Check out my first mobile game - what high score can you get? (iOS and Android)

[purbeast0]

DISCLAIMER: I contacted the mods about this and they said it was fine for me to post this on here, so before anyone claims spam, I have asked for permission and got it!!

so after the tappy bird craze, it made me start to look into how to make mobile games. i quickly came across the cocos2d library for iOS and started messing with it. after about a 45 minute tutorial i had something up and running. i was pretty impressed with how simple it was to do stuff so i figured i'd try a little idea i had.

so what i came up, including kind of making a similar name, is Tappy Penguins.

iOS - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tappy-penguins/id826839915?ls=1&mt=8
Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AndrewStanton.Tappy_Pens

the game is free so you don't have to pay for it or anything.

and no, it is not a rip off of the gameplay at all. it's just a basic game where you try to "juggle" things and keep them on the screen as long as you can.

i designed this fully in iOS in Objective-C. the hardest part TBH, on the iOS side, was the whole sharing thing. they don't have an easy way to share stuff, so i found this other library that lets you do it called sharekit. that took me over a week to get working and figure out how it works, but now it works fine.

i also incorporated leaderboards to try and make it more of a social thing too.

now for Android, i used this tool called Apportable that builds native iOS code to run on Android. with literally 1 line of code, i had the game up and running (the code is just to "stretch" the screen size to fit natively). however, things like the sharing, leaderboards, and rate did not work, so i had to do all of that natively. with Apportable there is a way you can run java code natively as well between the 2 sides of code, so after a long struggle of tinkering and learning, i finally figured out how to use the google play leaderboards and intents to share on there as well.

sorry to drag on with the technical details but i just wanted to let people know who might be interested.

anyways, i'm looking for feedback in general. i've had friends tell me that it's simply too hard in general and that it gets too hard to quick. well i kind of wanted to make it so if you lose, you aren't going through the "slow" part for a long time before it starts to get challenging. it is also quite a bit random. but overall, i'm looking for feedback that you think could make it better.

i'd also appreciate it if you could give a decent rating if you think it deserves one to help me out because that stuff always helps.

this is just my first stab at a game and i learned a lot and am going to try to create more in the future but now i just have to come up with some more ideas.

 

[Red Storm]

Not bad, but might I suggest keeping the ad bar on the bottom? On top it gets in the way of the game.

 

[dougp]

Android user here, HTC One Dev Edition running Android 4.4.2 and Sense 6.

If I go to another app, the game will force close on me. When I finish the game - I don't see a replay option. This requires me to go back to the main menu to start a new game, you should add an option to just replay.

I don't think the game's too hard or anything, though.

 

[dougp]

Also, what is the difference for you (monetarily) if you put ads ONLY on menu screens? Just curious, I hate having ads on the screen when I'm actually playing a game.

 

[PricklyPete]

Nice Purbeast. Will have to give it a try when I get home.

 

[rudeguy]

SPAMMER!

Thanks for the info on how you built it. I was curious how hard it was to port the code to Android, sounds pretty simple.

 

[purbeast0]

Not bad, but might I suggest keeping the ad bar on the bottom? On top it gets in the way of the game.

i contemplated that, but you will quickly notice that the ads on the bottom would get in the way more because you will be tapping down by the bottom more than at the top once you start getting more penguins on the screen.

@dougp...

the replay option was definitely something i am going to add so thanks for the feedback.

as far as the ads only on the menu screen, i really don't know. i'm not making anything off of it yet anyways lol so i don't really know what the difference would be.

when you say you go into another app, do you mean by pressing the back button or pressing the other button next to the back button? (i'm new to android so not familiar with the terms of the buttons). when clicking the back button it should quit, but when pressing the other button it should "pause" it until you come back in. that isn't what is happening for you?

 

[dougp]

i contemplated that, but you will quickly notice that the ads on the bottom would get in the way more because you will be tapping down by the bottom more than at the top once you start getting more penguins on the screen.

