Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[notquitethere]

Been playing Flowit! (available on FDroid, the open source app platform). It's a well designed puzzle game about colouring in tiles. It's not a sokoban but if you like puzzles like sokoban then you'd probably like this.

[tnc]

So if you make a list of games that stayed on your phone, what would it be? Mine is only XCOM but Slay The Spire was the last one I deleted. Probably will download again.

[Frumple]

Space Battleship Story RPG, Chimera (Soul Armors, prior to it existing) Recollect, Stick Rangers. Those have been about the only three I can recall that have been consistently on my mobile devices since I've had mobile devices to put things on and noticed the games existed. Don't necessarily play them very often (my tablet's more for reading, don't really use the phone much at all), but they're always there.

[Iduno]

Yeah, it's hard enough to find a mobile game that isn't a skinner box that I mostly read comic books or watch old anime on mine.

Realm Grinder is pretty good, but you just don't do much with it. That's nice when you've got like 1-2 minutes to kill, but not for 30-40.

[n9103]

some flavor of dosbox (I use MagicDoxBox for the highly custom On Screen Controls), Reversi (and/or other super classic board games that aren't monetized and frequently include 2-player plus decent AI), Polytopia, Mindustry (If I'm not going through a Factorio addiction phase), one or more of the puzzle games by Yiotro, and finally a snes and/or gba emu.

[sambojin]

Double ++ on that Magic Dosbox thing. It can be easy, it can be difficult, but that program can set up a touchscreen interface on nearly any game to make it playable on a phone. Win3.11 Stars!? Yep, easy. Older-skool Dosbox DoomRL? Not a prob. Tie-fighter? Sinchy, in a moment. Yeah, best bloody few dollars you can spend. I don't even know why it's not just integrated into the Android environment for legacy ms-dos support by this stage. Or why Good Old Games or Steam aren't just going "yeah, fuck it, we'll sell them on all the phones too" with that level of interface support.

[sambojin]

So if you make a list of games that stayed on your phone, what would it be? Mine is only XCOM but Slay The Spire was the last one I deleted. Probably will download again.

I've sorta got a "if I had to live on a deserted island" list. And it's pretty long, because I'll probably die there, or something...

Absolutely no order of "goodness", just vaguely random. A pretty good portion of these are no internet connection required stuff. Look, between the solar panel to charge my phone, and me learning how to go fishing properly/ finding fresh water in a survival scenario, I do not want to have to re-invent the internet as well.

OpenXcom (with heaps of mods)
Wizard Legends (stop 'n' go shooter)
Gunfire Reborn (Roguelike firstperson shooter)
Root (tabletop strategy game, on a phone)
Age of Fantasy (turn based strategy)
Cardinal Quest (Roguelite'ish)
Pathos: the Nethack Codex (Roguelike)
XenoCommand (simplified RTS starcraftian, for phones)
Event Horizon: Frontier (2d space shooty screensaver, but good)
UnCiv (Civ5, but it has tonnes of mods)
FreeCiv (Civ2)
Polytopia (different Civ#?)
BuriedBornes (an interesting rpg (?)/ timewaster game)
Sil (another Roguelike I've never played, but want to)
RogueDungeon (not a RL, but I have played it a bit. Brainclear)
Stick Ranger 1(?) (the finest and most beautiful SR game so far)
Pixel Craft (vertical shoot'em up. Ugly and hard)
OpenTyrian (easy and beautiful)
CoreCraft (way fucken uglier and harder. It gets difficult)
BalloonSuperMonkey2 (kinda pretty and awesome)
Downwell (doesn't work that well on touchscreen, but then, sometimes it does. Ugly and medium)
Shoomachi (combo based vertical scrolling shooter)
Magic Survival (time waster)
Vampire Survival (^++)
Dungeon Quest (sorta bad at being an action RPG)
Titan Quest (slightly better at being an action RPG)
Templar Assault (phone Space Hulk)
Templar Battleforce (phone mini-wh40k/xcom)
Solomon's Keep (action'ish roguelite. Sometimes you need chain lightning)
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (could potentially play it on a phone)
Shattered Pixel Dungeon (Roguelike'ish. Most Pdungeon variants are pretty cool)
Summoning Pixel Dungeon (another fun variant)
FreeHeroes2 (Heroes of Might and Magic 2)
Chimera: Recollect (a thumb flicker game? But wonderful..)
Battlevoid: Harbinger (because android doesn't have FTL)
Star Traders (Sid's Pirates! In space!!! Kinda. Tradey-Elite style)
Fly Casual (X-Wing miniatures, on your phone. Screensaver)
Ur-quan Masters (Star Control 2, plus screensaver AIvsAI)
Soul Knight (2d topdown auto-aim shooter, randomised. Quite good)
Fortress Legends (vaguely sidescrolling randomised beat'em up)
Virexian (retro-twin-stick shooter, fast pace)
Scribblenauts Remix (it's, umm, Scribblenauts. Sandbox game?)
Nuclear Throne (twin stick shooter, fast paced)
Skull Girls (what are phones hopeless at? 2D Streetfighter2-style fighting games. This one passes muster though, hopelessly. It's not a good fighting game, but it is Skull Girls' art)
SlingFighter (possibly a better fighting game than Skull Girls)
Warriors of the Universe (possibly better than SlingFighter)
Tekken 3? (And maybe MarvelVsCapcom1? Look, download a psx emulator. And a SNES and Megadrive one too, while you're at it. Phones barely do good fighting games)
Space Grunts (puzzle game)
World Box (eh? A simulation thingo?)
Galimulator (a galaxy simulator. Possibly also a game in there)
King of Dragon Pass (narrative story game thing)
Liberal Crime Squad (no, I can't work it out. But it does have an android release, in case KoDP isn't your thing)
Reigns (left/right card flicker resource game)
RogueJack (the best aversion therapy to card gambling ever)
DeckDeDungeon2 (a deckbuilder cardgame, in the same sense that SlingFighter is a fighting game. Satisfying combos)
Clickpocalypse II (I hate incremental clickers, but this one's OK)
Magic Dosbox (touchscreen design implementation thing for DOS games)


