Think Services, owners of gaming website Gamasutra and organizers of the Game Developers Conference and the Independent Game Festival, have entered a partnership with iPhone game publisher ngmoco in a deal that will add a $10,000 ‘Best iPhone Game’ prize to next year’s Independent Games Festival Mobile, the website reports. The move increases the top prize amount in the indie mobile games competition to a record $30,000.
The mobile-focused indie game event was created by Think Services and sponsor Nvidia. This year the event is expanding to include iPhone games in its overall mobile mix.
“ngmoco is proud to support the independent development community and burgeoning micro-studios who are dedicated to creating device defining “only on iPhone” games”, Alan Yu, Vice President, Artist & Repertoire, ngmoco, said. “As gamemakers, we’ve long admired the IGF for showcasing and highlighting innovation and independent thinking in games.”
Game entry is free and iPhone entries will be eligible for all IGF Mobile categories including game design, technical and audio, art, Best Game, and others. ‘Best iPhone Game’ finalists will be invited to demonstrate their titles on the Game Developers Conference 2009 expo floor and winners will be featured at the IGF Mobile awards ceremony at GDC 2009.
“We’re delighted to be working with ngmoco to help discover the best iPhone games out there," commented Simon Carless, Chairman, Independent Games Festival. “We’re starting to see open platforms and innovation spread indie goodness into fascinating new places, and highlighting worthy, high quality iPhone games is something that will benefit both discerning consumers and developers."
ngmoco was started by Neil Young, a former Electronic Arts executive who left the game giant after 11 years to form the iPhone-focused game company. ngmoco plans on commissioning both original games as well as funding independent developers.
On their site they say it is available?!!?
@alex - I'm guessing they submitted it and didn't want to have to change the text later. :)
@ARN i wish i had a definitive answer... Thanks though
I will buy this (if not insanely priced) if it's out before NFS Undercover, but if it comes out after NFS then I probably won't.
@darwiniandude
Yeah, their timing is really bad. It looks good though. I'm glad to see it has a lot of content.
I wish this had WIFI...I think only Raging Thunder has WIFI and it's too expensive for what it offers...
Asphalt 4 has WiFi... and now GTS World Racing does also.
Why are there no other opponents/cars in the video? Looks like a ghost town - but I really like the shader-like effect.
A couple of observations...
Could be the best looking iPhone game to date.
Where are the other cars?
Love the sun effect.
Seems to be running at a better frame rate than Burnout on the PSP, but then again, where are the other cars!?
I know what you mean Oliver- basically it's another racer that doesn't keep the horizon level when you tilt the device. If Cro-Mag and Moto Chaser can do it, why can't this?
As for other cars, there is no mention of opponents- just racing against the clock by the sounds of it. Also, even without opponents, as we can all see, there is very little traffic at all. I think I am going to wait for some reviews and/or more video footage before buying this one- even though I love racers.
more gameplay footage ftw.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
and to Barry and Oliver: we tried it. it didn't feel right.
Hopefully this one wont end up being Kroll 2.
@Alex: That second gameplay/replay video is a stunner! Is that the same build that is currently submitted to Apple?
yes
@Alex: And frame rates? Looks like it's managing about 23-28fps.
That whole non-tilting horizon thing really doesn't bother me in the slightest. I don't even notice it unless someone points it out to me. And it's certainly not "broken" because of it.
And if you watch the YouTube video linked above, you'll see that there's some really sharp turns and drifts to be made, where the phone is rotated practically through 90-degrees! You certainly wouldn't want the horizon to stay level when turning that much!
If it bothers you so much, tilt your head accordingly when tilting your device and the horizon will follow... ;-)
Now, this new youtube video looks a lot more promising! Great framerate and gfx and there are now opponents! Looking forward to this now! :)
man... they need to give us some release dates for all these upcoming games just like the console gaming industry. a lot of the upcoming games look awesome, but we don't know when to expect them...