@dougp...

the replay option was definitely something i am going to add so thanks for the feedback.

as far as the ads only on the menu screen, i really don't know. i'm not making anything off of it yet anyways lol so i don't really know what the difference would be.

when you say you go into another app, do you mean by pressing the back button or pressing the other button next to the back button? (i'm new to android so not familiar with the terms of the buttons). when clicking the back button it should quit, but when pressing the other button it should "pause" it until you come back in. that isn't what is happening for you?

When I press the home button (or double tap it to open up recent apps menu), switch to something, and then go back, it'll force close and restart the app. It's not resuming properly.

 

[smackababy]

purbeast is now part of the free iPad brigade? I knew it!!!

 

[purbeast0]

When I press the home button (or double tap it to open up recent apps menu), switch to something, and then go back, it'll force close and restart the app. It's not resuming properly.

interesting. i will check that out at home. i bought a nexus 7 tablet a few weeks ago just to test it out on and i probably don't use it "normal" like people who actually use them for every day things.

 

[Rakehellion]

the hardest part TBH, on the iOS side, was the whole sharing thing. they don't have an easy way to share stuff

UIActivityViewController. There's also Facebook and Twitter support built in.

 

[Mai72]

Good job purbeast0.

Pros:
*Pick up and play.
*Learning curve is very low/non existent.
*Visuals are cute
*Sounds effects are good.
*Kid friendly
*Google Scoreboard

Cons:
*The ad gets in the way. Why can't you show the ad when the game is over? Why does it need to be shown when I'm playing the game.
*Not much diversity. I know you want to keep it as simplistic as possible, but could you possibly add something else so my interest doesn't wane so quickly. Maybe like an extra life or powerups?
*It gets hard too quickly. Could you slow it down a bit? How about if you quickly tap the penguins they get larger.
*Only one level. Do you plan to add different levels? The ice berg setting looks awesome. Could you possibly add a few more locations?

It's a great little game. I'm going to ask my little niece to download the game when she gets back home from school. I'll tell you what she thinks of the game.

 

[Platypus]

Honest feedback, there's already a game called tappy penguins (with an s) and this genre is fully saturated already with people trying to ride the flappy bird craze. I realize you probably know this and did this for fun / to learn but just throwing that out there.

Also, you prob want to look at your onpause/onresume activities for the problem dougp is having.

I will take it apart and look at the security of it if you'd be interested in that (we can PM if you are), otherwise I'll play it and let you know how it is. You probably don't care much until/if you integrate more ads into the game. I bet it's pretty easy to cheat/game the leaderboards fwiw if you care about that kind of thing.

Also it force closes on you if you dont sign in to google play games immediately making it impossible to actually play without being online.

 

[Mai72]

If you don't want to see the ads when you're playing the game, I guess you could play it in airplane mode.

 

[Aikouka]

*Not much diversity. I know you want to keep it as simplistic as possible, but could you possibly add something else so my interest doesn't wane so quickly. Maybe like an extra life or powerups?

Hm... I was going to ask if there were power-ups, but I guess you just answered that. I would definitely consider things like a time slowing power-up or maybe an explosive tap power-up (tapping on a penguin makes it "explode" causing you to automatically get any nearby penguins).

*Only one level. Do you plan to add different levels? The ice berg setting looks awesome. Could you possibly add a few more locations?

One thing that comes to mind is that you want to give people a reason to come back, and new locations is definitely a nice incentive. Although, what about some sort of level concept? Experience unlocks new power-ups, locations, etc. Essentially, people love clear and attainable goals. It isn't necessarily about how long it will take, but that they are able to make progress. That's one of the reasons why all the silly FPS games these days seem to have leveling systems in them.

 

[Subyman]

Looks cool. I had a lot of fun messing around with Cocos2d. I may finally go back some time and finish the project. My biggest problem is I keep expanding the scope of my game until it gets too big haha. Also, you may want to check out Unity. Their new 2D tools are awesome and for larger projects, it is much easier to manage than Cocos2d. The free version is plenty for 2D work.

 

[purbeast0]

UIActivityViewController. There's also Facebook and Twitter support built in.

pretty sure i read that in the change to ios7 they removed all of that.

Good job purbeast0.

