If your bored and want to interject something...pocket pc idea forum.
Author
I have been trying to concoct a theory as to what games work well in terms of playability, fun and game play on the pocket pc, also in terms of development.
(Note: I understand the majority of you despise the idea of games on such a system and I also understand the following rules, sometimes contradict eachother, are inaccurate, or incomplete...this is more a brainstorming to anyone whose interested). (Note2: these rules mostly apply to me personally as I am a one man show with only a certain set of skills.)
The game can be anything, as long as it fits these
"rules":
1: The game shant be overly hudge and complex.
2: The game shouldnt have an abundance of art and
other media for the reduces the probability of it
getting finished and it breaks rule 1.
3: the game must be as addictive as possible within
its given genre, and it must have pickup and play
ability... like u can pick it up where ever u are,
play it and have fun, and put it down again , play
for 5 minutes or 5 hours and still have a blast.
4: the game should be as easy to learn as possible
and require much time to master, if not a
lifetime...within its given genre.
5: The game should be as original as possible, but
is alowed to borrow on other concepts from other games,
and genre''s of entertainment.
6: For techincal reasons and not to break rule one,
the game shouldnt require scrolling graphics as I think for me personally this would be hard to do (ive never had much luck with making a scrolling tile engine)
7: the games development time should be considerably
less since its going to be developed for pocket PC
and not have a full development cycle. (if possible).
So what kind of games inheritnely fit such rules? what kinds don''t. I would say one set of games that would hit upon each of these rules fairly well are puzzle games. But those are decivengly hard to design.
Any games anyone think would work well on pocket PC? would be fun?
My favorite idea is a game that uses specific features of the pocket pc (not as a requirement but as a extra) the features like most of them have iR, syncing capabilities and the fact they use a stylus.
I want to create a spell casting game with a gesture system that uses the stylus to cast spells, the only problem is thats about as far as I get before i think i really have no other good ideas that fit above rules in this spell casting world, i have a lot of "wouldnt it be cool if..." but they dont fit the above rules and or require way more skill to implement than I have.
So anyone have any thing to interject? add? subtract?
Just curious.
Yes, clearly puzzle games fit your criteria... perhaps quick minigame stuff a la mario party/warioware/crash bash (at least, i think crash bash was a party game). Quick strategy games also perhaps, although you would have to strike a balance to get the immediate playability yet difficult to master effect. And of course, both of these may break your rule of no excessive media. For minigames you could have small amounts of media per, but with multiple games it would start to add up.
I''m not very familiar with the pocketpc though so I don''t know storage capacities or such and therefore dunno what counts as excessive media. You might be able to merge in the spellcasting with a small strategy game though.
I''m not very familiar with the pocketpc though so I don''t know storage capacities or such and therefore dunno what counts as excessive media. You might be able to merge in the spellcasting with a small strategy game though.
Author
Ya i figured the spell casting game would be like a small strategy or action rpg (with limited media) orrrr a puzzle game of sorts, I have seen a lot of posts bout rune systems etc...thought someone coudl somehow make it into a puzle game, but as for me I am not sure how to make that into a action puzzle game.
I have a whole seperate list of musts in a puzzle game then too, though instead of typing it, i can name a game that hits everything: Pokemon Puzzle league (also known as tetris attack) that game is mass fun.
-Shane
I have a whole seperate list of musts in a puzzle game then too, though instead of typing it, i can name a game that hits everything: Pokemon Puzzle league (also known as tetris attack) that game is mass fun.
-Shane
I had a cheap palm in high school, and I spent a TON of time in a simple Empire clone. Another great game that stood out was an Elite clone called Space Trader.
The common thread between these games is that they have expansive, random levels; they are turn-based; and the tactics (and the keypresses/stylus clicks to perform them) were memorizable, so once experienced you could play very quickly.
Sim City on the Palm worked less well. Busy graphics (for a 120x120 handheld), as well as real time made it difficult to play. Also, you couldn''t speed it up enough, so to progress there is a lot of waiting, which really doesn''t work in the handheld format.
I tried lots of other games; the action game that worked best was a clone of the arcade Battlezone (the palm had the right buttons in the right places). Missle Command worked well with the stylus.
