iPad: Sorcery has bewitched me

I have a particular fondness for RPG gamebooks stemming back to my childhood.  They were like an awesome combination of D&D and Choose Your Own Adventure, and absolutely flourished in the 80s.  Now they’re enjoying a renaissance on mobile platforms, a place that seems ideal for these sorts of games.  I’ve played both Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Adventures on the iPhone, but I think I’ve found my new favorite.

Steve Jackson’s Sorcery is an adaption of Jackson’s four-part gamebook series (although only the first book is currently available in the game.  What’s impressed me is that the adaptation has gone way above and beyond what I’ve seen in other mobile gamebooks.  Instead of just flipping through pages, the team created this 3D world map that your character token traverses.  The story is told through little paragraph snippets that flow down over the page and are stitched together as you make decisions.  I can’t emphasize just how good the production values are here.

The addition of the map/game board really helps with visualizing your progress through the world.  Sometimes gamebooks lost me after the thousandth choice, but here I always have a quick reference for where I’ve been and where I’m going.  Another nice touch is a nice variety of ambient sound effects to represent the region you’re currently exploring.

In addition to making decisions, picking up loot, and spending gold on rations and other goodies, Sorcery has two systems for engaging enemies.  The first is a swordfighting system that is definitely different than your standard dice rolls.  You have to choose a stance for the next round based on what you think your opponent will do (sometimes you get clues in the text), and if you’re smart enough, you can win without taking too much damage.  The other system is a somewhat complicated spellbook.  There are 48 spells (!) that are detailed here, although you can’t always use them all — and when you do they either require an item in your possession or some of your precious stamina.  I have enjoyed casting spells, however, because they do a lot more than just launch a fireball at your opponent.

Anyway, I think Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! is available on both iOS and Android platforms, and even with the $5 price tag, I think it’s well worth picking up.  I’ve spent hours engrossed in the adventure so far, and I’m looking forward to the next three books to be added (apparently your character’s progress will carry over).

iPhone: Nimble Quest takes Snake to the next level

I get ridiculously excited whenever NimbleBit releases a new game.  Tiny Tower remains one of my most-played iPhone games, and Pocket Planes was a good ride for a time.  Last night the studio released Nimble Quest, a mash-up between the classic mobile game Snake and RPGs — and it’s pretty addicting.

The basic concept here is that you start with a single hero (that you choose from a list) and walk around a big room while slaying enemies.  You start to accumulate other heroes to follow you in a chain, and their attacks are added to your arsenal.  If you bump into a wall, an object, one of your own heroes, or an enemy with your lead character, you die and have to start aaaaall over.  Your lead character can also be killed with enough attacks.

So you’re trying to get as far as you can in a single game because every new level that you conquer for the first time grants you a new hero for your chain.  There are a number of RPG elements in here: power-ups, leveling up your lead character, permanent buffs, etc.  And since all of the heroes have different styles of attacks, picking the best one for your lead can change everything.

I put a couple sessions into it so far and generally like it a lot.  The controls are simple and responsive, and it creates a zen-like experience as you continue to move and attack without stopping.  There are definitely some strategies in play here and both the look and one hit, one life attitude make me think of old-school console games.

The Walking Dead and your own chosen adventure

Along with what seems like half of the gamers I know, I’ve been playing through Telltale Games’ excellent Walking Dead as of late.  I’ve had it for a while, just didn’t give it a try.  Once I did, it became like a gripping novel I couldn’t put down.  Daresay, I think I enjoy it better than the TV show (I shouldn’t be that surprised, as the Back to the Future game from Telltale was also pretty awesome).

Apart from great voice acting and a terrific story, the element that’s capturing the attention of gamers is that the game is rife with difficult — and often snappy — choices that must be made.  It’s all about choice and consequence, and you never know what consequences that your decisions, even your dialogue, will cause.  Some of it’s somewhat superficial, as the game will proceed more or less the same no matter what you do, but a lot of it is substantial (or at least feels that way).  I’m almost always left wondering what would’ve happened if I had done something different, if things might’ve turned out better.

It’s the kind of choice-and-consequence dance that I think we were hoping for in SWTOR (and perhaps saw come to life from time to time).  It works because the game goes to great lengths to have you get to know the characters as actual people — and then it puts you in near-impossible situations that could have a dire impact on them.  The choices are painful as they are delicious, because you honestly feel like what you do matters.