Pros:
*Pick up and play.
*Learning curve is very low/non existent.
*Visuals are cute
*Sounds effects are good.
*Kid friendly
*Google Scoreboard

Cons:
*The ad gets in the way. Why can't you show the ad when the game is over? Why does it need to be shown when I'm playing the game.
*Not much diversity. I know you want to keep it as simplistic as possible, but could you possibly add something else so my interest doesn't wane so quickly. Maybe like an extra life or powerups?
*It gets hard too quickly. Could you slow it down a bit? How about if you quickly tap the penguins they get larger.
*Only one level. Do you plan to add different levels? The ice berg setting looks awesome. Could you possibly add a few more locations?

It's a great little game. I'm going to ask my little niece to download the game when she gets back home from school. I'll tell you what she thinks of the game.

yeah that is great feedback and stuff i am considering. as for the "ad getting in the way" i realize that it seems to be in the way, but realistically, if i remove the ad, you probably won't notice much of a difference because you aren't really tapping up that high on the screen. but i do realize that it does block from seeing what happens up there. and the reason i'm saying i know how it is, because i played it plenty with and without ads, and seeing both it doesn't make much of a difference gameplay wise. i do know it is ugly though lol and definitely a turnoff looks wise.

as far as difficulty goes, right now, every 10 taps, a new penguin comes out, and it caps off at 8. i was thinking of making it take longer for the penguins to come out, like maybe after 5, 10, 15, etc. but at the same time, i don't want the first 20-30 seconds to be tedious for people who think the 3-4 penguins is easy. so it's a trade off, and that is why i made it get hard quick. but definitely do like hearing feedback because it is more important what others think than what i think.

as far as the levels go, i hadn't thought about adding more. now that i know how the whole animations and stuff work i could potentially make more levels. that was just something i threw together pretty quick (although it did take me a while lol), but i could probably throw another one together quick now that i know how to do it.

Honest feedback, there's already a game called tappy penguins (with an s) and this genre is fully saturated already with people trying to ride the flappy bird craze. I realize you probably know this and did this for fun / to learn but just throwing that out there.

Also, you prob want to look at your onpause/onresume activities for the problem dougp is having.

I will take it apart and look at the security of it if you'd be interested in that (we can PM if you are), otherwise I'll play it and let you know how it is. You probably don't care much until/if you integrate more ads into the game. I bet it's pretty easy to cheat/game the leaderboards fwiw if you care about that kind of thing.

Also it force closes on you if you dont sign in to google play games immediately making it impossible to actually play without being online.

about the name, thing is, when i started working on this game, i searched for "tappy penguins" and there was nothing. then like 4 days after i submitted my iOS app, i saw one on the iOS store that wasn't there when i submitted it. so yeah it sucks that there are others with the same name for sure.

as far as security goes, i'm sure it can be hacked/cheated easily like how flappy bird is, and i don't know much about how to solve that. it is kind of "hacky" on the android part for a few things because i can't do stuff running natively on the main activity. like i can't extend the main activity class with the one needed for the google play services, so i kind of had to to some hacky stuff to work around it, which is just a limitation of me not doing it natively on android.

and yeah i'm sure you are right about the resume thing and i will check it out when i have some time to see if i can reproduce it. i didn't see that myself but i also might not have done the correct steps either.

 

[Mai72]

One thing that comes to mind is that you want to give people a reason to come back, and new locations is definitely a nice incentive. Although, what about some sort of level concept? Experience unlocks new power-ups, locations, etc. Essentially, people love clear and attainable goals. It isn't necessarily about how long it will take, but that they are able to make progress. That's one of the reasons why all the silly FPS games these days seem to have leveling systems in them.

This is the reason I loved playing Skyrim and its mods. I got to see my main character progress. I had to take the game off my laptop because of my addiction to it. The #1 reason I got addicted to Skyrim wasn't because of its combat or its beautiful scenery. Those were pretty cool reasons that kept me coming back, but the main reason was the leveling system.

Now, to compare Tappy Penguins to Skyrim is ridiculous. I don't know how you would even implement a leveling system in a game like this. Plus, I could imagine the time commitment to do something like this would take a lot of time.

