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'Flappy Bird' creator says he's considering bringing his game back

'Flappy Bird' creator says he's considering bringing his game back

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It's been just over a month since the creator of the surprisingly popular and exceedingly frustrating mobile game Flappy Bird pulled his creation from the App Store and Google Play. He's kept a fairly low profile since, but Dong Nguyen broke his silence in a big way in a just-published feature interview with Rolling Stone. In the profile, Nguyen reveals that he's "considering" bringing Flappy Bird back, despite the overwhelming crush of attention, criticism, and even threats that the game originally brought him. However, if he does bring the game back, Nguyen says it'll come with a warning imploring players to take a break; last month, the developer said that the game's addictive qualities were a big part of why he took the game down.

Beyond the tease of a Flappy Bird return, Nguyen also talked extensively about the inspiration for his game and how the culture of his home city of Hanoi influenced the game's simple mechanics. Citizens rush through the city, eyes trained on their phones — and thus the simple "tap" control made a lot of sense to Nguyen. And as for the low scores that plague most players, Nguyen apparently was influenced by "one of the most masocore analog creations ever: paddleball." For the whole story on Nguyen and 2014's surprise breakout hit, read on at Rolling Stone.