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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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One thing I really want to see is more online-enabled titles. Couldn't be too hard to implement some P2P code could it?

I mainly want this for the upcoming Worms iPhone title.
 
Nice 7 Cities update did just what I was complaining about earlier today. Buttons getting in the way of the tower locations. I was so skeptical of this little devices potential as a gaming rig and didn't follow this App Store at all until I bought it the other day. Damn its very impressive. Steve I am now a believer.
 
mzl.pjextcvz.100x100-75.jpg

i thought the icon was a woman's crotch wearing a bikini

but it's Wine Enthusiast Guide app
 
bathala said:
mzl.pjextcvz.100x100-75.jpg

i thought the icon was a woman's crotch wearing a bikini

but it's Wine Enthusiast Guide app
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Same for me! :lol

I bought Spore a few hours ago, sooo cool, i'm really loving it.
That fact that i'm a huge fan of flOw probably helps. :)
 
I got rid of my PSP and am currently in the process of selling my DS games. Why? Because I'm getting an iPhone. My main concern is even though the majority of my gaming will be quick pick up and play kind of games (i.e. puzzle games) I do want a more hardcore traditional game every now and then (i.e. Platformer, RPG, shooter, etc.). I only need 5 or so of these a year. Will the iPhone be able to meet that requirement?
 
Anyone tried Zephyr yet? It's made by smule, and it sounds awesome so I'm already buying.

Concept sounds really neat. You draw a drawing, it sends it to a random iphone user then they can either pass it on or not.
 
MrVargas said:
I got rid of my PSP and am currently in the process of selling my DS games. Why? Because I'm getting an iPhone. My main concern is even though the majority of my gaming will be quick pick up and play kind of games (i.e. puzzle games) I do want a more hardcore traditional game every now and then (i.e. Platformer, RPG, shooter, etc.). I only need 5 or so of these a year. Will the iPhone be able to meet that requirement?
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It's unknown. There are some games that are as hardcore as anything you'll find on those platforms. Warfare Incorporated, Orions: Legend of Wizards, SimCity to name a few. But the iphone will always be most suited for a certain sort of fun relatively casual game unless turn based strategy games really take off.

If it was me I would keep the DS also.

On a price drop note Paper Football Premium went from 4.99 to free.
 
Stoney Mason said:
If it was me I would keep the DS also.
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Yeah, I'm keeping my DS mainly for when my wife wants to play in one of the puzzle games she loves so dearly. However, I had so many games (Ninja Gaiden DS, Phantom Hourglass, Final Fantasy XII, Contact, etc.) that I never played. The problem is that when I'm home I'd rather play on my PS3, Wii, or PC then play my handheld and I stopped playing games before I go to bed because I decided I would use that time for reading. Usually, when I did want to play my DS (i.e. stuck in a long line somewhere, or at a relatives house bored, etc.) I never had it with me and I ended up playing the crappy games I had on my Sprint Katana more then my DS.
 
MrVargas said:
Yeah, I'm keeping my DS mainly for when my wife wants to play in one of the puzzle games she loves so dearly. However, I had so many games (Ninja Gaiden DS, Phantom Hourglass, Final Fantasy XII, Contact, etc.) that I never played. The problem is that when I'm home I'd rather play on my PS3, Wii, or PC then play my handheld and I stopped playing games before I go to bed because I decided I would use that time for reading. Usually, when I did want to play my DS (i.e. stuck in a long line somewhere, or at a relatives house bored, etc.) I never had it with me and I ended up playing the crappy games I had on my Sprint Katana more then my DS.
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The iphone has an interesting divide between really really fun casual games you could definitely enjoy wherever you are and the occasionally really deep game that would be a nice before bed activity that is somewhat rare now. What the exact divide breakdown on what that percentage will be on either side I think the market is still learning.

There is a strong tendency to want to be able to understand and grasp an iphone game and immediately be able to start enjoying yourself within a couple of minutes which is understandable based on the platform and the niche where cell phone gaming exists.

I can honestly say that a few times I've decided to play my iphone instead of my 360 because it's so simple and sort of a relaxing activity versus having to turn on my brain for a console or pc game.
 
After the first game we did (a tower defense game) I've been focusing on more casual experiences based on my own habits. I think very simple games that do one thing really well are the way to go.

I have a current tech demo finished, hoping to finish my next game by mid-February.
 
Stoney Mason said:
The iphone has an interesting divide between really really fun casual games you could definitely enjoy wherever you are and the occasionally really deep game that would be a nice before bed activity that is somewhat rare now. What the exact divide breakdown on what that percentage will be on either side I think the market is still learning.
Click to expand...
Yeah, in the weeks leading up to me selling my PSP and my DS Game Collection I asked people if I should make the move and almost everybody was telling me that there aren't enough deep, hardcore games on the iPhone to make me happy. After doing some research I decided that they were wrong. I mean these are the same people that are always whining about the lack of hardcore games on the Wii and yet I have an actual backlog of hardcore games on the Wii that I want to play and I owned my Wii since launch. I'm a multi-console owner with a full-time job, I do not play 100 games a year, it's more like 30 games a year and when you split that across my PS3, PC, Wii, and now the iPhone it's not like I need dozens upon dozens of hardcore games.
 
