Archive for the ‘Java’ tag
Sierra Adventure Games Coming to the iPad… But Not How You Would Think
describes himself as "'just some guy' with a family at home with 3 kids to take care of (and one coming up) and a day job" who also happens to have an insatiable love for old school Sierra adventure games. That day job he mentions involves doing "kick ass things with the web," as he put it, so it's not much of a surprise that when looking for tools to bring these old games to modern platforms he settled on completely cross-platform HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Currently, nine of these classic adventure games including the Kings Quest series, a Leisure Suit Larry game, and others are playable on his web site .
This all would be cool enough by itself, but Martin is hard at work on the final touches of adapting his web game engine that all these games run in to be (as he put it) "a real kick-ass iPad experience". When finished, these games will have their own special URL's users will be able to navigate to, then save as icons via the add to home screen functionality that already exists on the device without any jailbreaking, emulation, or anything else. These games will be entirely touch friendly, and require no typing. Check out the video he put together:
When Kool approached us about this, I definitely thought this was something that needed to be on TouchArcade, but had to ask the inevitable question of whether or not he was ready for the attention he will get. (Specifically, from Activision's legal department.) To him, this is a labor of love. He's running these games at his own cost, without ads. So far he's had over 2 million players stop by his site. He said he'd stop immediately if Activision sends him a cease and desist– but more than anything he just hopes that Activision either grants him a noncommercial license or somehow involves him in republishing these games in HD like he has.
is an outstanding tribute to these old school adventure games, and if all goes as planned, the site will have iPad friendly versions of the included titles within a month. It's no secret we love retro gaming around here, and we'll post more information on this project as soon as we get it.
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Still Haven’t Played a Multiplayer iPad Game? Versus Pad Has Three Freebies: ‘Ogs’, ‘The Roswell Game’ and ‘City Bucks’
I must mention this in every post that has anything to do with single device iPad multiplayer, but two (or more) player games on the iPad are almost always universally awesome. Everything from elaborately crafted ports of board games like Small World [$6.99] to the simplest of games like Omium [99¢] are a ton of fun when played with another person. If for whatever reason you've disregarded my previous encouragement to try out two player gaming on the iPad, you really need to download any or all of free games. They're all fairly simple, but serve as an excellent example of just how well two player gaming works on the device.
Also, to make things a little more interesting, all of these games were developed in , a cross-platform development framework that allows developers to build their games in HTML and Javascript while still being able to take advantage of the core features of the device as a native app. If you're great with Javascript/CSS, but bad with C++, PhoneGap is a free open source way for you to get started building games and apps on the iPhone. Anyway, on to the games-
Ogs, Free [] In this game, players dispatch creatures called "Ogs" to defend their own island and attack the opponent's island. A bar at the bottom of the screen slowly fills up, allowing you to deploy more advanced Ogs. The game is over when either player's island is destroyed.
The Roswell Game, Free [] Up to four players at once buzz around the iPad collecting crystals using virtual joysticks situated in each corner of the screen. The game is over when one player collects 75 crystals.
City Bucks, Free [] My favorite of the three, players place businesses on to an initially empty city grid to lure customers in to buy things. Earning money unlocks more expensive (and attractive) buildings. Monster attacks and disasters like meteor strikes spice gameplay up, and add an element of risk to saving up for one super-expensive business. I'd love to see this game concept fleshed out a little more, as it seems like it is on the verge of something really cool.
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Freebie Alert: ‘The Raging Dead’ – A Zombie Infection Simulator… With Bombs
If you've found yourself stricken with a severe case of the Mondays, why not give your life some perspective and appreciate the fact that unlike the citizens of The Raging Dead [Free], you're not currently running for your life in a city filled with zombies with some omnipotent finger deciding whether or not your life is sacrifice for the greater good. (Or, if you are in a situation like this, I'd wonder why it is you're reading TouchArcade instead of, well, not getting your brain eaten.)
We reviewed The Raging Dead when it was released earlier this year, and as someone who was always oddly captivated by the various that made the rounds years ago, I thought the game was really cool. Much like said simulators, The Raging Dead uses similar AI to populate a game world which initially only has a few zombies (red dots) who instantly begin pursuing the humans (blue dots).
