Intuitive Controls

I have been downloading free iOS games to my iPad. Some have been fun. Others were disappointments. I think the deciding factor was how easily I could figure out how to play the game. Take Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP. It has a bunch of blocky style stick figures as characters. There were some instructions on how to interact with the game to begin. However I never really figured out what double tap or hold down your finger meant. Thus I was confused the whole time I played the game.

I had the exact opposite experience with Where's My Water. The initial premise was easy. Swipe to dig through the ground. The levels were set up to gradually teach me more complex techniques. Mostly the hand movements were the same. It was a game of strategy. A new control or two poppoed up every now and then. However the design had me pretty confident at most times that I was in control.

That's what it boils down to. Master designs make it seem easy. I am sure a lot goes on behind the scenes to make sure I learn quick and feel in control. Now I just need to implement that feel in my own games. Then I shall rule.

Zynga Layoffs

Zynga has announced that it is laying off 18% of its workforce. It shall close a bunch of offices. This was being done to prepare for hard times. Luckily it was not just people getting a pink slip. Those laid off would be getting severance packages, and maybe their stock options accelerated.

AllThingsD initially alerted me to this news. Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, confirmed the news on their blog. Zynga is a public company. They previously announced guidance for their second quarter. Now it looks like they will just about meet the bottom range of their guidance. Stock might get the beat down.

Who knew things would be this bad? I wonder whether Zynga will make it in the long term.

Gamer Blog

My friend finally got around to starting her Gamer blog. She had been talking about it for a while. But you know how it is. With school and family activities, who has time for blogging? Well I went over and checked out the blog. Yep. Just as I thought. She is playing a lot of games. Now that summer is here, there may be even more gameplay.

A while ago I saw Final Fantasy on sale for twenty bucks at Best Buy. Of course I picked it up. I remember Final Fantasy for the original NES platform. This time around I bought an XBox 360 version. However the latest Final Fantasy has gotten a lot more complicated than before. Battle control is not simply wait for you turn, pick an enemy, and then attack.

I did not get into this latest version of Final Fantasy. Maybe I should pull out the old NES versions and get busy. Those were good time. Anyone remember the Chocobos? I also think I was in love with Tifa Lockheart. Used to have a poster of her up in my house. Heheh.

Curiosity is Complete

I downloaded this app called Curiosity some time ago. It is a massive cube whose surface you need to click to expose what is underneath. The only redeeming quality about it was that the same cube was worked on by all people who downloaded the app. After clicking for a little while, I deleted the app from my phone.

Turns out the people still playing just finished clicking the last square. One person "won" the challenge. They got a personalized message from Peter Molyneux, the creator of Curiosity. What did this person win? Big time money? A vacation trip? No. They get to be a character in an upcoming game.

LOL. Is this an epic fail or what? All right. There is a little more than that. The person who one gets to make some decisions on how the new Godus game will work. They will also get some slice of profits from that game. I am glad I did not fall for this publicity stunt. Last time I listen to anything Molyneux says.

Humble Bundle Strikes Again

There is a Humble Bundle on sale once again. This is a charity event of sorts. A bunch of games are bundled together. You decide what you want to pay for the package. The games are downloadable. You also have the option to play the games on Steam. As usual, some games are only available if you donate a certain amount of money.

Often times the best games are locked behind a minimum donation. However this time around there are some good games available at any price. Sure one of the locked games has famous voice actors like Jack Black. But the base level games are tweaking my interest. I have not purchsed any humble bundles before. Got too many games as it is. But maybe I can make an exception this time around.