Tag: Fingle »

It's Valentine's Day! Did you get loads of cards and chocolates and other tacky, simple expressions of human affection? Did you send out tat because you find it almost impossible to express emotion unless there's a section dedicated to it at your local shop? Hahahaha it's all fun and games.

If you're stumped for what to do on this most momentous of date nights, don't fret, because we've got you covered. After all, what says 'I love you' better than a mobile game? Literally nothing, that's what. So here are the best games to play with your soul mate this evening.

Hey, that iPad of yours has a nice big screen. Why keep it all to yourself? Grab some friends and play some games together with them! Here's four of my favorites.

Fingle: It's time to get intimate with this two-player iPad game. It starts out simply enough: each person moves their finger to the dashed box on screen. Sure, we can do that! Then multiple fingers get involved. Then the target boxes keep moving. Then the targets move in and out of the other person's hand, and action is getting incredibly touchy-feely here. Oh, and the game's use of innuendo means that it knows what's up. So grab a friend and be ready to become really close...or make things really awkward. Great memories or terrible memories are sure to come.

Bloop: Some of these games are fun for just two people, but here's one for up to four people. The objective? Each player picks a color on the screen, and when the action starts, they need to tap it whenever it pops up. Oh, and the colors are rapidly popping up all throughout the game, so reacting quickly to where colors are coming up is extremely important! Expect to be shoving others' arms out of the way all while playing this. It's got the best facets of an iPad multiplayer game: an easy concept to pick up on and plenty of chaos that creates for memorable moments.

Monkey Boxing: Sure, abstract competition is great. But sometimes friends just need to beat each other up by using simian avatars. That's exactly what this game provides, with two players on one iPad. The two-button gameplay is easy to dive in to, and there's enough variety to keep things from ever being monotonous. Don't just jump in to the game, though. Make sure to customize your monkey's outfit before fighting. Half of success is looking good while doing so. That's a fact.

Hundreds: This is something of an out-of-left-field choice in that it's not really a multiplayer game, right? Well, what you made you think that it was explicitly a singleplayer game? Given that the game is very much based around multitouch, get some other people and try to solve some of the fiendish challenges that the game throws out. However, more independently-working fingers means more opportunities to screw up, so it really just brings a different approach to the title that can really change the game.

Fingle, the iPad’s most intimate and awkward game, has gotten a big new update to give those fingers more reasons to get up close and personal with each other. First off, the app now supports the iPad Retina Display. Enjoy entwined digits on a screen with unparalleled clarity, even if relationships may not be very clear after playing this. Two new level packs have been added. Get back into the era when we decided love wasn’t free any more, because somebody had to buy those mirror balls with the groovy new Disco levels. As well, there’s the new Confusion levels which have a new gameplay element: gray buttons that can be picked up and moved around by players. These level packs are free additions to the game. Haven’t gotten in on the touchy-feely action? Well, the game is on a temporary $0.99 sale. The game may cost money, but the awkward moments are priceless.

Lots of independent games get shown off at the Games Developer Conference each year. Some of them are entered in the Independent Games Forum, a special competition for indie games releasing on console, Mac/PC, or iOS. We were able to visit a few of these, listed below, and wanted to tell you all about them.

Lume

While our reviewer enjoyed the look of this game, she also said it felt kind of short. When I mentioned this to the developer at the demo kiosk, he agreed. He then went on to show me how they put this game together, with hand built sets and hand-held cameras panning through each level to give it the unique visual style it has. In addition, the planned additional levels look nothing short of brilliant and expansive, so this should be one to keep an eye on.


Pugs Luv Beats / Pug Synth

File this one under adorable, right next to hilarious. As a pug owner and fan myself, Pugs Luv Beats took my heart away. Each pug in the game represents a specific beat or musical motif, and adding hats and costumes changes the music and allows the pug to go farther and faster towards its goal. The game may be more about music performance with gaming elements, but it's still a ton of fun to mess around with. Add the spin-off music app, Pug Synth, and I am sold.



Fingle

One thing missing from modern games, say the developers of Fingle, is touching. And not in a weird way, either. Fingle tasks two players to place their fingers onto an iPad at the same time, and solve puzzles by cooperating and, yes, touching fingers. It's a unique and real-life-inspired game that's making lots of waves. Imagine taking this to a party where that cute boy or girl you want to meet is hanging out. Oh, yeah.


Ridiculous Fishing

Developer Vlambeer (Super Crate Box) teamed up with Zach Gage (Bit Pilot) and artist Greg Wohlwend (Solipskier) to create this funky game where the goal is to avoid fish on the way down, and hook as many as possible on the way up, then shoot them all out of the sky. Yeah, it's wacky. But super fun to play, of course. The couple of minutes I had to check it out made me glad I'd been able to stop by and play this all-star creation.

Faraway

I have to say that I wasn't expecting to be emotionally invested in a game that looks like this, but the music and the loneliness of that poor star affected me in a fairly intense way. From Steph Thiron, the developer behind indie-darling Eliss, Faraway is a one-touch controlled, procedurally created game that puts players in the role of a lonely star in an empty universe, holding out hope that its quest will have meaning, in the end. Fantastic score, simple, elegant graphics define this one, and I can't wait to play the whole thing.

ASYNC Corp

This one caught my eye as I walked by its kiosk at GDC. I was attracted to the clean lines, the happy little faces, and the puzzle look right from the start. Created by Powerhead Games, ASYNC Corp starts off a simple brain teaser, asking players to switch out and connect colored squares to create larger and larger rectangles. The conceit of the shipping center is a good one, and helps get the game idea across to the player fairly quickly.


Waking Mars
What's left to be said about this beautiful game from the makers of award-winning Spider, The Secret of Bryce Manor? Quite a bit, apparently, as I stood and talked with the lead art designer for the game. He made sure I knew that he created the concepts behind the art, but the actual paintings were done by "real artists." Whatever, dude, the game is gorgeous. Also? this is the first time I've heard the term "action-gardening adventure."


Beat Sneak Bandit - Winner of Best Mobile Game

Rhythm games are super fun. Stealth games are, too. Put them together, and you've got Beat Sneak Bandit, from Simogo. Our reviewer dug this one, so I gave it a quick try at the conference. Whoo, boy it IS fun. The artwork is stylish and cute, and the music is, obviously, beat heavy and catchy. Tapping to the beat to move my little guy to the clocks in the level was enjoyable and had me feeling pretty talented, two great ways to keep me playing a game.


Two other games that I did NOT have a chance to play (I didn't see them on the expo floor, really) are English Country Tune and Storyteller, the winner of the Nuovo prize. For more details on all the games entered into the contest, including the finalists and winners, see the main page here.

Accept no impostors.

On This Episode:

Carter discusses the new puzzle game PuzzleJuice with developer Asher Vollmer. They discuss how the game's frantic multi-faceted gameplay works, its connection to SpellTower, and the difference between how this game utilizes existing gameplay concepts versus what a 'clone' does.

Carter discusses the new cooperative iPad game Fingle with Game Oven Studios, and talk about how the game was designed to try and bring people together.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Asher Vollmer, independent developer

Guest: Bojan Endrovski, Game Oven Studios

Music:

"Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)" by The Eternal - Download on iTunes here:

"Nanocarp" by The Eternal

How to Listen:

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Apps Mentioned on This Episode: