Dave Cook, president of Zipwhaa Inc. and creator of Heebie Jeebies, comments on Scott Thorne's recent column covering ACD Game Day and referring to Heebie Jeebies as a clone of Cards Against Humanity (see "Rolling for Initiative--Knockoffs and Licenses at ACD Games Day").
Though I really do appreciate the publicity for the game, I have to say that I'm very disappointed with the tone that the article took. Specifically it targeted us as a clone or knockoff of Cards Against Humanity. The problem I have is that Scott never bothered to even ask me a single question about the game when he played it. If he had, then he would have found out that we actually created the game in 2008, which is two years before Cards Against Humanity did their Kickstarter to release their game. We're just a small publisher that hasn't been able to raise the funds to actually publish until now. I personally have never played Cards Against Humanity specifically so I wouldn't accidentally borrow any of the mechanics or ideas in that game.
Some of the best innovations in the game industry come from small press companies and the energy and cost to bring those games to the public are challenging. One strong misrepresentation of a game can bury it before it's ever released. With that in mind, my request to you would be to at least try to talk to the publishers before an article is written that can harm their products. I would have appreciated the opportunity to tell the story behind the game so that a fair description of the game could have been written.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
'Appreciate the Publicity… Disappointed with the Tone'
Posted by ICv2 on May 28, 2014 @ 1:51 am CT