Software
To create iphone apps you need to use the iOS Developer Program, which I plan on buying with some of my coursemates together as a company so we can all use it. I have been researching the advice the apple website gives on the Dev kit and on creating your own iphone apps.
Advice on creating apps:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/11/how-to-create-your-first-iphone-application/
I have also discovered the iOS Dev Centre for advice on using the software:
http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action
Popular Games
I have downloaded these popular games onto my ipod and have tested them to see how they play and what is so good about them.
Plants vs Zombies - The concept is simple - to defend your house against zombies by planting plants in the garden that have attacking capabilities - which need sunlight to function.
The gameplay is simple, you just place the plants where ever you want to and collect the sunlight to power them. I think it is a random concept that is really addictive and interesting to play - and the gameplay varies, depending on what you plant, and where the zombies appear from and when.
Cut the Rope - This game is effectively a puzzle game with a cute character and art style. It looks nice to play, the animation is nice, and the physics of the rope falling are really well made. The important thing with this game is how it plays, if they had got the physics wrong in this game, then it would be irritating instead of fun and addictive to play.
Bit Pilot - This game pays homage to retro gaming, with both the music and the gameplay. It plays similarly to the old asteroids game, and has an 8-bit soundtrack. The graphics are in a retro style also, which looks very nostalgic. The gameplay and the music are the best bits about this game. The music is really nice to listen to and doesn't get irritating when you want to play it for hours, and also the way you move around your spaceship (or little arrow) I have found to be very intuitive. By dragging your fingers around the spaceship, you move it around the area of space, avoiding the asteroids. It has proved to be fast paced and addictive and really fun to play.
Canabalt - This game has a very very simple concept which I really enjoyed playing. The game is addictive and fun to play, and while being very simple, has little finishing touches that make the game amazing in my opinion. Firstly the physics of the game are very well made - if you avoid all the obstacles the character runs very fast and jumps extra high - the buildings also get further away the faster you run. So instead of just avoiding everything possible, you have to strategically crash into various crates and objects in your path to slow you down, depending on the circumstances. Another thing that is really nice about this game, is although there is some nice atmospheric game music, you can also play any music that you have on the iphone or ipod while playing, so you can experiment for a varied gaming experience. Finally, the backgrounds are on separate layers that move independently, which give a really nice effect, and there are also little details in the animations - such as the birds that fly away on the rooftops when you run towards them.
After looking at some games, It seems that the main features of iphone games that are most important are - the simplicity of the concept, the playability (the ease in which you can play the game using the iphone touch screen), and the likeability of the aesthetics and music, depending on the game. Alot of iphone games are often also addictive, or weird, or comical. This is what makes people want to play them so much.
The games above all have very simple concepts, but make for fun and exciting gameplay. I think when deciding on my concept, simplicity is most important, and the gameplay must be as intuitive as possible to create the addictive qualities of all the most popular games on the app store. I also want to think about the finishing touches on my game that would make a good game an amazing one.
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