Payback (top down GTA clone) is releasing on the 15th

Introduction

Welcome to our in-depth report on what's new in the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Payback, a GTA-style game that we've developed over 10 years across many different platforms. In this article we're going to give you a brief introduction to the game as well as the key improvements that have been made for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
The Story So Far

The original version was released for the Amiga in 2001 to rave reviews and was voted Game of Year in multiple polls. Mac, Intent and GBA versions followed, the GBA version being nominated in both IGN and GameSpot's "Best of E3 2004" awards.

In 2006, the game received a major overhaul for the powerful GP2X handheld - GamesTM awarded it 91%, describing it as "the best GTA clone you've never heard of". The lighting was made fully HDR (the paths of trillions of photons were calculated to produce some of the best looking lighting ever seen in a portable game), the menu system was completely redone, a complete vocal soundtrack was added and many other significant improvements were made. There's a full report on the changes made for the GP2X version here.

The iPhone/iPod Touch version builds on the strong foundations laid down by the GP2X version by adding an automatic save system, reengineered controls, HUD refinements and further gameplay improvements; read on for the details.
Controls

Probably the most important part of any game is the controls - if these don't work well then the game would be about as useful as a chocolate teapot. For this reason, getting the controls right was the #1 priority in the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Payback. We tried to keep the on-screen buttons as minimal as possible so that they did not distract from the gameplay itself. The final layout was as follows:

We tried to create a clear design for all the buttons by using a consistent border and a common, unobtrusive colour scheme. The arrows on the right move you forwards and backwards and are always visible, whilst the two text buttons on the left perform context-sensitive actions depending on whether you are on foot or in a vehicle, and what weapon you are carrying. These primary controls are semi-transparent so they can be big (so you don't miss them in the heat of battle) without getting in the way. They also pulse when touched to give the player all-important feedback and their position has been carefully adjusted to make them as comfortable to use as possible.

The smaller, less critical icons at the bottom allow you to pause the game and repeat the last message. The box in the top-left shows all the weapons you are carrying (in this screenshot the player only has one weapon - fists), displays how much ammo your current weapon has (none in this case) and allows you to cycle through your weapons by touching it. The game also of course implements full multi-touch to allow any combination of controls to be used at once.
Steering

We tested virtually every driving game on the iPhone to come up with the best damn steering we could. We quickly decided to use the accelerometer to turn (it would be too cumbersome to use buttons in addition to the others already required for the game) but getting this to respond exactly as we wanted took some work.

A common problem we noticed with iPhone driving games was that it wasn't clear when you were turning left or right as much as you could, so the temptation was to turn the device further than strictly necessary which could make it hard to see the screen. We addressed this problem in several ways, the first of which we affectionately call the steering-o-meter:

The steering wheel at the top of the screen shows the player how much they are turning left or right, allowing them to more easily judge how much to turn their device. Incidentally, the health bar beside the steering wheel is another addition for the iPhone - on previous versions, the other health bar on the far right would change to show the vehicle's health rather than your own when you weren't on foot.

Another important detail was to make the steering non-linear - this allowed maximum steering to be reached with only a small movement (avoiding the "hard to see the screen" problem) without compromising the accuracy of small movements. The game also calculates the steering angle in such a way that it doesn't matter if the device is tilted forwards or backwards - this allows the steering to work even if the device is held flat.

The final key ingredient was to allow the player complete customisation options for the sensitivity, linearity and calibration of the steering so if they don't like defaults they can easily tune them to their tastes.
Other Nifty Stuff

One of the most notable things about the iPhone is, well, it's a phone. That means the player might be interrupted at any time by a phone call so it's really important to have a very robust save system. In addition to autosaving after every chapter and allowing the player to manually save at any point, the game also auto-saves if the player gets a phone call, presses the home button or exits in any other way. The game will then automatically resume from exactly where they were the next time it's loaded.

The iPhone/iPod Touch version is fully localised into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish. It features the improved soundtrack from the GP2X version (which includes both speech and music), has eleven huge cities to explore and dozens of varied vehicles (everything from tanks to helicopters to ice cream vans!).

The menu system has also been reworked to work with the touch screen. We worked hard to make sure all the controls work as you'd expect - even the credits screen can be flicked about with your fingers!
Conclusion

Well, that about wraps it up. We're really pleased with the iPhone version - it builds on over a decade of development to create what has to be one of the biggest titles for the iPhone so far.

Payback has now been approved for sale by Apple and will be appearing on the App Store worldwide on 15 January. Please join our mailing list if you want us to contact you when it's released.
Click to expand...



http://www.apex-designs.net/payback_iphone_report.html

iphone9.jpg


iphone10.jpg


iphone11.jpg


iphone12.jpg
 
Fantastical said:
Okay so I got my Touch today. It's pretty awesome. :D
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Wait till the need for perfect album art for each song sets in and you realize you have a bunch of really bizarre shit in your collection...god ITS HELL.
 
