Topic: iOS Gaming Thread

[idolminds]

Wolfenstein 3D is free today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the games original release.

[Quemaqua]

Even for free I'm not sure I care.

[idolminds]

Feed Me Oil is free!

[idolminds]

MotoHeroz is another freebie. This is by the makers of the Trials games and seems to have similar gameplay. But its monster trucks, not those pussy dirtbikes.

[idolminds]

Oh! Cube launched with a special 99 cent price. It's Picross3D for iOS.

[idolminds]

Ticket to Ride Pocket is free again! If you didn't grab it last time, do so now.

[idolminds]

[idolminds]

Dungeon Crawlers just went free. Turn-based tactical dungeon crawling? Well sure, twist my arm why dont you?

Ouch, those reviews are...not good. Perhaps I will pass.

[idolminds]

The Because We May sale is starting up and prices are dropping. Rebuild is 99 cents, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration) is $1.99, etc. Not all prices have updated yet but you can check the ones you're interested in.

[gpw11]

Hey motherfuckers, I just bought an ipod Touch. Jump to the last line at the bottom (in bold), if you don't give a fuck about my thoughts regarding doing this. The rest of you: Why?  Well, I just signed onto a three year corporate cellphone contract.  The rate is off the hook, but the promotional deals to sign up are pretty great as well.  I ended up getting a $180 bill credit and $100 gift certificate to Futureshop/Best Buy. I needed to buy a new ipod since I deep sixed my older gen nano in a washing machine, and had been holding off because, well, the new nanos fucking suck.  Sure, small is one thing, but a touchscreen that small?  Go fuck yourself (It actually may have been find now that I think about it). 

So, I decided to buy an ipod touch instead.  Because it's 2012 and I may have some sort of iOS device (also facetime, which is just easier than skype sometimes).  Interestingly, I also bought a $20 case/armband (my main use for this is running/nike+.  Runtracker is sweet, but I kind of like having a device dedicated to just running rather than using my phone for it.  And hell, I can still use runtracker on my phone and just use this for whatever), and case + ipod came to $140 after taking the $100 off.  Shit seems steep, but that's about what I would have dropped on a Nano anyways, so whatever (although the storage is the same)

All that aside, what the fuck do I need to download for free that's a.) Usefull.  and B.) Fun? 

[idolminds]

First thing you're going to want to sign up at AppShopper and grab the AppShopper app off the iTunes store. Its pretty easy to search for apps that way, can filter by pay or free, but the best thing is if you see an app you want but the price you arent sure of? Wishlist it and you'll be notified when the price changes. You can even see a history of previous price changes so...oh hey this app seems to go on sale every 3 months so its due to drop again soon, I'll just wait for that.

Anyway.

Assassins Creed Recolection
Dice Soccer
Kard Combat
Tiny Tower (I dont know if anyones playing this anymore, but it was quite the addiction for a while)
Unpleasant Horse

I think thats about it for games that are permanently free. The rest of mine are ones I may have gotten free at one point but was a limited sale. There are a lot of Lite versions of games that are basically demos you can check out. Theres also the standbys that are mainly multiplayer like Words With Friends, Draw Something, Hero Academy, etc.

As for useful: Yelp, Amazon Mobile, RedLaser, Photosynth (if you have the 4th gen touch with the camera...oh god, get this), Paypal, Dropbox, Steam Mobile (I think you can even buy games through the app and soon have them auto-download back at your PC) etc. Just about everyone has an iOS app now so if its something you find useful just search for it.

And now for games I reccomed but might cost a buck or two: Elder Sign Omens, Ticket to Ride Pocket, Hook Worlds, Solipskier, Rebuild, Game Dev Story, Mega Mall Story, Ascension, and Crimson: Steam Pirates.

[gpw11]

First thing you're going to want to sign up at AppShopper and grab the AppShopper app off the iTunes store. Its pretty easy to search for apps that way, can filter by pay or free, but the best thing is if you see an app you want but the price you arent sure of? Wishlist it and you'll be notified when the price changes. You can even see a history of previous price changes so...oh hey this app seems to go on sale every 3 months so its due to drop again soon, I'll just wait for that.

Anyway.

