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Apps Apple Watch Games

jabingla2810 said:
Apps on the watch are ideally used for seconds, not minutes, and even then the battery just gets to the end of the day.

I think people playing these games on the watch are going to find their battery is dead by lunch.
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Apple's 18 hour battery life includes 45 minutes a day of app usage. In the current SDK state, a game shouldn't really eat batteries any more than anything else, in the end it's still just a non-realtime menu system with the display on the watch.
 
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Chairman Cow: A virtual pet game designed around Apple Watch limitations

Here's a video of the game: Driven to Succeed

The First Virtual Pet Game With a Storyline

Chairman Cow has a dream to become the King of Rap. While many have laughed at him, made fun of him, and wrote mean comments to him, he will never let any of it discourage him from succeeding!

He's put up a lemonade stand to fund his rap career. Despite all of the haters, and all of the failures, he will never stop fighting for his dream.

Why does Alvin the Banker keep blocking Chairman Cow? Why does Chickadee float in space? And what is the mystery behind the alien?

Designing for the Apple Watch

It's existence is entirely based on keeping the Watch in mind! Every Apple Watch reviewer is complaining that third-party Apple Watch apps are really slow. And with good reason, there are huge limitations:

  • your arm gets sore when holding it up for longer than 10 seconds
  • the code runs on the iPhone, so each time you tap the screen, you have to wait for a 1 second delay each time
  • the dreaded loading spinner: every reviewer complains about this!
I designed a game that keeps all of these limitations in mind! Most games plain won’t work. If you’re tapping a button and waiting a second each time for the watch to respond, your arm’s going to fall off really fast...if you haven't fallen asleep yet.

A game that works so naturally is a virtual pet game. The sessions are really fast, feeding, cleaning, upgrading can all be done in just a few seconds. We’ve tirelessly optimized the design to make sense and be comfortable on a Watch.

We implemented a ton of coding tricks to make the game load fast: pre-built Storyboard UI, minimizing Bluetooth communication, use of glances and notifications so you don’t have to keep the app open, and more!

Story Sneak Peak

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Screenshots

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Watch Quest: An Adventure Game Built For The Apple Watch

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Here's the description from developer WayForward (makers of Shantae, the best Game Boy Color game of all time):

WayForward is pleased to unveil WATCH QUEST! – the first adventure game made exclusively for Apple Watch! Watch Quest is a new kind of game experience that spans two devices. The iPhone serves as the player’s kingdom, while the Apple Watch represents a journey that spans several hours.

Gameplay revolves around choosing a hero and equipping them on the iPhone, and then guiding the Hero via the Apple Watch as he or she travels lands, battles monsters, solves puzzles, and searches for treasures. Players are invited to play passively by selecting longer, easier quests and outfitting the hero up front – or by taking on more difficult quests which require foraging for items as you go.

The game comes free with one training quest, and follows a DLC model with additional characters and campaigns purchasable from within the iPhone app as Quest Packs.

Watch Quest! will share a launch date of 4-24-15 along with the Apple Watch.
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Not a Minecraft man myself, but based on the fervor of the fans I've met, the Apple Watch version of Minecraft Explorer Pro may be enough in itself to sell another 2.3 million watches.

The Minecraft companion app Minecraft Explorer Pro has been updated with support for Apple Watch.

This means you'll be able to browse crafting recipes on your smartwatch (if you get one) while playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition on your phone or tablet.
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Waddaya know? It's the Apple Watch's first knock-off game!

Here's the trailer for Quacky Hunt.

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MIAMI BEACH, FL - April 17, 2015 - Long-time iOS developer, Candywriter, has announced it will release a retro shooter named Quacky Hunt for Apple Watch next week. The duck hunting simulator is the first arcade game announced for the new platform and will debut alongside the Apple Watch on April 24th.

Quacky Hunt uses a fast finger aiming mechanic that puts the user’s reflexes to the test. The objective of the game is to shoot as many ducks as possible in a row. A pixelated interface and Minecraft-inspired voxel graphics complete a retro feel for the game.

