Make a list -- TCR for iOS game developers

Not so much an iOS issue, but more of a developer issue in general (across all platforms): I hate it when... developers assume that everyone wants a serious challenge, or cares about achievements, or cares about a score.

i still for the love of all that is holy and unholy, cannot fathom why it would be so difficult for a developer to include easier than easy modes, and/or built in cheats, etc, IF you at the same time disable your precious scores/achievements/leader boards/whatever for that game play session/campaign/etc.

sandbox mode, where you can goof off and play freely.

that way those that care are happy, and those that don't care are happy too.

donutgames started incorporating this feature into some of their games recently, and that act alone has raised my opinion of them incredibly for doing so.

so anyway, mr john, don't forget the casual gamer, the non frag freaks, the non leaderboard scrappers, the non multiplayers.... the family man/woman who after a full day of work and family has 2 hours at the end of the night before going to bed to unwind and relax and escape, not 'challenge' himself into frustration with a hobby.

 

No, he/she means that like in the WeRule/Farm/etc. games that you can play the game from any device but have your progress synced between them because it gets downloaded from plus+ where it got saved on another device.

 

- If I recieve a call, text message, or press the home buttong the game should save its position and resume it when I come back into the game

- Should be able to play in the landscape/portrait orientation of my choice (depending on how your game screen ratio is portrat vs landscape).

- Game saves should be able to be backed up either on a cloud service or when you plug in your phone to your pc and sync via itunes

- When you play a game you should basically feel like you have accomplished somethinig with in one train/bust stop so typically averages out to 2 - 3 minutes. I dont mean you have to have completed an entire level but the sense of accomplishment or reward should be evident after 2 - 3 minutes of play

- Passive Multiplayer. only a few games are doing this, but be able to play multiplayer with friends with out having nescessary being connected to them. e.g. ghost car, demon souls - leaving messages etc.

- when your phone is switched to silent mode the game should also be silent

- vibration - becuase most touch screen phones do not have any buttons there is a sense or lack of tacticity, having vibration implemented may help bring back some of what was missing with the lack of buttons

- Brightness control option with in the game, this can help to save battery life, but doesnt over-ride the overrall screen brightness settings of the handset in general

- translucent touch screen buttons, and minimal interface, your fingers take up a lot of the screen as it is so minimising the HUD/GUI or making it translucent or popping up specific information as and when you need it will help a lot too

- use your itunes playlist for BGM as an option

- Online multiplayer option (in the game) to allow the player to choose Wi-Fi, 3G or both when available

- Some games I noticed that when you pause it and then come back to it the touch screen controls are not recognised or take a while to recognise your input again

- I personally dont like tilt gaming, its awakward when you are in a cramped space, but if your going to do it, offer calibration/sensitivity settings/options.

- Offer multiplayer over Wifi i.e. iPhone to iPhone connection

 

-Multiple controll options.

-Customizeable controlls (most gameloft titles have this.) - moove the onscreen buttons arround

-screen orientation: don't forget a lock screen orientation button somewhere in the options menu.

-Start up (developer) Logos: If they aren't animated then showing them for 5 seconds is quite enough already.

-Loading screens: They should show that the game is still running and hasn't freezed, so don't just show a picture.

(alot of other stuff has already been mentioned, so no need to post it again here.)

 

Here is a quick contribution.

iPhone 4 = retina display = wow look at all of those pixels .... oh wait ... I can't see them because i've got my fingers all of the screen to play the game !

I'm an adult with big adult thumbs.
Both my thumbs take up approx 1/4 of the screen.
Having a great game, great graphics, and blocking them with controls that need your thumbs to play them on the screen .... => bad.

Unfortunatelly, not everything can be done on gyro .... so ... bluetooth gamepads or others .... please.

Thanks

=> By the way ... what you guyz are doing is great. Id All the way

 

- smaller loading time, specially on the startup of the app and in foreground reenter
- if a dev want to bring iOS market it has to use all possible apple APIs (ipod background music, bluetooth multiplayer, gamecenter, etc) they are gorgeous the users that notice them will appreciate it and also the users that don't see them because it means that the application is complete and perfectly integrated with the platform
- if a dev want to bring iOS market the app must run and developed to run optimized on all devices from iphone 3g and on, and also for iphone 4 and its beautiful retina display (they paid for it support it!)
- if a dev want to bring iOS market and it want also to support ipad make universal and optimized the apps to run both devices
- more internationally localization

 

I always thought this definition was a little funny. "iPhone Human Interface", as opposed to what, iPhone Insect Interface?

The biggest thing for me is asynchronous multiplayer. On a portable device that also handles a lot of other functions, that's the best (nay, the ONLY) way to do multiplayer.

 

Better communication across devices - I have some games on both my iPhone and iPad but each instance of the game knows nothing about one another. I should be able to pick up on my iPad where I left off on my iPhone. The closest I’ve seen to this is Words With Friends, but having it on both devices screws up the push notifications so it’s a bit of a wash.

