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iOS Gaming October 2015 | Just when you thought your TV was safe from mobile games

D

dock

Member
My Apple TV has shipped, although tepid early reviews have me not that excited.

Rayman looks like it might be fun. Are there any other announced TVOS games or apps that are worth looking at?

It's a shame that VLC and Infuse probably won't be ready at first.
 
M

MaxiLive

Member
ecjKAlj.jpg


MicroMachines is coming back :D Due out later this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yr8hzQ6dfA
 
S

sheaaaa

Member
awp69 said:
Steam is as much of a wasteland for indie games as iOS. But I think the consumer environment on iOS is more open to indies than PC and consoles are.
Click to expand...

Respectfully, I disagree completely. There is plenty of money to be made and attention to attract on Steam, the difference from 5 years ago being that now that everybody is on Steam, something that everyone was clamoring for before Valve threw its doors open, the developers have to put in the effort themselves to promote their game. Plenty of games fail to get an audience, but it's easy to lay the blame on Steam than the developer's or publisher's own efforts to get the word out.

As for consumers being more open to indies on iOS, well, Undertale, which was made mainly by 1 dude and looks like an ugly SNES-era JRPG, has sold 200k units in 1.5 months at $10 a pop, and had zero promotion that I know of.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has sold 95k units at $15 in less than a month, and has had barely a thread about it on GAF.

Indie games are absolutely huge on PC.

Some mediocre PC games ported to mobile can get more attention than they deserve vs. iOS originals that may be substantially better as games.
Click to expand...

Playing devil's advocate here as ive not played it but isn't this exactly the case with Lumino City? Metacritic has it at 70%, which doesn't mean much but Christian Donlan of Eurogamer, IMO the best reviewer around and someone who genuinely looks for the good in each game, gave it a 6/10. RockPaperShotgun weren't entirely glowing in their assessment as well.
 
A

awp69

Member
sheaaaa said:
Respectfully, I disagree completely. There is plenty of money to be made and attention to attract on Steam, the difference from 5 years ago being that now that everybody is on Steam, something that everyone was clamoring for before Valve threw its doors open, the developers have to put in the effort themselves to promote their game. Plenty of games fail to get an audience, but it's easy to lay the blame on Steam than the developer's or publisher's own efforts to get the word out.

As for consumers being more open to indies on iOS, well, Undertale, which was made mainly by 1 dude and looks like an ugly SNES-era JRPG, has sold 200k units in 1.5 months at $10 a pop, and had zero promotion that I know of.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has sold 95k units at $15 in less than a month, and has had barely a thread about it on GAF.

Indie games are absolutely huge on PC.



Playing devil's advocate here as ive not played it but isn't this exactly the case with Lumino City? Metacritic has it at 70%, which doesn't mean much but Christian Donlan of Eurogamer, IMO the best reviewer around and someone who genuinely looks for the good in each game, gave it a 6/10. RockPaperShotgun weren't entirely glowing in their assessment as well.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't explain myself well. It takes a lot of luck on both platforms either through getting a featured spot or word of mouth.

But there already have been games on Steam that sold better on iOS. Most of them because of being featured by Apple. And, like I said, I think PC ports do often do get special treatment for Apple features or Editor's Choice simply because they are PC ports, which can be unfair.

There have been quite a few ports that I don't buy just because they are PC ports. I always look into games and not just jump on the hype train.

I almost didn't buy Lumino City because the PC version had mediocre reviews. But I loved the style of the game and, ironically, saw the Steam version had 9/10 for its user reviews. I think there were only 128 reviews when I looked though. So with Apple's Editor's Choice, I would not be at all surprised if sales of it exceeded its Steam counterpart.

So, basically, both systems require a bit of luck to score. I see many Steam games with under 10 reviews. But fairly or not, many ports do get more exposure on the App Store.
 
S

sheaaaa

Member
awp69 said:
I guess I didn't explain myself well. It takes a lot of luck on both platforms either through getting a featured spot or word of mouth.

But there already have been games on Steam that sold better on iOS. Most of them because of being featured by Apple. And, like I said, I think PC ports do often do get special treatment for Apple features or Editor's Choice simply because they are PC ports, which can be unfair.

There have been quite a few ports that I don't buy just because they are PC ports. I always look into games and not just jump on the hype train.

I almost didn't buy Lumino City because the PC version had mediocre reviews. But I loved the style of the game and, ironically, saw the Steam version had 9/10 for its user reviews. I think there were only 128 reviews when I looked though. So with Apple's Editor's Choice, I would not be at all surprised if sales of it exceeded its Steam counterpart.

So, basically, both systems require a bit of luck to score. I see many Steam games with under 10 reviews. But fairly or not, many ports do get more exposure on the App Store.
Click to expand...

Oh I definitely agree that some games get more exposure on certain platforms, whether rightly or wrongly. I just don't think that selling more on one platform is necessarily an indication of how receptive players of that platform are to indie games, for example, or how strong the platform is in general. Lumino City could well sell more on iOS, but the PC is definitely a receptive audience for indies.
 
A

awp69

Member
infiniteloop said:
But they don't though. iOS isn't watchOS, isn't tvOS. Near identical, sure but to Apple they have 4 separate platforms:

https://developer.apple.com/platforms/
Click to expand...

The only reason I'd argue for a single thread for both I'd that I'd expect the vast majority of games on tvOS will also be or have been on iOS.

There may be a few exclusives here and there, but I don't think it will be that many. And I'd it gets to the point where there are a lot of games on tvOS that aren't on iOS, we could revisit it.

