Topic: iOS Gaming Thread

[idolminds]

A freebie, Supersonic HD. I mentioned it to Pyro the other day and now it drops to free. Crazy. Anyway, its a kind of tunnel runner game, looks like Tron and generates the tracks based on your music. Don't let the "HD" fool you, its universal.

[Cools!]

Sweet, gonna check it out.

[idolminds]

Ok, we need to get some multiplayer going on with some of these games. There are several with asynchronous multiplayer (we don't have to schedule online time, make a turn whenever you want), and now that that functionality is built into iOS5 we should see even more.

Here are some games we can play. Many have free versions, usually ad supported and a limit on the number of simultaneous games you can be involved in. I'll note which ones.

Words with Friends, Chess with Friends, Hanging with Friends
Scrabble, Chess, and Hangman. All three have free versions that are ad supported.

Carcassonne
This one is highly recommended by many. Sadly no free version and the full game is $10 that never goes on sale.

Reiner Knizia's Samurai
Another good one, and one I already own. Again, no free version but this one is only $5.

Poker Pals
Just came out and its pretty cool. Its kind of like scrabble, but instead of making words you're trying to make poker hands. Free version available.

Disc Drivin'
A turn based racing game. Sorta. You have a disc that you flick around a track, racing other players. Its pretty fun. Free version available.

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
A deck building game like Dominion, I guess. I have a lite version but it looks like it was removed from the store for some reason. So you have to buy it if you want to play.

Kard Combat
Basically a portable version of Spectormancer, a card game designed by the dude that designed Magic. Free with in app purchase to unlock all the mages/decks.

New World Colony
A board game that seems similar to Catan, but not really. I picked it up ages ago when it was free, but theres no demo or anything now.

[Quemaqua]

I don't have any of those.

But I did get Elder Signs. God is it awesome. I've played the living crap out of it the last two days.

[idolminds]

Another nice freebie. Super Stickman Golf. Imagine Worms meets golf.

[idolminds]

Kairosoft just released Oh! Edo Towns for $4. Build your own old Edo period Japanese town!

[Quemaqua]

Oh Kairosoft, how I hate you. And love you.

Also, I stayed up until 3 AM playing freaking Elder Sign. That crap is ridiculously addictive. And I don't even know why. It's like... you lose or you win and get a high score. That's it. There's nothing else to it. And the gameplay is purely an expression of finding the best odds and crossing your fingers... but it all just comes together so well, and beating bad odds or coming in with an 11th hour win is just the best thing ever. Won my first game last night, which is why I was up so late, and it was just barely. The game is just like Arkham Horror: it loves to kill you, but it also loves to straight overkill you.

I sincerely, sincerely hope they make some additions available for it. For a buck I'd totally buy an expansion of some kind, and I'd love to see them add an art viewer with unlocks or some extra items you can unlock or achievements.... just something to give you more of an excuse to keep at it.

[idolminds]

I broke down and bought Elder Sign instead of waiting for a sale. Its pretty awesome like Que said. Really give me a nice solo Arkham Horror-ish game I can carry around and play.

Just a note, there is also an Elder Sign HD for iPad as well as an Android version.

[Quemaqua]

So from the makers of Hook Worlds comes Mage Gauntlet! It looks awesome and I think I may have to buy it. God damn you, RPGFan.

[idolminds]

Some sales going on.

99 cents each
Scribblenauts Remix
Shadowgun (a Gears-ish 3rd person shooter)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
World of Goo
Grand Prix Story

Free
Real Pinball - Wild Games

Also looks like Gameloft has some 99 cent sales.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six®: Shadow Vanguard
Real Football 2011
Dungeon Hunter 2 (Diablo)
BackStab (Assassins Creed)
Starfront - Collision (Starcraft)

[idolminds]

New World Colony is free! Grab it now so we can play async multiplayer! DO IT! DO IT NOW!

[PyroMenace]

Got it, this game looks cool. We should definitely try it out.

[sirean_syan]

Some sales going on.

99 cents each
Scribblenauts Remix

Yay!

This App Is Incompatible With This iPod touch.

Boo

[Xessive]

I don't know but the instant I see cells/hexagons in game interface I panic. Makes me think of old, complicated strategy games.

Btw, check out AppAllStar, it lists all games that go free for a limited time. You can get it as an app as well.

[Quemaqua]

I don't know but the instant I see cells/hexagons in game interface I panic. Makes me think of old, complicated strategy games.

You say that as if it's a negative.

[Xessive]

You say that as if it's a negative.

Well, for a simpleton like me it would be 

When I think of old games I prefer the simplicity, fluidity, and sheer fun factor of classic Pong! ...Indeed.

[Quemaqua]

Aww, it needed iOS 5, which I don't have yet. I still can't figure out iTunes and have no idea how to properly get stuff on the iTunes library from my Touch so that it won't wipe everything out when I upgrade.

[Xessive]

iTunes was confusing at first but I learned how to use it after I figured out Zune. Works exactly the same way even though the interface is different.