From our review:
As you might imagine, entire cities can be completely overrun with zombies unless the undead are stopped quickly, and that's where the player comes in. Tapping on the screen will drop a bomb (or fire the machine gun, if that's your preference), killing all zombies in the impact area. That impact area is painfully small at first, and that combined with the extremely zoomed out view in each level makes precision a bit difficult. Luckily, weapons can be upgraded with money earned at the end of each level to allow for a more forgiving blast radius, so players will be able to eliminate the zombie threat quickly and efficiently.
The interesting part of the game becomes apparent when you realize that your weapon has limitations like reload speed time, and you must sacrifice some civilians in order to prevent the infection from hitting everywhere in the city at once. The strategy is to quickly eliminate all the scattered zombies at the start of the level, and by the time you've done that it's likely that the one or two that you missed have created a small army around their locations. That's just the sacrifice that you'll have to make if you want to be successful, because the only way to win is the eventually get all the zombies in a corner where they have no more civilian targets to infect and wipe them out all at once.
22 levels are included, as well as two weapons which you can upgrade in between levels. At the end of each level you're graded, earn money for said upgrades, and potentially unlock in-game medals based on how many humans survive as well as how little damage you did to the surrounding city. I fully realize there are entirely too many zombie games on the App Store, but if you've got room on your device for just one more, The Raging Dead is worth a try especially while it's free.
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‘Miner Disturbance’ Review – One HOT Puzzle-Platformer
Very rarely, an absolute gem flies under our radar, as seems to be the case with Jagex Games Studio's Miner Disturbance [App Store]. Based on a PC game by the same name, Miner Disturbance is an alternate take on the classic formula.
In Miner Disturbance, you take control of a very Mario-esque miner, whose job it is to pick a rather hazardous mountain clean of all its precious metals. Part platformer, part puzzle game, Miner Disturbance has you haphazardly negotiating a series of deteriorating, volcanic, gassy and waterlogged mine-shafts…filled with nasty critters no less.
Your miner is directed via a virtual thumbstick and on-screen buttons. One button enables you to dig through rock and the other is your life-saving jump button. Though the controls are simple, Jagex Games Studios (of Runescape fame) have put a considerable amount of thought into making your mining life as easy as possible. Pressing in a direction while pressing your dig button will stop your miner from tumbling down precarious drops, enabling you to easily pick at rock on the other side of the gap.
Once learned this becomes an essential tool, as in order to successfully complete each of the 25 levels' objectives and achieve a gold rating, you will need to dig yourself an elaborate maze to avoid or negotiate the pitfalls you encounter. These stem from simple water-logged areas, where digging around submerged areas realistically spreads the water, to dangerous lava-filled caverns, or areas where poisonous mushrooms emit a toxic gas when disturbed. Add to this the necessary rats, moles, spiders and bats that naturally inhabit these areas, and you're never short an obstacle or three.
Completing each of the level's objectives has the added boon of rewarding you with coins, which can be spent upgrading your miner's abilities. These are essential to reaching the lowest depths and returning alive (the latter a requisite of each and every level) as they improve things such as jumping height, health and water and gas breathing time. Equipment can also assist you to walk over lava, climb sheer rock faces, and locate enemies and artefacts.
To complement the core missions, Miner Disturbance uses these artefacts in a meta-game of sorts, displaying the artefact pieces you've collected in a museum accessible via your overworld map. A volcano is also unlocked after the inital few missions that is essentially a randomly-generated survival mission that records your highscores to compare with your friends.
The volcano is peppered with the same dangers as the standard levels, with the added peril of triggering a volcano if your digging makes the volcano unstable. This commences a mad back-track as you attempt to out-run the forthcoming eruption; some of the best fun to be had with the game. And your results are all recorded in OpenFeint or able to be shared with your friends via Twitter or Facebook.
Much to our approval, Jagex Game Studios have already released 5 free levels featuring an entirely new arctic world; complete with new icy obstacles to overcome and a new artefact to discover.
Even without the added sweetener though, Miner Disturbance is a terrific action-packed puzzle platformer that should keep you entertained for hours as you pick your way through devilishly concocted mineshafts. The iOS version also benefits from a faithful but more detailed and glossy re-imagination of the original artwork. It is a diamond in the rough (or rock as it were) not to be missed, and certainly a must-have for puzzle and platformer fans alike.
For those still on the fence, or if you're simply interested in sampling the gameplay first, have a go at the .
