August 2008


Interviews and iPhone27 Aug 2008 01:08 am

Today I have with me John Ray from Metatools with his game which is sweeping the iPhone: Metasquares. For those of you not familiar with the game, here is part of the official description:

Take turns placing pieces on the board while trying to get all 4 corners of a square. Squares can be formed at any angle and are worth more points the bigger they are. beat the computer by scoring 150 points first and having at least a 15 point margin of victory.

In the App Store in Germany, his app only has 5 star ratings. I’d have to agree with them that it’s a great game as I listed it on my own Favorite games for iPhone! I first remember playing it in 1997 on AOL. What I find so interesting about it is that it’s a board game that would be very difficult to play without a computer calculating the score.

Beginning of game on level 2

Where did you get the inspiration for Metasquares?

I wish I could take credit for the concept. In fact, the game is the brainchild of puzzle master Scott Kim of Heaven and Earth fame. You are quite correct though in that computers make the game possible. However, there has never been a one player version before so we had to create the computer AI from scratch. We also created an AI test application that allowed us to simulate hundreds of thousands of games to balance each levels AI against the next.

On what platforms has your game run and what audience has it received?

We originally launched back in 1996 on AOL and were seeing hundreds of thousands of games being played per month. The game proved popular beyond our projections.

Why did you leave AOL?

Shortly after we launched the game, AOL switched from a per hour charge in which we shared revenue to an all you can eat plan. Since users no longer had to pay to play, we couldn’t keep the game going. Keep in mind that in its initial incarnation, MetaSquares was a multiplayer application that allowed users to play against each other and chat on the AOL service.

Why did you decide to port your game to the iPhone?

As soon as we heard about the open nature of iPhone development, we began porting for the device. In fact, we initially launched an iPhone web app that did quite a bit of traffic since it is on the Apple site. [Editor's note: this is a great way to try out the game to see if it would be worth buying.] The web app was a sort of a proof of concept in that it allowed us to see how good the game would play and how well it would be received.

What were your biggest difficulties reprogramming the game and getting it into the App Store?

I’d say the biggest issue we faced with the programming was getting used to the iPhone and its tools and then being able to tailor them to our needs. At MetaTools we place a very high emphasis on visual quality and we wanted to make sure the game looked its best. The iPhone turned out to be a wonderful device from that perspective. In terms of getting into the App store, it was actually quite straightforward once Apple set all of our permissions correctly on the development portal.

One thing I would like to see is multiplayer games, at the very least to be able to play someone next to me. What are your plans for multiplayer games?

Glad you asked. Actually our 1.0.1 version which we should be submitting soon will feature a “hot potato” two player mode where two players can play against each other on the same device. That version should also include German, French, Spanish and Japanese language versions as well. We are also hard at work on building true multiplayer functionality that will allow players to play against each other over the internet using their Wi-Fi connections.

Are you planning to make other apps for the iPhone?

Indeed. We’re already looking at a couple other titles, probably in the same board/puzzle category. We are even looking into branching out into other categories of products as well such as utilities and productivity applications.

Thank you for your time and I wish you the greatest success on your projects!

iPhone10 Aug 2008 04:55 am

Now that my iPhone has been stable for a few days, I decided to put all the icons of my 16 favorite games on one screen to make them easily accessible when I want some gaming action.

3-tuple – Solitaire version of the card game Set for the iPhone. Very well done! Unfortunately this has been taken out of the store, probably due to legal reasons. Price: free. [no longer available]

AquaForest – Cool physics game where you can add water, fire, solve puzzles, etc. I’m not a huge fan of it myself, but my girlfriend loves it. However, I must admit I’m more of an action/strategy gamer, not really a puzzler. Price: 5,99 €. [link]

Aurora Feint – Amazing free game! A combination of arcade/puzzle/RPG in the style of Tetris Attack for the Super Nintendo (although it’s nothing like Tetris). Additional element is added by being able to tilt the iPhone to make the blocks fall in that direction. Price: free. [no longer available]