 

[purbeast0]

Hm... I was going to ask if there were power-ups, but I guess you just answered that. I would definitely consider things like a time slowing power-up or maybe an explosive tap power-up (tapping on a penguin makes it "explode" causing you to automatically get any nearby penguins).



One thing that comes to mind is that you want to give people a reason to come back, and new locations is definitely a nice incentive. Although, what about some sort of level concept? Experience unlocks new power-ups, locations, etc. Essentially, people love clear and attainable goals. It isn't necessarily about how long it will take, but that they are able to make progress. That's one of the reasons why all the silly FPS games these days seem to have leveling systems in them.

yeah i considered some powerups and stuff like that, and random things happening like the penguins "trying to fly" to kind of make them float for a second at certain points, like if you ever played Yoshi's Island on SNES, the way you could make him "run in air". but i never got around to it and just wanted to finish something to completion for my first project.

i was also thinking of doing something special when you get a double or triple tap, like giving powerups at that point, or just making them do something special. but for the reason above, i just didn't add that in initially and just wanted something basic that worked for my first project. but definitely good suggestions.

 

[Red Storm]

For me the ads get in the way of gameplay because when I see an ad, I go into a "Better not click ANYWHERE near that..." mode so even if it only takes up a small space visually, it actually takes up more because I don't want to accidentally trigger it.

I would suggest having the ads in the menu and score areas, basically everywhere except during actual play. Also it's not like people are going to be reading ads while they're trying to juggle penguins. Whenever I see ads placed like that it makes me think the dev did it on purpose knowing people would accidentally click it while trying to play the game itself. Not accusing you, just saying that's the vibe I get when I see apps that place ads like that.

 

[purbeast0]

For me the ads get in the way of gameplay because when I see an ad, I go into a "Better not click ANYWHERE near that..." mode so even if it only takes up a small space visually, it actually takes up more because I don't want to accidentally trigger it.

I would suggest having the ads in the menu and score areas, basically everywhere except during actual play. Also it's not like people are going to be reading ads while they're trying to juggle penguins. Whenever I see ads placed like that it makes me think the dev did it on purpose knowing people would accidentally click it while trying to play the game itself. Not accusing you, just saying that's the vibe I get when I see apps that place ads like that.

i gotcha, and it makes sense. i honestly don't game much on mobile so i'm not really familiar with the different tactics and places to put them.

 

[smackababy]

i gotcha, and it makes sense. i honestly don't game much on mobile so i'm not really familiar with the different tactics and places to put them.

I haven't played the game (no phone signal to download it in my office), but I would imagine a better place for the ads would be between games or rounds. I don't know how often showing ads effects your business model and money making though, so that could lead to lower revenue if you're paid on a metric other than simply downloads.

 

[purbeast0]

I haven't played the game (no phone signal to download it in my office), but I would imagine a better place for the ads would be between games or rounds. I don't know how often showing ads effects your business model and money making though, so that could lead to lower revenue if you're paid on a metric other than simply downloads.

yeah i don't really have a business model lol, just put a game out there with some ads and see how it can do. but the game is free so i'm not making anything from just downloads.

 

[smackababy]

yeah i don't really have a business model lol, just put a game out there with some ads and see how it can do. but the game is free so i'm not making anything from just downloads.

Yeah, I don't know how they pay out for games with ads. I assume there has to be some kind of incentive for compensation. I just figured it would either be based on how many number of downloads * some "average ad views per user" metric Apple uses or the app actually counts the ad views and reports them to Apple, so the compensation is based on x number of ads viewed.

I would imagine the latter is probably the business model and since Flappy Bird was hard and displayed an ad in between every game, it racked up a lot of ad views.

 

[purbeast0]

Yeah, I don't know how they pay out for games with ads. I assume there has to be some kind of incentive for compensation. I just figured it would either be based on how many number of downloads * some "average ad views per user" metric Apple uses or the app actually counts the ad views and reports them to Apple, so the compensation is based on x number of ads viewed.

I would imagine the latter is probably the business model and since Flappy Bird was hard and displayed an ad in between every game, it racked up a lot of ad views.

flappy bird shows ads in the middle of the game too not just between rounds. i actually followed the layout of that as far as menu/structure go as well, which is pretty obvious when you do eventually check it out.