(Limited 50% Off Update Sale)
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‘1942: First Strike’ First Impressions – Disappointing Controls
When bringing up the topic of vertical shoot 'em ups, it's nearly impossible not to mention Capcom's seminal 194X series. Since the original 1942 was released way back in 1984 the series has spawned a number of sequels and has been ported to practically any system you can think of, minus the iPhone. That changed tonight however as 1942: First Strike is now available on the App Store.
1942: First Strike is said to be inspired by the game 1942: Joint Strike that graced the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network a couple years ago. While those games were slightly mundane gameplay-wise, they at the very least showcased some excellent 3D high def graphics that really brought the classic franchise into this new generation. This is not the case here. The iPhone version features tiny plane and enemy sprites and boring backdrops. It's colorful, but not very interesting. The music is really quite excellent, but the sound effects lack any substance and destroying enemies is met with a whimper rather than a boom.
I could excuse the disappointing graphics if the gameplay was entertaining, but sadly this isn't the case either. The major fault of 1942: First Strike is in the controls. The gameplay area is fairly wide, which makes the screen scroll left or right when you fly in those directions. The sensitivity in the scrolling is just way off and creates a totally disorienting experience. If a row of enemies is coming towards you, and you need to scoot just a smidgen over to line up your aim, likely that will send the playfield scrolling too hard and your plane slamming right into enemies or incoming fire. Adjusting the sensitivity or using tilt helps a tiny bit, but not really. It's just not something I could get used to, and it ruins a game that requires high precision.
Even if the controls worked better, there's nothing here you haven't seen before. Enemy attack patterns and your own special weapons are all garden variety, and if not for the controls, the game would likely be too short and easy. There are a couple things to like about the game, though. As mentioned the music is well done, as are the different menu graphics. Some nifty full motion cutscenes are shown prior to beginning levels or fighting a boss, although they seem to repeat often.
None of these good marks outweigh the bad though, and at best 1942: First Strike feels like a Java game that might have impressed on mobile 5 years ago. It's unfortunate and surprising that such a beloved franchise received such poor treatment.
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‘Akihabara’ – Who Needs Flash Anyway?
Owners of the original iPhone will remember the dark days before the App Store or even the original jailbreaks and third party software when games and apps consisted of nothing more than clever web pages, usually loaded to the brim with javascript. The games were basic, and the "apps" consisted of little more than simple database-powered applets and tip calculators, but they did the trick.
is a HTML5 toolbox filled with all kinds of neat goodies that creative developers can use to make browser games. there are five demo games ranging from a simple Tetris-like game to a basic Zelda clone. The cool part is, these games work on every modern non-Internet Explorer browser, including the browsers of the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and apparently even other touchscreen phones like the Palm Pre.
Depending on what platform you're playing on, all of the proper controls appear on screen or you use the keyboard and arrow keys. On the iPhone, virtual controls pop up at the bottom of the screen and while they're not as responsive as a native game, it's still pretty amazing to think you're essentially playing a web page– Without even a smidge of Flash.
All of the games on the are free, and really worth a spin both because they're really impressive pieces of web development but also so you can appreciate what things were like before the App Store came around.
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A Look at Upcoming ‘Galaxy on Fire 2′ for iPhone and iPad
iPad users striving for the Elite experience on the iPad will soon have an alternative to Warpgate HD, thanks to FishLabs' upcoming space commerce shooter Galaxy on Fire 2, sequel to one of my favorite iPhone titles, Galaxy on Fire [App Store].
Currently available as , Galaxy on Fire 2 is making its way to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, taking full advantage of each target platform.
Along with a complete reworking of the graphics, the in-house ABYSS game engine has been adapted to the functionality of the modern smartphones. In the new for GoF 2, lead developer Hans-Christian Kühl extensively describes the changes so far to the original Java version in the port. The new Galaxy on FireTM 2, which previously only required approximately 1 MB of memory for technical reasons, will have over 120 MB of pure game data in the final version.
While there are not a great deal of bullet-point feature details available at the moment, we do have alpha-stage screenshots of both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game.
Have a look. The first row is iPad screenshots, the rest are shots of the upcoming iPhone version of the game.
FishLabs has dedicated a full year to the development of Galaxy on Fire 2 and we're quite anxious to find out more about what's certain to be a rather worthwhile release. Stay tuned for more info as we get it.
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GDC 2010: Namco Announces ‘Pool Pro Online 3′ with Online Cross-Platform Head to Head
Namco held a press event last night where they announced the iPhone version of Pool Pro Online 3. This represents the 3rd in the franchise which originally began on mobile phones but is now extending to smartphones and even the desktop.