The website says that it has already been sent to the appstore... it shouldn't be too long, I guess..
woot woot...slick graphics and by the looks of it framerate is tight too....hope this coes out soon...Ashphalt is soo fucking gay
The graphics look amazing. They aren't pixelated like Asphalt, and I BLOODY HATE ASPHALT'S DRIFT NOISE. Garh. It's like SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH. *fume* Anyway, i'll have to see about the price before i get this one, i've had 1 too many racers. I wish i could sell asphalt back to the appstore..
"wish i could sell asphalt back to the appstore.."
rofl...that sure would be nice... i wasted 10$ on a stupid game
WoW! That second vid is MUCH better! At least we know there are opponents now, and it looks like it will handle very well.
I love point to point racing more than circuit racing, which is one thing I like about Moto Chaser.
However what I REALLY want to come out is a good rally game, such as Colin McCrae or WRC. Is that something you may consider for the future Alex?
Thank you for joining us in the comments Alex. I hope you will join us in the forum where there will no doubt be a thread on this.
What I see are two things: no other cars on the road and the controls look just as wishy washy as all the other tilt-controlled racers - they end up weaving back and forth, and probably this is the best example they could manage. I'll pass.
There are other cars on the road - see the second video which really is impressiv...
2nd video embedded in article.
wow! Looks great, esp the second video! Gameplay looks alot like Ridge Racer with the wild slides and high speed. Sweetness.....
dev told us it will cost $5.99
That's VERY reasonable. Compared to the 9.99 price tag slapped on premium apps, developers usually go for the 7.99 price tag. 5.99 is good good good!
Yes, for a game of this calibre. This will probably overtake Crash Kart and Asphalt. Cro-mag and Moto Chaser will probably live on since they have much lower prices. I can't wait for this game.
Yes that is a very reasonable price I think. Although I am a little dubious about the lack of many other vehicles on the road still (even in the second video there is only the occasional truck), I think I will risk buying this one when it's available.
as keanu would say "Whoa?!" this looks great I thought we had our first $14.99 game but 5 bucks come on who won't buy this
"controls look just as wishy washy as all the other tilt-controlled racers - they end up weaving back and forth" - comment by SteveJ
Yes, it's called STEERING. It's something you do when you are driving a car. It helps you go round corners.
If you want my opinion, this looks to have the best control for a racer yet. It looks very responsive, with a button at the bottom left for braking (I am assuming) which allows you to drift when you want to, unlike Asphalt where you end up drifting even when you don't want to.
@Barry Ward (aka wastedyuthe):
" Although I am a little dubious about the lack of many other vehicles on the road still (even in the second video there is only the occasional truck),"
Is it possible that the video is showing one of the easier levels? A "more punishing" level may have more vehicles, maybe even pedestrians!
@SalsaMD:
Yes, hopefully that's the case. Fingers crossed. I very much doubt there will be any pedestrians though.
Barry. you're thinking exactly what I ws whilst watching these videos, lol.
This looks like a good Ridge Racer clone, but (OutRun 2006 excepted) I prefer a little more realism in the handling stakes in my racers.
A PS1 quality Colin McRae Rally 2 would be perfect.
Has the developer indicated which versions of the iphone OS this will require?
I'm really curious to know how they are doing some of the lighting... notice how, when the car goes through the tunnel, it looks as though it is correctly reflecting the lights in the tunnel? Is that done with a hack, or are they doing environment mapping (which I thought wasn't available in the iphone OS)?
@eyemh8
"as keanu would say “Whoa?!” this looks great I thought we had our first $14.99 game but 5 bucks come on who won’t buy this?"
Pole Position Remix: $5.99
Fastlane Street Racing: $5.99
Hmm, I'm on the fence here... ; )
Unbelievable, I am really impressed and I hope this wont end up being something like Raging Thunder or Ashpalt 4. My only problem is that there is only 4 racers which can get boring but I otherwise I WANT IT!
"I’m really curious to know how they are doing some of the lighting… notice how, when the car goes through the tunnel, it looks as though it is correctly reflecting the lights in the tunnel? Is that done with a hack, or are they doing environment mapping (which I thought wasn’t available in the iphone OS)?"
