Turtle Trench (iPhone Lemmings game)

[ichidan]

Hi guys,

I'm new here. I've been a long fan of the lemmings game. I wanted to show you guys what I've been developing lately...

I've created Lemmings-clone for the iPhone platform, called "Turtle Trench". I've just uploaded a "Lite" version to the app store, and that can be downloaded for free.

If anyone has iPhones/iPod Touches, then you should be able to play it. I'm working on a full version with more features, more levels, and graphics. I'm anxious to hear your feedback, as the ideas and suggestions you give will be incorporated into the Full version.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turtle-trench-lite/id447579919?ls=1&mt=8" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turtle-trench-lite/id447579919?ls=1&mt=8

http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/090/Purple/d1/cd/51/mzl.vortovvp.175x175-75.jpg" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IRV2my2PYA#" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Turtle Trench (iPhone Game)

Post comments and suggestions here, and I'll be happy to respond. Thanks.

btw: I have a Flash based level editor, so when I release the Full version, I plan to make it possible for anyone to submit their own bundles of levels.

[ccexplore]

Unfortunately I don't have any i-Products, but the few screenshots posted do look cool. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" /> Like the style of graphics.

I expect you'll definitely want to get feedback from i-Players on their opinions of the controls.  There aren't too many ports of lemmings that are strictly touch-only.  I do see that you've already taken care to make the main characters fairly large in size compared with the relative sizing of lemmings, which is definitely a wise choice for touch.

The sky is the limit when it comes to extending the gameplay beyond what's available in original Lemmings.  Examples to think about:
  - new skills (this is obvious, and is what happened with Lemmings 2 for example.  But be careful not to have too many skills available at once in any level, as it's unlikely there's a good touch-based way to select amongst too many skill choices)
  - pick-ups (get extra skills, extra characters, speed changes, etc. etc. etc.)
  - more advanced contraptions (eg. teleports, moving land, slingshots, gravity changers, size changers, etc.)
  - new "land types".  In Lemmings it's basically regular land (destructible) and steel (indestructible) [okay, there are also "one-way" walls].  Water/lava/acid are deadly.  Given that your main characters are turtles, there should definitely be some swimming-like behavior for water, for example:
        * they will automaticlaly swim on the water's surface (if the water's deep enough), during which time they can't perform certain regular skills they could perform on solid ground (eg. digging no, but exploding yes)
        * some of the water can go up and down (like tides) which can influence where the turtles end up (because they float with the changing water level, and can even transition between on land and on water if the water level falls below some piece of land)
        * etc.
     other things to think about include slippery ice, sinking quicksand, etc.  Acid/lava can be used for types of liquid that kills.

Interesting you mention the level editor is Flash.  That would mean level editing can't be done on i-Devices.  Might want to keep that in mind.

[ccexplore]

I'd also mention that since you aren't Steve Jobs, given the rapid rise of the Android market, it would make sense to not restrict yourself to only i-Devices and consider creating a port for Android at some point.  I don't own any of that either at the moment so it won't help me personally, but I'm sure it'll allow a number of more people here and elsewhere to try your game.

[Simon]

I lack the necessary hardware as well -- don't have an Iphone, anything by Apple, or any handheld in general. And you don't seem eager to port it to other desktop OSses >_> I'd have liked to do some usability testing on the game otherwise.

The screenshot looks really slick though. Good luck with any final polish.

-- Simon

[ccexplore]

I refrained from mentioning porting to destkop OSes mainly because there is no established marketplace mechanism like with the handhelds.  Well, not quite true, but it works differently in any case.  Closest I can think of is maybe Steam, but I'm sure there are many others you can think of.

Obviously since I don't own either i-Something nor Android devices, I would love to try it on desktop OSes, but again I can understand that being a route that ichidan is not exploring at the moment or ever.  And to be fair, a desktop version would also work against one of the main goals of evaluating the touch-only controls, though it can still be useful for evaluating other gameplay aspects.

[ichidan]

Thanks for the replies. They're really appreciated, especially ccexplore, there's a lot of ideas there that I didn't think of while others that I did, so that's a good sign that I'm thinking on the same wavelength here. If anyone has other ideas they'd like to share, feel free to comment, as I'm going to be building the full version now...

I'm going to upload a video of the game being played on the iPhone. You'll have to excuse the poor quality of the video, I use my HTC Desire to video the iPhone, so I'm playing with one finger.

I started working on this project a year ago as a little hobby. Then I got caught up with work, so I put it on the back burner until recently. So it's been on/off. I decided to release a Lite version to see what reviews it got and use that to determine whether it's worth building a full version, and porting to other platforms (Android, Windows Mobile, and PC/Mac). Apparently it shouldn't be too difficult to port it to Android or PC since I've coded it almost entirely in C++ & Open GL ES.

Initially I had a level editor built inside the app. It's still there, but quite primitive, and I just figured it'd be a real pain making all the levels on my iphone (it'd be a lot easier on the iPad though), so just built it in Flash.

I see this as more of a soft launch/beta-testing phase. So apologies to those who aren't able to enjoy playing this game yet. It just wasn't wise to invest lots of time and energy into a project if it didn't gain interest.

I see the game as a Lemmings-clone, but one not confined to the rules of Lemmings. So I add my own twists. For instance the 3 Stars that you can collect on the level in addition to getting the turtles to the exit.

Anyway the next step is...

