An amazing week for iPod App Addictors

Hi and sorry for didn't update my blog for such a long time. Actually I didn't have time and didn't bother to update my blog. But seeing there are so many apps - both free and paid being released, or soon to be released by the end of this week I think I'll just post a quick link about them.

Note that the list of games below are the one that I had tracked for a long time:
* The one with no price listed in the Paid section is due to released at the end of the weekend, at most.

Lite

• Bobby Carrot Forever Lite
  
• Deal or No Deal: Mission Dollar Mission Lite
  
• I Love Katamari Lite
• Radio Flare Lite
  

Paid

• iDracula ($0.99)
• Little Red Slet - 3D Racing ($1.99)
• Sway
  
• Vector Tanks ($2.99)
• Zen Bound

Until then, I think I'll easily spent over $20 on this week.

Hexagon-Shape-Based Games

Anyone notice a great amount of hex-shaped-based type puzzle game being developed nowadays?

Let me just list them all down:
Hex ($2.99)

Description:
Hex is yet another way to play the famous Lines game - this time on a hexagonal board. Drag a ball with your finger to form a line. As simple as that, but yet highly addictive. You have been warned!

The game starts with two balls chosen out of six different colors. The player can move one ball per turn, and the goal is to remove balls by forming lines of at least five balls of the same color. Hexagonal board makes the game trickier to play compared to classic Lines.

Like with all our games (and unlike our competitors) board size, number of colors, etc is configurable, so you (not the program) decide how challenging you want your game to be. Yep, we too like to play it dumb sometimes and max the board, min the colors.

Do check our other Lines games as well: Lines - the classic and Triangle - Lines on Triangular board.

Enjoy!

HexTerritory ($0.99)

- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hex"]Hex[/URL] $2.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hex-territory"]HexTerritory[/URL] $0.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexlines"]HexLines[/URL] $1.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexterity"]Hexterity[/URL] $3.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexy"]Hexy[/URL] $0.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexile"]Hexile[/URL] $2.99 ([URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexile-free"]Free[/URL])
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexus"]Hexus[/URL] $1.99 ([URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexus-lite"]Lite[/URL])
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexspin"]HexSpin[/URL] $0.99
- [URL="http://appshopper.com/games/hexlok"]HexLok[/URL] $0.99

[Games] Snail Mail

App Name: Snail Mail
Developer: Snail Mail
Price: $1.99
Category: Games
Type: Racing
Lite availability: No
Multiplayer support: No
Online leaderboard: No
Graphics: Cell-shaded 3D
Controls: Touch Screen, Accelerometer
Awards: No
Time limit: No (Yes in Time Trial Mode)
Selectable difficulty: No (Tracks become more complicated as you progress)
Total Levels: 50
Game play mode:

• Adventure (Postal Mode) - Collect the item that appears along the track. Successfully collect all the items in a track will rewards you with bonus scores.
• Challenge Mode - Customizable racing speed to provide more faster and intense racing experience. You can also replay your race.
• Time Trial Mode - Race against your best time.

Objectives: Race your snail to the finish line.

Features:

• Unique tracks includes cockscrew, loops, etc.
• Upgradable weapon powers by passing through the white shining loop.

Pros:

• Smooth game play with no lag at all.
• Fast-paced game play.

Cons:

• Cannot customize the snail.

Trivia:

• When falling down from the track you might heard "Abandon 'Shell'!!"

Links: [AppShopper] [iTunes Store Link]

[Games] Textropolis

App Name: Textropolis
Developer: Ian Marsh
Price: $0.99
Category: Games
Type: Word
Lite availability: No
Multiplayer support: No
Online leaderboard: No
Graphics: 2D
Controls: Touch Screen (tap)
Awards: No
Time limit: No
Selectable difficulty: No

Objectives: Forms as many words as you can from a country name without time limits.

