly that reason. I'm not great at games so if I can power through some levels I know the devs have just stuffed some easy content in there.
The problem now is in finding these apps. The tuning is tricky to do. The market will be flooded with poor quality clones. It'd be really tempting to allow IAP power ups - "hit one pipe without dying!"
These are not new. Nintendo Game&Watch games were very simple and could keep people playing for hours. Mario Party (in all its many versions) featured similar micro games.
People love the idea of a game that has almost zero controls, with perfect tuning, and a simple to share high score.
Flappy Bird is also hard - I am hopeless at it. I love it for exactly that reason. I'm not great at games so if I can power through some levels I know the devs have just stuffed some easy content in there.
The problem now is in finding these apps. The tuning is tricky to do. The market will be flooded with poor quality clones. It'd be really tempting to allow IAP power ups - "hit one pipe without dying!"