I haven't played the game yet, and hate to be rash, but isn't this a complete rip-off of Tontie?

http://www.eyezmaze.com/tontie/v1/index.html

yes, mentioned in the review as well. :)

... that's what I get for being rash.

Now that I've had a chance to play it, I can honestly advise that there is no reason to buy this game for $20 when Tontie is kicking around for free.

Should this be a matter of ON being flattered, or is there reason to raise a stink over a fairly prominent figure in the scene being ripped off?

my fault really, i should have mentioned Tontie. :)

Guys, you are so completely mistaken, I honestly don't know where to begin. There is a good deal more to Hammer Heads, and I find it sad that you haven't picked up on that. For starters, it has a completely different control method, and feel, than Tontie. Its keypad control is Tontie's greatest feature, which I have completely replaced by mouse control in Hammer Heads (and that took a lot more experimentation and tweaking than you would probably expect). As a result, Tontie's best game play element, the number-diverting creature, is not used at all in Hammer Heads. Tontie is also a less casual and more nerve-wracking game (not always in a good way - the difficulty ramp is badly off-balance) than Hammer Heads is.

However great it is, Tontie would not stand a chance of getting distributed in the places that Hammer Heads is. It just does not have the same level of polish and attention to detail. It is a fine Flash game (now about three years old, I guess) in a category of its own, but I think Hammer Heads is clearly better for the public that it was written (not you, possibly) in many ways.

Both are whack-a-mole games, but I have put thousands of hours into developing Hammer Heads, and to see its innovations (not just in game-play and concept, but also in graphics and sound) dismissed so readily is sad. I accept Tontie was there three years before Hammer Heads, but I don't see 'The Sopranos' getting poohed away because 'The Godfather' already provided us with all the mafia entertainment we need. The Eyemaze guy does not own the patent on whack-a-mole.

In the end though, I wonder if you realize what goes into creating a successful game. It is not the grand concept that makes a great game, it is the hundreds of small decisions that the developers make, day in day out. And the fact is that I developed Hammer Heads as a light gun game for the casual crowd, cleverly disguised to look like a non-threatening game of whack-a-mole. Yes, it is a cute version of 'House of the Dead' - just don't tell anyone.

I apologize for turning this into a long rant, but I think it is an important stand to make. If you expect every indie game to be a new Katamari Damacy, you will get sorely disappointed. Looking at your other reviews, I guess you are just great fans of Eyemaze and want the world to recognize his greatness, which I can't blame you for.

Luc Van den Borre (luc@nuclide.com)