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Tag Archive | "geoSpark"

GDC iPhone Session Roundup


There are so many sessions at GDC, full of game developers with passion, energy, and excitement. Here are a couple of them I had the good fortune to attend:

geodefenseDavid Whatley, Critical Thought Games - David came on The Portable Podcast to talk about geoSpark a feww months back, and it was tons of fun to listen to his well-attended GDC Talk. His main point was to focus on the things that you are good at, as a developer, and outsource the rest. His priority in developing a game is game design. We think it’s worked out pretty well for him. Using examples from his own game sales numbers for geoDefense and geoDefense swarm, he showed how a good PR company, Triplepoint PR in his case, can make a great game make tons of cash. He didn’t talk about geoSpark numbers, so I’d be interested in comparing those numbers as well.

canabalt-1Canabalt Post-Mortem – The indie darling of the iPhone and indie games scene, Canabalt was developed in about 5 days. Its theme and look was inspired by other media, such as District 9, Half LIfe 2, and some older 8-bit games. The developers talked about the decision to release the game on the web for free as a Flash game, and how that helped sales and word of mouth. In addition, they announced that thier rapid flash-based development tool, Flixit, will soon be available to developers who want to rapidly develop this type of 2D game for the iPhone.

Posted in GDC 2010, News, iPhone & iPod TouchComments (2)

iPhone Quick Hits: Talking Carl, Gravity Sling Deluxe, Zlider, geoSpark 1.1


talkingcarlTalking Carl by Awyse | $0.99 (Temporarily Free)
This digital toy lets you play with a little red dude named Carl, who you can interact with, and can even say stuff to him and have him repeat it back in his silly little voice. This is more of an app for kids than it is for adults – you might wind up picking it up for a few minutes, laughing at it, and then not touching it again, but little kids might have hours of fun playing around with Talking Carl. For free, it’s worth a download. At the regular price, know that you’re getting a silly little toy and not much more than that.

Gravity Sling Deluxe by Riptide Games | $0.99 ($2.99 regular price)
One of the progenitors of the freemium model on the iPhone now has a full-fledged release, as discussed on The Portable Podcast Episode 11. The big additions are the two new level packs including new levels with moving planets. The moving planets are a real challenge as now timing is a factor, you have to launch when the planets are in a good alignment. It adds a new dimension to the game that’s well worth checking out. If you have the free version, the two new level packs are $0.99 each, but the Deluxe version is currently $0.99 (regular price $2.99), and would include any potential updates to the game. That would potentially include the level editor, which I have gotten to play around with, which is really cool, as you can create pretty much any kind of level within the game parameters that you want. Gravity Sling Deluxe or the free version with paid levels is worth checking out, if only for the promise of awesome user-created gameplay in the future.

Zlider by Moyo Studios | Free with $0.99 In-App Purchase Level Packs
While the jury’s still out on whether the freemium model can be viable for those releasing games on the App Store, at least we’re seeing companies try something new, and Zlider falls under that category. This game has you sliding red and blue gates up and down while what appears to be a flaming energy ball travels along a wire, and you have to move the gates around to make sure the energy ball makes it through safely. Complex gate patterns as well as points where the wire splits make the game challenging. The game comes with 4 free levels, and a 20 level pack for $0.99 – the free version isn’t bad, but a couple more levels to help get the player hooked like Gravity Sling has wouldn’t hurt either. Each individual level of the 4 available takes more time than Gravity Sling’s 19 free ones to finish, but there’s just not enough there for me to make a judgment on whether I want more or not.

zlider

geoSpark 1.1 by Creative Thought Games and Imangi Studios | $0.99
One of my favorite iPhone games of the year got an update on Sunday night, bringing re-balanced gameplay, new spark types, as well as a  game-changing powerup: the 1up. When you have it, it will reset the board if a spark collision occurs, making your sessions last longer than ever. My first game on 1.1 got me a new high score, but other people were doing better as well. The 1.1 update has its own leaderboard, as the 1up does make things substantially different, as now the game is far more forgiving than it once was. You have room for error with the 1ups, but the desire to not lose them and to not fail out still is strong. Of course, as a late-night session with the game taught me, your sessions will last longer and your scores will be higher, making this game even more of a timesink than it once was. Scary.