“We believe ‘one touch’ or ’super casual’ games popularized in recent times on iOS are a perfect fit for Apple Watch,” said Candywriter founder, Kevin O’Neil. “Quacky Hunt is designed to engage players in short shooting rampages of no more than 15-20 seconds. Just remember: if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…hunt it on your Apple Watch.”

Quacky Hunt for Apple Watch comes bundled with a full-featured iOS version of the game that can be played on the user’s companion iPhone. The iOS version includes a dog that helps the user hunt and occasionally bursts into comic ridicule upon a miss.

Quacky Hunt will be available as a free download for Apple Watch and iOS on April 24th.
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In the new Apple Watch game Spy_Watch "gameplay centres around real time notifications between you and your agent in the field".

Sounds like a good approach to maximizing the Apple Watch's limitations as a gaming platform.

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UK indie Bossa Studios, who have previously turned out the wildly successful Surgeon Simulator and the hilarious oddity I Am Bread have announced their first game just for Apple's new wearable.

Spy_Watch is described as a "new type of game for a new type of hardware", and looks set to use the future-detective connotations of the smart watch for the basis of its story-based gameplay. The story will cast you as the son of a dead spy, who has to interact with an analyst and spy who carries out missions on your behalf, asking for advice at regular points and forcing you to make strategic decisions. It will be a paid game, and will aim to draw you in over time, rather than with long bursts of gameplay.

Bossa Studios said in a press release that "gameplay centres around real time notifications between you and your agent in the field that are sent and delivered via Apple Watch's intuitive interface". In the game you will have to "complete a mission to earn money, which can then be used to improve your spy’s abilities" and play in short, five-to-ten second bursts.

Bossa co-founder Imre Jele said in a statement: "We are now all used to communicating via short text based messages and we felt this would be a really interesting and accessible way to tell an interactive story. Thanks to the Apple Watch we are now able to bring the thrill of espionage to your wrist, just like one of James Bond’s infamous gadgets."
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Now here's a different approach to the use of the Apple Watch for gaming...

The upcoming iOS game Stella's Journey has added support to use the Apple Watch as a controller for the game.

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An upcoming platformer will let you control the action by using the Apple Watch as a joypad.

Stella's Journey - a fairytale adventure from the studio behind Religion Simulator - will have an Apple Watch companion app that turns the tiny touchscreen into a controller for your iPhone or iPad.
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Lifeline appears to use a similar game mechanic to Spy_Watch...

It's a branching narrative that plays out in real-time, and asks you to make weighty decisions solely through Apple Watch notifications. The story, written by comic author Dave Justus, is about the last surviving astronaut after a crash landing on an alien moon.
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Here's an interesting opinion piece from EuroGamer...

Could the Apple Watch become one of gaming's Galapagos Islands?

I love it when games travel to places that seem uniquely unsuited to them. Sure, you get a lot of dross, a lot of botches, but you also get to see designers at their best: wrangling with strange, seemingly intractable platforms in a bid to make new kinds of fun. Like those horizontal willow trees quietly growing along the ground in islands situated above the arctic circle, it is great to see games flourish where games are clearly not meant to be.
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I'm sure there will be no shortage of Match Three games for the Apple Watch, but Jelly Cubes is one of the first...

Offers the full game on your Watch. Plus, you can sync your save between them and continue playing where you left off on your iPhone.
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I'm really excited for the games. I like the idea of quick 15 second/notification games throughout the day. The one with the astronaut sounds really cool.
 
PocketGamerUK's brief first impressions of the following Apple Watch games...

  • Runeblade
  • Cupcake Dungeon
  • Gravity Mike
  • Spy_Watch
  • Lifeline
  • Modern Combat 5
  • Trivia Crack
  • Snappy Word
  • Watch Quest!
 
For anyone interested in seeing some of the Apple Watch launch games in action - - AppSpy.com has just posted it's 5 minute video overview of gaming on the Apple Watch.


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BTW, here's one wag's take on an imaginary game controller accessory for the Apple Watch...

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...and finally - - this just released, thoughtful, long-format article on developing games for the Apple Watch via ArsTechnica entitled...

The promise—and massive challenge—of making games for the Apple Watch
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