Tag: Minecraft »

I think most people can agree that we probably don’t need quite as many first-person shooters on the market as we actually have. There are some great games to be had, sure, but with so much over-saturation it starts to become difficult to get excited about it. That’s why we’ve got a list of four of our favorite first-person games that aren’t shooters. They use the same perspective, and in some cases the same “floating hands” motif, but there are no firearms to be found. See? Just because a game is in first-person doesn’t mean it has to involve shooting stuff in the face.

Dark Meadow
Okay, so technically you do shoot some stuff in the face here, but not in the traditional sense. That’s kind of a weird thing to say now that I think about it. Anyway the crossbow isn’t actually a gun, and it functions are more of a way to chip away at an enemy’s health before they close the gap. Dark Meadow is primarily a first-person adventure/action game with an emphasis on exploration and melee. A combination that ends up being pretty awesome.

The Quest
Now The Quest is definitely not a shooter. It’s an old-school inspired, first-person, turn-based RPG that isn’t afraid to force those who write about it to use lots of hyphens. It’s also an incredibly robust adventure that allows players to create a number of various custom characters and tackle the world and its various quests as they see fit. And that’s all before taking the ridiculous amount of expansions into account.

Ravensword: Shadowlands
If you were to ask any console gamers about first-person games that aren’t shooters, one of the first titles that would pop into their head would have to be either Oblivion or Skyrim. This is the iOS gamer’s equivalent. Ravensword is a huge RPG full of little nooks and crannies to explore and unique creatures to slay. It can, of course, be played in third-person as well but in this instance first-person is far superior.

Minecraft - Pocket Edition
Betcha didn’t see this one coming. Minecraft is a lot of things to different people: gaming’s most amazing sandbox, a great way to be creative with friends, The Second Coming, a boring and over-hyped piece of junk, or even just “meh.” But what isn’t debatable is the fact that it’s one of the least shooter-y first-person games currently available on iOS devices. Not only is there little to no emphasis on shooting (plus there’s only a bow), but it’s a game that’s actually about building rather than destroying. At least for those who wouldn’t jump into another player’s game just to troll.

Polygon reports that Mojang, the developers of Minecraft, is looking to release a new monthly service plan this summer to enable a more simplified gameplay experience for Minecraft players. Minecraft Realms will allow fans to easily create a permanent, private world on a server and have complete control of who may join them in their world. Currently, fans need to know technical knowledge on how to set up and rent their own server in order to have their own private world, but soon they will be able to instantly have a server up and running with one simple click of a button, thanks to the simplified Realms monthly service.

Mojang plans to launch Minecraft Realms on their mobile edition of the game, Pocket Edition, and even more interestingly have discussed the possibility of designing a way for PC and Mobile versions of Realms to communicate with each other, though it would be a difficult undertaking. The other topic of discussion is to eventually add the ability for players to form a network of servers by connecting to each other to create an even more social experience.

I love how, at the beginning of this video, developer Jim Rutherford says, "This is just a little weekend hacking project we through together." How modest!

Rutherford's son is ten, and loves Minecraft. Dad decided to mess around with a Phillips Vue lightbulb, and connect it to an app running on his iPad that then connects to the Minecraft server and changes color and brightness in sync with the Minecraft day/night cycle. The app lets them set the time of day, debug the cycle, and even scrub through it, assumedly issuing server commands to achieve the effects.

Not only is this super cool, and would make my own 10-year-old son squeal with joy, but Rutherford has put the code up on github, a repository of open source code that anyone can access. If you're a hacker/developer, be sure to head on over there and grab the code.

Not all games can be winners, and not all the games we review on 148Apps will receive high marks. But the amazing thing about the App Store and mobile game development in general is that there’s always a second (or even a third) chance. Content updates allow developers to address complaints or perceived issues fairly quickly and have the potential to completely turn a game around.

Which is why we’ve decided to take a look at some previously reviewed titles that didn’t go over so well the first time. Each one has been tweaked at least once since we wrote about it and we wanted to see how they might hold up now. Have they been significantly improved or are they only marginally better? Were major issues resolved or are they still dragging the entire experience down?