I just also think there aren't going to be a ton of people on GAF buying Apple TV so it may die as a thread anyway.

Just my thoughts.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
awp69 said:
The only reason I'd argue for a single thread for both I'd that I'd expect the vast majority of games on tvOS will also be or have been on iOS.

There may be a few exclusives here and there, but I don't think it will be that many. And I'd it gets to the point where there are a lot of games on tvOS that aren't on iOS, we could revisit it.

I just also think there aren't going to be a ton of people on GAF buying Apple TV so it may die as a thread anyway.

Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Yeah, for some reason, I doubt an Apple TV thread on GAF will have much traffic
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
awp69 said:
The only reason I'd argue for a single thread for both I'd that I'd expect the vast majority of games on tvOS will also be or have been on iOS.

There may be a few exclusives here and there, but I don't think it will be that many. And I'd it gets to the point where there are a lot of games on tvOS that aren't on iOS, we could revisit it.

I just also think there aren't going to be a ton of people on GAF buying Apple TV so it may die as a thread anyway.

Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...

I totally agree about one thread, just that 'iOS gaming' thread title isn't inclusive.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Don't think there was ever a question of more than one thread, just renaming 'iOS gaming' to something more inclusive of the other platforms.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Playing Rayman Adventures on Apple TV. It is an auto runner with the Siri remote. When you connect a MFi it's no longer an auto runner, you can control your movement.
 
A

awp69

Member
infiniteloop said:
Playing Rayman Adventures on Apple TV. It is an auto runner with the Siri remote. When you connect a MFi it's no longer an auto runner, you can control your movement.
Click to expand...

That's an odd design decision to have it play differently but pretty cool I guess if you want full movement control.
 
A

awp69

Member
Heads up! Cave just put Bug Princess 2 on sale for $.99.

I had the outstanding original but never got around to picking up the sequel. Again, Cave games don't go on sale very often and never free or $. 99 to my knowledge.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Played some games on Apple TV:

Crossy Road: 2 player Crossy Road is a lot of fun but the Siri remote suck for precise movement.

Asphalt 8: Plays fine, framerate is garbage and there's a million menus to get through.

Rayman Adventures: Most interesting thing about this game is using a MFi controller gives you the full range of movement you'd expect from a platformer. The Siri remote is all swiping nonsense. The actual game revolves around collecting items in small platforming sections to feed and grow these lille animals you find.

Alto's Adventure: This is more my thing. As you would expect, looks and plays great.

Oceanhorn: Looks great, plays really nice with a controller. Almost finished this on iPad, so i didn't spend too long on it.

tl;dr: Some great games already on Apple TV, but get an MFi controller.

Need to pick up Beat Sports + Lumios City.
 
S

Saucycarpdog

Member
I think that five card quest is actually harder than wayward souls(and this is coming from the guy who couldn't even get to the third boss). I played for over an hour today and I have only been able to survive a handful of fights before I die.

Also, those Apple TV impressions have deflated any chance that I'll buy it. Maybe I'll wait for second gen to jump in.
 
C

colinp

Banned
Saucycarpdog said:
I think that five card quest is actually harder than wayward souls(and this is coming from the guy who couldn't even get to the third boss). I played for over an hour today and I have only been able to survive a handful of fights before I die.

Also, those Apple TV impressions have deflated any chance that I'll buy it. Maybe I'll wait for second gen to jump in.
Click to expand...

Yeah Five Card Quest is difficult but it's manageable. A really slow paced and contemplative game. Your initial heroes are really important. I'm sure some combinations are easier than others. I'm really enjoying it. Am close to the end of the second floor this play through (only my second!). My first was a disaster, hah.
 
Xenoflare

Xenoflare

Member
Uhh so Deemo updated today and it seems to add a new bundle of songs called "Deemo Collection Vol.2"

But when I select it the game would crash and kick me to the home screen.

On 9.1 iPhone 6.
 
H

Haden

Banned
Who is up for subterfuge? I am going to make a new game called neogaf 2 let me know if you join or want to if there is no space, the last game we had was really good fun!
o-NSA-SPYING-CANADA-facebook-1080x675.jpg


Hmm I can't seem to make a game without people joining instantly. If you are interested post below and I will pm people so they know when I am starting the game.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
November thread might be a bit later than usual. Haven't had a chance to work on the thread yet, due to studying and exams during the week and prepping for the hordes of kids coming through the neighborhood tonight
 
A

awp69

Member
Not sure if they are going to do this with all of their iOS catalog but looks like Cave is continuing its Twitter campaign. The next game that will be discounted (or possibly free depending on the number of retweets) is dual stick shmup Bug Panic. I have it and it's really cool and one of the most unique dual stick shooters on iOS.

Here's the Tweet to retweet:

https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=ht...vbVUG6CQCELJjZpexacVI_7tNNAKYiRNqLGmQyitv&s=1

Don't ask me what it means. I don't speak Japanese! It already has enough retweets for it to be $.99 needs abut 5,000 more for it to be free.
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
So many new (great) games....but the recent sale tricked me into playing again Elder Sign: Omens.
Can't do anything else since 3 days.
First game I ever double dipped too.

The Dark Pharaoh final encounter just annihilated me.

REVENGE!!!!!
 
M

Manik

Member
Haden said:
Who is up for subterfuge? I am going to make a new game called neogaf 2 let me know if you join or want to if there is no space, the last game we had was really good fun!
o-NSA-SPYING-CANADA-facebook-1080x675.jpg


Hmm I can't seem to make a game without people joining instantly. If you are interested post below and I will pm people so they know when I am starting the game.
Click to expand...

You know that I am!
 
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