And way way more. There's tonnes of free or fairly cheap games out there. Hell, I'd put NES M.U.L.E and Pirates! on the list, but then I'd have to put Xcom 2 (yes, the new one) on there too. Throw Warriors Orochi 2 and Planetary Defense Force 2 (EDF2) for the PSP on there while you're at it. Storage is cheap, but not that cheap. Give me a fuck-around game of M.U.L.E any day of the week, in comparison to those sorts of kilobytes of "fun" required. But yeah, sometimes you do need those sparkles as well. Thankfully storage is cheap these days, even on phones.

Other than xcom2, I know they all fit comfortably on the 128gb internal storage of a phone, alongside a heap of other games/ apps/ creative tools/ image editors/ programming stuff/ roleplaying stuff/ reference stuff/ shit not listed, some art stuff/ animations I'm going to do from eventually/ maybe, and heaps of other stuff. Because they're on there now. And there's probably 4-5yrs playtime on that list of really good games, so yeah, I'm good for now.

[sambojin]

Labyrinth of Legendary Loot is a top-down turn based roguelike, with a focus on tactical gameplay and movement. And it's really good.

Each weapon or item has an ability (of which there are over 100 of), that gives you a cool down skill, which costs mana. They range from force bolts, to swift movements, to vampiric touch, to tackle charges, to time stops, to fireballs, to heaps of other stuff. And the game isn't shy about giving you a selection of them, so you can build the sort of character you want.

Upgrades of these items are done with scrap, which ups damage or life or mana, and is your generic currency. You can upgrade at any time (no scrolls or shops needed), depending on your needs. There's a slight "you have to be on dungeon level *x* to upgrade further" thing, but you've always got more items than you do scrap anyway, so that's for balance.

There's spears with range, smitey hammers, lunging daggers, set-them-on-fire rings, I-have-a-swift-dodge boots, amplify damage whatever's, and heaps more. And you can then enchant them for even more build variations. And you'll use these basic item features alongside your cooldowns constantly, but not quite ToME4 levels of it. Heaps, but not like a constant rotation. Regularly powerful combos, but always situational for any given dungeon section and enemy group. You can hold onto the first weapon/ item you find, and use it for the whole run, if you like it. Or you can scrap stuff as you please, with minimal costs attached, if you find something you like even better.

