Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Pillow Fight--it's not just about a game

Pillow fight! Sounds like a sweet childhood memory. I remembered how happy my sister and I were when we threw pillows at each other before sleeping time. (seems I really miss my families now~haha~).

However, as I began to play the game, it really disappointed me! Exactly as what Shannon had said, the design, the user interface are indeed ugly. Popup advertising windows all over the place are quite annoying. I believe I would never step into this application again if I haven't been analysing it.


Yet,when considering another aspect of "Pillow Fight", I am impressed by it. What on earth is that amazing aspect, which makes me ignore all those ugly stuff? Do you still remember what Shannon mensioned in her slides, "1 developer"!! That's the whole point. Should it be me, can I do as well as she does?


Here, I am not refering to the technology ability. I am refering to the perseverance of making an idea become a real thing. No matter how wonderful or how bad the thing is, at least she makes her idea happen! Her name is Shikha Chhatpar! I believe there is not only Shikha who have their own ideas, however, indeed how many people make their ideas work out? 


It's said that ideas are cheap. In fact, ideas are not cheap at all. Ideas are the beginning of every wonderful possibility. Then why is people always insisting that ideas are cheap? Ideas should not stay still in the form of ideas, they should become alive. It is always difficult to implement an idea, difficulties come along with us when we want to do something. That's the moment we should persist on. Yes, you may say all what I have said are obvious and you may have heard them from many other places, however, it is always these trivial things make us worthy.


It is not just about a game, it is what begins the game is important. I need to be persistent and I know my passion will keep me holding on!

12 comments:

  1. sounds interesting. I know you've put a lot of effort and time in this module but as you said, it is worth it. I am proud of you, sister.

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  2. Ideas are cheap if they don't become a reality! So we must make sure that our ideas materialize as you have said! After having a great idea and materializing it, I think there is still one more step! We need to protect our ideas so that our applications or inventions (the fruits of our hardwork)don't get imitated easily. It will be so disheartening to come out with a great and noble idea and then get copied by someone else who goes on to enjoy the success with our idea.

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  3. I'm not too sure how we can "protect our ideas" in this case. Cuz apparently companies like Zynga can just take your idea and remake the game and be more popular than you.... HOW?

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  4. "Ideas are the beginning of every wonderful possibility."
    I agree on that, but the truth is there are so many wonderful ideas floating in the air which we may not realize until someone really works it out. on the other hand, people may have same idea but they can implement it in different ways and the results turn out to be totally different:) Idea is expensive, but may be cheaper than good execution.

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  5. Ideas can be protected if you make the idea a reality. Although Zynga did copy ideas from other places, they did get sued, and people still get compensation.

    If your idea is really that great and you think a out-of-court settlement with only monetary compensation is not enough, you can proceed on with court and you may even get an injuction to stop other companies from using your idea! But do you actually have the power or influence to make your app as successful?

    Take restaurant city for example.. If Cafe World didn't step in, do you think it restaurant city can still capture as big a share as Cafe world? I don't think so.

    - Hong Jun

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  6. oh there's such a thing called "injuction" huh? Was there any prior successful case for gaming ideas?

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  7. @Joshua: Actually as long as the idea is developed and becomes tangible, you will get copyright from it. So you can seek injunction if people copy your program. This is what I learnt in CS4259 though.. Haha..

    But a real world case.. Gaming case I don't know.. But you know the case about MS office and i4i about their patented xml technology? I think that would be a good example..

    - Hong Jun

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  8. A sound idea requires excellent execution (esp. technology & marketing aspects) to achieve success. While she may be the only developer for the game, I believe she must have had a supportive network that had helped to spread words about her app when she first launched it.

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  9. hmm...look at it this way, farm wars was the first farm game at that time. They had their loyal fan base even with farm ville out there. I guess the most important thing it to make sure your first one is solid and strong. Though others may copy from you, you do have your fan base already, the rest from there on is to keep improving and use your heart in it because trust me when i say you can feel the love in it it might be sappy but sometimes it's really obvious when someone doesn't put in effort and when one does:)

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  10. @WiRuS I see, copyright auto-apply. But no I haven't heard anything about MS office and i4i, so what happened to them in the end?

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  11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jan/12/microsoft-word-i4i-injunction

    check this out..

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  12. Hi there, Thanks for this lovely article! I'm Shikha Chhatpar and just randomly stumbled upon your article today. Following our inner passion and doing what we love is something we all should do and that's what I did with Pillow Fight. We should connect over Facebook or LinkedIn. I would love to know about your projects too!
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shikhac
    LinkedIn: http://in.linkedin.com/in/shikhachhatpar
    Best Regards, - Shikha.

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