(LeftRight Studios) Help us make a new (better?) game!

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by LeftRightStudios, Mar 1, 2010.

  1. LeftRightStudios

    Feb 25, 2010
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    So, we've completed two games in the App store and we have more than a few more in development, but our opinion of our own titles, and direction, is (obviously) a bit jaded. Just like we've done before, we like it when the Touch Arcade crowd keeps us in check. Here's the story:

    Our first title was Smackbots. It's a robot battle beat-em-smash-em-up with button mashing gameplay, combos and so on and so forth. We just recently decided to set it FREE, for well, good. The game's no Street Fighter (speaking of that, can't wait!) but it's nostalgic, classic and entertaining.

    [​IMG]

    Our second title was KatchUp ($.99), which we tested here at Touch Arcade but really never got the attention smackBOTS did. It's a time-management game running your own ketchup bottling factory. It's addictive (we think) and definitely frantic.

    [​IMG]

    Between our two games there are some things so far that stand out about us, as a developer, in general. We have (we think so, anyways) our own style. You can see it in our artwork and you'll surely continue to see it down the road. We have an idea of what constitutes fun gameplay... or do we?

    We made this thread to see where Touch Arcade thought a young, independent developer should go in the future? What sort of game should we make? What genre best suits our style and ability? You can treat this as almost a crowd-sourcing experiment in game development. If you think it's fun, and we should do it next, let us know.

    If you haven't played our games, please do that first though. At least Smackbots (It's free...), so you know where we're coming from and where we could possibly end up. So, what's the iPhone missing? What should we change about what we've done, or what we might do next?
     
  2. Devilishly Good

    Devilishly Good Well-Known Member

    May 1, 2009
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    The Underworld
    I like your art style...that was certainly something that made both of your games appealing.

    Suggested generic game types:
    -side scrolling shooting/battle type of game where you can use resources earned to buy improvements to your character
    -some sort of arcade type game with shooting or sorting elements
    -an obstacle avoidance game where you have to tap to jump or move from side to side to avoid oncoming obstacles

    ...my favorite would be the first one where you've got character development I think...tho any of them could be very fun
     
  3. aros2k

    aros2k Well-Known Member

    Jan 17, 2010
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    Make a platform game if you have the skills, don't bother with another fighter, smackbots was downright awful, no offense.
     
  4. drelbs

    drelbs Well-Known Member

    Jun 25, 2009
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    Zombies vs Pirates vs Ninjas, ragdoll style - IN TANKS! ;)

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    Seriously - choose your side, you get a tank and your ninja, pirate or zombie is sitting in the turrent. Controls are move tank left/right, fire and raise the gun up/down.

    Tanks are fairly indestructable, and mostly bounce around - you have to kill the ragdoll enemies controlling them. Some tanks would of course have shields (so you have to shoot over) or weak spots (which you have to shoot through) maybe even destructable armor.

    There could be all sorts of fun stuff to shoot/knock over/drive over along the way, and boss fights against big tanks or fortresses.

    Maybe enemy tanks would blow up once they were rider-less, the rider would twitch helpless on the ground until you drove over and squished them. Make sure there are lots of goofy sound effects for this sort of thing.

    Idea presented copywright broken, I hereby give full permission for anyone to use this idea however they choose. Mentioning drelbs in the credits would be appreciated. ;)
     
  5. jak56

    jak56 Well-Known Member

    but it was simple and funny, which is why it got more attention
     
  6. B34$T

    B34$T Well-Known Member

    Aug 10, 2009
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    Definitely a side scroller. I would love a side scrolling shooter or platformer in that style.
     
  7. aros2k

    aros2k Well-Known Member

    Jan 17, 2010
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    I agree the art style is a winner, smackbots platformer anyone?
     
  8. starmonkey101

    starmonkey101 Well-Known Member

    Oct 3, 2009
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    FLA, USA
    animal crossing or super smash brothers type game! both are ambitious, but i believe in you! :)
     
  9. Noman

    Noman Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2009
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    A side-scrolling platformer definitely.
     
  10. starmonkey101

    starmonkey101 Well-Known Member

    Oct 3, 2009
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    FLA, USA
    why? there are SO many of those? :eek:
     
  11. Omega-F

    Omega-F Well-Known Member

    Aug 20, 2009
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    Graphic Designer
    USA WA
    Don't feel discouraged guys, keep working hard and you'll eventually see a hit coming from your studio.

    I'd recommend you to develop games that truly feel like if they were made from the ground-up for the platform. Don't try to make iPhone versions of games that you find on other platforms with better control inputs; think about a concept that works really well with a touch screen.

    Also, I really like the artwork in the robot game. :)
     
  12. khangtoh

    khangtoh Well-Known Member

    May 31, 2009
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    Co-Founder/IPhone Dev @ LeftRight Studios
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Thanks to everyone's encouragement. It was a tough 6 months as an indie studio trying to make it in the iPhone world. But we're not giving up. In fact, we've also thought about doing more with smackBOTS but putting a different game, maybe a side scrolling platformer. That's a possibility.
     
  13. khangtoh

    khangtoh Well-Known Member

    May 31, 2009
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    Co-Founder/IPhone Dev @ LeftRight Studios
    Pittsburgh, PA
    This tank game idea is awesome. I think there's a lacking of tank games in the appstore and I've been having this other tank game idea jumping around in my head but it's completely different from what your idea is which at this point, we're still not ready to put that much development effort into. But I can definitely see us working on something like your tank idea.
     
  14. LeftRightStudios

    Feb 25, 2010
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    Well. It seems like a side-scrolling platformer is the game that everyone wants to see. With our style that could be a very interesting game. Thanks for the feedback guys.

    What else could we add to the mix? It may be ambitious, but personally I'd like to see more Diablo-style (isometric RPG/action RPG) games on the iPhone. Especially ones that aren't 3D.
     
  15. abruce42

    abruce42 Well-Known Member

    Dec 3, 2009
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    ,,,,,,,
    Yeah I like the idea of a smakBots platformer just here is (kind of) a tip:
    Learn the lesson from iRaft Wars. They made a little platformer game based on the orange boy, but I never really considered it cuz it just seemed like they were trying to make a quick buck off of the Raft wars art.

    I guess how i wrote that is a little confusiing and Im not sure my tip was really conveyed well, but the basis is this: Make sure that it looks and feels like a whole nother game.

    -and not sure exactly how, but try and have some sort of asset or mechanic to the game if you do a platformer, that makes it different from others. More importantly, make sure that different is good.

    Good luck!
     

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