Proficient Paddles is a Unity Asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Inflamed Games, took the [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/11040]Block Breaker Template[/url] Block Breaker Template Unity Store tutorial/demo/game asset pack from the real developers, Daniel Buckley, changed the name, and dumped the result onto Steam. In fairness, some changes were made to the game template, removing most of the gameplay to create a simple "Pong" ripoff. I don't think intention of asset packs like Daniels is to make games that are objectively worse than the template itself, but here we are.
The products that result from asset flips aren't "real" games. They lack depth and content, because they're just simplistic copies of demos or tutorials. In this case, "Block Breaker Template" is just a simple game template to demonstrate to learning developers how to make a Breakout/Pong game, and doesn't have any merit as a proper, fully fledged PC game, so a copy+paste of it can't be recommended.
Asset flips don't involve any professional game development. Sure, sometimes they may change a few cosmetic things, swap out different assets etc, but at heart it's functionally identical to the asset they're ripping off.
Asset flips like this are harmful to the gaming industry and to Steam because they reduce the visibility that sincerely made indie games should have, and make it harder for gamers to find real games from genuine developers.
While this is now free, Inflamed Games were selling this for money, it's unclear how much they were motivated by the intention to profit from asset flipping and plagiarising the work of others, but the fact is they did, and that's unacceptable.
[quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Response![/url][/quote]
The developer has weighed in to inform everyone they didn't read the [url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Usage Rules[/url] for Steam "partners", or they deliberately ignored the part where Valve says:
[quote]Though it may be tempting, not every review needs to be responded to. A developer response will frequently draw more attention than the original statement, potentially turning a small issue into a much larger community discussion. It's also not a good idea to use this feature to refute customer opinions. Your direct attention can be seen as validation or a defensive attempt to silence your customers.[/quote]
The developer swears black and blue they're not using Unity Asset Store packs in this game. Unfortunately for the developer, they didn't seem to learn that we can open up the Assembly-Csharp.dll using various tools and examine the assets used in creating the game.
Assets, in this case, which include Daniel Buckley's Block Breaker Template Unity store asset. Oops, caught red handed lying.
It's unclear why the developer needed to be dishonest and mislead gamers, making threats and so on. I already mentioned clearly that the developer had changed around the template so it doesn't resemble Daniel Buckley's work very closely.
Why the developer chose to burn their brand and reputation by deliberately lying about easily proven facts is unclear to me, but then, reviews aren't about developers, no matter how dishonest or unethical they might be. All that matters is the game, and in the case of Proficient Panels, this is a simple Pong rippoff flipped from someone else's Unity code, and doesn't have any merit or interest for gamers, so I can't recommend it.
Nothing in the developers blustery lies and threats alters the proven facts about this game. My review stands unaltered.
