Tag: ios

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Mostly Everything

porTable Table Top Games: Definitely a MUST HAVE on your iOS device

There are iOS games you remember fondly and there are iOS games that you know you’ll keep in your device forever. When discussing the former, it’s usually the game you end up buying for USD $0.99 and then play it once or twice then forget about it the next day. And then, there’s the latter — games that you end up downloading to play again and again. porTable is such an app and the biggest irony is that although it is marketed as a card game, it really isn’t. That’s because the game itself doesn’t have any rules of play. All the rules come from the players so you’re not limited to the type of card game to play.

porTable Table Top Games is a card and domino simulation where it makes use of multiple devices to create a playing environment for cards, dominoes and even poker. The only catch is that to play this game, you will need several iOS devices, preferable an iPad to serve as the virtual table and each player holds his or her own iOS device for the “virtual hand.”

If you look at it, it really isn’t a game by itself as all the app does is simulate a casino environment and gives you a deck of cards to deal out. This means that you can play ANYTHING with your deck of virtual cards or dominoes.

Best of all, it’s free!

DOWNLOAD LINK: porTable Table Top Games

The team behind porTable is also developing a poker update for their app. Virtual poker is nothing new as it has always been played online. Below is the screenshot of the prototype:

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Geek

Trailer: Summoner Wars for iOS

I can’t stress it any more: iOS is the platform of choice if you’re a fan of modern (and classic) board games.

Summoner Wars is a fast-playing, action-packed 2-4 player card game. Players take on the role of Summoners: powerful beings who harness the power of mysterious Summoning Stones to lead their race to conquest on the war-torn planet of Itharia. These Summoners wield terrible magic on the battlefield, freezing their foes in place, draining their enemies of power, and even bringing rains of fire down from the heavens. But most notoriously, they summon their great race’s hordes of warriors to the battlefield, to clash in the never-ending struggle for supremacy. A Summoner is both mage and general, and must combine their wizardly might with clever tactics to defeat the enemy Summoner on the opposite side of the battle. [BoardGameGeek]

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Mostly Everything

An Interview with Erick Garayblas, Creator of Streetfood Tycoon

It was really great catching up with Erick Garayblas (@egarayblas) last week over coffee. We talked about the success of Streetfood Tycoon and how his life as a mobile game developer has evolved with the rise of the Apple App Store. We talked about a ton of things so here’s a more organized version of the interview.

** Ed’s note: Not mentioned in the written interview is how Erick was able to have his ‘kwek-kweks’ in many baskets. He noted how he’s shifted from an ad-driven business model (free to play but ad supported) which earned him a ton of money a month into in-app purchases which, although earns less, is more stable as the latter relies on Google’s Adsense platform which can be subject to a lot of technicalities.

1. How did Streetfood Tycoon come to be? What’s your thought process in designing a game?

Streetfood Tycoon came from my penchant for playing simulation and business-related games. I’m a huge fan of Lemonade Tycoon and Sim Tower. I “borrowed” a few mechanics from these two games and presented them in my own unique way w/in the game. I normally don’t follow a “thought process”, I just browse through my list of ideas (which come from dreams, reading books/comics, playing “other” games and talking to friends), try to mix them up, create a prototype and see how it goes from there. A lot of prototypes get shelved while the good ones become full blown games.

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Geek

Can’t wait! Nightfall for iOS Coming Soon

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I love the Android mobile platform but when it comes to this little niche of board game / card game titles, iOS is always first to market. If you’re a board game geek, you’ll be pleased to know that Nightfall is coming to the App Store very soon. I previously did a short overview and unboxing of the Nightfall: Martial Law a standalone expansion on GeekOut and if you read closely, the physical card game, albeit fun can bring about a huge impediment with the setup process as there are over 300 cards to organize. Bringing the game to iOS removes this hassle!

Added bonus: Check out this interview with Playdek and AEG.

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Geek

Streetfood Tycoon: Local iOS game allows you to control your own Jolly Jeep

[Download Streetfood Tycoon for iOS — FREE]

I’ve known Erick Garayblas since my “way back” days in the old MaPalad.org and Pinoy Windows Mobile forum groups. Back then, he was already rocking the mobile gaming scene with hits like Traffic Jam and the highly addicting Tower Mogul that ran on both the Palm OS and Windows Mobile, the top two “advanced” mobile platforms at that time.

Just yesterday, Erick released another home-grown game for iOS under his new development house, Kuyi Mobile. Streetfood Tycoon is a strangely addicting “Jolly Jeep” simulator where you have to fulfill orders from walk-in customers by combining ingredients in the right order. Other than the time limit given to complete each order, you have to deal with restocking your ingredients, upgrading your facilities and buying better ingredients.

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