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flick-fishing posts

Filed under: Gaming, Freeware, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

OpenFeint introduces multiplayer, Flick Fishing goes Plus+

The battle of the social gaming services on the iPhone continues. OpenFeint's latest weapon is multiplayer -- they're working on a way for games developers on the iPhone to quickly include multiplayer (it doesn't actually say real-time, so we'll assume it's the mix of ghosting and turn-based multiplayer that they talked about in their interview with us) in their games. They're asking interested developers to sign up to the open beta program, and they'll start rolling out the functionality soon. Even though it seems early in the process, it's a pretty cool idea, and it could definitely serve to set OpenFeint apart even more from the other services trying to attract developers to their social and multiplayer features.

Speaking of social features, Freeverse told us a little while ago that they were going to use ngmoco's Plus+ for their games, and apparently they've now integrated the popular Flick Fishing with the service. The additions allow for leaderboards, in-game achievements, and multiple profiles and saves on one iPhone, so you can compete with your friends on other iPhones or right there on your own. Flick Fishing was already an excellent game, and with the added social functionality of Plus+, it's worth heading back out onto the water to compete and compare your games with your friends.

As I've said before, having multiple companies competing for these social functions is turning out to be a real boon for consumers and developers alike. All of these services are able to bring out a lot of cross-game features that developers by themselves would have taken much longer to put together on their own.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone

Creator of Flick Fishing interviewed

Freeverse's Flick Fishing, which we took a look at last week, has shot to the top of the charts in the App Store, and OSX Reality sent us a note about an interview with the game's designer, Aaron Fothergill. His brother Adam put together the graphics and sound, and Aaron did the actual coding and design. Aaron says it's a tough racket putting iPhone games together -- you've got to balance quality (especially production values, something that we could probably use way more of on the App Store) with time and cost. Since iPhone games sell cheap, it's not an easy job making sure you don't go overboard investing way more than you'll get back on return. But of course, if you put in too little time and charge too much, users will call you out for selling high-priced junk.

He also talks about Mac gaming in general, and immersion on the iPhone specifically -- casual games are doing well on the App Store, and some developers are saying that you just can't make an extremely immersive game on a platform where people are constantly being called, texting, and on the move. I have to agree with Aaron -- it's not that you can't be immersive, it's that you have to do it the right way. There's nothing wrong with short bursts of gameplay, but you have to realize from the beginning that that's what your users will be doing.

And finally, he gives out some information about a Flick Fishing update that's incoming: the recently released 1.1 patch consisted of bug fixes, but the upcoming 1.2 update will add some new features, maybe even 8 player networked play.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, iPhone

Freeverse goes Flick Fishing

Freeverse has followed up Flick Bowling with the second game in the line of Flick Sports games: Flick Fishing. Truth be told, I'm more excited about this one -- the motion controls of the fishing rod and reel seem like they'd work well on the iPhone, and with "dozens of species of fish to catch," seems like this could keep me busy for a while. You can even play multiplayer over a local network, and you can apparently email big catches to friends. The game's in the App Store right now for the low low price of 99 cents -- looks like a good outing.

Freeverse is also holding a giveaway to celebrate the launch. Personally, I'd just like a copy of the game, but no -- apparently they're giving away a few Coleman Fish Pens (don't click that link if you don't want autoplay video, but it's so funny I had to link it anyway), which are pen-sized objects that expand out into working fishing poles. We have no idea, but if that's what you want, go put your email in on their page to enter.

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