TinyMap

[MysteryCoconut]

I know it has been a whole day and a half since this should have been posted, but we kind of got too absorbed with the game and didn't remember to post in the forums :D

Anyway, when I say "we" I mean Noel Llopis from SnappyTouch, creator of FlowerGarden (http://www.snappytouch.com/), and eh... well, me (http://mysterycoconut.com). Our entry was decided in a rush that same morning. The idea was to make the most important part of any 3D shooter, the thing that you end up looking at the most, the central point of the game: the mini map.

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0186.PNG
Yes, the gray circles are dual-sticks!

You strafe with the left stick and turn with the right. Point of the game at this point: kill as many enemies as you can before they get to you.

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0188.PNG
Crap! There they are!

The difficulty strives from only seeing in the map the enemies in your field of view!

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0190.PNG
Oh, no! More over there!

Whenever you touch the right sticker, you also start auto-firing.

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0193.PNG
Die!

If that was not difficult enough, when you move the field of view shrinks!

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0196.PNG
They are everywhere! Run!

That you can actually see the enemies sneaking behind you when they are really close makes it an even more frantic experience.

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0185.PNG
Aggghhh!

If the zomb... eh, enemies... OK, they move pretty slow, they are totally zombies. If any touches you, you are done.

http://mysterycoconut.com/toucharcade/IMG_0189.PNG
Braaaaaiiiins

Noel did all the programming, and I just gave him a few suggestions about the gameplay. It was great to see how the game slowly came alive one little piece at a time: adding first the grid and the player movement, then spawning enemies, then adding the field of view, then moving enemies... you get the idea. Of course it was all done in OpenGL; it even has some nice touches like always making the sticks appear under your thumb! Was great to make something playable in just a few hours!

[GeorgeSealy]

Looks like a neat idea, vaguely similar to something I'm working on at the moment. Did you consider having auto-fore on all the time? Concentrate the game on finding and avoiding the baddies...

Are you planning to take the game any further?

[MysteryCoconut]

Oh no, George! Did we steal your idea? :( We really just started playing with it, adding stuff as we thought of it.

I don't think I like the auto-fire on all the time, but our implementation is already pretty close to that; it doesn't only fire when you are turning around, it starts firing when you put your thumb over the right stick. I have noticed I play most of the time with the thumb on the screen all the time, even when not moving, so...

As per developing the game further, we will see. It is fun to play with, Noel was having some fun tweaking it, and I have been doing some quick designs for cooler (as in not-just-programmer-art) graphics, so maybe we should. Nothing serious planned yet though.

[GeorgeSealy]

No, don't worry about stealing anyone's ideas, we've got something sufficiently different in mind :) As for the auto-fire thing, I guess I was meaning more of an intelligent auto-fire when there are visible enemies in range.

Anyway, it looks like fun, good luck if you decide to take it further.

[llopis]

George, that's a good idea with the aim assist. Miguel and I need to really talk about this and figure out where to take it from here. I think it has potential and it can go in different directions (over-the-top Geometry Wars style, slow and creepy, etc). I do really like the FOV mechanic though. It would definitely be fun taking it to completion and releasing it on the App Store.

(Apparently I'm not able to stay away from the computer after all ;-b)

[Untamed]

I'd just like to say, this is a very unique and cool idea, and I, as a iGamer, would definitely be interested in something like this. Keep it up! ;)

[SunriseMoon]

You should replace the button graphics at the very end (the restart and quit) but the other simplistic graphics look good :). This game looks like a DSS version of TtL.

[Intruder_qcc]

@MysteryCoconut @llopis

I finally can see what you guys were up to during the Game Jam :D look this could be a fun game! I saw Noel working for a long time on his MacBook pro, but couldn't see the screen :p and saw MysteryCoconut coming to discuss and showing thing on the iPad :D.

I think the layout of the UI is perfect for playing it on a iPhone/iPod touch, as for running this on the iPad it might be not so ideal.

Looking forward to see how this project will involve to.

[SunriseMoon]

Any news on this yet?

[Sevendust]

RElease this please!!!!

[nikhsterboi]

This looks good. Weird that I've never noticed.

[MysteryCoconut]

Quick update. First I have to thank all the people that thought this was a good idea, but the reality of the situation is it never came out of the "prototype" stage. As you can see in the screenshots it is missing LOTS of work to make it into a full-featured game, but apart from graphics/sound and the like it never felt like something fit for the iPhone (I am not a fan of dual-sticks myself). We will not be spending any more time on it for now (both Noel and I are working on other projects now). But I wanted to thank you guys for all your supportive comments. Cheers!

[Nijo]

I had an idea for a similar game - which also didn't make it very far.

Anyhow, Alien Horde is pretty close. Solid design... I would have done a few things differently but it's a good implementation of the mini-genre.

[Luke Kellett]

Neat idea, would love to see how this progresses if you guys take it further. Definitely has some promise!