1. I wouldn''t say any one of these games violated rule #1; none had more than 30 or so types of gameplay "tokens", and most had considerably fewer.
2. It should be noted that this rule slides with your resources. But there is an intrinsic storage limit in the medium for the time being.
3. Hear Hear.
4. All games should be thus.
5. Yep.
6. Action games with scrolling graphics probably won''t work too well (LCD refresh rates, general blurriness (Sonic on Game Gear, Yech)). The Empire clone had smooth scrolling on a Palm III, though. I think a scrolling map is a useful tool in some genres to represent an expansive world.
7. This depends on your resources. But as asset lists must be smaller, this is probably true (for now).
I would like to add a couple of rules...
8. Graphics should be as clear and concise as possible. Making them too pretty and detailed makes them hard to ditinguish on such a small screen. Also, make sprites as large as possible... and making sprites as big as possible in some sorts of games makes scrolling playfields more necessary.
9. Fast action is a poor idea on the PocketPC platform- the buttons are too small and unresponsive. -?- This goes for myself and everyone I''ve talked to. Please prove me wrong...
I wish the manufacturers would get it through their heads that they could be selling GBA killers if they just arranged the buttons properly and gave them the proper feel.
And thus rule #10:
10. Turn based games are easier to impliment (aren''t affected by poor timer quailty in the OS/hardware), easier to play (see rule 9), and can provide a richer breadth of gameplay experience.
-Steven Rokiski
"Nothing in the above should be taken as professional advice; my credentials are a couple of board games my friends play and a few starts on computer games..."
The common thread between these games is that they have expansive, random levels; they are turn-based; and the tactics (and the keypresses/stylus clicks to perform them) were memorizable, so once experienced you could play very quickly.
Sim City on the Palm worked less well. Busy graphics (for a 120x120 handheld), as well as real time made it difficult to play. Also, you couldn''t speed it up enough, so to progress there is a lot of waiting, which really doesn''t work in the handheld format.
I tried lots of other games; the action game that worked best was a clone of the arcade Battlezone (the palm had the right buttons in the right places). Missle Command worked well with the stylus.
1. I wouldn''t say any one of these games violated rule #1; none had more than 30 or so types of gameplay "tokens", and most had considerably fewer.
2. It should be noted that this rule slides with your resources. But there is an intrinsic storage limit in the medium for the time being.
3. Hear Hear.
4. All games should be thus.
5. Yep.
6. Action games with scrolling graphics probably won''t work too well (LCD refresh rates, general blurriness (Sonic on Game Gear, Yech)). The Empire clone had smooth scrolling on a Palm III, though. I think a scrolling map is a useful tool in some genres to represent an expansive world.
7. This depends on your resources. But as asset lists must be smaller, this is probably true (for now).
I would like to add a couple of rules...
8. Graphics should be as clear and concise as possible. Making them too pretty and detailed makes them hard to ditinguish on such a small screen. Also, make sprites as large as possible... and making sprites as big as possible in some sorts of games makes scrolling playfields more necessary.
9. Fast action is a poor idea on the PocketPC platform- the buttons are too small and unresponsive. -?- This goes for myself and everyone I''ve talked to. Please prove me wrong...
I wish the manufacturers would get it through their heads that they could be selling GBA killers if they just arranged the buttons properly and gave them the proper feel.
And thus rule #10:
10. Turn based games are easier to impliment (aren''t affected by poor timer quailty in the OS/hardware), easier to play (see rule 9), and can provide a richer breadth of gameplay experience.
-Steven Rokiski
"Nothing in the above should be taken as professional advice; my credentials are a couple of board games my friends play and a few starts on computer games..."
One of the shareware games I recommend whenever I get a chance is Slay (http://windowsgames.co.uk/slay.html) I played it on the PC but it has a Pocket PC version - a gem for any strategy gamer.
[edited by - Diodor on September 4, 2003 6:30:46 AM]
[edited by - Diodor on September 4, 2003 6:30:46 AM]
Make sure your game does not use any of the buttons at the bottom of the device. They never seem to work out right.
Puzzles are an obvoius choice. Also any game that''s entirely "mouse driven" will work.
Puzzles are an obvoius choice. Also any game that''s entirely "mouse driven" will work.
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