Jeff Minter’s iOS games

Ok… so this is old news to anyone interested in retro gaming on iOS… I know… Even though I got my iPad before the year ended, I only started using it about 2-3 months ago (I kept telling myself: I can’t use it until I start programming…right). So the other day, I don’t remember how, something reminded me about Jeff Minter (maybe someone mentioned llamas…) and so I googled him for the first time in years to find what he was up to. Imagine my surprise when I discover he’s releasing games for iOS now!

When I was a kid, one of my favorite games was Llamatron. I played it on the Amiga and just loved the crazyness, the graphics, but most of all the gameplay. It was just fun, and even though it got really hard, you just had to try it again… I also played another game of his, about a camel… (don’t remember the name right now). Not as fun but equally (if not more) crazy…

Anyways… I was really excited to see him programming for iOS so I decided to download a few of his games (even though I know I’m going to eventually download all of them… )

First I got Caverns of Minos, because as I’ve said, I love “lunar lander” games. I also had been toying with an idea that turned out to be similar to this game and I wanted to see how close the two were…

I love little triangular ships!

Of course, I jumped straight to the “hardest” mode where your have to turn your ship and can only thrust forward ’cause I love those kinds of games (Asteroids, Lunar Lander, or my own Space Garbage Men). The game is VERY good. The craziness is still there, along with the over the top graphical/sound effects, but most important: the gameplay is still excellent. The game becomes very hard but it does ease you in little by little. The controls are very good and I was surprised to see no joystick drawn in the screen. Then I read Jeff hates virtual joysticks and now I can totally see why. You don’t really need them and they get in the way.

My only gripe with the controls is that the turning of the ship seems to be reversed! (Left turns your ship clockwise). After a while you get used to it and you stop thinking about it although I still make mistakes when things get hectic…

Going down the caves, rescuing minotaurs and then back up, watching the fuel and shields… You’ve got to weight when it’s best to leave behind some of the minotaurs as you don’t want to get killed doing risky moves (you lose the minotaurs you rescued before). In the end I usually just wait until I’m going up to rescue the minotaurs, but some are very hard to rescue with the triangular ship…

So soon after, I had to try another of his games. I wanted to get the reworking of Llamatron but I also wanted to see more of his new stuff, so I went for Mino Rescue, his first game for iOS.

As he says, it’s kind of a mix between Asteroids and Space War. It features another triangular ship and a star which attracts everything towards it.

And what a surprise… the gameplay mechanics are just perfect. You’ve got to protect the star (it will turn into a black hole if enough stuff crashes into it) but at the same time it is deadly to you. You’ve got to rescue the minotaurs, but the closer you are to the star when you do, the higher the score you get. Then, the more minotaurs you rescue, the higher your fire rate, which makes dieing a pain, especially on higher levels when asteroids are coming towards you from all over…

The controls aren’t what I expected when I first saw the game, but they are very good. Firing is automatic (something which I’m starting to appreciate too) and you control the ship with one finger. Underneath, it works just as in the old Asteroids with the ship being able to rotate and accelerate forward, but the control system works by you dragging your finger in the direction you want to go, so it’s easier to get into it… small drags will turn the ship and bigger ones will move it. It’s amazing how much control you’ve got with just one finger and again, no onscreen joystick…

Last night I managed to get more than 10 million points (which wasn’t easy) but it’s still a long way to reach the top scores people are posting… still… the game is addictive… and I’m getting better…

And the last game I got (for now) was Gridrunner. Again, what an amazing arcade experience… This time, the controls seem to be less precise (I’m playing on expert setting) but it’s not hard to get used to it. The game is fast and requires you to be super alert. It took me a while to be on the look out for the top laser (which shoots a beam straight down at random times/places) sometimes it seems as the game intentionally places power ups coming down only to shoot a laser on the same position (arrgggh!!!). But amazingly enough, you almost always know what killed you and what you should have done…

My highscore: almost 2 million. Not close to what top players are getting… but not bad… I know it’ll get better… (BTW, I’m makageorge on the leaderboards (both gamecenter and openfeint…)

 

So… I’ll finish by saying that it’s great that I ran into Jeff’s games just as I start to code my own… First, I’ve been reminded of how important gameplay is and what good gameplay feels like. Also, it has given me a different perspective on touch controls, and be sure my game won’t have an onscreen joystick either! Thanks Jeff!!!!