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I love free things, especially when they are free strategy games from Firaxis, the development studio that brought us XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization V, among many other great games.
Firaxis’s next game, the spooky, free-to-play strategy title Haunted Hollow, is out today for iOS. Our very own Mike Fahey downloaded it this morning, and he’ll be posting thoughts in the near future. But if you can’t wait, you can get it right here.
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Why are you android users STILL asking these kinds of questions? I mean god, I’d rather see you guys go on and on about how iPhone is the worst than be genuinely perplexed as to why no developer wants the headache of developing for a completely fractured, highly pirated install base that’s more trouble than it’s worth.
The brush you’re using could not be more broad. I purchase all Android games because
1) I prefer the hardware. Once you use a 4.7″ 1080p screen, you can’t go back to iPhone
2) I believe an open mobile platform is better for gaming than a walled-off one. This is still true on PCs, where the purchase of games from a wide spectrum of sources (Steam, Origin, GMG, GOG etc) still trumps a curated Mac App Store.
That said, I understand why developers would rather release on iOS first. It’s easier, 99% of users can be covered by 2 different sets of chips and resolutions. The piracy issue is still very real because the option of installing from APKs is being abused by the same kids with ‘homebrew’ PSPs and R4 cards. It is not an Android-exclusive problem either, look at evasi0n/Cydia numbers where the overwhelming majority of users are using it to steal games.
The biggest problem is that people don’t understand that everyone has different uses and preferences. I personally can’t think of anything worse than a massive 4.7″ screen for something I like for its portability and convenience. It’s just too big for something I want to have in my pocket, and not useful to me.
Again, the open platform is, for some people, a plus. But for people like me who really just want something clean, minimal and functional, Android’s bloated, garish UI, the disconnect between hardware and software, and weaker focus on design principles just doesn’t suit. As a graphic designer, I respect and admire the hardware, software, and interface design of Apple’s products.
Not everyone wants an open platform. A great example is the sphere grid in Final Fantasy X. There were two options for the leveling system, one, where the developers would guide you along the most fitting leveling route for that particular character (ie. Tidus getting speed spheres, Auron getting strength ones), locking out routes that wouldn’t be ideal.
The other option was the ‘open’ sphere grid, where you could take your leveling path wherever you liked, with far less locked off paths. The problem was, if you didn’t know exactly what you were doing you could end up with characters that were jack of all trades, and masters of none, you’d miss out on crucial abilities, some characters would have high health, but terrible attack strength. If you messed up bad enough, you could get stuck in areas and have to grind to fix your mistakes because your characters were all wrong.
I personally just wanted to get on with the main game and not have to worry about the metagame of levelling perfectly.
My overall point is, these days you only ever see Android users attacking Apple users for their choice in phones / computers, etc. The irony is that whilst Apple users have this reputation of being elitist and judgemental, it’s actually the Android users now who are talking down to and abusing those who they believe are ‘beneath’ them.
It’s a matter of choice, and while iPhone users subjectively take a hit on things like system freedom and screen size, Android users need to come to terms with the fact that they aren’t going to get every game and app that comes out because of the ‘strengths’ of their platform. It’s a double edged sword, whichever you chose.
That sphere grid was probably the nerdiest analogy I’ve ever heard. Yes, it’s a double-edged sword and openness has the potential to be misused but guess what? I’m not an idiot, I do a lot of research and I’m positive that a more flexible system will be infinitely more useful for me than a close-off one that’s designed for the 90% of mainstream consumers in the middle of the bell curve. I don’t want my use being hamstrung by the average user’s aptitude.
But for people like me who really just want something clean, minimal and functional, Android’s bloated, garish UI, the disconnect between hardware and software, and weaker focus on design principles just doesn’t suit. As a graphic designer, I respect and admire the hardware, software, and interface design of Apple’s products.
