I've had a couple people ask me if I could disseminate the results from my various Windows Phone gaming expeditions. I keep putting it off, but the fact that Fable Coin Golf is on sale this week reminded me to stop procrastinating.
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In Fable Coin Golf you flick a coin from one end to the other of an obstacle course while attempting to accumulate the highest score possible. Each flick subtracts from your score, but there are also pits, ponds, and monsters to avoid. You earn points for most everything else you bump into, especially coins and exploding barrels. Generally the challenge doesn't come from simply completing the level, but rather doing it with enough finesse to achieve a qualifying score.
As that this is Fable Coin Golf, the courses and obstacles are all themed after the big Fable games. It's got a stage-craft vibe that is pretty charming. The fidelity of the visuals may be why the levels take longer to load than I'd like, but at least the end result is quite pleasant.
The controls are accurate enough to get the job done. When going for the higher scores you may curse the imprecision of touch controls, but for the most part it's as accurate as you need it to be.
One of the hooks of the game is that your scores translate directly into currency for Fable III. I played Coin Golf before I was too far into Fable III, and I actually took the time to gold star every single level. So when I transferred the money into my Fable III game I was instantly rich. I was suddenly able to buy every single piece of property I had ever seen, and I never had to perform menial labor ever again. This had the side effect of somewhat ruining the economy-based win condition at the end of the game, but from what I hear that does a fine job of ruining itself even without being preemptively filthy rich. Seen as an alternative to playing Lute Hero or any of the other in-game jobs, Fable Coin Golf is much more entertaining.
I like Fable Coin Golf, and would quickly recommend it to pretty much anyone. It did exactly what I want a phone game to do - short burst entertainment. With it being on sale this week, I'd definitely recommend picking it up if you haven't already.
In the olden days, software was bought in a real physical store, came in a physical box, and was written onto some piece of physical media. If that software had problems with it, or lacked important features, then there was no real way to get an update out to the consumer. I think once or twice I had a game with such bad defects that they mailed out replacement floppy disks, but it was exceedingly rare. In general the mantra was “get it the right the first time, or don’t bother.”
Today’s culture is incredibly different. Digital distribution has become the norm. Even if you bought a box in a store, you’re invariably going to get updates pushed to you from the internet. Software has become a living, breathing thing. And it’s changed both how people develop software and how they consume it. The mantra has shifted to “release early and often.”
Given that my game lives on a internet connected device, I opted for a modern development strategy. I don’t bring any of this up to say that I rushed something unfinished out the door. Not at all - I think my little game is awesome. But I don’t see it as a product that is done - I see it as the beginning of things to come.
For the first release I knew that certain things needed to be established. I needed to solidify a visual style, and I needed to have the core gameplay be tight. As long as it was fun, and looked like something I wanted to play, some details could wait. If I tried to do every thing I wanted in one release then I’d never ever finish.
The point: I am happy to announce that the first update for MustEatBrains is now available!
The game as it exists today is essentially a little action game where you try for a new top score. But without being able to compete with other people there’s not much meaning to that. So it was clear that the first thing I needed to add was online leaderboards. With the new update you’ll be able to submit your scores and see how you compare to the top scores for the day or the top scores of all time.
Of course with this focus on score I wanted to give the player more info on how they got to the score they did. So I implemented a little post-game summary page that breaks down what carnage you inflicted and how you inflicted it. Nothing too fancy, just a little info to satisfy the data nerd in all of us.
I was really happy with the Living game mode at launch. And I thought it was cool that you could turn things around and play as the undead. But the Undead mode suffered from a lack of variety. The living player has multiple weapons at her disposal, and has to keep moving around tactically in order to stay alive. The undead player merely had to keep up an aggressive chase to maintain a steady supply of brains. Compared to the dynamic gameplay of the living player it just wasn’t fun enough.
After sitting on the problem for a while I decided the zombie player needed a better way to close the gap. Less time chasing, more time doing what zombies do best. So I gave the zombie a leap attack.
I wanted to keep the ravenous lust for brains a key part of the game, so I put the leap attack on a stamina system. Leaping takes a lot of stamina, which will slowly regenerate over time; however tasty human parts will refill that meter much faster. So as a zombie player you’re always on the look out for edibles. It adds the slightest bit of resource management, but not too much.
As it stands the undead mode is pretty hard. I’ll likely tweak that with future updates, but on the whole I’m happy with how it feels. As a zombie you’re an underdog, both working with and competing against your undead compatriots for whatever human parts are available. It’s hard, but it’s thematically hard.
So, that’s what’s in the update. It also includes various balance tweaks (especially around the late game) and interface refinements. But the core features are what’s listed above.
What’s next? Well, the feedback is pretty clear. The next features people want to see are:
Sound
More varied environments
So those are definitely in the pipeline. As well as some more fun stuff that I’ll share with you soon enough. Until then, sit back, relax, and eat some brains!
I present to you, my game for Windows Phone: MustEatBrains!
The marketplace description:
Choose either to fight on the side of the living or the undead horde in this handcrafted action game. It’s an all out brawl! How long will you last?
In the UNDEAD mode you play as a ravenous zombie. Chase after those meddlesome warm blooded fools and end their poor excuse for an existence. You score points for each heart stopped by your hand. Whatever fleshy parts you can salvage will bolster your undead endurance. But keep an eye out for tasty morsels of brain. The rush will make you invulnerable for a short time!
In the LIVING mode you stand alone against the undead horde. You score points for each undead soul laid to rest, and lose points for the unintentional death of innocents. You have a firearm at your command to hold back those zombies. But ammunition is limited, so keep an eye out for supplies to keep you blasting. If you run out you’ll have to depend on your other guns…
MustEatBrains features over three hundred frames of hand-drawn animation. Everything was crafted by one person - the art, the code, even the fonts. It is truly an old fashioned labor of love. I hope you enjoy it.