Circulate P. – Interesting puzzle game balls fall into a circle which you can then rotate by tilting. Price: 0,79 €. [no longer available]

Crash Kart – Best racing game on iPhone, although I must admit I haven’t played Moto Racer nor Cro-Mag Rally, but that’s what I’ve read from other reviewers. Great gameplay, graphics and sound. Has much the feel of Super Mario Kart. Includes Cup, Story, and Time Trial modes. Price: 7,99 €. [link]

Dizzy Bee – What an interesting little game! Very Nintendo-esh feel. Feels like a kids game, but very intense and unique. By tilting, you control all the characters on the screen and you have to rescue your “fruit friends” while not touching the enemies. Harder than you think. Also you can try out the Dizzy Bee Free demo to see if you like it before you buy. Price: 2,39 €. [link]

Garf – Remember that electronic device Simon? Well, this is Simon on steroids. Play the traditional Simon and then play a version with 5 buttons, and then unlock another game with 6. Ah, nostalgia. Price: 1,59 €. [link]

GTS World Racing – Most realistic racing game for iPhone. If you’re into serious racing as opposed to the comic-like cart racing games, this is for you. Very well done, most say the graphics and sound are better than its equivalents on PSP! With 64 track layouts, 16 worldwide locations and 3 cars, this won’t be getting old anytime soon. Great value! Price: 5,99 €. [link]

Texas Hold’em – Apple’s only game for the iPhone weighing in at a whopping 128 MB! Great for what it is, playing against computers, but I’m still upset at Apple for not allowing Full Tilt Poker to come to the iPhone, because it would “ruin its reputation“. Oh well, at least you can play some robots that look like animated people for fake money. Woohoo. Price: 3,99 €. [link]

Ikanoid – If you’re a fan of the old arcade classic Arkanoid, then this is the game for you! Amazing port to the iPhone. If you liked Arkanoid, get this. Heck, that’s only 12 quarters. :) Price: 2,39 €. [Now called Space Buster 3D: link]

MetaSquares – I have fond memories of playing this on AOL back in the day. There’s an 8×8 grid and each turn you place a marble on the board. If four of your marbles form a square, you get points. This can also happen by having a turned square. The larger the square, the more the points. First one to get 150 wins. Really hoping they’ll add online play soon! Price: 2,39 €. [link, my interview with Metasquares]

Monkey Ball – Who hasn’t heard of Super Monkey Ball? Great graphics, sound and gameplay. Controls take some getting used to, but that’s a lot of the fun! Lots of levels and will keep you entertained for quite a while. Price: 7,99 €. [link]

PapiJump – Cool little light game. Guide a jumping smiley face higher and higher by tilting left and right. Simple, yet fun and addicting. Nice price too. Price: free. [link]

Radius – Innovative action game. Flick a sphere in all directions while enemies come to attack you. Kill them by crushing them with your finger. Wait too long and they’ll attack back vibrating your iPhone. Very nice quick game with the intensity of arcade’s past. Price: 0,79 €. [link]

Tap Tap Revenge – Want to play Guitar Hero, but don’t want to pay 90 € for it? Or maybe you don’t want to pay anything at all? Well, here’s a good introductory game. I’m really surprised they didn’t charge for it. Tap the beats as they come down to the music and score high. Also involved shaking to the beat occasionally, although this can also be turned off in case you don’t want to hit the guy next to you on the subway. 2-player mode is also phenomenal. Players sit across from each other tapping out the same song. Definitely get this one! Price: free. [link]

Trism – Flick the triangles in a row to match them up. Innovative gameplay not possible before the iPhone, since you can turn the iPhone to change the gravity in which they will fall. My girlfriend absolutely loves this game, but I can’t quite get into it. Oh yeah, it has a colorblind mode too. Sweet! Price: 3,99 €. [link]

iPhone09 Aug 2008 12:46 am

I decided that after many hours of research on figuring out how to put video on my iPhone, I’d write a simple guide to help others who want to do the same thing. All the following methods have been tested on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.4). Please only use these methods to convert videos that you own.

