Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone • Hacker News Board

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#91

Post by Arjuna » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:37 PM UTC

softawre wrote: post #89

Arjuna wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The key thing for me is quality." I wanted to say that I developed Rocket Renegade [1] for iOS. It's an 80s-inspired arcade shooter, with elements reminiscent of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga... and, of course, it contains bosses. I wrote all of the code, and I composed the soundtrack as well. The bitmap graphics were done by game designer Daniel Cook, who released them under a Creative Commons Attribution licen…

Is this a Unity game? I built something similar (way worse I'm sure) based on the Space game tutorial: https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/space-shooter-t...

No, it's not Unity. I used Swift, along with SpriteKit [1] to develop the game.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/spritekit

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#92

Post by lotyrin » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:41 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #84

rasz_pl wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its like saying your cousin is great at special Olympics, same goes for console FPS/RTS.

Are you claiming a gamer fluent with a traditional controller would always beat (handily) a gamer fluent with a touchscreen?

In a game which required precision, timing, broad visual awareness and/or offered benefit to having more controls than can be provided on the touchscreen without obscuring the view, yes.

Just like for classes of games where fast but also precise motions are required, a mouse will beat a controller thumbstick.

Pretty straightforward matters of bandwidth, latency.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#93

Post by intrasight » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #72

intrasight wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is almost a fluff piece to promote a developer Clearly you do not know who is Nolan Bushnell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain. Bushnell has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of F…

Clearly you do not know who is Nolan Bushnell I would argue that he knows who Bushnell is better than you do. What you posted in no way invalidates what you quoted from the parent post. Yes, Bushnell started Atari. Since he sold, he's done...golly, I'd have to go look it up because all I remember is a string of forgettable (duh) games that he put his name on because "founder of Atari".

I've had lunch with the guy. My point still stands - he's not just "some developer".

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#94

Post by mrspeaker » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

grandalf wrote: post #33

Atari 2600 games are more playable, fun, immersive, and inspirational than any games for IOS and most modern console games. If you have a few pixels to animate and want to build something fun, you think about what makes a game fun.. When you have HD video, textures, etc., you think about implementation details.

I dunno... I'm a huge Atari 2600 fan - I have my prized heavy sixer, and have even made my own "game" (https://github.com/mrspeaker/plops) in 6502 assembler... but if I'm honest, 95% of Atari 2600 games are terrible. Unplayable. Because no one really knew what a "video game" was or could be, they tried EVERYTHING to see what would stick. Some things stuck, and formed the basis of good game design fundamentals today. Most things did not stick.

The games that remain truly fun to this day (for me) are two-players-at-once games, where the challenge is beating your friend.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#95

Post by snarfy » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

I love video games and became a developer because of them. I've always wanted to make a game and mobile is supposed to be the renaissance of indy game development.

But I just can't do it. I hate the touch screen. It is a horrible input device for gaming. It makes every game as frustrating as typing a sms full of auto-corrects. I can't imagine any game I would make would be fun.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#96

Post by stordoff » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:49 PM UTC

Arjuna wrote: post #68

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anybody's looking for a side project, I think there's a curation opportunity here. I'd subscribe to a newsletter focused on great, non-IAP-driven iOS games. It could be weekly or monthly, with a mix of new games and classic gems that maybe aren't so well known. I'd tolerate a fair amount of advertising or sponsored content in the newsletter as long as it was clearly labeled. The key thing for me is quality . I thi…

"The key thing for me is quality." I wanted to say that I developed Rocket Renegade [1] for iOS. It's an 80s-inspired arcade shooter, with elements reminiscent of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga... and, of course, it contains bosses. I wrote all of the code, and I composed the soundtrack as well. The bitmap graphics were done by game designer Daniel Cook, who released them under a Creative Commons Attribution licen…

iOS only? It looks fun, but I don't have a working iOS device at the moment.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#97

Post by joezydeco » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:50 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #72

intrasight wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is almost a fluff piece to promote a developer Clearly you do not know who is Nolan Bushnell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain. Bushnell has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of F…

Clearly you do not know who is Nolan Bushnell I would argue that he knows who Bushnell is better than you do. What you posted in no way invalidates what you quoted from the parent post. Yes, Bushnell started Atari. Since he sold, he's done...golly, I'd have to go look it up because all I remember is a string of forgettable (duh) games that he put his name on because "founder of Atari".

Yeah, I'm not on the bandwagon either.

Bushnell has started more than twenty companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry.

Okay, sure. How many are still going, and how many didn't completely sink the money of the respective investors?

I get that Bushnell is a smart game guy, but IMO Atari was a lightning strike he's been trying to replicate ever since.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#98

Post by camelNotation » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:50 PM UTC

Goronmon wrote: post #19

Honestly, the lack of dedicated controls will never allow for mobile gaming to be anything more than a time diversion for most people. A touchscreen just isn't something that's comfortable to use for extended lengths of time, in my opinion at least.

This is something I've been thinking about recently. Nintendo really should move into that gap since they can't seem to directly compete with XBox or Playstation. They should engineer a control system of some sort that works for iOS and Android, then write content that is compatible. It wouldn't be something you could just use while waiting in line or waiting for your food at a restaurant, but if the content was excellent, that wouldn't matter. People would find time to play, just as they find time to play gaming systems now.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#99

Post by Loque » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:52 PM UTC

echeese wrote: post #80

djsumdog wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like Ridiculous Fishing. The guy who made Braid has similar talks, comparing mobile games, arcade games and 90s syndicated sitcoms. They only keep you entertained long enough to insert another coin or make it through a commercial break. The good mobile games, like you've mentioned, focus on creating a good engaging game without micro-transactions. They earn less. Games with micro-transactions have like a 70%…

At that point, you don't have fans, you've got addicts.

Known as whales in the industry I believe - they are actively targeted and it is a disgusting strategy :-(

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#100

Post by Arjuna » Thu, Apr 28, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

stordoff wrote: post #96

Arjuna wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The key thing for me is quality." I wanted to say that I developed Rocket Renegade [1] for iOS. It's an 80s-inspired arcade shooter, with elements reminiscent of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga... and, of course, it contains bosses. I wrote all of the code, and I composed the soundtrack as well. The bitmap graphics were done by game designer Daniel Cook, who released them under a Creative Commons Attribution licen…

iOS only? It looks fun, but I don't have a working iOS device at the moment.

Thank you. It's iOS only.