I will leave the reviews to the PocketGamer's (yeah!) and the GameInfomer's (negative and surly)...I will simply say that I like it a lot , and think that once again the brothers Nimble have made another great game, perfectly suited for the platform.
What I am interested in are distilling the elements that qualify it as a.) great and b.) suited for the platform. AKA - the design decisions anyone working in mobile games and engagement should want to study.
This looks like fun, right?
1.) Familiar, yet different. As the tutorial boldly asks, you remember how to play Snake, right?
Game mechanics of Snake + awesome 8-bit Final Fantasy inspired RPG art and music + a simple (autofire) action combat mechanic = Instantly familiar, yet surprising and new gaming. No explanations necessary, and just enough surprise to form a few new neural pathways.
2.) One hand / one finger swipe controls.
As with all things mobile, it's preferable if you design a game around the thing you do with a touch screen. I.E. touch it. So the one finger swipe to steer is the very definition of K.I.S.S. And satisfying again and again as a tiny building block of core compulsion (see previous posts for additional rants on this subject).
3.) Vertical orientation
To compliment the one-hand play. We hold the phone upright. Games need a really good reason to eschew portrait orientation. And that reason should have everything to do with the user experience, starting with the user.
4.) Fast paced levels
I haven't timed it out yet, but it feels like the average level takes about 60 - 90 seconds to complete. Perfect for bite sized sessions - yet you can also play several levels back-to-back with no diminished sense of accomplishment.
4.) Loads of loot and rewards
To be completely candid, I haven't scratched the surface re: purchasing "buffs"or tackled the ramp in difficulty. But 2 days in, there is enough loot dropping and jewel / power ups on offer every session to scratch the itch for immediate, Mario coin frenzy-like instant gratification.
5.) The F Factor -- Fun
Hardest to quantify, and easiest to know if you got it or not, Nimble Quest exudes a fresh sense of fun, humor and whims that make you want to keep coming back for more. Without waxing too rhapsodic, Nimble Bit has honed a "voice" that, in addition to the mechanics, make their games tons o' fun. You can always tell that there is no committee involved in the inception and creation of NB games. And for this, we should all be thankful.
Monetization-wise, we will have to see. Past titles like Tiny Tower and Pocket Planes seemed to climb the grossing charts as well as the DL charts nearly simultaneously, and stay there. But that's a subject for further research and a different post.
Anyone think I got this all wrong? I invite dissent.
It's interesting to read this. Although I agree with every point regarding the game, Nimble Quest is the first NimbleBit title in quite a while that hasn't grabbed me. I thought it was fun, but the pull was about the same for me as it was for Sky Burger— a day or two of playing with it off and on before boredom set in. Not the weeks and weeks of addiction I've succumb to because of Tiny Tower and Pocket Planes.
ReplyDeleteI guess to an extent I felt like the game had jumped the shark; it's just too many upgrades, characters, bonuses, etc. and no story (linear or play-driven) to tie it all together.
Another recent release, however, has grabbed my devoted attention for all of these same reasons: Ridiculous Fishing. The mechanics are simple and vaguely familiar (while mixed with an modern art style). It's vertical and one-handed, with short minimum play sessions— shorter than Nimble Quest's (~30-45 seconds?) and also more fixed in length. And the fun— it's gushing with style and humor.
Perhaps what has made this example that much more appealing to me than Nimble Quest is how the gameplay seems much more directed. The tutorial is short and sweet and steps through the entire typical play loop: fish, buy stuff, fish, fish again, buy stuff, maybe check the Fish-o-pedia, continue. The game also has the benefit of being incredibly easy to get into; a single tap on the title screen is the first action of a new session.
I'll admit NimbleBit's titles have had strong secondary draws in the past— maybe something later on about Nimble Quest will grab me. Or maybe not.
Ridiculous Fishing has been on my short list to DL and play. It was also a game I was anticipating on iOS - again, a rarity. Though I have been too cheap to pony up for it at it's current $2.99 price point (F2P does have merits for end users sometimes).
ReplyDeleteI will have to go and investigate it for myself, clearly.
Interestingly for me, I have never invested the massive amounts of time others have to the Nimbebit resource games. Perhaps it's a matter of preference for genre - I tend to gravitate towards the faster twitch gaming experiences.
But I maintain my central thesis - Nimble Quest is instantly appealing because it's a mashup of a very well known and intuitive game / gameplay, with a dash of RPG short hand style and an overlay of quick combat action in a neat little, bite sized installment play action.
I'll give you that that instant appeal is what makes Nimblebit's offerings stand out and rise above those from giants such as Zynga— but I still think that Nimble Quest has somewhat missed its mark. I've since played it on OS X; arrow keys over swipe control alone makes it a much better game. However, an instant death and loss of 10-15 minutes of “work” because some dumbass rat faded-in right in front of me just keeps killing the joy for me. ;-)
DeleteThere is a point you just made about NimbleBit that you didn't in the article though— that the amount of gameplay one can get out of NimbleBit games is massive. I've exhausted most of Ridiculous Fishing has to offer in a couple of weeks, and (seemingly) so have most of my GameCenter chums. I may revisit it from time to time for the beauty of it or to share with others, but I probably won't be going back unless there's an update with additional content. Nimble Quest is — yes — freely available, and it'll likely hang out on my phone/Mac for quite a while. Because I know every time I open it, it'll be challenging and at least a little fun.
Ridiculous Fishing is a beautiful piece of interactive storytelling art. Definitely give it a spin. ;-)
(P.S. I didn't get an e-mail notification that you had replied back to my comment. Perhaps there's a way to turn this on in the Blogger settings?)
ReplyDelete