Ripping DVDs: Handbrake

1. Install and run Handbrake, a free open source ripper.
2. Insert DVD
3. Run Handbrake and open the DVD directory.
4. Wait while it reads the DVD titles.
5. Click Toggle Presets and Choose iPhone / IPod Touch

HandBrake window

6. Choose your audio track(s) and subtitles.

Language Selection in Handbrake

7. Set the file path where you would like to store this temporary file.
8. Click Play.
9. Wait between 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the film size.
10. Drag and drop this temporary file into iTunes.
11. Sync your iPhone to iTunes.

Other video files: iSquint

1. Install and run iSquint, a freeware video converter.
2. Drag and drop desired video file to iSquint.
3. Check Add to iTunes.
4. Click Start.
5. Wait around 5-30 minutes depending on video length. iSquint will then import your videos into iTunes.
6. Optional: Click Movies in iTunes and rename the file title to how you would like it to appear on your iPhone.
7. Sync your iPhone to iTunes.

Youtube

1. Change the URL of the youtube video from www.youtube.com to www.kissyoutube.com.
2. Download video in FLV format.
3. Follow instructions above under Other video files: iSquint.

Now you should be able to convert almost any video to your iPhone/iPod Touch on your Mac. If you know of any other tips that might be helpful, please leave a comment and share. Enjoy!

iPhone02 Aug 2008 01:35 am

Note: I’ve done everything legit, no jailbreak attempt.

So, yesterday I noticed that some of my apps have updates, so I updated them on my Macbook and when that didn’t work for all of them, I then after a sync, tried updating directly on my iPhone. At this point I saw two copies of Here I Am (the one with the icon of a pinpoint, not that of the envelope) appear. [Side note: weird there are two different apps in the App Store with the same name!] One as the app and one as the update. When the update was finished, I then noticed my phone was bricked. Reset, waited about 10 minutes and just saw the apple logo.

So, after watching The Chris Pirillo Show in which he unbricks an iPhone, I followed the same procedure myself. Hold down the home and sleep buttons while it restarts and then restarts again. Then restore from backup in iTunes. After 3 hours, it finally restored itself. Note that a half hour was downloading the iPhone OS 2.0 (255 MB). After that, I just had to sync and it loaded all my music, photos and apps and I was set to go.

Later, I was pushing my iPhone a bit more to its limits by surfing 6 websites at the same time and then I downloaded the Netshare app and opened the App Store on my iPhone while it was installing. Well, this bricked it the second time in the day. So, I was going to sleep, so I set it to restore my iPhone overnight. When I woke up I saw the iPhone worked perfectly, but iTunes couldn’t sync, instead it gave me the two options again, Restore or Set up new iPhone. Well, it’s not a new iPhone, so I chose restore, and let it sit another couple of hours.

When I came back to check up on it, I noticed the progress bar was frozen in the middle and both my iPhone and laptop were pretty hot, so after waiting 15 more minutes with no more progress, I shut them both down and when I came back after the cooldown, I found my iPhone works. …even though I shut it down in the middle of the restore! WTF!? Then after a sync, I have all my stuff back on except for a few apps which I hope will come back on the next sync. One paid app Metasquares didn’t get on though, which is frustrating, but I’ll live. Main thing is it works again.

So, lesson learned. When playing with cutting edge tech, be gentle. Also, the iPhone isn’t a multi-tasking device. I should let it finish one thing before starting another and don’t open too many web browser windows.

Update: I finally realized that it’s just too unstable now and decided for a complete re-install of the iPhone OS which will lose all my settings, saved passwords, etc. I’m really fed up, but this should, at least, fix the issue completely.