I’ll hazard a guess and say you haven’t used Android in a while because it’s anything but garish and bloated. It’s flat, minimalist and completely functional. If you’ve been following the iOS 7 rumour mill after Jony Ive’s promotion, Apple’s all but abandoning their skeumorphic design for something closer to what Android’s doing now.
Hell, here’s a thread from The Verge that I posted in just before I read your reply where there’s a vocal minority of iOS users who are clamouring for a return to skeumorphic stitched leather and green felt instead of the minimal, clean design. You cannot look at Games Centre or Notes and say with a straight face that you respect that as a graphic designer. There was a time when Android was hideous and iOS was the belle of the ball, but that stopped being true around the time I jumped over from my iPhone 4 when Scott Forstall double-downed on this bizarre, jarring UI.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/5/4301704/flat-ui-is-one-dimensional-boring-unattractive-lazy-gross
As I said, it’s not about being an idiot or not, it’s not even about you. It’s about choice, and values. You value something others don’t, I values things you obviously don’t. I don’t care about openness on my phone. I use it to browse the internet on the go, message and call people, take notes and voice memos and play games occasionally, all of which it does perfectly. On my computer, sure, I like a bit more freedom, but even OSX is plenty open enough for me. Our difference in opinion and taste here is completely normal.
As I said this is my main point, my comment is more a reaction to constantly seeing a demographic on the internet, usually tech / PC gaming male nerds, being utterly vitriolic as soon as Apple is brought up, but refusing to accept the weaknesses of their own platform or the fact that their desires are not the same as everyone elses.
As for Android, these are the sorts of examples I’m talking about:
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/10/flyscreen.jpg
http://cdn.appstorm.net/android.appstorm.net/files/2011/06/Widget-Locker-Lockscreen-Android1.jpg
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/android-lock-screen1.jpg
http://mstublefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-07-29-18.48.35.png
http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/Androidscreenshots3_396x600.jpg
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/17/2010/08/340x_andhomescreen.jpg
http://cdn.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/snap20100604_161850.png
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-8.0-Review-android-home-screen.jpg
http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4ff59d20ecad04126e00000d-590/from-the-home-screen-you-can-swipe-up-from-the-bottom-of-the-display-to-launch-google-now.jpg
http://smartphoneblogging.com/wp-content/gallery/android-4-1-jelly-bean-for-tablets/nexus_7_jelly_bean_homescreen_2.png
I’m certainly no expert on Android so a big part of me hopes i’ve somehow just found some teen pseudo-designer’s concept images for skins and the like, but you can’t tell me that UI design isn’t a massive problem on Android looking at these.
I’ll definitely agree that Game Centre, has and always will be hideous, but at least that is an app hidden away that you literally never have to open if you don’t want to. Your lock and home screen on Apple looks clean and ordered. And the yellow of notes does get on my nerves too, I use that one quite a lot.
But the first time I opened the voice memos app and saw the rendered mic interface, I became a fan of this skeumorphic design the internet seems to hate. Some times it’s very fitting, other times it isn’t. Some writers claim users might not know what a rolodex or paper shredder even looks like as another reason to go against skeumorphic design and the visual metaphor is wasted, but then we’re still using a floppy disk symbol to illustrate the save button, so that doesn’t hold much water. It’s something that looks very good for app icons and logos, but can be problematic when it gets in the way of how an app functions. I personally, like you, am not an idiot and don’t get all flustered when I see a “C” on the calculator app instead of a backspace arrow.
A big problem with Apple, in all their controlling tendencies, should have nipped in the bud, is home screen backgrounds. Most people are bound to put something multi coloured, detailed and distracting as the home screen which really ruins the look. They should have forced people to choose from a spectrum of colours or gradients, not images. As you can see in the images above, it’s a big problem on android as well. A phone with a black or near black gradient as its background for the home screen looks infinitely better than one with an image. The icons have room to breathe and there’s far less visual pollution on the screen.
Haha the analogy was very nerdy, but we’re on Kotaku, so I figured ‘when in rome…’
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