Lets take a look and see, then.

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Puzzle Planets

Original Review Score - 2.5
Reviewer - Bonnie Eisenman
Known Issues - Severe performance problems including lag and crashing, control issues due to said lag.
Updates - Performance greatly improved with no discernable lag and no crashing, also resulting in improved control.

I like weird stuff like Puzzle Planets, but even I found it to be tough to play, originally. Thankfully, the game-breaking problems that kept Bonnie from enjoying it at launch have been addressed. And it’s all the better for it.

In my time spent building several alien worlds, I’ve never once had it crash on me, and being able to enjoy an iOS game uninterrupted is pretty important. More than that, however, the lag also seems to have disappeared, which makes it much easier to simply enjoy the game itself. All the planet rotating, pinching to form mountains, reverse-pinching to create fissures, and tapping to create volcanoes, as well as spinning the planet around in order to soak up water and distribute it to the barren land masses to create life all perform smoothly and create a kind of zen-like trance after a few rounds. I’ll certainly admit that it would be nice to have more than 15 planets to mess around with, possibly with some distinct characteristics rather than everything looking like “Earth 2.0,” but that doesn’t keep the somewhat simple time-based puzzles from being fun (and looking great) while they last.

Minecraft - Pocket Edition

Original Review Score - 2.5
Reviewer - Rob Thomas
Known Issues - Virtually none of the features that made the PC version so notable, a complete lack of survival mode, barely any blocks to play with, super-tiny worlds.
Updates - Survival Mode, crafting, armor, mobs, a lot more blocks.

Now this is a game I did check out as soon as it was released onto the App Store. And, just like Rob T. (yes, we have a lot of Robs here), I thought it was a colossal disappointment. Nothing but a simplified Creative Mode with an extremely limited block selection. To call it a mere shadow of its older brother on PC would be a massive understatement. However, Mojang made good on its promise of constant updates, and the game has seen a slew of improvements ever since.

To be fair, this still isn’t a 1:1, pocket-sized version of the PC game. Heck, it’s still technically alpha status at the moment. Even so, this month’s update has brought it much closer. New blocks have made it in, sand and gravel are finally affected by gravity, armor can be crafted now, baby animals will appear, and so on. As I’ve said, it’s not PC Minecraft on iOS, but it’s certainly close enough to make me happy. Heck, in some ways I actually prefer it to the original because I can play it anywhere at any time, and it utilizes a much friendlier crafting system that does away with tile placement and simply shows what can be made outright. If it weren’t for the absence of a few features I’d even call it the best version to own. Even so, it’s a fantastic companion to the indie juggernaut Notch started to build all those years ago.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Original Review Score - 2.0
Reviewer - Brad Hilderbrand
Known Issues - Absurdly long real time requirements for performing tasks, an almost unnecessary reliance on premium currency.
Updates - Improved server stability, special holiday events.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out is another game that I myself didn’t play around with until recently. It’s also a bit more complicated of a comparison than the other three games on this list in that virtually none of the issues mentioned in Brad’s review have been addressed. Instead, the real difference is having another perspective.

First I’d like to say that I 100% respect Brad’s opinion on the matter and can totally see where he’s coming from. This game takes time to play. Lots and lots of time. More so than the average freemium title, it seems. However, I don’t necessarily view that as a “bad” thing. The very nature of many free-to-play games makes them ideal for playing in small increments, and that’s no different here. Sure we have to wait 24 hours while Lisa does all of her homework for the week but when factoring in all the other characters that can be acquired and given tasks to complete it doesn’t seem so bad. I’d consider it ideal, actually, since it means I can fiddle with my own personal Springfield, go off and do whatever my day demands, then check back in on occasion. I can’t claim that the game has been “improved” at all in the past year, but I don’t personally think it really needed to be. It’s Springfield in my pocket, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for.

