Why do we need iOS ports for mac?

There is lots of games with more options and better graphics. So why would we want to play games designed for iOS with our macs?
Gameloft had few games on x-mas discount so I bought Asphalt 6 and N.O.V.A. 2 from Mac App Store. I have those two on my iPhone but I wanted to give them a try with mac too.
13" MacBook Pro and MacBook Airs are very popular but they come with Intel integrated graphic boards and are not suited for heavy gaming. Heavy gamers usually have a gaming laptop ,heavy desktop pc or console like I have but you cannot carry that with you. Heavy gamers also spend lots of time playing games.
But people carrying their neat and light mac laptops have sometimes some time to waste. And why not play games. Games ported from iOS are maybe not the most beautiful ones but light enough to be played with Intel graphic cards. And if you're not a heavy gamer you could like simple controls and easy gameplay. Games you don't need to spend hours to master controls or try the same jump or fight hundreds of times.
Casual gaming is going to be more popular. Everybody has a laptop and smartphones are selling with great numbers. So why not port popular iOS games for mac. They just should be ported properly remembering that laptops have a physical keyboard, bigger screen and touchpad. If everything is done correctly playing those games is easy and fun. So the answer is yes, we need those games on mac too. If you sit in a train one hour it can be spent playing N.O.V.A. 2 but for example Skyrim is too heavy stuff for just wasting time (and have some fun doing it).

N.O.V.A. 2 looks good enough for casual gaming.

Cars in Asphalt 6 are easy to handle.

Why I like scifi rpg:s more than fantasy ones?

For a while I have been playing Mass Effect 1 & 2 with Xbox. Earlier I tried to play Oblivion and now I bought Dragon Age: Origin. All of those should be great games.
Most of rpg:s are placed in fantasy worlds like good ol' Dungeons & Dragons. For pc there were not too much good scifi rpg:s. Some old farts would mention Sentinel Worlds. And then was Fallout 1 & 2 but at that time I did not play much.
And now I was playing those four games and liked much more Mass Effects. Even there is lots of fantasy rpg:s they all look quote same.  I always end up carrying 20 pieces of leather pants because they are worth of coin or two. And at the end of the game I have so much potions I could put up an drugstore. I never use most of them because I could need them later in the game. And when the final battle comes I'm too busy to use them all.
Other thing I hate especially in Oblivion and Dragon Age is collecting flowers. I should be a hero, not a florist. Fantasy games usually have some kind of a alchemy system but I am too lazy to learn them. Flowers could be used in potions but always some guy wants me to pick up flowers for him.
Scifi games are usually simplier. You don't need to collect million kinds of different junk just because you may need it or you don't know is it valuable or not. In fantasy games I always have to throw away three pairs of sandals and that valuable drarwen hammer because I cannot move any more. It also seems that in Mass Effects (and Fallouts?) you can make more decissions and what you do and say has more effect to the world.
Or maybe I've just played wrong games but fantasy games seem to be quite same kind. Only fantasy games I love to play these days are Eschalon series. But it is isometric and turn based so there is more time to think. And no flower collecting.
Maybe I just should start playing Fallout 3 wich I bought almost a year ago. I have plenty of a time before Mass Effect 3 arrives next year. I just pre-ordered its Collectors Edition. I like those artbooks.

Project SpaceMelee beta download

Beta version of Project SpaceMelee is now available for download.

Some concept design

I haven't been working in a while with this project. After introducing our new video I started to desing a new ship based on sketches my brother used in it. I have to work with shape little bit more. Ship also needs a pilot so I designed alien with big eye ball hovering in its armor. Should do more sketches. I'm not happy with that tentacle thing I am doing right now. I just wanted to show that I started to work again.

I also signed in a comic drawing course so you'll maybe see some comic stuff too in future.

Concet design about alien and ship

Project SpaceMelee status update

We have been quite busy in other activities and haven't had much time to develop Project SpaceMelee. However I managed to do some coding during the summer and implemented a ship selector and a planet. The game is now almost feature complete, with AI being the largest missing feature. Lots of polish and play testing are still needed, but we are a bit closer to a completed game.

GameSalad - easy game creating for mac, iOS and web?