Yes the lighting looks excellent doesn't it? Even driving through the shadows of the buildings effects the lighting of the car. However, I think it is programmed to detect what it is driving over and change the shading to suit, rather than proper environment mapping.
doesn't matter to me in the slightest if they're accomplishing this with 'tricks'. The lighting in Doom was done by having a different texture on the floor and ceiling.
I'll buy this as soon as it appears. Regardless of how NFS turns out there is a good game here.
I only hope Apple hurrys up and lifts the app count limit, that's pissing me off having to delete things to make room all the time.
@ darwiniandude:
Hi mate! It doesn't matter to me how they accomplish the lighting either. The fact is, it looks bloody good regardless of how it's done.
Regarding NFS, I think these guys have picked just the right time to release this app, just as everyone is waiting for NFS to appear. There are lots of us, me included, who can't wait. But as you say, there looks to be a good game here regardless. And something tells me NFS will be purely circuit racing anyway, rather than point to point racing. Can anyone remember the first NFS? That was the only one based on point to point racing if I recall. I had it on the 3DO, and it was great for its time.
It looks really nice.
Bigger car than other games. It seems to give a nice "speed" feeling. I like the less traffic in the road. The price is very reasonable.
I'll probably purchase it since I'm not that happy with current racing games.
Looking at the video, I assume they took a few tips from Ridge Racer :p
"Is it possible that the video is showing one of the easier levels? A “more punishing” level may have more vehicles"
You know this has got me thinking. What I would love in this game, that I can bet my boots it doesn't do, is for it to offer various times of day to race. For example, if you set the race for 5am, then you have slightly dull light as the sun is coming up, but more importantly, virtually empty roads. If you set the race for 9am, you get heavy traffic in brighter sunlight. 5pm will have heavy traffic at sunset. 9pm will be quieter traffic at night time. Such a simple idea that I bet hasn't been implemented. If the developer doesn't reply to this, I may email them with the idea once the app is out.
I just want to get my hands on this baby!
Looks like the best racing game, so far on the iPhone.
The graphics is crisp and solid.
MilesO'Toole: I would put my money on "probing pre-calculated lighting information. This could be stored in the collisiondata".... Just a guess though.
Anyway... this looks like a "must buy" to me.
Just wanna say that it's been great reading your comments! thanks for all the awesome feedback!
I'm not going to comment on all of your technical hypotheses more than to say that we have resorted to every trick in the book and then some to get the game to look like it does.
any idea of a time frame when we can expect the game?
For 6 bucks, I'll give definitely give it a go! Looks fab.
Will it also have wifi to play via LAN or Globally? :)
Times of day would be so awesome, I love Ridge Racer and this game seems to have done the style very well although I just hope there are more than 4 racers on the track at one time in some level.
@ Barry Ward (aka wastedyuthe)
The original NFS was great.
EA has been shunned a bit lately (amongst other things) for how #$%@ Carbon and Pro Street have been, compared to earlier titles. Apparently Undercover will return to some of the earlier games and borrow from most wanted but also hot pursuit. There should be some point to point in there.
But I'm not holding my breath: as spore origins was a sampler of the spore universe, iPhone NFS Undercover could very well be little more than a 3 track 3 car $9.99 advert for the console versions. I'm hoping i'm wrong though.
Anyway, hopefully fastlane is approved and on the appstore when i wake up tomorrow so I have something to play tomorrow.
/me yells at Apple to release firmware raising the maximum app limit NOW.
@ Alex:
You don't have to give away your secret recipes. Consider our inquisitiveness as a high complement on fastlane's graphics. "How did they do that?!?!"
:)
@ Alex:
I'd love to know what you think of the varying times of day idea I mentioned earlier, if it isn't already implemented in this game. Not only will it add variety to the graphics and visibility, but also affects amount of traffic. What do you think?
/Rowan "yells at Apple to release firmware raising the maximum app limit NOW."
Ehm, I'm sorry but what are we talking about here? How many apps can you store on the iPhone at one time? I have 6 pages worth of apps. Is there some limit at one point???
@simon 9 pages is the limit.
Wow.. what a Good post to read this helped me lot in my future project.