Assassins Creed Recolection
Dice Soccer
Kard Combat
Tiny Tower (I dont know if anyones playing this anymore, but it was quite the addiction for a while)
Unpleasant Horse

I think thats about it for games that are permanently free. The rest of mine are ones I may have gotten free at one point but was a limited sale. There are a lot of Lite versions of games that are basically demos you can check out. Theres also the standbys that are mainly multiplayer like Words With Friends, Draw Something, Hero Academy, etc.

As for useful: Yelp, Amazon Mobile, RedLaser, Photosynth (if you have the 4th gen touch with the camera...oh god, get this), Paypal, Dropbox, Steam Mobile (I think you can even buy games through the app and soon have them auto-download back at your PC) etc. Just about everyone has an iOS app now so if its something you find useful just search for it.

And now for games I reccomed but might cost a buck or two: Elder Sign Omens, Ticket to Ride Pocket, Hook Worlds, Solipskier, Rebuild, Game Dev Story, Mega Mall Story, Ascension, and Crimson: Steam Pirates.

Awesome, thanks my man for both the tips and reminding me that I have Game Dev Story for Android and have to reinstall and play the hell out of it again.

I kind of feel like it was a waste of money, but really, what's a guy to do? The Nano was only about $50 cheaper and had waaaay fewer features.

[idolminds]

Nah, its pretty nice. Well I mean I dont have a smartphone or an Android device of any kind so my iPod is sort of my replacement for that, its my little pocket computer. So maybe I get more use out of it since I dont have an alternative. But its nice, and now you can check in this thread when I bump it with free game downloads. Sales happen a lot.

[gpw11]

Okay, okay....why does Apple want my credit card for free downloads?  It seems a bit weird - I mean, they're obviously not up to anything, but I'm surprised that this is coming up when Google just lets you download any free app without putting your stuff in. But now that I think about it, I don't think google asks for your password every time you purchase...which seems kind of dangerous.

Edit:  Good point.  Plus, none of my other options were really that much more cost effective.  The gps running apps are sweet for phones, but I'd have to bust my case off my phone every time I used it to fit it into a running sleeve, and fuck that.   The Garmin running watches are sweet, accurate, and have a lot of features, but build quality is suspect and the interface sucks.  The shuffle wasn't an option unless coupled with another tracking device, and the Nano wasn't THAT much cheaper and has far fewer features.

I mean, there's a bit of redundancy there considering I have a smartphone, but iOS does get a lot of apps Android doesn't, or at least gets them first (IE, Photosynth, which I haven't tried out but am already upset that my device with the 8 MP camera doesn't support it).

[iPPi]

Temple Run is also fun.

Assassin's Creed Recollection is by far my favourite iOS game.  In fact, it's really the only game I play at this time.

[Xessive]

Jetpack Joyride! So simple but so addictive! If you like runner games, this has to be on your list.

It may also be a good idea to grab a shopping app like AppShopper and keep track pf what apps go free for a limited time.

[idolminds]

W.E.L.D.E.R. is free at the moment. A fairly highly rated word game.

[gpw11]

Downloading various apps and games now, thanks for the tips.

So, how durable are these things?  Do I have to baby it like a phone (or like I probably SHOULD do to phones) or can it take somewhat of a beating?  Like, cool to just throw it in a glovebox or bag, or is a case kind of a necessity?

[idolminds]

I dont have any sceen protector on it. I just keep it in my pocket, but its the only thing I keep in that pocket.

[gpw11]

So, this might not really be the place for it, but fuck you, Apple?

I bought this thing for pretty much the express purpose of using Nike+.  It's advertised to work with Nike+. It has a built in Nike+ app, I have a foot sensor, all is good right? No. Since iOS 5+, you can't sync to Nike+ through iTunes for some reason.  Instead you HAVE to sync with wifi directly to their site. Not a big deal, except doing so causes the browser to freeze while uploading the data (which is then lost because the iPod thinks it's be uploaded and stored already).  Total bitch, but beyond that, why the fuck wouldn't they just let you sync through iTunes anyways?  The cababilty is still there because the Nano's, sportbands, and all that other shit can't do wifi.

I've tried everything to get this to work.  Hard reset, rebooting, setting up a new Nike+ account, full factory reset.  Nothing. Same exact problem.  I don't know if it's Nike's fault or Apples, but both should take some responsibility since it's a.) an advertised feature of the iPod, and b.) a joint product between the two.  Fired off an email to nike+ support, made a post on the Apple support forums and found out this is a common issue,  tried to fire another email off to Apple and got the website above. these motherfuckers want me to pay so they can troubleshoot their product that they sold me.  Like, this isn't "yeah, you misused that.  You're going to have to pay for us to fix it".  This is "Yeah, you didn't buy our extra warranty.  You're going to have to pay to talk to us about this problem we fucked up on".  How the fuck?  What the fuck?