Lite Version
- In game tutorial (the basics, "Touch the turtle, select this icon, get your turtles to the exit etc.")
- Mostly bug fixes/optimizations.
- More sound effects

Full Version
- Around 50 levels, over 5 different environments (e.g. cave, sky, water, fire, ice) - (I've already built 20 levels)
- Around 15-20 different actions e.g. Dig, Build, Jump etc.
- In game tutorial (the basics, "Touch the turtle, select this icon, get your turtles to the exit etc.")
- More and better music
- More sound effects
- Other features/alterations (dependent on feedback from Reviews on App Store, and community forums including this one)

Possibly included in Full Version, or in a later upgrade
- iPhone Hi Res (Retina)
- iPad version (this would likely be the same, except you see the entire level on screen, no scrolling. but may have some iPad specific levels)
- Level Editor (Flash based/iPad Based), ability to play other's level packs.

Ports
- Android
- Windows Mobile
- PC
- Mac

[ichidan]

Here's a video, apologies about the quality, was using my HTC Desire to film it. But gives you an idea of how the game plays anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD56BdVw3-A" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD56BdVw3-A

[Clam]

I'd love to try this, but my iPod touch needs an update that's gonna take 4 hours to download. Maybe tomorrow http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

(EDIT: maybe not, more issues...)

[ichidan]

I'd love to try this, but my iPod touch needs an update that's gonna take 4 hours to download. Maybe tomorrow http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

Yeah, I've had a few people complain about needing to upgrade their iOS. I didn't realise that so many people didn't have version 4.2 or greater (released Nov '10). If I can put out a new version, or when I get around to the full version, I'll try and release as a 4.0. Since I don't use any features specific to 4.2+.

Here's penetration stats from March '11:

http://blog.jcmultimedia.com.au/2011/03/is-it-worth-supporting-ios-3-in-2011.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://blog.jcmultimedia.com.au/2011/03/is-it-worth-supporting-ios-3-in-2011.html

http://blog.jcmultimedia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Table3-iOS4-Distribution-One-Week.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />
(as of Mid-March, 75% of iOS 4 users should be able to run this app. About 90% of all iOS users have iOS 4+. So it's a small but significant minority of iOS users that can't run this until they upgrade. I'll lower the version requirement to 4.0+ when I make a new update.)

Those who are able to play the game, I'd love to hear feedback.

50% Shrink
I think an action that can make a turtle shrink to 50% size would be cool (including levels where all turtles are by default 50% shrunk), it wouldn't require new graphics, just scaling (I'm trying to keep the graphics/memory footprint as low as possible). There could be a level where there is a small passageway that a turtle needs to get thru, and then they can do something like dig diagonally back to bring their friends through. I think I'll also add a mechanical switch (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow) that toggles when a turtle traverses, thereby toggling a solid door (matching the color) or a light (for a dark world), the water level (water world), or a block of T.N.T boxes (cave world).

Zoom out
The ability to zoom out, using two finger pinch (can be replicated on a PC/Mac using the middle roller or a +/- button) has been mentioned before. Again this could be something where some levels have it zoomed out by default.

A combination of the zoom & turtle shrink would help satisfy those who like the classic proportions of lemmings even if it makes the game trickier to control. Conversely the ability to zoom in to 200% may give a retro pixelation effect.

Gravity changing Turtles
Whether this would operate as an action that flips the individual gravity of a single turtle 180 degrees. Or if it was done as a localised region on a level where gravity is different. Again, this would be an easy feature to implement.

[ichidan]

I've added the 50% shrink feature. It looks and plays very good. I'm thinking of having an entire world of small turtles. It's still very playable, and effectively quadruples the relative space on a level. But I'll also make an action to change the size so on certain levels you'll need to use a combination of small and normal sized turtles!

[ichidan]

I'd love to try this, but my iPod touch needs an update that's gonna take 4 hours to download. Maybe tomorrow http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

(EDIT: maybe not, more issues...)

Did you manage to play the game now? Clam Spammer? What kinds of issues were you experiencing?

[ichidan]

Has anyone else played the game?

In one of the reviews, someone complained about not being able to play the 2nd level. But unfortunately, I don't know what device they used to play the game. I might have to go out and buy an older iPhone/iPod Touch to test it.

[ichidan]

The full version of Turtle Trench is now available for download on your iPhone/iPod/iPads.

In this version, there are 120 stars to collect over 40 levels. Many new features have been added, that were not in the Lite version. Such as the ability to zoom out, water, reverse gravity, and many more...

Go to the following link for more info: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turtle-trench/id496551999?mt=8" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turtle-trench/id496551999?mt=8

Look forward to hearing your feed back.

[Clam]

I just picked up the Lite version, and had the same problem you mentioned above - the game crashes when I try to play level 2 (in either set). I'm using an iPod Touch. Can you assure me this won't happen on the full version? http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/undecided.gif" alt=":-\" title="Undecided" class="smiley" />

[Clam]

Well, I went ahead and got the full game anyway, and it works just fine (so far at least). I'll try to play through the whole thing over the weekend, but for now here are some initial thoughts:

- As noted already, the graphics are excellent, and the characters are wonderfully cute (so much so that bombing them seems a bit mean http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/undecided.gif" alt=":-\" title="Undecided" class="smiley" /> http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />).
- The restart function is too slow for my liking, it would be better to put this in the pause menu rather than having to nuke first.
- Diggers (of all types) feel very slow, I'd strongly consider increasing their movement speed. Even 2x as fast wouldn't be too much IMHO.
- The ability to zoom out is great, but I'd prefer to start zoomed out and then zoom in if I need to. Maybe there could be an option for this?
- The music doesn't play when you retry a level. (Though I typically prefer to play without music anyway http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" class="smiley" />)
- Bombing the turtles on the title screen is wicked fun http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />

Also, I do hope the 'coming soon' part amounts to something eventually, more levels are always good http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />