Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Real Triple Town available on iOS and Android


The holidays were crazy. Instead of opening presents, we were putting the finishing touches on the mobile version of Triple Town. Some late nights all around. Big kudos to Cliff Owen for doing an immense amount of the heavy lifting.

Triple Town for iPhone and iPad
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triple-town/id490532168?ls=1&mt=8

Triple Town for Android
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.spryfox.tripletown



If you love Triple Town, please download it (it is free) and rate it. We are in a bit of a David and Goliath situation here since a very large and nasty company copied Triple Town on mobile right at the end of December. We're a small team and we work hard, but moving to the phone took a few precious months. I don't quite know how to express the feeling of bleeding our lives out trying to finish the game...all while watching a soulless shark lavishly spend VC cash to ride up the chart. Using my own design. That was like a punch in the gut. Betrayal, violation and powerlessness all wrapped up into one unpleasant emotion. This has easily been one of the most emotionally difficult releases I've ever done.

To add insult to injury, the night we got ready to upload the Android version we made an awkward discovery: There was already a game called Triple Town being sold by a certain Mr. WangYang.  In fact, it was Triple Town.  The art was ripped from the web version.  The logo was the same.  Check out that screenshot...captured for posterity.  I want to send big thank you to Google.  Even though their offices had closed for the night, they took down the fake immediately.  That was deeply appreciated.

Ripped off: An example of a counterfeit game.

The best and most positive thing anyone who loves innovative indie games can do is spread the word about the original. Share the link. Download Triple Town. Write a review. Tell your friends. Heck, I tell strangers in coffee shops.

No one ever complains since a good indie game is an authentic joy. The next time I see someone after introducing them to Triple Town, all they ever want to talk about is Triple Town. It becomes an essential part of their life. It doesn't matter that it was done by a few guys working out of home offices. All that matters is that it is a good, original game that players love. I figure the Fast Follower bastards may have money and evil on their side, but maybe a passionate community and some word of mouth about a decent game can carve a small space for the little guys.

Big thanks for all the continued requests asking us to make Triple Town for mobile. It kept me going.

take care,
Danc.

PS: Also a lot of folks told me they just wanted to 'buy the damned thing'. So even though the game is still free if you want, you can now pay once and get unlimited turns.

PPS: First game in Unity! Very nice!

23 comments:

  1. Hm... the game is not available for my phone. And I even got a Samsung Galaxy S with Android 2.3... :-(

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    1. Same with me. I can't seem to find it on the Marketplace :(

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    2. Says "Not supported on your device" for Galaxy S if you follow the link from the post above and open with the Market.

      Why?

      Is there a plan to support it sometime?

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    3. I've run into the same problems. I liked the game on Facebook and would love to give it a try on my SGS (with 2.3.4), but no dice. Oddly enough it is not compatible with my phone, though the hardware should be able to handle it (since someone commented down here that his/her Nexus One managed it, and that's practically identical to the SGS).

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    4. Just echoing everyone here asking for SGS2 support. Is there a reason why it isn't, there seem to be more and more apps lately that don't provide it.

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    5. It's silly not to support the Galaxy phones, they're really popular.

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  2. Steambirds is one of my favorite Android games of all time. Downloading Triple Town in the background literally as I write this -- will review as soon as I've kicked the tires on your game.

    It's a shame, particularly in the shadows of SOPA and PIPA right now, that your intellectual property was stolen and capitalized upon by the "big guys."

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  3. Congratulations Danc, I must say I strongly prefer this version because of the unlimited moves purchase option and because I love the feel of it much more than playing with a mouse. Nice!

    Please, please, please do tell us your opinions on Unity when you have the time. Not many 2D games like Triple Town are made with it. Most of us could not afford it in the next 2,000 years, but I am curious to see how it worked for you.

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  4. Congratulations on getting it done!

    I tried it on my Nexus One. It's playable, but the framerate is low and it takes ages to load. I'd be really interested in hearing how close you think you are to the performance limits of Unity. This is the kind of thing that worries me about adopting it.

    Also, the text size was insanely small. I realize the Nexus One has a higher resolution than most phones, but most apps scale their text up. I actually measured it, and got 0.9 millimeters per line of text.

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  5. Totally Love this Game!
    Just downloaded and rated. I want to say that sincerely you are a shining beacon of hope for honest, authentic, and beautifully crafted games. I only wish there were more role-models like you in the industry to look up to.
    Good luck!

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  6. I'm pushing this all among my friends and family since I don't have a smartphone (shut up i'm on a budget!). I really hope it bounces up. It sucks so much about....the other game, it just makes me so angry, I can't imagine what it must be like for you guys.

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  7. Unfortunately it's for android 2.2+, and I have only 2.1 on my phone.
    I'm seriously considering rooting.

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  8. A beautiful game with a very addictive cool gameplay mechanic. When I first played this game I was screaming mad that it was a stupid micro transactions system and I could not actually buy the game to enjoy it offline. I was so angry with the F2P style of the game I stopped playing it and moved on to something else. Then I hear the game is finally on the Ipad and I can actually buy it!?!

    Thank you very much, you made my weekend, telling all my friends :)
    PS. Game bought, I will have endless fun with it. :)

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  9. This game is horribly addictive, Danc. :)

    Speaking of Unity, any chance we're going to get a Unity Love Letter? :)

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  10. AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH

    I Loooooove the game. Love it, love it! But I cannot run on my ZTE V9 (ARMv6). :((((((((

    Now I'm depressed.

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  11. Any chance of getting a win phone version?

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  12. Does not work on Huwaei u8800. Android 2.2.1 Wish I could send you error logs or something to help debug this. The Spryfox splash screen shows, then the Triple Town screen with loading bar. When the loading bar gets 80% complete, it drops back to my phone's home screen. But I have found out about the Facebook version (can't believe I didn't know about that), so that should tide me over. Oh and one more go of Realm....

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, using Triple Town 1.04. It has only installed 0.97 mb, when the Store page says 12mb....

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  13. Looks like you should forward them your article on plagiarism in game design. Zynga too for that matter with their clone of Tiny Tower. Keep on creating better games than those evil Fast Followers. You guys rock!

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  14. You'd be amazed how far intellectual cuttthroats will go to make a buck off stolen games. Occasionally, I'll run across a web site that is selling a copy of one of my old games. That's notable because a) I've never sold any of my games and b) none of them are even finished. They're incomplete, buggy, and conceptual at best.

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  15. Just quickly read through your situation here. Appalling. Hope this resolves itself quickly, and in your favour.

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  16. Great game! A lot of potential!!! Also, I want to thank you for the free graphics. I put the yours "Pink Girl" in my little Puzzle WAM. Its on iOs :). again: THANK YOU. And God Bless you! If you want to take a look: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-wam-we-are-many!/id518094281?l=pt&ls=1&mt=8

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