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MMObility: Puzzle Pirates is perfect on the iPad, but Fleck falls
It's been a week of ups and downs for me. The mobile MMO market is the often-ignored stepchild of the greater genre, so when a great new MMO comes along, I rejoice. And when a fun, older MMO closes down, I feel like weeping. As the mobile market begins to take over all of creation (and will probably make time travel possible as well), it's so good to see a game like Puzzle Pirates finally make its way to mobile devices. Sure, it's just iPads for now, but an Android version is marked for release this summer. This is a game that has been begging for a mobile release for some time now. Meanwhile, Fleck is an odd little MMO by Self Aware Games that I have covered in the past but that is soon closing down. I love the look and feel of it, but its real-world-based gameplay might be too odd for many to enjoy. Still, it had issues finding its footing. Let's talk about both in today's MMObility column.
MMObility: A look at the location based MMO Life is Magic
I've been looking forward to checking out Life is Magic since I first took a peek at it during GDC Online 2012. The art style, slick presentation, and location-based gameplay drew me in, but I've had it for only a short while since then. I've now been able to snag enough time to get a great idea about what the game holds for players, and so far I can say that there's definitely a polish to the game that I haven't found in many mobile MMOs. So what is so special about this one, especially compared to other location-based MMOs like Fleck or Parallel Kingdom? There are several differences, most of them focused on the art style, unique world map, and cool collectible card game-ish system that ends up being the best part of the game. %Gallery-173874%
MMObility: A deeper look at Fleck and its adorable zombies
Fleck is a very interesting title that has quietly been doing some great things in the location-based MMO space. A location-based MMO is essentially an MMO that utilizes the real world via Google maps or real-life landmarks as a background for an MMO. Imagine that you are at your favorite eatery and you take out your phone and are instantly shown a world built on top of the world you're in now; that's location-based gaming. Fleck works like many other location-based MMOs but doesn't link itself to the real world as much as some of the others. Instead, it allows players to build and explore freely all while attempting to avoid (or defeat) zombies of varying strengths. Yes, zombies! There are some really cool features in Fleck, one of the them being real weather updates like rain, snow, or fog that changes according to the player's location. If a player wants to, she can build a house literally on the spot where she lives in real life or anywhere else in the world -- on top of a Google map. There's much more to the game, and this week I want to share a recent video I made and look into just how unique this game is.
Free for All: Casual is as hardcore does and the daily gaming list
It's always a lot of fun to compare casual players to hardcore players. We've all seen many articles and had our own discussions on the topic and it never seems to stop being entertaining. After all, how much or how intensely a player plays an MMO can help predict how that player might react to market changes or to new titles, so we can easily see how developers will always be interested in the information even when we tire of it. For me, personally, I would rather skip the whole discussion and just talk about how I play casually. I can list hours played and titles accessed, but I think it would be a better idea to sketch out a rough but typical day or week in my household to illustrate just how someone who considers himself casual is actually quite committed. Does that mean I am hardcore in certain cases? I don't care anymore, frankly. What I care about is seeing if how I play is completely alien or if there are other players out there who love to do what I do. Let's call it a cry for help... or at least information.
MMObility: Find yourself in this updated list of location-based MMOs
Location-based MMOs have a long way to go. I can only imagine how the genre will appear in 10 or 15 years and how common it will be to load up a virtual world on our mobile devices. Even with the advances that still need to be made, location-based gaming is pretty darned impressive. Think about it: These are games that use the real world as a playing field. While most do not employ the literal square mileage of the Earth in exact scale, most of these games can boast a very large map. These titles can also utilize the weather and other events that happen on it at any given time, blending them with our real world so that it appears there is a secret, veiled world right beside us. I wanted to recap some of my favorite location-based MMOs for those who might need some advice on which ones to try. My favorites are marked with a "latest update" marker, but all of them are worth checking out. So pull out your phone or tablet and get to it!