MaritalWheat said:
Wait till the need for perfect album art for each song sets in and you realize you have a bunch of really bizarre shit in your collection...god ITS HELL.
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That need has already started, unfortunately..
 
Hero of Sparta price drop. 9.99 to 5.99


I've been waiting on this one.

I.G.N. said:
Closing Comments
With so many bargains on the App Store, I sometimes hesitate to recommend a $10 game. However, I have zero qualms giving Hero of Sparta a full-throated endorsement. This is a thrilling action game loaded with cinematic flair. The controls work exceptionally well; they never get between you and the game. Hero of Sparta could be completed in just five or so hours, but $2 an hour for a game of this quality is a deal. Make it one of your next downloads.
*** Ratings for Hero of Sparta (iPhone)
Rating Description See Our Glorious Home Theater Setup!
out of 10 click here for ratings guideGet Ratings Information
8.5 Presentation
Top notch production values from the opening movie to the final boss battle.
9.0 Graphics
Hands down the best-looking iPhone game yet.
8.0 Sound
The thundering soundtrack fits the game just right. An update is on the way for the sound effects.
9.0 Gameplay
Smooth controls and excellent pacing make Hero of Sparta a real gamer's game. Loads of combos and special moves to uncover and use.
9.0 Lasting Appeal
Even at five hours, Hero of Sparta is a great deal. You may even play it twice to find everything.
9.0
Outstanding OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
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Edit: Jeez gaf is stupid with their site wars. :(
 
Nuclear Muffin said:
Does it fix the performance issues?
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It still takes like 40 seconds for the initial load which is fucking unacceptable. The text is bigger though. I guess the save bug was fixed too.

Anyway, holy shit, Rebel Onslaught was also patched tonight.

- Auto-fire disable option.
- Continue game from last level reached.
- Barrel roll added.
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It's perfect now. Everyone buy this game.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=301354945&mt=8
 
Nuclear Muffin said:
Does it fix the performance issues?
Click to expand...

http://toucharcade.com/2009/01/15/puzzle-quest-11-update-released/


Looks like the main change was text readability and a nasty save bug where you could lose your character.

Costanza said:
a bomberman clone with online play came out. it's 99 cents :o

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300028659&mt=8

I guess I'll try it.
Click to expand...

I'll probably pick it up especially since it has online which is what the freaking real version should have had but the developer is playing a dangerous game. He gives the impression his game is connected to the real one in the description.
 
Jonnyram said:
Considering how into iPhone Hudson are, that is fucking retarded. That guy is gonna get his ass reamed when they find out.
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I am consistently shocked by the amount of blatant copyright infringement material that's gone up on the App Store. There's a lot of it.
 
SuperPac said:
I am consistently shocked by the amount of blatant copyright infringement material that's gone up on the App Store. There's a lot of it.
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Sadly as a consumer I kind of love it. :D

The App Store is like this wild wild west zone compared to Xbox Live arcade or some other services where they try to control and manage every aspect tightly. I'm sure it will eventually settle down but I quite like it. Especially how devs update their games relatively quickly with updates to address issues compared to something like Xbox Live arcade again.
 
So, toucharcade is reporting that payback got pulled from the appstore because of a bug.
You were able to get it before it went down?
How's the framerate?
 
Jtwo said:
So, toucharcade is reporting that payback got pulled from the appstore because of a bug.
You were able to get it before it went down?
How's the framerate?
Click to expand...

It's fun, runs in the high twenties for sure :)
 
depward said:
TumiNeko Mew Mew Tower is hilarious. It's a topple clone but with cats.
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9166-6a00d8341c5d3253ef010536bf21dd970b.jpg


lol at the engrish

The Mew Mew Tower" is the game that is accumulating a lot of cats highly the sky in a line. You will stack a cat straightly so that balance may not worsen. If the iPhone is leaned, a cat will collapse easily. Oppositely, let's incline iPhone and balance when becoming ill-balanced. It is a fun game to be able to enjoy from a child to an adult."
Click to expand...

:D
 
I just got the game iMOB (free, but you can BUY respect). Seems interesting.

Anyway, we can join into one large Mob to increase our power/defense/etc. Don't really understand it yet.

Anyway, my iMob code is 100623694. Please try and join and send me a PM if you do. We can mark people for death that we don't like together.
 
whatdidyousay said:
Oh my God, that looks AWESOME.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I just got it. It is pretty awesome.

the goofy meowing plus the way small cats get grumpy when you put fat cats on them is too funny.

also, I bought that slick looking game EDGE that was shown a few pages back. I couldn't resist the slick style even though it looked tough. I'm still very early on in the game but I am really digging it. very cool puzzle platformer. definitely recommended to show off another unique and well produced iphone exclusive game.
 
If you're into word games check out Textropolis. The concept and execution is as simple as it comes (think Text Twist with various 9-letter cities throughout the world) but for my fellow achievement and completion whores it's a fantastic way to learn some new words and spend $.99

iTunes
Youtube.
Website.
 
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