I can't believe the number of hours I spent typing programs in Commodore Basic and in modifying the disk drives to read double-sided disks, etc. The C64 was an awesome toy.
Games like Amerzone, Path Of The Dragon, etc. Games that are focused on puzzle solving and NPC interaction and don't have hidden object elements to them. Basically what would have been considered adventure games in the 80's and 90's.
Okay, with all of you programmers, why aren't you developing a game that will blow me away! Please make one like chateau! Lol
Because I'm spending all my time here talking to you all Seriously, though, I just don't really have the time at the moment. Believe me, I've wanted to write my own games for more than 20 years now. Everything just keeps getting in the way... I'm am actually talking with someone on the AGK (App Game Kit) forum about developing an adventure game "engine", however. If we end up actually doing it, the engine could potentially support iOS devices, since AGK has support for such development. The discussion has just started, so don't expect anything tomorrow, but I'll keep you posted from time to time on how things are progressing.
Wow, good thing they are patient with you, huh? I'll give you a week at least. BTW, if you like Popcap games, many of them are on sale to celebrate the release of Zuma on iOS, including the OSX hidden objects games.
Would it be difficult to create a game similar to the IDAC games? Their graphics seem very simplified. I don't understand how BF is able to pop out games so fast.
An IDAC style game probably wouldn't be too hard to make, but here are my thoughts on why Big Fish Games can turn out new games so quickly: 1. That's what they do 2. They already have the engine / templates developed 3. That's what they do The beauty of casual games is that a majority of the grunt work is done once they've developed the core mechanics. That's why there are only maybe 10 different styles of hidden objects, and not 1000. Then they just need people to create the graphics, slap in a story, design a few puzzles and they are done. With their staff I wouldn't be surprised if they've got many of these products in the works all at the same time. The real key, though, is that this is what they do. Someone like me, on the other hand, has to try and find the time to do this in between all that icky stuff called "real life".
Big fish is the publisher and not the developer. The games are developed by many small/medium size studios, which are then distributed by BFG. The developers hope to gain from the reach/cross selling capability of BFG even if its a 3 way split between Apple, BFG and the developer as far as money is concerned Also most of these games have already been developed and commercially released for the PC market distributed by BFG. So now they have a huge library of titles to choose from so as to plan and maintain a steady flow of games into the iOS market.
Well yeah, there's always that as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Big Fish has some hand in the development tools, though, because I know other causal game publishers do. There's just too many similarities between so many of these games to think that every little developer is churning out their own engine.
Thought you guys might find this interesting: Big Fish contest. You can win the entire collection of iOS Big Fish games.
