Mobile Gaming

So recently I acquired an iPad and obviously with me being an avid gamer I've already downloaded a ton of apps. I've had an iPhone for quite a long time now and so mobile gaming is something I'm already familiar with. But upon getting an iPad I realised that the differences between the two devices are more pronounced than you might imagine. 

Some of my favourite iPhone games include candy crush and tiny wings. These are very simple games that have very basic controls. Tiny wings for example is literally a single touch control but also very addictive. The small screen makes fine controls a little difficult but the portability of the device means repetitive games with high replay ability are definitely a good choice. 

However the iPad has a much larger display and therefore scope for a more precise control scheme. The game I've played the most so far is Magic 2013 (the first mobile addition of the long lived ccg). The  ability to simply slide cards around like you would physical cards is very natural. I've played Magic The Gathering online on my computer for a long time but the iPad version is much more intuitive to use (even if the rule set is a little dumbed down). 

I then extended my iPad app selection to look at other board and card games and have since downloaded Fluxx, Small World and Settlers of Catan (amongst others). As a big board game fan, this "virtual" board game is a very interesting concept which offers a huge amount of possibilities to future board game development. I can see a point in the future where games are developed with classic social gaming in mind using iPads or other tablet devices to enhance the gaming experience. This is definitely something I'm in full support of. While I'm also a big advocate of having physical pieces to move I can see interesting fusions of the real world with the virtual.

'Til next time...

My Son - A proud dad story

I didn't get a chance to write this yesterday, but I had a very proud moment of fatherhood yesterday when my 6 year old son showed me a game he designed.

At school they had been designing board games and I was very impressed at what Morgan came up with. At its heart it was just a simple start to finish board game but how you got there was the interesting part. Each turn the players would choose one of 8 coloured lollipop sticks with numbers on them as follows:-

Red - 1 & 8

Orange - 2 & 7

Green - 3 & 6

Blue - 4 & 5

So by picking the red stick you had a chance of getting either 1 or 8. High risk but potentially high reward. If you picked blue you knew you were hitting average. This gave the game some element of risk management (similar in some ways to games like Elder Sign or zombie dice).

He'd also added some other interesting elements such as the inaccurately named "long square" (a short cut) and the "happening square" (which allowed you to rapidly move forward). Either way I'm impressed at the amount of thought that a 6 year old had put into a simple board game.

I love that my love of games has passed to my kids and I hope they get as much enjoyment as I do from as they grow up. 

'Til next time...