Static Quest: The Delivery

Original Review Score - 2.5
Reviewer - Ray Willmott
Known Issues - Lackluster freemium mechanics that practically force players to pay in order to progress, overly simple gameplay, no staying power.
Updates - Bug fixes for late-game content.

Based on what I’ve read in Ray’s review, I’m willing to chalk this one up to a fairly drastic difference of opinion. Again, I wholly respect Ray’s views and opinions but mine are almost a complete 180 from his.

It’s true that Static Quest: The Delivery is incredibly basic in its “tap either side of the screen” mechanics. However those same mechanics are what make it ideal for quick mobile play sessions. It’s super easy to start up a game for a minute then put it down just as quickly, and with all the various weapons to unlock and upgrade there’s always something to strive for. I’m also rather fond of the retro pixel visuals (as per usual) but I found the special costumes associated with each weapon to be the real treat. I can totally get behind a game that makes the main character look like Ezio from Assassin’s Creed 2 (and up) when he uses a dagger, or like Robin Hood when he equips a bow and arrow. The fact that it’s actually quite fun to play doesn’t hurt, either.

Designed by 57Digital, the same team behind 2011's Minecraft Explorer, Minecraft Papercraft Studio is the key to rendering Minecraft digital avatars in the third dimension, via paper. Using this new app, you can print out diagrams to bring the characters to life with only a pair of scissors and some glue.

Universal app, Minecraft - Pocket Edition, got a new update today, bringing new crafting joy to the diminutive version of one of the most popular games on any platform, including baby animals, signs, armor, fancy clouds, and more. If you haven't grabbed it already, head over to the App Store now and do so, because baby animals!

Version 0.6.0
- Baby animals
- Signs
- Armor
- Fancy Clouds
- Sand and gravel have gravity
- Improved D-pad
- Lots of new blocks

Known bugs (fixed for next version)
- Falling sand can disappear
- When returning from Home-screen, sign model disappear
- Screenshots in store are old. Will put up new ones :)

Image: 6Minecraft

Get this train back on the tracks!

On This Episode:

Carter and co-host Rob Rich discuss a pair of upcoming Minecraft-inspired 2D sandbox crafting and building games: Deepworld and The Blockheads that they’ve gotten their hands on.

Carter talks to Scott White of Aspyr Media about his studio’s followup to Poker Pals, called Sushi Mushi.

Episode Cast:

Host: Carter Dotson

Co-Host: Rob Rich

Guest: Scott White, Aspyr Media

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 in this Episode:

Jean-Philippe Sarda’s Micro Miners, releasing on Thursday November 15th, is a game with an interesting origin and history on its way to the App Store.

The game has its inspirations in a Java game called Miners4K made by Markus Persson, better known as Notch of Minecraft fame, back in 2006. Notch and Sarda have been in touch before: after the game was created for the Java4K competition, Sarda says he “contacted Notch to get authorization to modify Miners4K with [the] pepere.org scores system...this game has made more than 1.3M plays on pepere.org until today.”

So how did Sarda’s take on the concept come about? He says “when I started developing iOS games in 2009, I still had this game/concept in a corner of my mind as I knew it was really special and so suited for touch devices.” However, this is not a case of unauthorized cloning: he got in touch with Notch to receive his blessing to build out the game. Sarda says “From the beginning I tried to contact Notch by email to get his authorization...Notch was busy with Minecraft and he ignored my 3 emails among thousands of emails he receives every week. Until I sent a link to the gameplay video, he replied ‘Haha, that looks cool! :D’ and tweeted the video. Don’t need to say how happy I was to receive this email.” The project, almost two years after its initial prototype, finally had its official blessing.

However, the game might not have ever made it to the App Store. As Sarda explains: “After 10 days [of] waiting, the game was rejected for low res graphics...I had 3 choices: 1) do another game as Micro Miners’ engine and art is entirely based on pixels 2) Resubmit the game hoping it’s reviewed [by] a smarter guy 3) Request a second review by the appeal board.” The game does have a lo-fi pixel art style, but we’ve all seen one too many crude fart apps for such an excuse to hold water. Also, see the Pokemon Yellow fiasco.