As an MMO gamer, I think that’s what I’ve craved.  I want my actions, my choices, to matter.  In LOTRO yesterday, a quest gave me a choice to tell the truth to a dad who had his daughter run off with a farmhand or to lie to him so that the newlywed couple could get a fresh start.  That could’ve been a tough call, except that I’m pretty sure that there will be no real consequences from that choice.  So it becomes cosmetic.

The Secret World isn’t big on offering those kind of A or B choices, although it has happened a couple of times.  Yet I feel a kinship between TSW and The Walking Dead for a couple reasons (beyond zombies, the apocalypse, and a general horror setting).  In TSW, we really are getting to know a much smaller cast more intimately, which makes my feelings toward them more significant since I could be seeing them again.  Really getting to know their motivations and stories provides motivation for me to do the quests for something other than the material rewards.  Last night I was talking with a kindly bartender in Transylvania who could feel the pain of those who died in the area — including her parents — and I genuinely wanted to do the quest that would help give her some small measure of peace.

Both games have really made me think about who my character is and what kind of person they are.  I’m willing to bet that most people in The Walking Dead play Lee as nice and honorable as possible, but you don’t have to.  He could be a complete jerk, a pragmatic leader, a crafty soul, or what have you.  But I’ve gotten to know my Lee to the point where I know what he — not I — would decide in any given situation.

Likewise, Yeti in TSW has developed her own quiet personality that’s seen perhaps only by me.  She feels a bit naive yet hopeful, a little put out at being played as a puppet by forces beyond her control, and stubborn (with a shotgun!) against the evil that’s leaking out everywhere.  The world and its characters are so rich that it’s encouraged me to imprint an equally rich personality onto her, which might have been one of the reasons why Funcom made it so that your character doesn’t ever talk.  It’s an intentional gap to let your imagination create something better.

Anyway, back to choice, I know it’s a lot more difficult to have the kind of deep impact choices from The Walking Dead in an MMO for many reasons… but I can’t help but be wistful that we don’t see a studio go all-out with that.  BioWare really had to hobble itself when it came to the consequences of player actions, especially when it came to companions (such as no companion death).  Maybe there was no way around that in SWTOR, but I do wonder what it could’ve been.

I’ve got a little over an episode to go for The Walking Dead, and while I’m curious how things might have gone differently, I don’t think I’ll be replaying it.  I want this one story to be my story, and when it’s done, it’s done.

Evaluating the iPad Mini

So I’ve had my iPad Mini for about a month now and have spent a fair amount of time evaluating its capabilities and potential usefulness.  As I’ve said before, I’ve often been a bit puzzled as to the purpose of a tablet, especially for a person who owns a smartphone and a laptop.  The question that was bouncing around in my mind was: What niche or unique role does this gadget serve that the others don’t?

I think I’ve found a few answers to that.  The overall answer is that it kind of doesn’t — many of the things I’d do with the iPad I could do with one of my other devices.  But that’s not the end of that answer either.  The Mini straddles the line between laptop and smartphone by proving more portability than the former and more screen space than the latter, and that’s where I’m finding it useful.

For portability, it’s just not practical to have my laptop out on my small desk or in bed with me at night.  It’s too bad, because I’ve got all my MMOs on my laptop, but oh well.  With the tablet, I’ve got a device that’s far easier to take anywhere and use with minimal setup (I purchased a leather cover that can transform into a stand).  It’s a great gadget to have in bed at night, to take for a little bathroom reading, or even to set up on my desk to watch a little Netflix while I grind mobs.

The mini is a definite improvement over the sheer size of the regular iPad.  I’ll gladly trade off the retina screen for a tablet that’s the size of a larger paperback book, because it’s easier to hold, to transport, and to use.  It can be put in just about anything, and I dig that.

What really surprised me is how much I enjoy the extra screen space.  Realize that for years now, I had gotten very used to operating on the iPhone’s really small screen.  I played games on it, wrote on it, watched movies on it, and read on it.  For sheer portability the phone is great (the iPhone is always with me; the iPad isn’t), but I don’t mind setting the phone down when it comes to, say, reading Kindle on a bigger screen.  No longer am I flicking to a new page every three seconds, because now the screen can handle a normal book page’s worth of content.  I also am definitely liking the bigger screen for strategy and RPG titles, although my hands won’t stretch as far on the bigger screen if it came to more actiony stuff that requires a lot more movement (at least on the iPhone, everything’s always within easy reach).

It’s a pleasure to do blog reading on the tablet through my reader, which is something that always frustrated me on the iPhone.  That’s definitely nice.  And the battery life has proven to be quite good.