Features:

• Clean and simple user interface.
• A flag will fly through the screen showing the meaning for the words you formed. Great to learn and explore new words.
• Can be played single-handedly thanks to its unique placement of alphabet tiles.
• Beautiful and animated/vibrant colored background and fonts will relax your mind.
• More cities to unlock when you formed a targeted numbers of words for each country. You start off with only one country name.
• Words that you have formed will be shown at the top screen.

Pros:

• Exploring words had never been so much fun before this game.

Cons:

• No hint system.
• As the number of the formed words increases, the size of the text will become smaller. There is no way to display more than 1 line of text.

Similar Game:

• wurdle [AppShopper iTunes Store]
  

Links: [AppShopper iTunes Store]

Games that I'm currently playing

Here is a list of the games that I most played for this week.

• 7 Cities (Map 7 - Normal difficulty)
  
• Giant Jigsaw
  
• HydroTilt (level 26)
• Snail Mail (almost finish)
  
• Space Ninja (level 32)
• TanZen
  

Giant Jigsaw will be updated soon!

For those who are concern about the memory and battery usage for Giant Jigsaw, worry no more as they will improves the game that will cope with such problems.

Here's the email I received from the developer (January 6th) after I sent a suggestion to them few days ago.

Hello Gary,

I'm very glad to hear that Giant Jigsaw caught your eye. I also appreciate your feedback!

I will certainly try to incorporate your suggestions into my next version. Regarding the 2nd item on your list, I have a suggestion that may help. iTunes will by default downsample photos before copying them to your device. This is a great feature if a user only browses photos from the Photos app, but problematic for my application as they are very low resolution and would appear blurry if I made them into a large puzzle. I may be mistaken, but the latest version of iTunes may have an option to sync the original quality images. I believe it can be found in iTunes when your iPod Touch is plugged in if you select your device from the left panel (e.g. 'Gary's iPod'), then the 'Photos' tab in the middle of the screen, then the option 'Include original quality photos'. However, I am unsure if these photos will be accessible from the photo album list within my application, so I apologize if this does not fix the issue and will continue to look into this.

You may be excited to know that I'm already working on a 'Version 2.0' that will include exciting new features like the ability to sync a large puzzle on your iPhone or iPod Touch to a sister application that runs within a web browser on my website. Additionally, it will be multiplayer allowing you and your friends and family to share and collaborate on large puzzles---whether or not all of you own iPhone/iPods! This version will also allow 180 (and hopefully larger) piece user puzzles. Time permitting, I also hope to include multiple unlockable 3D environments.

As for the battery issue, I too have noticed this and have been attempting to make the app run more efficiently.

So keep an eye out around the end of Winter for a new release! Thanks again for the suggestions.

Cheers,
Eric

[Games] HydroTilt

App Name: HydroTilt
Developer: Publisher X
Price: $4.99
Category: Games
Type: Puzzle (Environment)
Lite availability: No
Multiplayer support: No
Online leaderboard: No
Graphics: 3D
Controls:

• Touch Screen (double tap to zoom out/in)
• Accelerometer (tilt to control the water drop)

Awards: No
Time limit: No
Selectable difficulty: No (Difficulty is pre-determined and various on levels)
Total Levels: 25 (Bonus stage will be unlocked by collecting the purple crystals)

Objectives: Tilt and guide your bead of water to the finish goal.

Features:

• Beautifully rendered 3D environment.
• You will need to use different water form to complete certain level.
• Smooth game play with calibration support.
• Great use of accelerometer. You will love it if you like to play Labyrinth!
• Bonus stage is unlocked once you managed to collect those purple crystals found on every level.
  

Pros:

• Unlike most puzzle game which will make you frustrated for being stuck at a same level over and over again, HydroTilt provide you with only one way to solve any level. In other words, you won't feel frustrated easily. To complete the puzzle you will need to foresight the environment such as buttons and movable platform in order to proceed. Most often you will fail a level not because for not being able to solve it, but fail to tilt your bead of water properly.
  

Cons:

• No challenge mode or time trial mode.
  

Other:

• It's fun to change the water form.