The Games that have Inspired You

(A fun question for a Saturday morning!)

As Codea was mostly designed for coding and prototyping gaming apps, I’m guessing most people here have a healthy love of them. I’ve found that the more I explore coding/programming, the more I have revived my teenage love of video games and vice versa. Indeed, discovering the iPad as a gaming device has been a really pleasant surprise for me but, for all the hundreds of mediocre games released every day, there are still very few stand out titles on iOS. It got me to wondering what games on the iPad (as well as historically) have really inspired the people here. Are there any hidden gems that I’ve been missing?

Particularly interested to hear from some of the regular contributors (as well as others) who have helped me previously, such as @Ignatz, @West, @dave1707, @Luatee and anyone else I’ve forgotten! :slight_smile:

@ScottDayddd - you can start with this

http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/Talk/discussion/3005/your-current-favourite-app-beside-codea

Toy Box Physics, Call of Mini, Ice Rage. Ice Rage is probably the best 2 player I’ve come across

My favorites are Minecraft - I love the creative aspect of it, where you can make anything you want. Even games within it!, Transformice - It shows how you, as the designer, you don’t have to make levels to make a fun and engaging game, and Flappy Birds - It’s amazing how you don’t have to put that much coding into a app to be a success, all you have to do is think of a fun and addictive idea.

Cut The Rope, Plants vs. Zombies, Threes!

This says more about my age than anything else. Not iPad apps, but games that, for me, redefined what games could be.



Most hours of fun provided: Master of Orion (Spaceward Ho! = my runner up)

Showed me that multiplayer could be massively engaging: Ultima Online

Favorite form of frustration: X-Com Terror from the Deep

First game to create a living world: Star Control II

Trigger of joy: Wing Commander

Which world is realer: Deus Ex



Modern classic: Minecraft (the scale of worlds on the iPad version is way too small to accommodate my highway construction program)

Of these games, the modern incarnation of X-Com can come close to matching the fun of the original (ironman mode, impossible difficulty). The app works well. Seriously needs lobstermen.

The app Starbase Orion is clearly aimed at matching the old MOO, but is really closer to MOO 2, which was a favorite for many, but not up to the original for me.

There may be clones of the others out there, but I’ve not run into them.

Likewise, ipad apps are thin on the ground for me, though always have a few games of Scrabble on the go (though don’t really think the implementation is as good as it can be). Draw Something is entertaining too. And without sounding too much like a crawler, I really enjoy Crabitron - I love the way TLL are trying embrace the touchscreen to develop a new type of game.

Lemmings was (and still is) a stand out. Likewise Powermonger and Populous and Worms. D/Generation had a certain charm. GTA 3 was another landmark game for me.

GTA San Andreas really impressed me. Especially for the time.

I am a Real Time Strategy person myself. I loved starcraft broodwar 2v2v2v2 bgh back in the day. Now I enjoy a good game of Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, Phantom. Of course I enjoyed DOOM the original, Unreal Tourney gold edition, UT2003, and half-life series.

Not many iPad games have stuck with me except for clash of clans, only because my coworkers play it.

EDIT

I guess there is one iPad app that I have played over a thousand games on, it is the chess.com app. I usually play a ten minute blitz game or two before bed. Sadly, you start at a rating of 1200, and after 1004 games, I now have a rating of about 1162.

For me, this iPad games are in my top five : Eufloria, Splice: Tree of Life, Neuroshima Hex, The Room, and Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery.

I think best iPad games are most oriented on reflexion, strategy or story.

I don’t play games, so I can’t give you any info there.

@dave1707 - if you weren’t so busy shovelling snow off your 300 foot drive, perhaps you would have time for games :))

Stack3r, Crabitron, Tiny Wings. And a lot of games on the forums.

GTA San Andreas and Aerofly FS. They are the only games I have on my ipad except codea :slight_smile:

Thanks everyone. Going to give some of these a go. Crabitron should definitely be on the list. Interested in some of @Prynok’s suggestions from a coding inspiration point of view. Like I said, I had been out of gaming for a while but the iPad seems to have rejuvenated my teenage love of a good platformer or shoot em up (all in the name of research, of course!)

The two stand out title’s for me are iCycle and Machinarium which, for me, really prove that a mobile game can be as much a work of art as the greatest works of cinema or literature. Looking forward to trying out Limbo for the same reason. But for sheer fun and hours of gameplay, I would also recommend Punch Quest and Slayin’ - great retro pixelly fun!

@dave1707 you should definitely play more games, they’re good for the soul! :slight_smile:

@ScottDafydd The last game that I played for any length of time was Populous. Now I seem to lose interest with games really fast, so I don’t bother anymore. I’m more interested in problem solving thru programming. @Ignatz We’re expecting another foot of snow for Sunday into Monday. So I know what I’ll be doing, again. This has been a bad Winter for snow.

@dave1707 - I do know what you mean. My attention doesn’t last long on many, to be honest. Which is probably why mobile gaming suits me so well. Most of the games are casual and cost a fraction of the price of what I might have paid back in the day for the Atari ST, SNES or even Gameboy. Programming can definitely give a similar rush. I also find that the more I learn to code, the more I want to try it out by programming games, as they make such good learning exercises.

@dave1707 @ScottDafydd Since I started programming I lost interest in games, mainly because I spent all my time programming but I find it hard to get a good game that covers everything I want. I’m always sat there thinking it could have this and that then it would be a much better game, then quickly my interest fades. I do however still enjoy building games, bridge construction etc.

Minecraft. :smiley:

I feel like I’ve been playing Minecraft too much lately, and haven’t been coding enough… But half of my active projects are on hold because they’re all waiting on a project that needs Codea 2.0. Not much I can do about that…

On iPad: Sword and Sworcery, nice music and atmosphere. Out There, new indie game with resource planning and nice randomized story line. Outwitters, hexagon online strategy game. Walking Dead. Wordfeud, mindfeud. Badlands, nice with flocking behaviour and puzzle. Rymdkapsel, nice tetris puzzle game.