EDIT:  It looks like this is mostly a Nike problem as they JUST updated their site a couple of days ago and all kinds of people are having problems (even through iTunes).  Still, what the fuck apple?

[idolminds]

Yeah its weird how Apple treats the iPod Touch. Certain things just dont work with it and it doesnt seem like theres any reason for it. I tried to use the cable to hook the thing to a TV...nope, not supported. Why? Whats different inside a iphone that the ipod doesnt have that would let you display to a TV? Luckily it was someone elses cable so it wasnt like I was out money but come on. That seems like basic functionality.

-----

In more uplifting news, I just got a tweet that Pocket Planes will be out this Thursday. Thats the new game from the Tiny Tower devs. Run your own airline! Looks neat and a bit more interesting that TT was.

[idolminds]

Pocket Planes!

[gpw11]

Oh no.  I played Tiny Tower on Android.....I'm about to lose all my free time

[idolminds]

haha

So yeah, Pocket Planes is out. Im sure an android version is in the works as well. But I downloaded it and played for a bit. Some thoughts:

Early on its pretty hands-on. You pick an area of the world to start with  and have 4-5 airports open to you. They are close together so flight times are short. This is good at the start, gets you busy playing but also kinda sucks since you can't really set up anything yet to go while you do other things...like sleeping. That will come along as you open more airports.

Completing flights earns XP, leveling up earns you a few Bux and lets you buy another airport. Buying an airport opens it up for flights and since you can make multi-stop flights you can use them to leapfrog larger distances. Some planes have really long ranges and can be upgraded as well.

Opening an airport also gives you a plane part. Get 3 parts of the same plane and you can build that plane and add it to your fleet. Planes can also bought directly but they are more expensive than buying the parts. Those are all bought with Bux, the harder to earn "money".

There seems to be a kind of worldwide mission thing in the game. You can designate a flightcrew name and everyone that uses the same crew name kind of join together into a group. A mission comes up and everyone contributes to it. After a period of time the event ends and the crew with the highest score gets rewards! For example this first one has you doing flights in Calgary. Members of the top team will win 100 Bux, 2nd place gets 50, and even down to the top 1000 will earn something. The kind of unfortunate thing is that means its better to join a known large group than to go it with just a handful of friends. Forums already banding together.

Uh lets see. Stuff floats by as a plane flys, so you can collect coins and bux. You can upgrade airports to get more traffic through them to earn money. Just seems like theres a lot more stuff to do here than Tiny Tower, which is a good thing.

And bad because...addiction imminent.

[gpw11]

I downloaded it (and Sega All Star Racing which just went free today), but haven't opened it up yet.  Now, after reading your post, all I want to do is start playing it...and I was just about to go to bed. Not a good sign.

[idolminds]

Protip: The game will let you buy any airport in the world, but if your planes don't have the range or any city stops in between then you will be wasting your money.

[idolminds]

Another tip that wasn't really explained: layovers. You can fly people and cargo to any airport. If it is not their destination then they sit on the plane or you can kick them off into the airport, using up one of the layover slots. Then you can stick them on another plane to their destination. This is good if you have a couple people that both want to go to the same city across the map but are in different airports. You could also go to an airport with a half-full plane and pick up an extra passenger along the way.

Kinda micromanagey but its there.

EDIT

So yeah, layovers help a lot. You don't even have to drop people off in the airport. Like at first if I didn't have 2 people headed to the same city, I would just make one long flight path that visited both. It was easy. BAD! Visit one of the two, which drops that dude off, and pick up another passenger! You should only fly a half-full plane if you really have to.

[gpw11]

That makes perfect sense.  I haven't even got to the point where I'd possibly need to do that.  I'm level 3 and have only bought one additional airport (five planes, I believe).  It's been rare so far when I can't just load two passengers/cargo going to the same place, unless there's only one passenger/cargo and I have higher capacity.
 It seems like there's aot more micromanagement in this game in geneal and its a bit overwhelming for a casual game.   Like, I don't have problems playing it, but can't help but think that I'm missing the deeper game here.