MMObility: Fourteen MMOs that you can play anywhere
I thought it'd be fun to make a list of go-anywhere MMOs this week. It's not really hard to find portable MMOs that run on laptops or netbooks. The real issue is locating MMOs that can be played on your desktop while you're at work (while the boss isn't looking, of course!), then on your phone at lunch, and then on your laptop while you sit in bed later that night. The technology to make constantly accessible MMOs is there, namely in the form of HTML5. Adobe recently announced that not only is it moving away from Flash for mobile devices, but it is also specifically targeting Android Jelly Bean. There is a new wave of web technologies coming that will hopefully, once and for all, put an end to the need for special lists like this one. Not all of my choices are HTML5-based, but I tried to keep all of them open for all devices. If you notice any oddities while playing them on a certain device, let me know in the comments section so I can note it. I get a lot of requests for lists like this, so I want to keep things tight. In the meanwhile, enjoy the list. There are others out there, but I wanted to pick out some that give pretty much the same result across whichever device you use.
MMObility: The year in mobile
What a year, huh? We gamers have seen a lot of changes, but especially in the mobile market. New devices came and went, technologies spread out even further in the world, and MMO gaming established itself on the smallest screens possible. Of course, the mobile market is not as large as the standard MMO market, but it is definitely growing. As more devices appear, more players come to fill up the games. Our phones are not what they used to be, even five years ago. They are now truly tiny and powerful computing devices that are always connected. A player can literally live all of his digital life on one small device. If we look at the laptop and netbook market, we see even more growth and power. All of these devices need games to play on them, and MMOs fit perfectly into the mobile lifestyle. Click past the cut and I'll recap many of the best stories from Massively's mobile coverage!
MMObility: Simplifying design for the mobile market
Whenever I write up something about a smartphone MMO, one of the most common complaints I hear is this: "If I wanted to play a game for several hours, I would sit at my gaming desktop." While this is true for many players, it is also true that games like Star Legends and Pocket Legends by Spacetime Studios have met with a lot of success. The developers were surprised to find that players were more than willing to sit for several hours while playing the games on their tiny screens. Still, there is a lot of truth to the complaints about smartphone MMOs. An MMO is typically something a player wants to get lost in. We commonly refer to it as "immersion," but really we're just talking about being sucked into the ideas and design of a title. If you have found yourself daydreaming about a game while at work, you were "immersed." I would argue that this type of deep immersion is very possible on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets. However, in order to achieve it more commonly, developers might have to adjust many of their designs and theories. Click past the cut and we'll discuss it!
MMObility: What makes a good mobile game to me
Over the time I have been exploring mobile gaming, especially since I have been writing this column, I've discovered exactly what I like and dislike about the genre. Mobile MMOs are the tiniest niche within the greater world of MMOs. Some would say that MMOs are even a tiny corner of gaming in general. While I don't quite agree, I would say that explaining my column to random game shop employees or curious friends is quite the challenge. "You write about games... on your phone?" "Yes, massively multiplayer games." "Huh?" Luckily there are many new ones that offer a much more robust gaming experience. I can proudly show people examples of games like Order and Chaos Online, Star Legends or Illyriad. Of course, I sift through many poor examples before I get to the good ones. So let's take this opportunity to discuss what I think makes for a good game. Click past the cut and feel free to add your ideas in the comments section!
MMObility: Fifty games for the mobile lifestyle
I like lists. Lists help keep my candy-coated brain functioning. I see so many games, devices, and developers that I need to write things down periodically or become lost. Not so long ago I made a list of 25 games for your shiny new laptop, but I wanted to update it with other devices as well. I'd like to clarify the devices I have, though, especially since it was brought to my attention that a lot of players use laptops as their primary gaming machines. When I refer to a laptop, it is far from a gaming machine and could not run games like EverQuest II or Age of Conan. So here are some stats: I have an HTC Inspire, an iPhone 3GS, an iPad, a Phenom Triple-core PC desktop with an Nvidia 9800 card, six gigs of ram and onboard sound. My laptop is an HP G62 with an AMD Athlon II P340 dual core processor, three gigs of ram and an AMD graphics chip built in. I also have a more powerful gaming PC, but that is often referred to as "the wife's machine" around here, and it is so packed with her items that I rarely touch it. So most of these games can be run on their native devices, and if they are meant for PC, probably on netbooks as well. When I'm playing on netbooks, resolution is often the major issue. Some games just will not fit on the tiny screens without some slight modding. Anyway, click past the cut to see the list. The first 11 are my favorites, the ones that I play often, if not every day. The rest are in no particular order, so keep that in mind as well. Remember that this year is going to be an incredible one for mobile, thanks to the new games I found at E3. So this list will change!
