Games for smartphones?

[Owyn_Merrilin]

So I got a cheap android phone to replace my four year old mp3 player that finally gave up the ghost last month. It's underpowered for an android phone, but it's still a huge upgrade from what I had. Anyway, looking at the various app stores, something really surprised me: there are very few turn based RPGs and strategy games available for the platform, a platform that, frankly, is really well suited to that style of gameplay. Off the top of my head, there's the three games by the Treese brothers (a Pirates! clone, a Space Hulk clone, and an isometric rpg), a poorly optimized port of Freeciv (which crashes my phone almost instantly) and really not much else. There's also a free port of Star Control 2, but it's a good example of why I want to see more turnbased games; the touchscreen controls don't do it any favors.

What I really want to talk about is, why the lack of turn based, touch screen optimized games? And also, do you know any good ones? Don't just limit the discussion to Android; I'd like some recommendations for it, but feel free to talk about iOS, Blackberry, and what have you.

 

[Hazy992]

I'm just speculating here but I'm guessing there are actually a few of these sorts of games for iOS. I don't want to get into an argument about which platform is better (matter of personal preference), but the truth is iOS has significantly more games than Android and they're usually higher quality. Why this is I couldn't say.

Also you've got a budget Android phone right? I heard somewhere the Android Market ( or whatever it's called now) doesn't display apps that arent compatible with your phone, so this might be why you haven't seen any of those sorts of games. Maybe if you had a high end Android like a GNex or Droid Razr you're choice of apps would be a lot broader.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm just speculating here but I'm guessing there are actually a few of these sorts of games for iOS. I don't want to get into an argument about which platform is better (matter of personal preference), but the truth is iOS has significantly more games than Android and they're usually higher quality. Why this is I couldn't say.

Also you've got a budget Android phone right? I heard somewhere the Android Market ( or whatever it's called now) doesn't display apps that arent compatible with your phone, so this might be why you haven't seen any of those sorts of games. Maybe if you had a high end Android like a GNex or Droid Razr you're choice of apps would be a lot broader.

Interesting about iOS. I wonder why there's more games for it, when the barrier to entry on Android is so low? As for the whole budget phone thing, you're right, but that only applies if you search with the phone. I started looking for reviews and stuff from my computer, and even directly searching the Google Play store with it. There's just very few turn based strategy games, for some weird reason.

 

[Sp3ratus]

...a poorly optimized port of Freeciv (which crashes my phone almost instantly) and really not much else. There's also a free port of Star Control 2, but it's a good example of why I want to see more turnbased games; the touchscreen controls don't do it any favors.

I downloaded and tried both those games and I have to agree with you, Freeciv is... well, a phone just seems like having too small a screen(even on a Galaxy S2, such as mine), even though it's a good idea, the execution, not so much. Star Control 2 is even worse, as are most of the more action oriented titles, that you can play on a phone.

If I don't have to limit myself to games specifically designed for phones, I'd recommend one of the Playstation 1 emulators on the Google Play market(still think it's an odd choice of name). I use one of them called FPse and play games like the FF series, Pokemon, Chrono Trigger and so on. JRPGs, which I've never really played before I got my phone really seems to fit very well on a phone.

EDIT: Damn ninjas *shakes fist at CynderBloc*

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

iPhones are fashionable so therefore get more stuff. Simple as that

As for android games, I have an Xperia Play, but I really only use emulators on it. I suppose there are plenty of RPG's and strategy games for the PSX if your phone can run FPSE

It probably can't run FPSE, but it does Gameboy Advance and weaker systems alright. I've got a GBA emulator loaded down with S and JRPGs, plus a GBC emulator with a few RPGs of its own. I'm just confused as to why there's so few native Android games that fit the bill, especially in the strategy genre; it should be a no brainer.

 

[Hazy992]

I'm just speculating here but I'm guessing there are actually a few of these sorts of games for iOS. I don't want to get into an argument about which platform is better (matter of personal preference), but the truth is iOS has significantly more games than Android and they're usually higher quality. Why this is I couldn't say.

