Terraria Builds Toward iOS, Android

[Earnest Cavalli]

Terraria Builds Toward iOS, Android

After proving a success in both its PC and console iterations, the next step for cult favorite 2D sandbox game Terraria is to join the ranks of portable games designed for mobile platforms.

This morning publisher 505 Games announced its plan to bring Terraria to the world's extant mobile platforms. To wit:

Now mobile gamers can gear up for the action because Terraria is headed to phones and tablets so players anywhere can dig, fight, explore and build!

Players will discover more than a dozen environments and face treacherous perils including over a hundred twisted foes, magical creatures and villainous bosses. The controls have been completely redesigned for touch screens and every aspect of the game has been tweaked and balanced to give players the perfect on the go Terraria experience.

Terraria for mobile platforms will support leader boards, achievements and Facebook integration so you can share screenshots of your adventures and creations. In development by Codeglue, Terraria for phones and tablets will be available starting this summer.

While the announcement fails to mention which mobile platforms Terraria will soon call home, it's pretty easy to guess that the title will be aimed at the iOS and Android markets. At this point those are the two major-bordering-on-sole mobile platforms, and any alternatives would likely be less than profitable for 505 Games.

While welcome - Terraria's intensely addictive nature should make it a perfect fit for your smartphone or tablet of choice, assuming 505 can translate the game's controls properly - the idea of a mobile Terraria isn't all that novel. In March we reported [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122965-505-Games-Plans-Vita-Version-of-Terraria-For-Summer-2013] on the publisher's plans to deliver a Vita version of Terraria at some point this summer, and it appears that this mobile platform initiative joins that effort as another step toward world domination for the plucky, sprite-based construction title.

Though unable or unwilling to offer a solid release date just yet, 505 Games swears that this iteration of Terraria will debut this summer. As such we expect a solid release date and pricing details to emerge very soon, and we'll bring you that information just as soon as it's been officially confirmed (or, failing that, once the info is heavily rumored, assuming it's a slow news day).

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[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

I don't have confidence in terraria's controls would working properly on touch screen; especially on a small touch screen(phone). If it does work I don't see it working without the game being watered down.

From what I hear the controls for the console version are pretty good. While xbox360/ps3 controller is less precise than a mouse but it's at least capable of precision and the UI/Parts of the gameplay can redesigned and or adjusted to work with a controler. The word precision does not come to mind when I think a game that uses a touch screen unless it very simple gameplay(for example fruit ninja.

 

[Eliwood10]

Whoopee... more social networking integration in games. I simply cannot contain my excitement at this development. It will be so much fun to spam other peoples' Facebook feeds with my Terraria accomplishments. //sarcam

In all seriousness, I don't see the game playing all that well on a phone, especially one as small as an iPhone. Tablets, maybe, but my experience even with those larger devices shows that all touch controls are not that precise. Terraria would probably work much better on a 3DS or a Vita.

 

[mKeRix]

Too bad that Windows Phone doesn't get a port. Would have sold pretty well if they would have released it as an XBox Live title on there. Oh well, back to playing Survivalcraft then.

Apart from that, knowing Terraria from PC I'm really curious how they plan to port the game to a mobile platform, as the controls should be rather difficult on a phone. I'd imagine them to use virtual joysticks or something like that, which would eat up a lot of the screen already. And then there's the problem of enabling players to keep the same agility you have on PC or console. I don't think this is a game that works really well on the phone, maybe it would be fun on tablets.

 

[Baresark]

This will only be worth it if they actually make the controller compatible. I am so tired of these games that are completely ruined by horrible touch screen controls. They keep trying to put more and more advanced games on mobile platforms and 99.9% of the time, they simply don't work. They become insanely challenging because you are fighting your own device. I'll wait to see how this goes, but I don't doubt for a second that this company will fuck it up.

 

[SmugFrog]

Games like Junk Jack and The Blockheads are already doing pretty well on iOS with decent controls. Junk Jack is, IMO, better than the iOS version of Minecraft. There's so much stuff to do and collect, and the controls are tight.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Games like Junk Jack and The Blockheads are already doing pretty well on iOS with decent controls. Junk Jack is, IMO, better than the iOS version of Minecraft. There's so much stuff to do and collect, and the controls are tight.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks this could work. Touch controls are not a death knell, and what's more, they're not even all you're limited to on a phone. They're a step down from a controller, but then a controller is a step down from a mouse and keyboard in a lot of cases, yet millions of people play games on consoles, even when they work better with a mouse and keyboard. Same basic idea.