[Game] Ninja-Jump! released for iPhone

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[Game] Ninja-Jump! released for iPhone

(13 posts) (7 voices)

Started 1 year ago by kalx
Latest reply from kalx

Tags:

game release ninja jump jahkou iphone

kalx
Member

After a lot of work, we've finally released our new iPhone game, Ninja-Jump! The app is based on Cocos2d and we'd like to express our thanks to Riq and the rest of the community for all their efforts toward this great framework.

Started development on this game almost a year ago and worked on it during my free time. It's a vertical scroller like doodle-jump with more items and bosses/mini-games along the way. Episode 1 features the Shaolin Panda boss (see description). We'll be updating the game with new mini-games and features as time goes on.

Description:
In the back of your mind, you've always had one goal in life. When you told your friends or family, they would just laugh and lulz at you and tell you you would never be able to do it.

Solve world hunger? NO!
Cure the common cold? NO!
Become rich and famous? NO!

You've always aspired to become one thing....
The Ultimate Shinobi NINJA!

Test your ninjutsu skills with Ninja-Jump! Jump from platform to platform and see how high you can make it. But be careful, a ninja's every move must be precise. Make the wrong move and you might end up missing your landing. Different platforms will challenge you along the way. Take a risk and grab an item box - you might receive a helping hand, or you may make your journey even more difficult. Online highscores will let you remain competitive with your friends, and the rest of the world.

Reaching new heights won't be your only challenge. You'll face other challenges along the way:
- Chapter 1: Shaolin Panda (included)
- Chapter 2: Invaders from Planet Arktron (future update)
- Chapter 3: You decide! (future update)
and hopefully many more!
A poll will be on the app website soon for YOU, the players, to decide what challenges to add next to the game!

Screenshots (Click to see bigger ones):

------------------------------
Game website: http://www.jahkou.com/products/ninjajump

Here's 5 promo codes:
3PK9HJMAAF97
KAMWNFJXX6AR
RNKY4Y7XNLXH
TXEY3LHFN3KF
WP7NALPT9F6P

In addition, the first 10 people to reply to the thread and request a promo code will receive one as well!

If anyone uses a promo code, we'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a review on iTunes with your thoughts. Please feel free to post back any and all feedback you may have (whether positive or negative) to this thread as well. All feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

- kalx

Posted 1 year ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

Can't go wrong with a ninja ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
kalx
Member

You can find the game on iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ninja-jump/id400871440

Sorry for the large screenshots in the post, thought the forum supported height/width tags but it didn't, and then I got marked as spam so I couldn't edit or reply for a while ;p

- kalx

Posted 1 year ago #
willevansapps
Member

Having just noticed your app for sale, I have notified Apple immediately that this is a clear breach of my copyright of my application Ninja Jump which has been for sale on the App Store since 10th June 2010. I have requested that they remove the app immediately from sale to prevent me having to take further action against you.

Posted 1 year ago #
Vabu
Member

@willevansapps,

While I'm no lawyer, his game does have a few "features" or "similarities" that yours has (The name .. the stars - even then they are not exactly the same) ) how does his game breach your copy write if you don't mind me asking? This is a legit question I haven't played either game.

-Vabu

Posted 1 year ago #
willevansapps
Member

For one the name is almost exactly the same apart from he adds an ! On the end. The Ninja is very similar and the starry theme is similar.

Posted 1 year ago #
Vabu
Member

@willevansapps,

Maybe I can't see it but your game: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ninja-jump/id368422945?mt=8 .... the ninja doesn't look anything alike, maybe it's just me :/.

However if you feel this is the case I hope things work out for you either way.

Good luck.

Posted 1 year ago #
willevansapps
Member

The Ninjas are similar if you look at the icon. I haven't got round to updating the screenshots.

Posted 1 year ago #
Dragyn
Member

A couple of points:

I don't believe a TITLE can be copyrighted. If it is, then BOTH apps are in clear violation of not only the copyright bouncy house manufacturer "Ninja Jump", but also prior games with the same title, like this one, released on 2009: http://www.freegaming.de/onlinegames/Jump-and-Run-|-Platform-Games/Ninja-Jump.html

Elements of titles can be trademarked, but with a name like that, you would be hard pressed to win, as it has already been in common use in quite a number of uses, including software titles.

If you are claiming game mechanics, then you must not have heard of Doodle Jump?

Posted 1 year ago #
Benihana
Member

This is an issue you should be discussing with him directly, not via a thread on these forums.

