Complexity of Clonegate underlined as Temple Jump pulled from App Store but Tiny Tower-inspired Pixel Story remains

One theme has dominated this week in terms of App Store news - the alleged copying of games; typically with small indies pointing out the similarity of games from larger outfits.

That's not the only level of cloning, however, with the longterm use of similar names and icons something that's bedevilled the ecosystem for as long as it's been live.

Just take a look at how many are out there with the words 'Angry' or 'Birds' in the title, for example

That was the complaint from Temple Run developer Imangi when Temple Jump was released and quickly zoomed up the paid charts, hitting #3 in the US.

Significantly, the gameplay was totally different, although with no screenshots listed on the App Store, users wouldn't know it.

Indeed, as well as the name, the icon looked suspiciously similar too.

Temple Jump icon (left) Temple Run icon (right)

Still, there is a happy ending to this story, with Temple Jump being removed from the App Store complaints.

Presumably the developer will be allowed to resubmit the game using a different icon and tweaked title.

Although, considering Anton Sinelnikov is also behind games such as Plants vs Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds, and Sexual Offenders HD, we'll suggest that's unlikely.

[Update: It since appears that Apple has taken down a number of his other 'confusing' titles.]

The case of Pixel Story is more complex, however.

There's nothing in the description or title to suggest it's directly inspired by NimbleBit's Tiny Tower - a game already fingered as inspiration for Zynga's Dream Heights.

Yet a comparison of screenshots suggests otherwise, albeit it with a conceptual twist, including an undead theme and the building of a tower reversed into the building of an underground tower.