The "father" of Flappy Bird: An influential figure in the global gaming industry in 2014.

After releasing the hugely successful Flappy Bird, Nguyen Ha Dong became the focus of attention for the global technology community in general and the game development industry in particular. As 2014 drew to a close, many leading technology and gaming websites included Ha Dong in their lists of the most influential events and figures of the year.

Ha Dong attended the Wired BizCon event in the US in May 2014 (Source: Zimbio)

This website is operated by UBM TechWeb, serving as the online sister publication of Game Developer magazine. The ranking of the top 10 game developers is also one of the site's most important annual lists.

To compile the list, the editors of Gamasutra had to carefully consider and weigh their options until they selected the 10 most deserving individuals. Those included in the list weren't necessarily the creators of the best games of the year, although this had a significant impact.

Individuals included on the list may also be developers and companies that have made a significant impact this year, through meaningful ways and by helping to shape the video game development community.

This year's Gamasutra list features many illustrious names. These include: Bungie, the studio behind the Halo series, Master Chief, and this year's hit game Destiny; Coffee Stain Studios, the creator of the controversial and attention-grabbing Goat Simulator; Facepunch Studios, the company behind games that encourage player creativity like Garry's Mod and Rust, with millions of copies sold; Inkle, the company behind a diverse and addictive word puzzle game; and Mojang, the creator of the blockbuster Minecraft.

Also included on this list are Laralyn McWilliams, the creative director at Workshop Entertainment, who speaks out in defense of feminism and women's creativity in the game development industry; Masahiro Sakurai and Sora Ltd, the force behind Nintendo's fun, popular, and highly innovative fighting games; Vlambeer, a company that not only produces noteworthy games but also commits to supporting other game developers and building a healthy game development community; and Adriel Wallick, who hosted the most inspiring and creative game development event of 2014, Train Jam.

Ha Dong's entry into Gamasutra's ranking, reaching 7th place, is clearly due to the influence of Flappy Bird, but that's not all. According to the website, the simple, nostalgic game structure and its "brutally" difficult nature have always been hallmarks of the independent game development community since its inception. But when Ha Dong introduced the addictive and hugely popular Flappy Bird, these very elements were used to criticize him.

Gamasutra argues that Ha Dong's case provided much-needed reflection for the game development community and brought this shy individual to the center of public attention. Ha Dong's decision to withdraw Flappy Bird stemmed from pressure exerted by the "gaming community," alongside concerns that the game might harm them.

Gamasutra viewed Flappy Bird as a reminder that a change in game development thinking is needed. It also fueled discussions about the frustration and misery of playing difficult games, as well as the downsides of "participatory culture" (a concept referring to people's active involvement in all aspects of social life), among other issues.

Besides Gamasutra, Ha Dong also appeared in the ranking of the 7 most notable mobile games and developers of the year on gamezebo.com.

Accordingly, Ha Dong's Flappy Bird has joined the ranks of games like Super Evil Megacorp and Hipster Whale. He stands alongside studios like Beavl Games, which created Kapsula; Little Worlds Interactive, with Counting Kingdom; mi-clos, with Space Disoder; and developer Vitaliy Zlotskiy, who created Pair Solitaire.

Gamezebo lavished these kind words on Ha Dong: “If you think adding Ha Dong to the list of the most outstanding new talents of 2014 seems a bit excessive, then you clearly haven’t seen enough. Love it or hate it, Flappy Bird changed the way we look at mobile games this year. This change happened thanks to this quiet, independent game developer, who was completely unprepared for the success that followed the game.”

It's worth noting that Flappy Bird wasn't released in 2014, but actually in May 2013. It needed a combination of Reddit's love, YouTube's praise, and a secret ingredient that everyone was still searching for to suddenly capture everyone's attention this year.

After Flappy Bird became a sensation, we saw many people copy the "tap to fly" game mechanism. There were even parodies and adaptations of the game in all sorts of ways, making it popular everywhere in 2014.

But these words aren't about Flappy Bird, they're about Ha Dong. This is a game developer with quite a few simplified games like Flappy Bird. Later, Ha Dong released Swing Copters, and it failed to replicate Flappy Bird's success. But honestly, what could possibly replicate that success? We're now eagerly awaiting to see what Ha Dong will aim for in 2015.”

According to Vietnam+