So what did Sarda do? He says “I selected 3) and I waited another 15 days, before I received their response ‘This app version has been approved. All communication regarding your previously-rejected binary is now closed.’ This is short but that was enough to make me happy.” The game’s fate was saved from seeming oblivion, and the release was scheduled for November 15th.

This game is not meant to be just a port of Miners4K, though. Sarda says “Yes it’s inspired by Miners4K for the ”Lemmings+Dig“ idea, but the gameplay is totally different and new, and it took me forever (and 5 beta tests) to tweak/adjust it.” And he has questions about how players will take to it: “...my games are usually really hard to play and appeal most to harcord players. I made a huge effort trying not to discourage casual players...the whole game is guided by contextual help.”

Micro Miners releases on November 15th and we’ll have a review of the game. For Sarda, however, the long journey will finally come to an end, as the world will finally get to check Micro Miners out for themselves.

The tower defense and castle defense genres are quite popular on iOS. Touch devices work perfectly for that type of game and, as a result, it's hard for a new defense game to distinguish itself from the others. Battles and Castles has just been released and seems to have some interesting features that sets it apart.

The game seems to combine elements of traditional tower/castle defense games with building elements (that have become recently popular with games like Minecraft) and RPG elements. Users actually build their castles before defending them and then recruit units, find treasure, and explore mines. It seems to have elements that fans of nearly any genre can enjoy: strategy, simulation, action, and role-playing. The game has over 20 units and 20 buildings, three levels of technology, two campaign modes, multiplayer vs AI, local multiplayer on the device itself, and Game Center support.

Battles and Castles is a universal app and is available for $2.99.

We loved Junk Jack at the end of last year. Its rather cute take on the Minecraft formula ensured its place in many gamers' hearts. That's how much fun it was.

As Rob greedily but understandably stated, it could have done with "more stuff to mess around" with. Fortunately, developers Pixbits has acknowledged this with a new and huge update that has just been released.

The update is big enough that we haven't got the room to discuss every single improvement. However, key points to take in are that it's now an Universal build, has new rare weapon drops and new mobs in the form of Stone Golems, Mummy Pharaohs, Carnivore Plants, Blue Scarabs, Frogs, Headless Zombies and Zombie Head.

That's not all, though, with the addition of new color dyes, new recipes and a cooking pot and cooking ware craftable addon, also included. Farming fans can enjoy the option of plantable fruit, vegetables and trees, also.

It's a huge update for Junk Jack and that's not including the huge number of enhancements and fixes that come included. Without further ado, get downloading Junk Jack and watch your productivity and free time vanish!

[caption id="attachment_121628" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Image via Cult of Mac."]

[/caption]Minecraft may be my favorite game of all time. I’ve played it on an almost daily basis since I was introduced to it a little over a year ago. I remember how excited I got when the piston update came out. So imagine my disappointment when Minecraft - Pocket Edition was released for iOS with a fraction of the features in the PC version of the game. Finally, developer Mojang’s most recent update to Minecraft - Pocket Edition has taken one step closer to making the iOS edition similar to the full edition with crafting.

Previously, one of the most important features of Minecraft, the ability to craft objects from material found in the game, was left out of Minecraft - Pocket Edition. Mojang has a tradition for taking game development slowly. It took the original Minecraft over a year of a completely playable beta for them to release what they called the 1.0 release. So it was no surprise that they planned to do the same with Minecraft - Pocket Edition. Crafting is part of Minecraft - Pocket Edition’s 0.3.0 update. Notice that they aren’t even calling Minecraft - Pocket Edition a 1.0 game yet. So in a way, Minecraft - Pocket Edition is still a beta.

Other features in the update include cows and chickens, damageable items, making resources harder to gather, and dropping items. I won’t be a true fan of the iOS version of Minecraft until it’s at par with the PC version and let’s me connect to multiplayer servers. But this update is a good start.