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

theguardian.com

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

#171

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

ketralnis wrote: post #79
jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

> I could go on and on Please do! The problem I've had with mobile games has been discoverability. The app store's recommendations have been useless and the featured/top grossing/most popular games are just the ones that make the most money via in app purchases. And for some crazy reason, fewer and fewer games have actual screenshots in the screenshot section of their store page. Instead they opt to use that space fo…

I'm becoming a fan of board / card game ports.

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer Neuroshima Hex

Both play really well on small screens and the IAP for expansion packs have been worth it.

Ascension multiplayer can also be played over several days and you can multiple games going. So take a few turns, come back later when your opponent responds.

I believe NS hex is the same but I'm not very good yet and have not tried.

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

#172

Post by gearoidoc »

tracker1 wrote: post #168
idunno246 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 0.99 though, do you really make much money? Back of the envelop numbers seems that any game at that price point is so underpriced to never be profitable or more than a side project. Especially when an ad driven install costs more than that - relying on the pretty poor app store discovery mechanisms cant drive much traffic. (ive worked for free to play, so maybe we just saw a totally different thing) The reason IAP…

I keep thinking that a virtual arcade model could work well... you get N plays per day for free, but if you want to buy more "coins" you pay like $5 and they carry over... Each version improves existing games in the arcade and/or adds new ones... you can play your 20 coins/day first, then buy extra if you choose... there's no reason that model couldn't work quite well.

Isn't that exactly what P2P/IAP is?

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

#174

Post by babuskov »

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #83
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…

Just purchased and played several times. Very solid gameplay, nice retro graphics, fun music. Congratulations. I was kind of hoping for some power-ups, like a faster shot rate or scattershot. Those might be present, and I just didn't get to them yet, only made it to stage 3-x on first attempts. I also wish the stages had more variation, might feel too repetitive after a while – though that might happen later also. An…

Hi,

Could you please take a look at my game:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drone-invaders/id1047158768

Powerups are there. :)

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

#175

Post by voltagex_ »

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #48
jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

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…

There was a site that only listed no-IAP games for a while, but I think they "pivoted" into something less useful. http://www.slant.co/topics/1194/~android-games-without-in-ap... / http://www.slant.co/topics/3480/~ios-games-without-in-app-pu... is what's left.

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

#177

Post by babuskov »

rush340 wrote: post #127
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.

Time diversion versus what? The lack of dedicated controls is only a negative for games that require precise inputs (like classic arcade games). There are so many fantastic games that don't require that at all. Strategy, turn-based RPGs, puzzles, adventure games, etc. For certain games, a touchscreen can blow dedicated controls out of the water if the interface is designed well.

Yup, especially for strategies. It's much easier to touch the position with your finger then having to drag mouse across the screen.

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

#179

Post by StuieK »

voltagex_ wrote: post #175
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…

There was a site that only listed no-IAP games for a while, but I think they "pivoted" into something less useful. http://www.slant.co/topics/1194/~android-games-without-in-ap... / http://www.slant.co/topics/3480/~ios-games-without-in-app-pu... is what's left.

Are you referring to honestandroidgames?

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

#180

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

I'd love to know what Nolan Bushnell thinks of flappy bird. Aside from all the silliness, I think it's genuinely a good little game, and it fulfils many of the criteria of those classic arcade games we fondly remember: simple graphics, spot-on gameplay balance, an obvious gameplay mechanism, highly replayable (based a lot on strong highscore focus).
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