However, I think you'll find you don't have any ground to stand on. It is insufficient to claim that they are similar because they have stars and an illustrated stylized ninja. You don't own the image of all illustrated stylized ninjas (whereas a mouse with red shorts, white gloves and yellow shoes is almost certainly owned). You definitely don't own a "copyright" to the title, as titles can only be trademarked. And you don't own copyright on the mechanics, because even if you had filed them, he could overturn that filing by proving prior art.

I am curious to see what Apple does. It's not really their business to be taking down games based on the claims of this group or that, but it DOES tend to happen in the real world because they don't want to get mixed up in legal battles.

Here are some links for your edification:

http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/copyright/newgames.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work

Posted 1 year ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

@willevansapps You've still got a ******FREE PERIOD HAS BEEN EXTENDED TILL FRIDAY!****** message up even though the game has gone back to paid.

Posted 1 year ago #
LoRdAcId
Member

@willevansapps: I can understand why you would be concerned about this, I would be too. But you cannot copyright the name of a game. Also, if you want to be on top of copyright infringement, you should be careful Infinity Ward doesn't get wind of your Modern Warfare 2 app which uses their in game sounds that all have licenses owned by them. Unfortunately you can't put 1 sentence in your about screen to avoid copyright and license infringement.

I also want to mention I am a developer at Jahkou. Good luck!

Posted 1 year ago #
kalx
Member

@Willevansapp, I sent you a PM earlier today over on TouchArcade where you replied to one of my game announcement threads, did you receive it?

@All
Thought I would discuss this privately with the other developer but since there seems to be a public discussion here, I feel I should put my two cents in.

1. No part of this game is based on Willevansapps' app whatsoever. I do not own his app and didn't even know about it until recently after I had already pushed out my app to Apple for release. Our vertical scroller concept was originally inspired by DoodleJump (obviously), but we tried to differentiate ourselves with features like items, bosses, and minigames. During the course of our slow development, numerous other vertical scrollers were released, some even with the same features we were adding, making the idea of us releasing yet another one to the market seem not even worth the trouble. However, by the time all our episode/chapter updates are pushed out, we'll have a very large, fun, and unique game - and that's what we're hoping will push us over our competition.

2. I've been working on this app for a little more than a year in my spare time with a buddy of mine. It appears our app names collided with Willevansapp' app on the store. I should have checked more thoroughly but after so much time had passed, I was just trying to get our app out the door. I do not want users to mistake the two apps, See #3

3. While I question the legality behind a *trademark* claim (Names are not protected by *copyright*, at least in the USA) on this app name, I've already expressed to Willevansapp via PM that in the interest of preventing confusion amongst users, I would change our app's name to "The Dojo: Ninja-Jump", with The Dojo being the primary name. We happened to have a priority bug fix update [fixes idle screem dim] pending with Apple, so the iTunes app name will change as soon as Apple approves that update. I also mentioned to Willevansapp in my PM that another future update would make minor changes to our game's title screen graphics.

Adressing Willevansapps' comment:
"For one the name is almost exactly the same apart from he adds an ! On the end. The Ninja is very similar and the starry theme is similar."

"For one the name is almost exactly the same":
I believe I've already addressed the app naming issue above.

"The Ninja is very similar":
With regards to the ninja being "very similar", I just looked at Willevansapps' screenshots and honestly don't know how the two can even be considered close. But to erase any feasible doubts that I somehow based mine off his --> I created my own Ninja in Photoshop/Illustrator based on an online tutorial. See Illustrator Tutorial - Create a Gang of Vector Ninjas. I believe that puts that issue to rest.

"and the starry theme is similar":
This was one of my first cool ideas for our app. My background actually *transitions* as the ninja jumps higher and higher. The "starry theme" is merely coincidence. We start with a ground background, and as you get higher it becomes the sky which gets darker and darker, and naturally turns into a night sky. The night sky graphics used here are from a public domain collection. I plan on making these background transitions far more detailed and fun with each update.

I believe I addressed all of the concerns that were brought up in the thread, and I hope that puts this whole mess to rest. =)

@Willevansapps - I hope this post cleared things up with you and I would really appreciate it if you would stop replying to all my game announcement threads with your copyright message. We can continue dialogue privately via Private Message or email ( jahkou@gmail.com ). We are now in touch with each other so the proper way to go about this is to continue this discussion in private.

Thanks,
kalx

Posted 1 year ago #

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