MMObility: Just how mobile was E3?
E3 is a massive, loud conglomeration of lights, people, and stress. I spent most of my time there walking from one end to another, trying to find a certain booth or meeting room. Luckily for me, I am in pretty good shape and felt just fine the entire time, despite the fact that I had little to eat, and worse yet, little water. At home I drink water non-stop... no soda, no coffee. Still, it was a blast. Working like that really makes a tiny reporter like yours truly feel wonderful. Conversations with developers can be very, very interesting if games are what you love. And there were games. A ton of games. A bunch. A lot. Even then, I knew the feeling that was coming over me, the familiar feeling of stumbling into a toy store or comic shop to look for goodies. I was in hog heaven but needed to find my particular fix. I needed indie, tiny or strange games. Games that ran on a toaster but worked well, browser games that would impress me, or phone games that would continue to destroy the idea that immersive, fun gameplay cannot be done on a portable device. Did I find what I was looking for? Oh, hell yes I did. Click past the cut and I will tell you all about it.
MMObility: Fleck highlights the possibilities of ARGs
Earlier in the week, Massively posted some news about a new alternate reality game called Fleck. Being the ever-curious roving gaming reporter that I am, I immediately checked it out. I found a game -- sort of -- that reminded me of FarmVille with a hefty dash of Parallel Kingdoms and a smidge of the whimsical Glitch. None of those is a bad thing, which is the good news. The bad news is that Fleck does not go as far as I would like... yet. This means that as more and more games like Fleck come out (and they will), we will continue to see improvements on the genre. Could alternate reality games really become successful? Is it realistic to assume that one day we will see ARGs become the most popular type of massive gaming? I think it's possible. Very possible. But let's talk about it past the cut.
New iPad MMO Fleck turns real maps into fantasy landscapes
With the sheer number of GPS-enabled devices capable of gaming, it seems inevitable that games will start taking the hard part out of developing intricate maps. Sure enough, the brand-new iPad MMO Fleck is giving you the chance to fight monsters, tend gardens, and meet new friends, all by wandering around in your neighborhood. The game is build on an overlay by Google Maps, letting players explore the fantasy world at the same time that they move through the real world. The game is currently available for the iPad and browsers, and the team at Self Aware Games is also working on porting the game over to support other mobile devices such as iPhones, Droids, and similar smartphones. The game currently supports play throughout the continental United States as well as portions of southern Canada and northern Mexico. While the game's location-based setup might make travel times a uniquely involved process, iPad owners might well find something to like in Fleck as development continues.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Fleck
Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk Seppo Helava, co-founder of Self Aware Games about the developer's new social gaming project, Fleck. What's your game called, and what's it about? The thing we're working on right now is Fleck. You can check it out right now at http://www.fleck.com. The simple description? WoW + Facebook + The Sims + Google Maps = Fleck. It's an MMO where you can do all sorts of things, from creating an amazing garden to slaying the zombie hordes -- but it's all done on a map of the real world. But it's not just a map -- it's your neighborhood. Your favorite restaurants, pulled from Yelp. Your local weather. When you fight zombies, you fight them on streets you're familiar with. In Fleck, you interact with people. Real people in real time. You can work together to create a garden by your house. You can complete scavenger hunts or quests together. Play with friends -- in your neighborhood. There's something incredibly more satisfying about hanging out in a familiar place than in yet another orc-filled fantasy or bald space marine-filled sci-fi realm.