While the game may be of interest to those who enjoy pool, it also represents a few first of potentially a series of games using their which allows cross-platform online play. Jonathan Kromrey, general manager of apple games for Namco Networks, writes "This is only the beginning of where we are going as a company. Over the next several months, we will roll out a series of other features and games that are powered by UniteSDK, including tournaments for Pool Pro Online 3."
Pool Pro Online 3 will eventually be also available for PC, Mac, Android, Java, BREW, RIM and Windows Mobile, and will allow instant online play across all the platforms. UniteSDK also includes the usual friend lists, leaderboards and such that we've already seen in OpenFeint and Plus+. Namco is also opening up UniteSDK to 3rd party developers as well.
As for Pool Pro Online 3, it allows both single player and online play in 8-ball, 9-ball and Snooker. Players can also make in-game wagers against their opponents and use winnings to upgrade table felts, cue sticks and new pool halls. The 3d game allows you to rotate your view and pinch/zoom to line up your shot.
The iPhone version of the game will be released on Thursday for $4.99.
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Developer Profile – Brandon Curiel of Venan Entertainment
Venan Entertainment is the creator of the recently released Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, which we absolutely loved in our review. Space Miner is the first game from Venan, but we liked it so much that we decided to feature them in this week's developer profile.
Brandon Curiel, the CEO of Venan, was kind enough to agree to be interviewed by us, and I got the chance to find out a little bit more about him, his company, and his games.
Touch Arcade: Could you give us a brief history of the company? How did you start off?
Brandon Curiel: Venan started in the summer of 2002 in my spare bedroom. We had just left a dot com bust, and having worked in games prior to that, the five of us we decided we wanted to get back into that market. Our initial target was the Xbox, and we spent a year working on a game demo and shopping it around, but didn’t have much luck. So with our savings getting low, we decided to switch gears and aim for something more modest – mobile development. Our first game, Super Putt Classic, got sold into Sprint by Mforma (now Hands On Mobile) and from there they started offering us contracts to do new games. One game led to another, and to another, and eventually we built up our business being a third party mobile developer.
We got started on the iPhone pretty early with a contract from EA to bring Monopoly over, which we had done on mobile and the regular iPod. It was like a breath of fresh air after having to deal with the fragmented Java/Native landscape for so long. Since then we’ve done four iPhone games, three for EA and one for Sega, but Space Miner is the first one we’ve developed as an internal title. We’re hoping to be able to dedicate more resources to internal titles going forward.
The Venan Entertainment crew
Touch Arcade: What was the inspiration for Space Miner?
Brandon Curiel: Space Miner is an interesting story, because there was no direct inspiration for it. Initially we were just trying to prototype a control scheme. The idea was to use the accelerometer to determine the device orientation such that when the user turned the device, we’d take the world and pivot it around the player. Seeing some of the success smaller developers were having, we thought we’d knock out a quick game with this nifty control scheme idea, so we brainstormed for some ideas that might work. Eventually we settled on a classic asteroids style game.
Since we’re not talking about the game I just described, something obviously didn’t work. To be blunt, the whole idea was a colossal mess. I can say that, since it was my idea! There were so many problems, like not having anywhere to put a UI, getting tangled up in headphone cords, and the undeniable fact that flipping the device around like that was just not fun and liable to get it dropped. So, having developed an asteroids “engine”, we had to rethink what exactly we were going to do with it.
Having to start over again I think made us take a deeper look at the App Store to figure out what exactly was out there and where we could be different. What we found was that there were a lot of “snack” type games, but not a whole lot of the type of deeper games like those you’d find on the DS or a PSP. So, we decided to be different. Instead of going in the same direction as everyone else on the App Store, we decided to do back to our roots and just blow out the whole asteroids concept into something we’d want to play. And that meant narrative, RPG elements, and all the things that you see in Space Miner now.
Space Miner, the first game from Venan
Touch Arcade: What's a game that you'd love to make in the future?
Brandon Curiel: Dark Blossom. It’s a name that means nothing to anyone (it shouldn’t at least), but it’s a classic fantasy RPG we’ve had kicking in the background in one form or another for at least five years. Prior to Space Miner, we had been working on it as an original DS title, but gave up because the market there is very tough if you aren’t Nintendo. I’ve personally always wanted to make an epic fantasy RPG, so hopefully we’ll get the chance someday to port it over to the iPhone and try reviving it once more.