Posted in Reviews, iPhone & iPod TouchComments (0)

iPhone Review: geoSpark


geospark-titleDeveloper/Publisher: Imangi Studios & Critical Thought Games
Genre: Action
Price: $0.99
Acquired: Pre-release beta version provided; review based on the initial publicly-available App Store release (version 1.0), purchased by the reviewer
Verdict: Buy It. Now. This game is fantastic in every asepct.
Pros: Gameplay is intense, addictive, and exceptionally fun; music, graphics, and overall design are all astounding
Cons: Game doesn’t immediately explain everything, but this is in part a design choice to get you to discover just what things do.

Brilliant. That’s the word to describe geoSpark. The collaboration between Imangi Studios and Critical Thought Games is just brilliant. This is a game that is addictive, challenging, heart-pounding, beautiful, and ingenious in its design. That you only pay $0.99 for this absolute gem of a game is absolutely unfair for just how incredible it is.

geospark-1The gameplay is, like any great game, immediately basic, but has layers of depth once you dig in to it. There are a bunch of objects flying around the screen, known as sparks. You can get rid of sparks in two ways: one, by simply tapping it and destroying it for 10 points. You can also hold the spark, and drag it around on other identical sparks to increase your chain, each spark in the chain giving you an additional 10 points. Dragging sparks around on to other sparks is the key to getting high scores, as long chains grant you much higher point values than just detonating one spark at a time. So why would you ever want to detonate just one spark? Well, with lots of sparks flying around, you run the risk of crashing into an errant wrong spark or having two different ones crash into each other while you’re holding down the chaining spark, so detonating single sparks is a great way to basically just clear obstacles. Also, as you chain sparks together, a gravity well forms around the spark being dragged around, which causes other sparks to be pulled in, making the board more chaotic and more likely to end your game. As such, success in geoSpark comes from balancing your spark chains and keeping things from getting far too chaotic.

geospark-2All of this might not be readily apparent to you – in fact, if you just try to jump into the game without having any clue as to what you are doing, you are very unlikely to do well at all. This is where the game’s brilliant tutorial comes in – click the question mark icon, and a tutorial pops up showing you how the game works. It doesn’t tell you, like I have attempted to do, but it actually shows you. No words are used at all, which is actually one of the most interesting parts of the game’s design – there are little to no words used here at all. The only words you see in the game (outside of the OpenFeint implementation) are the words geoSpark, and maybe the numbers that represent your high score if you’re picky. But everything in this game is action-based, and represented by representative objects, not words. Even the local top score display works by moving your new top score from the ‘current score’ side over to the right where it is now displayed. Everything is designed to make sense, but to maybe require you to discover what they mean if you’re not sure. The powerups in the game work in a similar way – in the initial release, there are 3 powerups available – I will not spoil how to use them, as part of the joy of the game is figuring out how exactly to use them yourself, although once you learn, then you will think “wow, that was obvious” – but the discovery is something that is worth experiencing for yourself.

We've gotten to play this. Jealous? Listen to the podcast to hear us discuss the game.

This game just has a great design to it, not only in the gameplay and the options, but has great visuals and sound. The graphics share a visual theme with the geoDefense series, and are simple neon shapes, but everything is crisp, and there are great explosion effects when you large chains of sparks get broken. The soundtrack is basic, but fits very well with the atmosphere of the game, and you can always use your own music if you wish.

But it’s everything that comes together to make this game great – the graphics, the sound, the design, the gameplay itself – everything is working on an exceptional level. There is nothing quite like having an extended session going, your heart beating out of your chest, knowing that one mistake leads to heartbreak. You’re just transfixed on your device, trying to keep chains going and frantically detonating sparks as they are about to collide with one another. It is when you realize just how intense the experience can get, when you start to see new sparks that you couldn’t have imagined were in the game. It’s the amazement of discovery, and the intensity of the gameplay, of perpetually living on the edge knowing of the thin line between success and failure, that makes this game one of the best iPhone games, if not one of the best games period, released this year. Few if any other games on the platform have are so refined, or provide such an intense, visceral experience like geoSpark does. If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, then buy this game. Do not hesitate. You will not regret it. This game is an exceptional experience that sets the new benchmark for iPhone games to be judged by.

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geoSpark Now Available!


We said that!

We said that!

We’ve discussed the game with both Imangi and Critical Thought Games. We’ve raved about it. We’ve set a very high score for you to challenge – just try topping 60,920! Now it is time for you to buy geoSpark for yourself.  A review is coming Monday, but just go buy it now. And that’s not just because it has an awesome app description: this is one of the best iPhone games of the year.

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The Portable Podcast, Episode 8


TPPTwitter_WebThis is a story. The story of two brave men who decided to make a podcast. This is their story, this is their podcast.