[idolminds]

It does seem to be a little deeper the more you play it. Got some more figuring out with layovers and I think I know how they are supposed to work now, and how your airline will eventually work because of them.

Eventually what you will want to be doing is having the large jumbo jets that can only land at major airports be your long haulers. Then you'll keep fleets of smaller planes to handle the local traffic and act as in betweens to get those people to their final destinations. The reason for this is layovers and the 25% bonus for full planes where everything is going to the same place.

A passenger pays more money to fly to a destination thats farther away. This value stays the same even if they are in a layover at a closer airport. So you pile them all into that spot and then easily fill your 2-3 seater planes to get the bonus. Its really an optimization of income thing and you can totally play without doing any of it. But its there and makes things a bit more interesting that simply filling planes and sending them off.

[gpw11]

sooo addictive.  I'm hitting a point though where I really need some longer haulers and more airports.  I've kinda saturated the South West market of the usa.

[idolminds]

I'm trying to consolidate my airports. I was keeping open as many as I could but those smaller airports get spread thin and you'd rarely get the bonuses. So Im closed a few of those and am planning my expansion. I bought Denver thinking I might have a nice setup to run flights from LA to Chicago. Big airports, lots of jobs, fewer open airports so more of those jobs will be to the same locations.

Waiting for the Calgary mission to end and see what the next mission is before I do expand, though. I could close a few airports and get over to Europe easily enough. Or maybe Ill just ignore the next mission and work on expanding my empire.

One cool feature are the other events, like storms in cities that close them down. It looks like those events happen to everyone, so if Chicago is closed due to a thunderstorm in your game its closed in everyones game.

[idolminds]

Hmm, so I've already had my "WTF am I doing?" moment where I realize the game isn't that deep and more of a treadmill. Its deeper than TT, I'll give it that. You eventually realize its "something you do" rather than "something you play."

Gotta turn off notifications and get some multi-hour flights going so I don't feel the urge to check in every 5 minutes to send new flights out. Also going to experiment with my airports. I'm not ready to quit the game yet, but see if I can't tailor it more to my liking.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I don't think I'm quite as far along as you and I've kind of hit the same point. It's fun for sure, but, like you said,  it's more like a treadmill. 

It's funny, because I was thinking that there was no way anyone should ever pay for Bux in this game...but then I realized I could drop $10 and probably cut out a lot of the growth monotony in order to get some long haul planes and international airports. I mean, I'm not going to do that but it would possibly make the game more enjoyable.

I'll probably just stop playing to be honest. It's fun(ish), but Game Dev story and the like just kind of do this thing better and make you feel like you're playing a game instead of doing chores.

[idolminds]

LostWinds went free. I think this was also a WiiWare game? Looks pretty, will grab.

[iPPi]

The Assassin's Creed Recollection expansion has been released.  144 new cards (with new keywords), and a new story mode ($2.99).

Based on what I've seen so far, the expansion will dramatically change the dynamics of the game.

[idolminds]

Oooh, nice. Ill have to update sometime. I havent really put much time into the AC card game, but its interesting.

Superbrothers: S&S EP was updated and released in Japan. If you own it you can update and check it out in Japanese if you want. The character Logfella was voiced by Robert Ashley in the original game is now voiced by Suda 51 in the Japanese language.

They also have a remix album to celebrate. 7 Jim Guthrie songs remixed by some people you may know.

1. Little Furnace (Mitsuto Suzuki - Post Production Mix)
2. The Ballad of the Space Babies (macotom3 - Supernova Babies Mix)
3. Lone Star (Baiyon - Just Walking Remix)
4. The Maelstrom (Decassegui Hip - Radian Darkness Mix)
5. The Prettiest Weed (Decassegui Hip - *'s Ambition Remix)
6. Unknowable Geometry (Michiru Yamane - Symphony Mix)
7. Bones McCoy (Akira Yamaoka Mix)

[gpw11]

Downloading Lost Winds now.  Looks pretty cool.

[PyroMenace]

I'm gonna check out MTG 2013 for the iPad, pretty psyched for this. Its a perfect mobile game.

[gpw11]

I don't know what that is.  And Infinity Blade is 99 cents right now.  Should I buy it?

[idolminds]

Uh....tough call. Do you like Punch-Out? Then you'll probably like Infinity Blade. But its Punch-Out over and over and over again. Its certainly not deep. But its pretty, and its just a buck so...up to you.