There are some iPad-exclusive apps that are quite nice to have, such as Baldur’s Gate and Magic 2013, and some of the universal apps look and function better on the tablet.

There are a few downsides, however.  My mini only has 16 gigabytes of memory, so it’s really just there for apps and little else.  My 32-gig iPhone has a lot of my music and movies, which makes it more well-rounded.  I’m also nervous to bring the mini outside with me, since I can see this as being easily losable or stealable.

By no means am I done evaluating its capabilities, however.  I do want to get a bluetooth keyboard for it to see if I can start using it for some of my normal activities on it.  I also need to figure out how to get my iTunes account to accept that I don’t necessarily want to sync up the same applications and downloads on both of these devices.

For those of you that do own an iPad or an iPad mini, what apps do you find especially useful on them?

Early iChristmas

So my father-in-law is visiting for a few days, mostly to get snuggles from the new baby.  He also brought Christmas presents with him, so we had a fun early mini-Christmas with the family.  My son got a stuffed elephant big enough to ride, my daughter got a castle tent, and I got… an iPad mini.  Completely unexpected, I might add.  Not that I’m complaining!

Thus I’ve entered the community of tablet-owners.  After having played around with a standard iPad, the mini is a lot more friendly on the wrists and is definitely more agreeable to me.  It’s strange now to have both that and an iPhone, and so I spent some time trying to suss out just what I was going to use this tablet for.  Well, duh, gaming, right?

There are several titles that are iPad-only that I’ve had my eyes on for a while, and I snapped up Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition right away.  I will most likely be getting the Magic the Gathering app as well.  Having the extra screen space is nice, although playing anything on it requires two hands versus the sometimes-I-can-get-away-with-just-one-hand iPhone.  Reading Kindle on it feels a little more like a standard book, although I’ve long since gotten used to Kindle reading on the iPhone — so now all of those extra words seem superfluous.

I’ll probably be trying out Arcane Legends on it as well, mostly to see how it compares to the smaller screen.  The mini-tablet size seems much better for the complexity of an MMO UI, although it’s not like there are a lot of offerings out there right now.  Maybe I’ll try out that Celtic Heroes everyone keeps talking about.

I do feel a little ridiculously blessed in the computer gadget department now, since I’ve got a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop.  The frugal part of me winces and thinks just how much I don’t need all this, and I know that if I don’t get some use out of this tablet I’ll feel really guilty.  I don’t think that’ll be a problem, especially since I’ll have some time over the holidays to tinker around with it.

I also realize that I’ve pretty much been sucked into the Apple ecosystem, particularly with the investment I’ve made in the app store.  I had given some thought about trying out the Android market and devices a while back, but I don’t really think that’s possible now.  And I guess that’s okay.  It certainly was nice to see that all the purchases I’ve made for my iPhone were easily installable on the tablet.

For those iPad/iPad mini owners out there, what do you do with it more or less exclusively over what you do with smartphones and computers?

Arcane Legends might just be that mobile MMO I’ve been waiting for

For some time, I’ve been bemoaning the fact that there aren’t really that many good — or even decent — mobile MMOs out there.  Oh sure, there scads of skeezy menu-based titles and the World of Warcraft-lite Order & Chaos, but nothing that’s sat right with me as both a real MMO in its own right and a title that’s quite playable on a smartphone.

I’ve tried all three of Spacetime Studios’ previous titles — Pocket Legends, Star Legends, and Dark Legends — but none of them stuck with me at all.  So color me surprised (that’s bluish-pink in the Crayola spectrum) that I’ve taken a shine to its newest MMO, Arcane Legends.  The maddening thing is that it’s hard to say why this is more “sticky” than the other games for me.

Arcane Legends is essentially the next iteration of Pocket Legends, only with humans instead of humanoid animals plus a pet system.  Think of a very Diablo-lite style of gameplay (main attack button mashing + the occasional special attacks and potions) in a world broken up by instances, where other players can come and go alongside of you as they please.  You go on quests, smash barrels, level up, gear out, and gradually open up the world.

What strikes me as compelling about Arcane Legends is that it seems far more polished and engaging than its predecessors.  Less confusing, too.  It’s easy to see where I’m going, as the camera’s not swiveling about all the time.  Combat is silky smooth and occasionally tactically challenging.  You not only choose skills at level up, but can customize those skills in various ways.  You can unlock and level up pets who fight alongside of you and give you special bonuses.  There are daily rewards just for logging in (sort of like a loyalty program that you find in F2P MMOs).  And it’s a breeze to pop in and out.

