shinygerbil
Blew Blow (Loved It)
Level 10
GET off your horse
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« on: August 12, 2007, 01:41:13 PM » |
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...and I don't just mean portable consoles.
I've been finding myself playing a lot of Solitaire and Tetris on my phone lately, and I'm looking for a few better games. (Not that I don't enjoy Tetris a lot, but it palls when it's all I have.) I used to have a lovely Windows Smartphone which had a very nice range of games for it which were original if nothing else, but nowadays...all I seem to have is a lovely range of match-3 games or film/game franchise tie-in lame platformers. And I'm fed up of it.
My question is twofold. Firstly: Any recommendations for a good mobile game? Casual, deep, I don't care. But a good, (fairly) original game that I can sink my teeth into.
Secondly, do any of you as game devs take the platform seriously?
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olücæbelel
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DrDerekDoctors
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« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2007, 02:06:27 PM » |
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I *love* Orcs And Elves, but it's HUGELY clichéd and not original at all. It's a first-person dungeon crawl and they're like crack for me.  Basically, if you want a good game and although it pains me to recommend rivals have a look at anything by Digital Chocolate or Gameloft (although they recycle some of their engines FAR too much). Glu have produced a fair few nice games (and Ken Fejer's art in them is always superb). But if you like Texas Hold 'Em I can earnestly recommend WPT2 Texas Hold'em by HandsOn Mobile. Also, I take mobiles as a development platform quite seriously, but then it's my job as I design games for the blessed things. |
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Me, David Williamson and Mark Foster do an Indie Games podcast. Give it a listen. And then I'll send you an apology. http://pigignorant.com/ |
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Pacian
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« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2007, 03:56:12 AM » |
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Any recommendations for a good mobile game? Casual, deep, I don't care.
1. Imbibe alcohol. 2. Drop mobile in toilet. 3. Swear. 4. Fish mobile out of toilet. 5. Repeat steps 2-4 until high score. |
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(O.o) - Achtung, baby!
(> <)
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Alex May
...is probably drunk right now.
Level 10
hen hao wan
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« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2007, 03:58:32 AM » |
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I've played a lot of Deep Red's Sim City for mobiles. It's a terrible port, really (there isn't even any key repeat on the cursor - just a switch that makes it move 7 squares at a time), and slow, but it passes the time. I don't really recommend it. That's it, that is the only mobile game I've ever bought.
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ravuya
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« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2007, 06:09:04 AM » |
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Doom RPG is excellent, but hardly indie. Well, the development is but the license and funding isn't.
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the_dannobot
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« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2007, 06:59:56 AM » |
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There's a game called "Tornado Mania" on cell phones that is one of the best one-button games I've ever played. There's a tornado and a city, hold the button to spin the tornado clockwise, don't hold the button down to spin counter-clockwise. The goal is to eat the city before time runs out. It's a pretty cool game mechanic.
I've got a buddy whose a software engineer at a cell phone game company, and he has a lot of complaints about working on cell phones. Apparently every phone has different quirks that have to be programmed around, so you end up writing a dozen different versions of a game.
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ravuya
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« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2007, 08:00:35 AM » |
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Yeah, that's pretty much my experience with MIDP 1.0. It's sort of arbitrary what phone supports what, and they don't even have the equivalent of "caps bits" to figure out what capabilities a phone has.
So it's a crapshoot whether or not a given phone even has a filesystem, let alone access to the cool cellphone platform features like the camera, GPS and vibrate.
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Guert
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« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2007, 08:41:03 AM » |
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Quite frankly, I don't take the plateform too seriously simply because I don't like cellphones. The business in itself is very interesting and booming. Development costs are low but complicated because of all the different models of phones. Design-wise, it's always fun to have a plateform where you have to challenge yourself in new ways. The fact that these games could use the phone system to play is something I like. The fact that those screens are horribly small pushes me away from them. All in all, I don't like them but I know they're pretty much here to stay. They are as important to the business as flash games (in my opinion) but I can't help but dislike them because they are children of those slave creating machines called cellphones...  Later! |
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AdamAtomic
*BARF*
Level 9
hostess w/ the mostest
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« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2007, 10:06:51 AM » |
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i've heard very good things about Tower Bloxx, but I never got around to downloading it. Sounded like a solid game though, with a nice indie vibe. Also I'm a little biased but if your phone can play it, GLU's PGR Mobile is actually a pretty fun racer. Their game Stranded is also pretty sweet, feels like a decent first-gen SNES game.
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 cup full of magic charisma |
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crukid
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« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2007, 05:08:19 PM » |
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You need to play Dweller, the only true "mobile" roguelike: http://www.roguelikedevelopment.org/dweller/The newest builds are great. Unfortunately when I try to use the look command, it has a tendency to crash...otherwise the game is awesome. It's probably just my cell. |
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skaldicpoet9
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« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2007, 10:01:15 AM » |
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I think that Cell-Phone gaming is going to be a very integral part of the gaming experience....I mean everyone and my mom owns a cell phone and there is an immense market out there for casual games so I think that it is a no-brainer....eventually I think we will have a very strong following for cell-phone gaming....