Also you've got a budget Android phone right? I heard somewhere the Android Market ( or whatever it's called now) doesn't display apps that arent compatible with your phone, so this might be why you haven't seen any of those sorts of games. Maybe if you had a high end Android like a GNex or Droid Razr you're choice of apps would be a lot broader.

Interesting about iOS. I wonder why there's more games for it, when the barrier to entry on Android is so low? As for the whole budget phone thing, you're right, but that only applies if you search with the phone. I started looking for reviews and stuff from my computer, and even directly searching the Google Play store with it. There's just very few turn based strategy games, for some weird reason.

Ah right, I just assumed you were searching through the phone. I'm wondering if developers see iOS as more profitable than Android? There's less fragmentation for one thing. There also seems to be more paid apps on iOS than there is on Android.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

iPhones are fashionable so therefore get more stuff. Simple as that

As for android games, I have an Xperia Play, but I really only use emulators on it. I suppose there are plenty of RPG's and strategy games for the PSX if your phone can run FPSE

It probably can't run FPSE, but it does Gameboy Advance and weaker systems alright. I've got a GBA emulator loaded down with S and JRPGs, plus a GBC emulator with a few RPGs of its own. I'm just confused as to why there's so few native Android games that fit the bill, especially in the strategy genre; it should be a no brainer.

Like I said, iOS is where the money is. Look at Angry Birds for example, was out on iPhone first for a price (Think it was around £1/$1.50), then got released on Android for free.

It does annoy me as IMO Android is a far superior platform, but people like having stuff with the Apple logo on it

I guess that makes sense. Still, Apple takes a pretty big cut out of anything on their store, and it's hard to get on it in the first place. Google puts just about anything on there, takes a smaller cut, and allows other stores to coexist with theirs. You'd think the homebrew community would be having a field day with it, if nothing else.

 

[TorqueConverter]

So I got a cheap android phone to replace my four year old mp3 player that finally gave up the ghost last month. It's underpowered for an android phone, but it's still a huge upgrade from what I had. Anyway, looking at the various app stores, something really surprised me: there are very few turn based RPGs and strategy games available for the platform, a platform that, frankly, is really well suited to that style of gameplay. Off the top of my head, there's the three games by the Treese brothers (a Pirates! clone, a Space Hulk clone, and an isometric rpg), a poorly optimized port of Freeciv (which crashes my phone almost instantly) and really not much else. There's also a free port of Star Control 2, but it's a good example of why I want to see more turnbased games; the touchscreen controls don't do it any favors.

What I really want to talk about is, why the lack of turn based, touch screen optimized games? And also, do you know any good ones? Don't just limit the discussion to Android; I'd like some recommendations for it, but feel free to talk about iOS, Blackberry, and what have you.

How fast is your internet connection? Does your phone have wireless internet support?

Onlive MIGHT work for you but it depends on your internet speed.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

So I got a cheap android phone to replace my four year old mp3 player that finally gave up the ghost last month. It's underpowered for an android phone, but it's still a huge upgrade from what I had. Anyway, looking at the various app stores, something really surprised me: there are very few turn based RPGs and strategy games available for the platform, a platform that, frankly, is really well suited to that style of gameplay. Off the top of my head, there's the three games by the Treese brothers (a Pirates! clone, a Space Hulk clone, and an isometric rpg), a poorly optimized port of Freeciv (which crashes my phone almost instantly) and really not much else. There's also a free port of Star Control 2, but it's a good example of why I want to see more turnbased games; the touchscreen controls don't do it any favors.

What I really want to talk about is, why the lack of turn based, touch screen optimized games? And also, do you know any good ones? Don't just limit the discussion to Android; I'd like some recommendations for it, but feel free to talk about iOS, Blackberry, and what have you.

How fast is your internet connection? Does your phone have wireless internet support?

Onlive MIGHT work for you but it depends on your internet speed.

I'm actually using it as an android based iPod Touch (it was $50, about what I would have paid for a much crappier standalone mp3 player), so my internet speed depends on what wifi network I'm connected to. At home that's 10 megabits down, one up, although I haven't been hitting my nominal download speed lately for some reason.