What makes it confusing for me is this concept of "sync" rather than good old fashioned file transfers. Sometimes I want a file to be only on my device and not on my PC, not an option coz once I delete either one the other will get removed on the next sync. However if I choose to stop syncing a file or "type" (music, video, podcast) it will delete them all from my device but retain the PC copy. This especially sucks when you sync between multiple devices and find something you deleted keeps coming back on i.e. podcasts.

[idolminds]

Yeah, syncing sucks. But to transfer stuff from the ipod to itunes, plug in your ipod, right click it in itunes and choose "transfer purchases". This will copy things from the ipod to your pc. Not sure if it transfers music since so far Ive been able to avoid it. Except with ios5 people have to re-figure out how to transfer music to ipods all over again so I might have to start using itunes for that.

[Quemaqua]

Bleh. I hate the whole deal. I don't understand why you'd even mirror all your music that way unless you were terrified of losing it. I have no desire to keep backups on my PC, and not because I don't want backups, but because I hate the absolute lack of control iTunes gives you. It sucks ass.

[idolminds]

New board games!

Reiner Knizia's Tigris & Euphrates $5.99 - Apparently a highly rated game now on iOS. I'll probably wait for a sale, though.

BRAWL free - Another Cheapass Games game for iOS! First one was Button Men. Free to download with IAP for more decks.

Ticket To Ride Pocket $0.99 - Woo! Looks like my kind of game. Sadly no online multiplayer so I hope the AI is good. But for 99 cents I can't really bitch. Local play with multiple devices or pass & play is nice. Play the game without the choking hazard from people trying to eat the little trains. Except Pyro, he might try to eat his iPhone anyway.

[idolminds]

Picked up Ticket To Ride Pocket and it's pretty nice. Just ran through my first game/tutorial. In case you never played or never read the rules (I can't be the only one that reads the rulebooks for games he doesn't own...right?), TTR has a map of the US where cities are connected via train routes of various lengths represented by train cars. You start the game with around 40 cars and each route you complete earns you points based on how long the route is. A 2 care route is worth 2 points and a 7 car route is worth 7 points, and so on.

There are tickets which show you two cities that you must connect with your train cars. Completing a ticket earns you a whole bunch of bonus points at the end of the game, again depending on how long the route is. A New York to Boston route will be worth less than a Chicago to LA route. You have to always be aware of the end state of the game before picking up new tickets because if at the end of the game you have not completed a ticket, its points are deducted from your final score.

So you pick up cards of various colored train cars and then play these on the various colored routes to claim them for yourself. If you can figure out where your opponent is trying to get to you can take his direct path and make him go the long way around to reach it. The game ends when one player has 2 or fewer cars remaining, then everyone gets a final turn, and then the game is scored. There is a bonus for the player that created the longest continuous route in the game, which ended up helping me win my first game so that was lucky.

It plays well on my iPod though I can see the iPad version being even better with the extra screen size. ipod/phone version doesnt have online multiplayer which is a bummer. They claim its so players on the portable devices dont drop out of a game before it finishes, but its turn based so why not go async? Really strange justification. Fine, no realtime play but async would be great. But other than that its fun and for only 99 cents I'd say go for it.

[idolminds]

Minecraft Pocket Edition is out. The actual real deal and not another ripoff. Unfortunately its $7 and is basically creative mode only.

[idolminds]

I thought this post by one of the Fantasy Flight Games guys (Elder Sign Omens, all the actual board games) was interesting, responding to a post where one person complained that the iPhone and iPad versions of the game are identical yet priced and sold separately:

Sorry you feel this way. However, the real issue here is that the app should (by real-world standards) be somewhere between $19.95 to $24.95. App development is VERY expensive and done by talented folks that should be compensated for good work.

But, the reality is that in today's app market, end-users (myself among them) feel entitled to purchase software for less cost than a cup of coffee. Not only is this nuts, it is unsustainable. Frankly, there is almost no chance that FFG will break even on Elder Sign in a reasonable time (or most likely, ever).

Except for a teeny tiny handful of companies, there's almost no successful businesses making apps (most are just burning through venture capital). "Angry Birds" is likely the least successful "big product" of all time, in terms of the reward it has given its creators vs. its player base and overall penetration in society. It is like Rovio won the national lottery and all they got was a Pinto. In fact, most major electronic publishers are making apps at the moment because they feel they have to be in the market, not because they are making any money there. In my view, over the mid-to-long term, app prices will need to move from $0.99 or $2.99 to something more like $9.95 to $29.95 to really make sense for an organization that wants to have employees and make quality polished product.

Respectfully, the best way to look at Elder Sign: Omens, is as a $11 application that FFG is making possible to purchase for multiple platforms in smaller chunks (and allowing people to save money if they have only one of the devices). However, I'm sure you would agree that at that price, we would have complaints about high pricing. There's no real good way to go about it. Would you prefer just having a $11 app over the option of splitting it? What do others think? I imagine the guy who just has an iPhone would disagree, as would the guy who just has an iPad.

The better option would be to make a "Universal" version for $7.99 or so (which is still only half of what really should be charged, marketplace conditions notwithstanding), and an iPhone-only version for $2.99. However, Apple does not allow this (as this runs afoul of having the same product sold twice), so we've made it a fair middle-ground, IMO.