Even the art style is a notch above.  It’s very colorful and stylish, although there’s a hint of a harder, less “kiddie” world among it all.  My character is a scarred, bald warrior who totes around a weapon bigger than he is, and I dig the visceral feel of swinging that puppy around.  Well, not my actual puppy — he wouldn’t take kindly to that.

I was pretty impressed last night as I discovered that the bard in the tavern offers a special daily quest.  These are short solo instances where he sings if your great deeds as you perform them, and afterward he gives you a special currency that can be horded for better gear.

I don’t know where/when the F2P wall is at this point.  There’s a strong push to buy elixirs and treasure chests in the store, which makes me hope that this is where Spacetime expects to get most of its money (instead of making us pay to unlock world content).  I have noticed that the game occasionally rewards me with store currency as I play, which is a very nice touch indeed.

So I’m just a few days into playing this, but wanted to pass along at least a cursory recommendation to check it out.

Five Good Things IV: Never Say Die

James Bond is like stinky cheese to me; a little goes a long way and keeps me from partaking again for a while.  Not that it’s all bad, mind you, but I just don’t need to gorge on it.  So Skyfall was okay, but it’s also reset my interest in the franchise for a few years at least.

But what is getting me excited these days?  Here are five things!  Good things!

1. Food: Turkey

Dang, but I love this delicious fowl.  Turkey deli slices just don’t do it, but I do eat a lot of turkey in my diet (turkey bacon rocks).  The absolute best is the Thanksgiving turkey, because then you get the chunks of turkey that go oh-so-well with mayo and cheese for day-after sandwiches.  Mmm.

2. Music: MMO soundtracks

Ever since starting my Jukebox Heroes column at Massively, I’ve been absolutely immersing myself in MMO music of all types.  I’m not just talking the one or two soundtracks everyone seems to know, but really obscure stuff that’s turning out to be great stuff.  I’m really looking forward to sharing some of these findings with you guys!

3. iPhone Game: Knights of Pen and Paper

This is such a cool and addicting little RPG that isn’t quite like anything I’ve ever seen.  It’s not just a standard RPG where you have a party that goes on quests, beats encounters, loots gold, and so on, but it’s presented as a group of contemporary roleplayers sitting at a table where a GM is describing the scene and setting up the quests.  While the grammar is sometimes horrible, the humor is great and the game’s quite enjoyable to play.

4. Season: Christmas

The past few years I’ve been a little blah about the Christmas season in general, but this year I’m extremely excited about it.  I think that’s due in part to my kids becoming an age where they can start to understand what’s going on and get excited about it themselves.  I’m planning to go all-out with decorating, for starters, and am planning a few new traditions for the family to enjoy this year.  Also, I’m totally okay with listening to the Christmas music station while I’m driving.

5. TV: Andy Richter Controls the Universe

I’m rediscovering this almost-forgotten cult classic sitcom from the early 2000s.  It’s not the funniest thing I’ve ever watched, but the tale of five co-workers and friends who get into some pretty weird situations is definitely watchable.  There are so many good lines in it, and I can see how this was a spiritual predecessor to some of my other favorites, such as Arrested Development and Better Off Ted.

Four games that would make great mobile MMOs

I continue to be disheartened about the lackluster field of mobile MMOs, wishing that there would be something engaging that I could enjoy on the go.  The field that’s out there right now is either trashy (low quality, high microtransactions pressure), kind of weird/obscure, or a little too hard to control with a smartphone.  Spacetime Studios’ titles and Order & Chaos are probably at the top of the short list, but while I’ve repeatedly tried them, I can’t stick to either.

My thought is that mobile gaming requires MMOs to be tailored to those devices’ limitations and abilities, instead of trying to force a square peg of PC gaming through a round hole.  MMOs typically require a complex HUD, multiple input keys, and navigation through 3D spaces, all of which are difficult to pull off on something a small touchscreen interface.

However, if there had to be adaptation of current MMOs to the mobile platform, here are four I think would do the trick just fine:

1. Wizard101

Even though Wizard101 navigates through a 3D world, the battles are pretty much just picking out cards when they pop up — quite easy for a touchscreen.  Plus, the UI in that game is already simple and has a built in simple chat feature that allows you to pick between phrases.  Doesn’t seem like it’s too graphically complicated, either.  So yeah, I’d love to see this make the jump.

2. Realm of the Mad God

2D feels much more natural for mobile gaming — at least then you don’t have to fiddle with camera controls.  RotMG has a cool retro pixelated look that’s already popular with mobile gamers, and it’s a simple game when it comes to combat and items.  This would be my top choice.