Choose device orientation – Depending on the UI, my grip might obstruct the speakers when held one way but not the other. Allow me to choose the orientation of my phone, that’s what the accelerometer is for.

Better touch screen controls – With few exceptions, games that try to mimic tactile D-pads with a touch screen analog fall severely short. The best I’ve seen so far has come from Carmack himself and I expect we’ll see even more innovation from him in the iOS version of Rage.

Brightness controls in-game – It’s gotten multitasking, but it’s still a pain to have to leave an app after it loads and you find out you can’t see the game as well as you thought you’d be able to (or you walked outside and you can’t see the game anymore).

Quicker load times – phone apps are bite sized experiences. I’m ok with a minute of loading for a L4D level that’s going to take me 20 to beat is ok. 30 seconds of loading for a game I’m only going to play on the can is proportionately out of whack.

Less splash screens / logos – I don’t care how many organizations were involved in making your game, get over yourself

Less ports, more innovation - The iPhone is a fun gaming device, but certain types of games just don’t belong on the platform. I’d like to see more games designed around the strengths and limitations of the iPhone and less existing games being squeezed into the format.

 

I'd just like to emphasize a cloud-like game save option, if you're going for a content-heavy game. In our family with several iDevices, it happens now and then, that apps have to be reinstalled, either because of a device reset, or iTunes being too stupid to sync app purchases etc. Most (as it has been said already) of these games, where you struggled to get beyond a certain position, will never be picked up again ('Oh I'm not going again through all this'), especially, when there are passages needing extra dexterity and luck. Besides, sometimes there are buggy updates (hopefully not for your apps, John). E.g. Warpgate, where I was quite happy not only having an earlier version on a different PC but also a savegame on the Plus+ network.

Thanks for your attention.

 

1. NO virtual thumbsticks

2. NO virtual thumbsticks!

3. NO virtual thumbsticks!!

Every other issue, such as orientation detection etc, is a minor usability / polish thing.

This is a very fundamental design issue that almost every developer gets wrong.

If it has virtual thumbsticks, you're doing it wrong. Please put your game on a PSP, it doesn't belong on a touchscreen device.

If you're making any game, you should be basing the fundamental design around the input of the device, not slapping tried and true inputs from other platforms into this one.

Sure, having two thumbsticks might be the most optimal way of controlling one character with an over-the-shoulder 3rd person camera. But then maybe your game shouldn't be using a standard over-the-shoulder camera. Change your design. Use multitouch.

The yet unreleased Sword & Sorcery would be a good example of how you do it right, as is the very tactile Twitter iPad app (though not a game).

Anything short of this and you're doing the same as developers of yesteryear who made point and click adventures on console systems where you move the cursor with a thumbstick/d-pad. Awful!

 

Mega bull. Lots of games pull it off quite well - Warrior Within, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, etc. Not at all on par with playing point and click adventure games with a dpad.

 

Geometry Wars Touch pulled off the virtual sticks the best imo.

How could you play rage without virtual sticks?!?

 

Make sure if you are using the tilt sensor that you can calibrate it. I like how jet car stunts does it, and perhaps add the function to the pause menu. My touch is off center when hold straight, so calibrating is a must. I can't be the only one.

 

+100 to this please (and Doom 2 Classic.....!)

 

For me there are only a few things all apps should do:
• Support playthrough of iPod music with game soundeffects still functioning
• Support multitasking
• Save when quit
• multiple profiles for campaign-based games
• have a clear, but optional tutorial stage/ help section
• Support offline play as much as possible
• Warn you when you are being exited from the app: ie, a button functions as a link to the game company's support site, and a dialogue warns you that you will be taken out of the app
The most important for me being playthrough of iPod music.

 

What do you want? Tilt controll for walking? That would be awful. Thumbsticks really aren't that bad.

 

Two points to make about this.

1) As already mentioned, some games have done thumbsticks really well. I generally find the type that works best is the stick that appears wherever you place your thumb on the screen, rather than staying in a fixed position.

2) PSP? It's only got one thumbstick and it sucks. It'd be a terrible choice of platform.

 

thanks for asking us John been a huge id fan since first Doom came out you are the only ones that really listen to customers to develop better games :

Handle orientation changes. - YES

Support iPod music playback instead of game music. - MY TOP ONE EVERY GAME MUST HAVE THIS BUILT IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auto save position on receiving a phone call or exiting with the home botton. - MUST HAVE

and...

-) support 3G also
-) customize controls and have sensitivity and control position on screen fully customizable

-) please release DOOM2 for iPhone Ive already finished first doom 4 times... c'mon ;-)

 

omg, the John!

well, every single game should provide the possibility to quickly restart or repeat current level/stage etc. because in many games u have to press a lot of stuff in order to make it.