One of my primary concerns with FFG being in this market is how upset people get over these minimal, almost inconsequential, pricing issues on mobile applications. We're honestly just trying to get you a nice little game at a price that is near suicide to us. Getting the negative publicity on top of almost-certain losses, makes it very hard to justify app development for these devices (this is not meant as a personal attack on you, Bruce, it is a generally true issue, and a very serious problem in this market.)

I hope this explains a little. I think it very important that hobby-gamers realize that applications are so ridiculously low priced right now, that app-market pricing is living on borrowed time (encouraged by hardware makers that sell devices for $600-$700 per unit). If you want more "niche" app products made in the long-run that appeal to the BGG niche player, pricing will need to rise in proportion to the segment of the install base it represents.

I don't blame you for feeling the way you do, it is nature of the market. I hope, however, this explains a little from the other side of the fence and facilitates some understanding of the issue.

In other news, I'm totally hooked on Ticket To Ride.

[idolminds]

So, Tiny Tower got updated. Now it has Missions! Basically so-and-so wants X amount of Product A and Y amount of Product B. Your job is to get it to them in like a week or whatever. But what if you don't have a particular floor? Thats where gifting comes in. Your friend that does have the floor can send you what you need. They also added stars to each floor making it easier to see which floors need dream jobs and such.

[Xessive]

So, Tiny Tower got updated. Now it has Missions! Basically so-and-so wants X amount of Product A and Y amount of Product B. Your job is to get it to them in like a week or whatever. But what if you don't have a particular floor? Thats where gifting comes in. Your friend that does have the floor can send you what you need. They also added stars to each floor making it easier to see which floors need dream jobs and such.

Awesome, add me on there I think my Apple Game Centre username is Zietoun.

[idolminds]

Hey, a freebie! Alien Menace dropped its price this morning. A solo card game inspired by first person shooters? Looks nice.

[idolminds]

If you like Terraria it might be worth your while to check out Junk Jack. Basically the same idea but on iOS. And yes, it supports the 2g Touch. $3

[idolminds]

Black Friday deals are showing up despite it not being anywhere close to Friday.
Gameloft .99 cent games, iPhone and iPad versions of most of these

(click to show/hide)

Fast Five the Movie: Official Game
Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden
Starfront: Collision
Shadow Guardian
Eternal Legacy
Real Golf 2011
Spider-Man: Total Mayhem
Gameloft Action Pack
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Splinter Cell Conviction
Zombie Infection
Iron Man 2
Gameloft Sports Pack
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
James Cameron’s Avatar
The Settlers
Shrek Kart
Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles

Namco 99 cent games

(click to show/hide)

Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion
Dig Dug Remix
Galaga Remix
Isaac Newton's Gravity
MAPPY by Namco
Mishap
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Pac-Chomp
Pac-Man Remix
Pac'n-Jump
Pool Pro 3
Rally-X Rumble
Splatterhouse ($0.99)
Time Crisis Strike ($0.99)

Infinity Blade is down to $2.99. Gesundheit! and Gesundheit! HD are both 99 cents. Totally recommend that one.

[Xessive]

Damn, I leaped right at that! I grabbed a couple of the 99c big titles.

I already a few of those titles thanks to your comprehensive thread I've been collecting apps over the past year just in case I ever got an iOS device

[idolminds]

heh, I started doing the same well before I got an iOS device.

[idolminds]

More sales

Real Racing $0.99
Real Racing 2 $2.99
Drift Sumi-e $0.99

Also the HD/iPad versions of the Real Racing games are on sale for $2 and $5.

[idolminds]

Freebies. Not sure how good they are but some people recommended them.

High Tide is a Tiny Wings clone.
Zombie Parkour Runner looks like some kind of platformer. Dunno.
Async Corp. is a puzzle game. Won an award at IGF, so how bad could it be?

[gpw11]

Tiny Tower just came out for Android and while I find it pretty fun and really addictive, it's also one of those games that I'm just going to stop playing because I'm not really shooting for a larger goal.   I mean, getting bigger for the sake of it is fun, but it's almost like the only reward for good work is more work.

[idolminds]

Yeah, I'm pretty much over it. I reinstalled the latest version to see what the missions were but they arent that interesting. Basically I have one more floor to build for the 100 floors achievement so I'll get that tomorrow and quit again.

[idolminds]

Pyro told me about Blowup!! (yes, with two exclamation points) and said he liked it, and now you can grab it for free.

[idolminds]

Cabals: The Card Game is a freebie. You get a free deck and then can buy more cards. Though it doesn't really feel like a card game since you play your "cards" to a board and then move them around to the board to capture spaces and fight enemies. Still, worth checking out.

[idolminds]

App Store on Facebook is giving away codes for Wheres My Water?

Zen Pinball is new and free to download. Comes with one free table with 2 more to buy in-app.

[idolminds]

Shift 2 Unleashed, the Need for Speed game, is free today. iPad version too if you have one.

The Sims Medieval is also free.

[Xessive]

Damn, Shift 2 is only available for the US store.