Tom was a holdout with the iPhone too, so expect him to go off about how he can’t imagine living without his iPad in 2015.
Why do I want an iPad? I already have an iPhone, which is technically the exact same thing when you move it closer to your face.
-Tom
geewhiz
1843
When your eyes start to go with old age…you learn moving it closer to your face doesn’t work no more.
That is when you convince your family that you need one of those bigger iPhones…I mean iPad.
:>)
I recommend Epic Astro Story. It’s a neat little planetary exploration/strategy game made by the developer of Game Dev Story.
LOL. Ok Mr I Am Too Cool For An iPad. ;)
But seriously you can use the iPad for other things apart from games if you are looking for a purchase justification.
Fixed that for you.
Believe me, I’d love an iPad. I covet them whenever I see them, and I covet the games they can play, and I covet the way they can play the games I’m playing now on my iPhone. But I can’t really justify the cost when I’ve already got an iPhone, a stupid cat that racked up a $300 vet bill, and a bad tooth that needs a bionic replacement. So for now, all my iOS gaming is writ small.
-Tom
rei
1847
KICKSTARTER-TO-BUY-TOM-AN-IPAD.
Talorc
1851
FREE is obviously a non complainable price point, but I found this (at least into chapter 2) to be a highly annoying pointless swipe/touch fest with really naffy animation and OK music (lifted from the game). It takes forever to read as well with all of the above gimmicks.
Simply reading the PDF version on the retina display was FAR more enjoyable. (the comic itself is really good)
Editer
1852
But wait, I thought Tom only had the iPod Touch, not the iPhone? Or did you join the land of the cellularly enabled, Tom?
Because if it’s an iPod Touch, it’s the OG iPad Mini!
Denny, my iPhone works just like any other iPhone. Assuming I’m near wifi, have Skype installed, and don’t care about sound quality.
In related news, I just discovered that you’re really gimped in Nightfall, a complicated deck-building game, if you don’t have an iPad. One of the key elements of Nightfall is keeping track of up to three colored moons in the upper left corner of each card. However, your hand is fanned in such a way that some of the colored moons are obscured by the card in front, which means you have to individually zoom to each card to see the information you need when deciding which cards to play. It’s incredibly retarded – why not just fan the freakin’ cards in the other direction? – and I’ve been told it’s not an issue on the iPad, where you can see all three moons because the cards are spaced better.
Yet another app with no thought for us little people with iPhones.
-Tom
P.S. Sorry to turn this into the “griping about the iPad” thread.
Quaro
1854
So many games that I’m surprised they even bother with the iPhone version. I’m guessing iPad is primary, and then they just port what they can to the iPhone because, hey, extra sales.
Ascension is the only CCG that I’ve found bearable on the small screen. I’m amazed you guys even get through a full game of the others.
rei
1855
Submit feedback to the dev? Most indie/smaller devs I’ve been in contact with have been receptive.
Oh, I have. That’s how I found out it doesn’t work that way on the iPad. :)
-Tom
Ok, ok, I’ll bite!
As a dev whose spoken with Tom on this a time or too, there is no question that the iPad and the iPhone offer different experiences. Our latest game, Little Labyrinths (Out today! Ask me about Loom!:)), definitely plays differently on the iPhone and on the iPad, and some people will definitely prefer one over the other.
That being said, there’s a difference between playing slightly differently and actually having different functionality. While what Tom describes in a game like Nightfall should never occur, there is a separate pertinent question: Would Tom rather have the “gimped” version on the iPhone, or Would he rather not have it all?
In many ways for a game best suited for the iPad, the iPhone version essentially becomes the “portable” version of the game. The vita version of “The show” vs. its PS3 older brother. In some ways the opposite is true for a game better suited for the iPhone. And either way it makes a great value proposition for the player provided (a) that the app is universal and (b) that the player has both devices. If either of those conditions are not met, than playing the “portable” version unintentionally can definitely be cause for understandable grousing.
Which doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to be told something like that in the description of the App (“plays best on iPad” or similar), and both sides would then be better off. Unfortunately, Apple can be quite, ahem, specific with respect to disallowing language that indicates limitations on software, so it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t see that kind of language very often in the store.
Vesper
1858
Holy crap, Eclipse for iOS is in the works! Very excited. It’s being made by the guys who did Neuroshima Hex.
Man, I haven’t touched Neuroshima Hex in 2 weeks. My wife has taken back her iPad and my eye has wandered back to the PC. I figured this might happen.
I’m going to keep playing strategy/boardgames on it when it’s convenient, but I don’t think it’s going to take over my life.
magnet
1860
Actually the same problem exists on the iPad, but only when there are more than six cards in your hand. And the developers are going to fix it.