Also, Space Miner II. First since that will mean the first Space Miner was successful. But really we always have had a plan for a sequel and have tons of ideas we couldn’t get in the first one.
The Venan Entertainment offices
Touch Arcade: Who wrote the dialog for Space Miner? Can you tell me a little bit about the decision to make the game humorous in nature?
Brandon Curiel: The story was primarily a collaborative effort between me and Alex Kain, an associate designer here. I dealt more with the story elements and the arc, and Alex handled the actual writing (and re-writing) but we both did some of the other as well. We also brought in an extremely funny writer we worked with on Ninjatown, Robbie Telfer, to help “funny it up.”
As for humorous, well, I think that was a natural fit. Once we hit on the mining angle, it took all of 1.5 seconds for Uncle Jeb to be created in our minds, and that character is just funny out of the box. We wanted this to be fun, light, and accessible. We were just so sick and tired of all the dark, gritty stories you see in these games that have just been done to death. So the tone was very conscious, from the UI, to the plot, to the dialog, to even doing the space station as a bobbing 2D billboard.
Here's a gameplay trailer for Space Miner:
Touch Arcade: What's an interesting fact about your company?
Brandon Curiel: There’s an ongoing agreement with the employees that if we sell 100,000 units of Space Miner, I’ll get them a pinball machine. We have a long way to go though…
App Store Link: Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, $4.99
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‘The Raging Dead’ – A Different Take On the Zombie Apocalypse
Zombie games come a dime a dozen on the App Store, but most take form as some sort of shooter, so it's refreshing to see somebody trying something new in The Raging Dead, developed by GhostBird Software. Using either bombs or a machine gun players of this fresh zombie game are tasked with quickly eliminating a zombie threat in over 22 different areas of a metropolitan city from a bird's eye view. With agressive zombie A.I. that will hunt down civilians and convert them to their undead army in only seconds, The Raging Dead will require a quick eye and an even faster finger to find success.
Each level in The Raging Dead consists of a single screen with hundreds of dots that represent people milling about. Blue dots are humans, and red dots are zombies. At the start of a level there will only be a few red dots (or more, depending on how far into the game you've made it) but that quickly changes as the evil little red dots begin quickly catching the little blue people, pausing only for a second or two to convert the former human into another red zombie dot, which will then join in with its attacker to catch even more humans.
As you might imagine, entire cities can be completely overrun with zombies unless the undead are stopped quickly, and that's where the player comes in. Tapping on the screen will drop a bomb (or fire the machine gun, if that's your preference), killing all zombies in the impact area. That impact area is painfully small at first, and that combined with the extremely zoomed out view in each level makes precision a bit difficult. Luckily, weapons can be upgraded with money earned at the end of each level to allow for a more forgiving blast radius, so players will be able to eliminate the zombie threat quickly and efficiently.
The interesting part of the game becomes apparent when you realize that your weapon has limitations like reload speed time, and you must sacrifice some civilians in order to prevent the infection from hitting everywhere in the city at once. The strategy is to quickly eliminate all the scattered zombies at the start of the level, and by the time you've done that it's likely that the one or two that you missed have created a small army around their locations. That's just the sacrifice that you'll have to make if you want to be successful, because the only way to win is the eventually get all the zombies in a corner where they have no more civilian targets to infect and wipe them out all at once.
Bombs are great for killing many zombies at once, but you'll run the risk of killing humans and damaging the city if you spam them. The machine gun can only kill one zombie at once but its very useful once you decide to start going for "A" rankings by avoiding avoiding city damage and keeping more civilians "unzombified."
There are four different rankings that can be awarded at the end of each completed level, and more money is distributed to the player for higher rankings. Levels can and will likely have to be replayed to farm money (especially towards the beginning of the game, where everything is just a tad too hard), but it's likely that you won't mind, as levels can be completed in only seconds if you're good enough and you'll want to improve your level rankings anyway.
GhostBird Software has stated that multiple profiles, more levels, more weapons, more behaviors, and different modes like challenge and survival will be added in the future.
The Raging Dead is an interesting game, especially if you remember the Zombie Infection Simulator java applets that made the rounds online quite a few years ago. The strategy the game forces you to use in choosing which humans to sacrifice to save the rest of the population from the zombie infection is a unique gameplay element that we enjoyed.
App Store Link: The Raging Dead, $2.99
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