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\\\\\\\"Fearlessness is better than a faint heart for any man who puts his nose out of doors. The date of my death and length of my life were fated long ago.\\\\\\\"
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Guert
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« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2007, 05:22:03 AM » |
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Indeed... And I still hate them because of what you said: everyone has one. God I hate cell phones! You can't go anywhere without one of them going off or someone talking loud in theirs. I never quite understood why the hell people actually talk for hours on their weird, small black and grey boxes that don't even reach to your mouth... What's so important that you have to say to someone that you can't wait to freakin' see it in person or wait 'til you're at home to say it? Keep your goddamn personal converstaion PERSONAL!  Er... hum... Sorry about that... Anyway... I always say that if you want to play a game, choose a plateform that doesn't have screens so small that your eyes will bleed from squinting... But yes, the cell phone gaming is here to stay... Later! |
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« Last Edit: August 15, 2007, 09:12:56 AM by Guert »
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skaldicpoet9
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« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2007, 05:26:55 AM » |
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Indeed... And I still hate them because of what you said: everyone has one. God I hate cell phones! You can't go anywhere without one of them going off or someone talking loud in theirs. I never quite understood why the hell people actually talk for hours on their weird, small black and grey boxes that don't even reach to your mouth... What,s so important that you have to say to someone that you can't wait to freakin' see it in person or wait 'till your at home to say it? Keep your goddamn personal converstaion PERSONAL! Er... hum... Sorry about that... Anyway... I always say that if you want to play a game, choose a plateform that doesn't have screens so small that your eyes will bleed from squinting... But yes, the cell phone gaming is here to stay... Later! lol..... The thing that is great though is: I don't even own a cell phone lol...I don't even have a phone period...I use my girlfriend's lol....she doesn't have any games on her's though.... |
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\\\\\\\"Fearlessness is better than a faint heart for any man who puts his nose out of doors. The date of my death and length of my life were fated long ago.\\\\\\\"
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ravuya
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« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2007, 06:03:58 AM » |
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Really, the collection of cell phone software is terrible. This might be due to the terrible tools, but i suspect it is due to operator lockin. If they weren't such greedy buggers, some independents might actually make money instead of having a publisher and telco taking their cut.
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Oaf
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« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2007, 09:00:19 AM » |
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Really, the collection of cell phone software is terrible. This might be due to the terrible tools, but i suspect it is due to operator lockin. If they weren't such greedy buggers, some independents might actually make money instead of having a publisher and telco taking their cut.
That's certainly why a lot of mobile devs have crossed over to "Casual" stuff. Mobile phone dev's certainly a lot easier than it used to be. Still a thankless task having to target hundreds of different phones and about 8 different languages. |
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MrShandavio
Level 0
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« Reply #15 on: August 16, 2007, 06:57:00 AM » |
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I don't really take it seriously. I never liked mobile phones much. Sure, being able to call from out of the house is great, but it's way overdone - and way too expensive. Texting as an idea is retarded, and too costly. If you can take the time to sit there and text something, you should have the time to call. Of course, there are exceptions. Rare instances where texting a message makes sense, but for $20 a month, I don't think it's worth it.
Games on phones was a stupid idea, too. There are a few games that would be good on phones, and just a few. Most good games nowadays would be much too complex to play on a cellphone.
I never got into mobile gaming (I'm talking about cellphone gaming; I like my Nintendo DS), and I don't see any reason why I should. The features are too expensive and the games just aren't deep enough for my taste.
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Pacian
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« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2007, 06:16:21 AM » |
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Rare instances where texting a message makes sense, but for $20 a month, I don't think it's worth it.
I think the real point behind texting is that it lets you send short messages for a very low cost each, which the recipient can then read at their leisure (eg. after they leave the cinema). I pay 10p (about 20 cents?) per text, and I'm on a relatively expensive price plan. Texting also lets you communicate with someone in public without everyone and their dog having to listen in. Anyhoo, I was reminded of this thread when I picked up this month's Retro Gamer magazine and saw a review for Resident Evil: The Missions - a low-fi, fully 3D Resident Evil game for phones. It sounds like it should be awful, but it seems to be getting some good reviews. |
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(\ /)
(O.o) - Achtung, baby!
(> <)
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ravuya
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« Reply #17 on: August 17, 2007, 07:28:32 AM » |
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I pay $3/mo for unlimited text messaging; you guys are just lazy or you live in some bizarre locale where the local telco screws you.
I use SMS whenever it's not pertinent to make a voice call: don't want to disturb people or I'm walking somewhere where it's not easy to make the call, or I don't know if the person I'm about to contact can talk.
Anyway, back on topic, in Japan they have cellphones with proper OpenGL ES acceleration and a couple of PS1-quality titles. Why can't I buy those phones?
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« Last Edit: August 17, 2007, 07:30:05 AM by ravuya »
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skaldicpoet9
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« Reply #18 on: August 17, 2007, 07:35:18 AM » |
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I pay $3/mo for unlimited text messaging; you guys are just lazy or you live in some bizarre locale where the local telco screws you.
I use SMS whenever it's not pertinent to make a voice call: don't want to disturb people or I'm walking somewhere where it's not easy to make the call, or I don't know if the person I'm about to contact can talk.
Anyway, back on topic, in Japan they have cellphones with proper OpenGL ES acceleration and a couple of PS1-quality titles. Why can't I buy those phones?
Yeah,cell phone gaming is getting more advanced even as we speak...I mean if you have a phone that is up to it you can play some pretty nice looking games (not spectacular, but impressive for a cell phone) it'll be interesting what becomes of cell phone gaming...I think this is one area where gaming is starting to enter into the mainstream (i.e. everyone else but gamers are taking more notice toward games) which I think is exciting because it opens up a whole new door to where an even broader array of people will take gaming more seriously. |
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\\\\\\\"Fearlessness is better than a faint heart for any man who puts his nose out of doors. The date of my death and length of my life were fated long ago.\\\\\\\"
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Guert
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« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2007, 08:57:10 AM » |
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True. Also, game design wise, it's quite interesting to be able to use a strong network such as the telephone. I'm pretty sure that numerous games will allow the player to communicate between them while playing a game. And I'm not even thinking about all the possibilities of using speech inside the actual game. We've seen how the DS can use a microphone, it's just a matter of time before cell phone game designers use this avenue.
Later!
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Player