3. MapleStory

Nexon keeps making feints toward bringing MapleStory to mobile devices, but so far it’s all been offline solo stuff only.  I’ve never played MapleStory, but it’s got the 2D down and a strong following, which seems ripe for the plucking.

4. Glitch

Why not?  You can’t access this Flash title from Apple devices, but it seems like it would be awesome as a mobile game.  Light platforming, lots of crafting and gathering, 2D graphics — perfect.

Any of those I’d welcome into my mobile arsenal with open arms.  What about you?  What games do you think would make great mobile MMOs?

Pocket Planes P.S.

One of the problems with Pocket Planes is that while the game is substantially more complex and involved than Pocket Tower, the tutorial and in-game info is lacking.  I’ve found two forum threads that have great questions and answers, however:

• Touch Arcade
• Something Awful

Just wanted to pass those along!

Pocket Plane Party Powow

I burst into the room at a full spring, my eyes wide and my beard afroth.  “It’s coming!  Tonight!”

My wife was understandably perturbed.  “What, the apocalypse?”

“Even better!” I exclaimed.  “Pocket Planes!  Now, get the kids together, ’cause we’re going to throw a launch party!”

“We’re not going to do that,” she said, but I was already marching down the hall singing the Pocket Planes anthem.

I know it’s silly, but this iPhone game’s been one of my most-desired titles of the year, and I had absolutely no idea it was going to hit the App Store last night until just hours before.  When I found out, it was like Christmas, Easter, and Flag Day (which is today!) all rolled in one.

My excitement stems from the appreciation and time I spent in Nimblebit’s last iOS game, Tiny Tower.  Tiny Tower was a smash hit last year, winning Apple’s game of the year award and spawning countless copycats.  At its core, it was a time management simulator where  you build a tower with business and residences, all for the purpose of making more money and building more floors.  I absolutely loved the adorable pixel art style and details, and while the actual gameplay was pretty shallow, it kept me entertained for a long time.  What’s even better is that TT was free with in-app purchases, yet Nimblebit was surprisingly generous in giving you ways to earn free currency so that you didn’t have to spend money unless you wanted to say thank you or get a big jump on things.

But take a lot of that — the pixel art, the humor, the time management, the friendly busines smodel — and then pair it with the concept of operating a worldwide airline?  Genius.  I downloaded Pocket Planes last night and spent two straight hours getting sucked into the game.  From what I’ve seen so far, it offers so much more depth and strategy than Tiny Towers, all with the same easy going interface.

At the start of Pocket Planes, you pick a region of the world to start  your venture in, and then are handed three airports and a small fleet of small planes.  Planes can either carry cargo, passengers, or a mix of both (C, P, and M suffixes on planes inform you as to the plane’s specific setup), and you make money by delivering these to their desired destinations.  Longer routes and more cargo/passengers carried equal more money, of course, but your small planes have a small initial radius. They fly in real time, so you have to wait until they hit their destination, but there’s always something else to be doing.  Since you’re juggling so many planes, usually one’s landing somewhere.

It’s hard to choose just how I want to grow my airline, but it’s great to have the choice.  You can buy more airports as well as upgrade the ones you already have (bigger airports offer more passengers/cargo, I think).  You can buy new planes or assemble ones out of parts you find or buy.  You can even upgrade your current fleet with premium parts that are found/purchased.  Then there are the cosmetics: you can paint your planes and costume your pilots.

Right now I think there’s something like 60 planes in the game, from the ultra-slow hot air balloon to mega jetliners and starships.  You don’t get access to all of them right away, as you have to level up through doing delivery runs.  I like that the game paces you to gradually grow, because if you could just straight-out purchase the top of the line aircraft on the first day with in-app purchases, then what’s the fun?

There’s a lot more I’m still figuring out.  The game has cooperative missions called global events, where you join a team to deliver special goods to a specific airport.  If your team places in the top five, then everyone who participated in the team (I think) gets a prize.

Combos are important, so if you can deliver two more more passengers/cargo to the same destination, you get a bonus.  So the strategy here is that you can have your planes move things with the same destination to a single airport, then pick them all up with a final plane and deliver them.

Overall, I’m impressed and enjoying this.  Yeah, you could drop some money on it, but it’s not obnoxious and there are plenty of ways to earn the in-game premium currency that I wouldn’t think anyone would hit a wall where they couldn’t progress without forking over cash.