I was reading my brothers gaming magazines and found interesting article about GameSalad Creator. It should be the easy way to create games for web and Apples platforms.
I am not a coder and it could be useful at least for practise so I downloaded it immediately I got back home.   It seems to have lots of ready templates for different games and many of them have tutorials. Unluckily I have to go back to work tomorrow but I'll have to spend some time with this.
Program is free to download and use but there is also Pro version with few more options. I don't have iOS developer account (yet?) so I'll have to stick with mac OS and web games. I have been planning to do maybe mini adventure or platformer by my own. Just to see how mechanics work. Time will show is there any other use for this.

Sam&Max t-shirt

Few weeks ago Telltale Games had a discount and I ordered S&M t-shirt, Monkey Island poster and bought The Devil's Playhouse. Now the stuff has arrived. And t-shirt looks really cool:

I also have to buy frame for the poster. Unluckily I haven't had time to play or make any graphics. Having a daytime job is not good for hobbies (but good for bank account).

Boxer - mac friendly DOS emulator

The DOS game emulator that’s fit for your Mac.

Is DOSbox too complicated for you? Still want to play old classic games? Why not try Boxer. It won't solve all your problems but it is worth of trying. And luckily some old classics can be bought for iPhone, Xbox or even mac. I have Monkey Island 2 on Xbox and Flight of the Amazon Queen on iPhone.

Frogatto & Friends from Lost Pixel - 2D platformer for free!

Who has played Mario Bros, Giana Sisters and Commander Keen? Frogatto & Friends is new old school 2D platformer and it is free to download and play.

Frogatto is just like those old favourites we used to play. And you can play it with win, mac and linux computers for free. With iPhone you have to pay few bucks.
Frogatto has pixelated old school graphics and 16-bit like music and in this case it works quite well. Atmosphere is warm and nice. And at least on the beginning it does not feel too difficult like Return to Dark Castle I tried about a month ago. Playing that was really painful and I never got far.
I enjoy to play Frogatto and it could be good for kids too. And because it is free it is always worth of trying if you like 2D platformers. I played it with 13" MacBook Pro and it ran nicely like it should.

Crowdfunding

After reading about Iron Sky going for crowdfunding, I have been thinkig about using crowdfunding in our projects. Many crowdfunding services have games category and 8-Bit Funding is specialized only on games.
Most interesting candidates for us are IndieGoGo and RocketHub. According to Gamasutra they both have a number of successful game projects. They are also both used by Iron Sky. Kickstarter could also be interesting, but it is not available in Finland.
Compared to general services mentioned earlier 8-Bit Funding is something to different. It was created in January 2011 by DIY Gamer founder Geoff Gibson, because he found discrepancies against gaming related projects on other crowdfunding services. It is a new service and there have not been many successful projects yet, but this is definitely something we want keep eye on.
We are currently not planning to sell our games, but crowdfunding would add some incentive to our development. It would also be useful for purchasing new software to use in development. As non monetary benefit it would also be good meter how interesting our games are and provide feedback to make them better.
We probably won’t be using crowdfunding with Project SpaceMelee, but for future projects it would be seriously considered.

8 bit Zardoz?

This weekend we are working with Project Spacemelee but also planning the new game. So we played some games, watched movies, ate in Subway and browsed web for inspiration. And what we found?

I was planning to make cool flying head like one in Zardoz so I googled it. And here's the one result. Opening scene from 8-bit Zarzoz. Awesome!
Next week I'll start doing concept drawings about flying heads and some sketches about the world in game. Flying heads are to serve, protect and destroy!
We also have a guy working on musics for Spacemelee. I'll have to tune ships little more and  make something for explosions.

New video out

At least our first video is out. Project Spacemelee is in demo level but full playable. It needs lots of work and more ships but lets see the video now:

Designing logo

We had few ideas for logo but I had to put something on the page. Still the orange one is my favourite.

What do you think? It should have a retro feeling. My ex boss would hate all of these but he does mostly embroidery.

We are opening soon

Hello!

We are Spaceswamp. We are from Finland and we make games. I'm just testing feeds and social media integration.

Ville
Graphic designer