Who Are We?

  • Rob LeFebvre: Executive Editor, Games Are Evil Network – Aging like a fine wine
  • Carter Dotson: Managing Editor, The Portable Gamer – International Man of Mystery

On This Week’s Show:

Special Guest: David Whatley, Critical Thought Games

We've gotten to play this. Jealous? Listen to the podcast to hear us discuss the game.

We've gotten to play this. Jealous? Listen to the podcast to hear us discuss the game.

Today, we interview David about the geoDefense line of games, why they were such a huge success from a design standpoint, and we go in-depth about  just what worked with the games to make them work so well. We also discuss the upcoming Imangi-Critical Thought collaboration geoSpark, which we have gotten our hands on, and discuss the gameplay and the design decisions that have the game shaping up to be one of the next big iPhone games.

Cliffed is not something that we’ve seen a lot of from IUGO – a simpler, more casual game than everything else they’ve put out. This isn’t bad; Cliffed is quite fun. It was just a game that defied my expectations, which is a good thing, and shows that IUGO can play the casual game as well.

Cliffed has you going down, still unceasingly, still inevitably down gaps in cliffs, because the screen is scrolling up, and if the screen scrolls up past you, you get cliffed, and it’s game over, man, game over! This seems easy enough, but whenever a review says something along the lines of “this seems easy enough,” you should know by now that as Admiral Ackbar once declared, “It’s a trap!” There are rocks randomly strewn about in your way, and you have to dodge them as you keep trying to fall down. If a rock gets in your way, thankfully the walls allow you to teleport around to each side, as you can only move left and right, there’s no jumping allowed, after it was outlawed by the UN. Thankfully, you can dash by double-tapping in a direction. Take <b>that</b>, Ban Ki-moon! The game also speeds up over time; you’ll know when it does because it says SPEED UP! in the background.

That’s basically it for the game – trying to fall down and down and down and down as long as you can. This largely is a high score affair, but there’s plenty to keep you coming back beyond just playing for scores. You can unlock other playable characters (including other IUGO characters) by attaining a certain number of speedups, and there is one you can unlock by getting 20 points in IUGO’s VIP program for being a loyal IUGO customer. There’s also a cool online multiplayer mode, where you and other racers are trying to either be the last man, woman, zombie, or tree stump/ninja standing. You can’t really interact with other players, so it’s largely just a shared experience form of multiplayer, but this way lag isn’t a huge issue for playing the game, and you can play the game while getting the sensation of kicking the ass of anonymous strangers at the same time. Huzzah! If you prefer your competition be asynchronous, there’s also a global high score list.

Cliffed is simple, with just the basic gameplay, but with plenty of reason to come back to it beyond just the high score quest. The game has a good feel to it – the controls work well, with the left and right sides of the screen reserved for moving in the respective directions. It’s also just a great feeling when you can get going falling down a bunch of gaps at one after another, and when you manage to just escape being cliffed by dashing right for that gap at the last second. The only issue I have with the game is that I found the timer a bit extraneous and distracting, as it makes you conscious of how long you’re playing, and as David Whatley, creator of geoDefense says, great game design shoots for “5 minute” intervals of gameplay – not literally 5 minutes, but the thought that the player can pick up the game and play it and get their entertainment value out of the game in that 5 minute interval, even if you wind up playing for hours upon hours at a time. Cliffed’s timer is always there making you conscious of how long you’re playing. There is an efficiency element to getting as far down as you can in as little time as possible, but this is mostly for multiplayer purposes. For single-player, it would be nice for there to be an option to disable it, as I really don’t care how long it would take to beat a level when I’m playing single-player, I want to get lost in the experience and the clock takes me out of it.

Cliffed is fun to play, and while the basicness of the game was a bit unexpected from IUGO, it was still a great experience, with a lot of that IUGO polish that’s come to be expected from their games. With only the clock being a distraction, Cliffed is a great casual-style game with a nice selection of features.

Posted in Podcasts, The Portable Podcast, iPhone & iPod TouchComments (0)

The Portable Podcast, Episode 6


hippohighdiveHosted By:

Developer Interview
Interview with @kshepherd and @nattylux of Imangi Studios

  • Hippo High Dive
  • geoSpark

Game Chat

Eliminate Pro, from ngmoco:)

Contact:

VoiceMail:
646-402-5686 x 82437
eMail:
tpg@theportablegamer.com
(don’t forget you can use the voice memo app on iPhone)

Posted in Podcasts, The Portable PodcastComments (1)

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