Comments on: A Quick Look at 'International Snooker' from Big Head Games

By: Tolax

Tolax — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:16:27 +0000

Sorry forgot to add – only thing I do not like is the 'ball in hand'. Unless there is some trick I am missing it is horrible trying to move the ball to where you want it. Be better if you could use the zoomed view or some arrow keys.

Tolax

By: Tolax

Tolax — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:14:44 +0000

Really enjoying this – great game so congrats.

Small bug.

If on the last red you pot a yellow – it is not returned to the table, you immediately go to the green.

Agree with the other comments about the physics being slightly out but not enough to be too annoying.

Be nice if the game had some other 'player stats', highest ever break, most balls potted etc.

Also of course be nice if a few other games such as billards, pool etc were added (I appreciate the 'name' of the game though.)

BTW – I like the guides, allows me to get some decent breaks and as the train moves around I'm not squinting like a madman trying to line something up.

Cheers

Tolax

By: menom

menom — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:43:43 +0000

okay – as I got my first ever iTunes giftcard today (unexpected) – had to get this game.

only played a little – so first thoughts.

This game is really, really good. Gameplay is nice and quick. Like the fact opponent is very quick with his shots.

altering view is pretty good with it being quicker to swing around the table using upper part of screen than lower (this negates the need for a fine-tune box a la Killer.

But, at times, in this, it's hard to tell if the object ball has a clear line to the pocket as the degree to which you can change your view is limited – I can see that playing with no guides whatsoever would be very difficult with current viewing options

(I reckon the addition of a free-form view where you could rotate around dead-centre of table and still had auto zoom from upper to lower views – would allow you to check if a ball is pot-able)

you cannot zoom view in and out like in Killer (best implementation with pinch) or VP (where you have to tap a button first and then swipe up/down) in this you view is automatically out further from above or zoomed in a bit more from lower

that does, however, mean that setting up shots is very quick in International Snooker – and I really like the spin setting implementation. I'd like option to turn off guides – but as it is this far from too easy ( it's only when you're really near a pocket that the guides make correct aim inevitable – which, in a way, is how it seems when playing for real)

Overall, I reckon that is a great Snooker implementation – a few minor quirks but I think I'll be playing this a lot in the coming weeks/months and looking forward to the promised updates – cheers to such responsive devs!

Personally, I'm glad I've got this, as well as VP and Killer as all have their pros and cons – for anyone who likes Snooker – getting this is a no-brainer

By: Adam T.

Adam T. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:57:08 +0000

*Powerbar!

By: Adam T.

Adam T. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:47:56 +0000

Thanks for the all praise guys, we're as excited as you about the game and we're determined to work on all feedback (including the more "passionate" posts).

We're compiling all the suggestions made both here and via email (if you're outside the UK, we may not see all feedback related in App Store reviews), and sketching out a reasonable roadmap. Expect more details in the near future, but generally if it's been mentioned already, it's on our hot list.

Some short answers:
Gavin: Re white ball, I believe so…
Mat: Re powerball, on the list

Best,
-at

By: Mat

Mat — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:57:57 +0000

Gavin J

Thanks for the tip – I should have tried that – it's pretty logical now that I know.
This makes it near-perfect for me now.

By: Gavin J

Gavin J — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:29:58 +0000

To Mat – I thought the same as you on the cue speed rotation but read the instructions and found out that when you rotate cue left/right, the higher up the screen you do it, the faster it moves so do it at bottom for fine adjustments and at top for big adjustments – improved it so much when I found out!

By: Mat

Mat — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:00:07 +0000

Sorry for typos above. Posting on iPhone. For the word "old" in the final paragraph, please substitute "iPod"
.

By: Mat

Mat — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:57:05 +0000

Really living this. Showed it to a friend at work and he now wants an iPhone just to play this. I've bought most of the other cue games and this is by far and away my fave. Glad the devs read this, it's amazing how the products can be altered to match user requests, you don't get that from Nintendo.
Anyway the only improvements I want to mention are…
1 Ball slowdown too rapid, already mentioned.
2 Power bar a bit too narrow to select at times or possibly unresponsive on occasion.
3 Table rotate in close up view takes too long. The speed is good for fine adjustments, but for looking around the table it needs a hold down and accelerate option. It takes lots of finger swipes to get a full table spin in. Perhaps it should spin thebsame way the old scrolls through a list of tracks, I.e flick to spin, drag to rotate to a position, if you see what I mean.
Anyway thanks a bunch, my no.1 iPhone game so far.

By: menom

menom — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:04:57 +0000

"what is wrong with aiming guides"

I just like the feel of lining up a shot as it looks for real – sometimes you can 'see' the shot easily – other's it's hard to judge and you have to intuit from what you see – with guides it seems less about feel and more about lining up a definite result

Maybe the game would bee too difficult without guides as real world can never be fully transferred to a screen – so I appreciate the option of short guide lines as an attempt to make a game more difficult but still playable + no guides option on way√