Hey guys! This has been something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, and something I wish will be a regular feature for the site. The podcast is meant to inform, educate and mostly entertain others that share the passion we share. They are meant to be casual discussions and participants are encouraged to be themselves and relax. Anyway here it is!
PS: The slamming sound you hear is me pounding my fist on the table. I do that sometimes haha
I was a sceptic, a cynic and unbeliever of the mobile gaming scene. Candy Crush and Angry Birds? Those aren’t even real games! I’ve played way better versions of those, they’re called bejeweled and worms, PC classics bastardized to fit the palm of your grimy little casual gamer hands! But i’m a reasonable man, despite what you may think from my earlier rant.
The impressive mobile line up at this year’s GameStart was a pleasant surprise for me, and they have pretty much forced me to drop my old man shaking his head at what the kids are playing these days atitude in place of an oh my god i’m genuinely excited for some of these games and man are these fun as hell!
Pillage People – free on Android and IOS
Mobile AND free to play (FTP)? I couldn’t believe I enjoyed what I was playing, two of my most apprehensive gaming movements coming together and I was actually having fun. I got to try my hands on the dev’s town.
This is a city building/ tower defence game. Players build up towns to fund armies and defence upgrades to better defend their towns. Just like any other FTP city builder, players must wait a set number of hours of minutes to reap the rewards of their mines and farms, which fuel development for the rest of the town. Players can then choose to invade other player towns for resources.
Attacking towns drops players into an instance the opposing player has already previously constructed. You can buy units in your town and deploy them here. Different units have their strengths and weaknesses and placing them at the right spot is important too. Defending players on the other hand can construct their instances defensively with towers, turrets and walls in an effort to repel invaders. This tower defence mechanism allows you to defend your towns even when not playing the game. The victor will emerge with some of the enemy’s resources which can be used back in their home areas.
I’m a sucker for city builders, i love watching my cities come to life and and develop. Pillage People doesn’t disappoint on that front. The art is charming and colorful which really injects life into the game, which unless you’re paying real money for resources, mostly a waiting game. It’s always nice to see animations of huge cities, testaments to your time and effort give you reassurance.
I’ll have to play and invest in a town of my own before i can say more but it has been pretty impressive thus far.
Inzen Studios
This local studio might be my new favorite developer in the mobile scene. Inzen is currently developing 2 games that will be released for mobile platforms soon. Their first game Dark Dot, is a top down shooter where you control a charming bunch of critters as they blast their way through the levels. The more critters you amass, the stronger your firepower, but the main draw of the game is it’s feature that allows you to draw formations on the screen depending on the situation. these formations are literally drawn on the surface so you can do anything from a cresent formation to a uh…. phallus if you’re so inclined. There are also fromations on the screen at points in the game that give you a bonus if you manage to get into that particular shape in time.
It’s a really fun expereince, and i found the drawing feature to be very unique. you can also tighten or spread the critters by pinching the screen. which gives a layer of strategy and flexibility to the game. I’ve only played a little bit of the game but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope to see formations play a bigger role in the game play, perhaps certain shapes might give a bonus against certain enemies.
Nightmare Duel, their second game at the show might actually be my favorite game. It’s a local pvp game where each player control 1 side of the screen. The screen is divided into rows where suitcases come down at varying speeds tapping the specific row as they reach the bottom of the screen sends the suitcase sliding back to the opponent’s area. It like a very intense version of air hockey and good is it fun!
The art in the game is really zany and I know I say this a lot but it’s genuinely charming and give the avatars great character. each character also has a special ability once their meter fills up. My avatar’s ability was to spam the opponent with popups blocking his views of his columns. I still lost in the end despite the developers obviously going easy on me. It’s intense and this is a day one buy for me for sure.
Witching Hour Studios
so many symbols @.@
A veteran in the local game development scene, these guys have put out some impressive works that have gone on to achieve international renown. Ravenmark: Scourge Of Estellion was released for years now, and have challenged games all around with solid turn based strategy. I say solid because I keep dying, this game really demands your attention and requires some solid startegising. Knowing the weakness of your enemies and positioning your troops well is essential if you want to survive, and tension ramps up as you start second guessing your moves and struggle to make the best decision.
On a lighter note, their newer game Romans In My Carpet (RIMC) was also on show. I would call it a Ravenmark lite. It is tonally the polar opposite of their first game with fun cartoonist character designs and graphics. But don’t be fooled by it’s looks. RIMC is still a serious strategy game at heart. The gameplay is similar to Ravemark and requires you to devote similar attention to it.
If this appeals to you, both games are available on IOS. RIMC is available for Android and an Android version of Ravenmark is currently in the works. A free to play multiplayer only version of Ravemark, Ravenmark: Mercenaries is also available for both platforms. See you on the battlefield!
Underneath that cutesy veneer is a strategy game that will kick your ass!
The Millennial Geek 