Most enemies in the game have abilities that you'll have to think your way around. Some have big cooldowns, some good basic attacks, some both. And movement is key to avoiding the problems and destroying them piecemeal or enmasse. Even a couple of archers and skeletons can be a threat, not to mention a couple of golems and a dragon or two. But it's all doable. Charge in and blow through mana/ cooldowns, or dance around picking them off, or back-off while your mana/ cooldowns are sufficient to take them out, or even just facetank them knowing there's a couple of healing orbs nearby. They've all got their gimmicks, but you've got yours as well.

And it feels really good. You're winning through strategy and movement and tactics, not through lucky drops or completely obscure mechanics. Or the ones that are, become obvious very quickly. Not necessarily lethally, just in a "what does that do? Ok, ouch" sense. You don't get one-shot, but if you don't learn from your experiences, good or bad, you'll have a harder time of it. It's a learning curve, not a cliff. Next time, you'll be better at dealing with that, even on the same run you're on.

And yeah. It's pretty enough, it simplifies plenty of stuff down while keeping a hardcore feeling, it's complex enough and makes you feel smart, it runs great on android phones, and it's only $1. So try it out. You'll probably love it.

Here's a YouTube video about the game by Retromation. But it's a lot better than what is shown by about lvl8-9 or so. And it's pretty quick to get there. And yes, noping out and taking the stairs is fine on some levels, you don't have to explore every nook and cranny (or break every/ any bit of scenery).
https://youtu.be/dK8_VIJBF2Q


((Got up to lvl25 with what I'm assuming is the final boss and died to him in about an hour or so, only on easy-mode mind you,. So it's not quite a coffee break game, but you can do a run within reasonable time, 2-3 20-30min sessions easily. It's not a "brain hard" game (on easy mode), but there's plenty of times you'll mutter "wow, I should have done that differently" yet still come out swinging. It's not one bad decision that will kill you, but enough of them and you'll die. There's a bit of RNG, but there's also plenty of stupid in your deaths in this one
Rogue, 593 score, killed by a magma elemental on floor 25, in case you were wondering. Yes, the boss is a summoner, and a lockdown expert if you try and dps/ facetank/ move around him. But, yes, you are given every resource you could possibly need to back away and try actual tactics (like you learned the entire run). I just didn't. I did chip off about 2/3rds of his health though. Lol))

(((I just got the terrible decision of "Blazing Sword" (giant mega flamewave ability) or "Frost Staff" (super lockdown, remove enemy cooldowns in a fireball area). Both take heaps of mana though. But I got them on dungeon lvl1 on a new run. Two super AoE weapons, that'll take me to lvl25. Urrrgghhhh.
Went Blazing Sword, because it gives me some tactics I want to try, and then even got "chance to heal for X on attack" on the first smithy for facetank. And a draw-in/ implosion skill on some other item. And a movement jump/blast. So, yep, end-game'ish gear, if I can use them well, by dungeon lvl5-6 or so. With great games comes great options for power, without too much screwing around, and all that. You have to know this game to play it well (I don't yet), but you don't have to jump through hoops to have viable endgame options by level 10, depending on build/ mood/ playstyle. I took the exact same frost spear Retromation had in the YouTube vid to lvl25, so anything's possible)))

[Iduno]

Labyrinth of Legendary Loot is a top-down turn based roguelike, with a focus on tactical gameplay and movement. And it's really good.

Each weapon or item has an ability (of which there are over 100 of), that gives you a cool down skill, which costs mana. They range from force bolts, to swift movements, to vampiric touch, to tackle charges, to time stops, to fireballs, to heaps of other stuff. And the game isn't shy about giving you a selection of them, so you can build the sort of character you want.

Upgrades of these items are done with scrap, which ups damage or life or mana, and is your generic currency. You can upgrade at any time (no scrolls or shops needed), depending on your needs. There's a slight "you have to be on dungeon level *x* to upgrade further" thing, but you've always got more items than you do scrap anyway, so that's for balance.

There's spears with range, smitey hammers, lunging daggers, set-them-on-fire rings, I-have-a-swift-dodge boots, amplify damage whatever's, and heaps more. And you can then enchant them for even more build variations. And you'll use these basic item features alongside your cooldowns constantly, but not quite ToME4 levels of it. Heaps, but not like a constant rotation. Regularly powerful combos, but always situational for any given dungeon section and enemy group. You can hold onto the first weapon/ item you find, and use it for the whole run, if you like it. Or you can scrap stuff as you please, with minimal costs attached, if you find something you like even better.

I got a few weapon choices, including a rapier (lunge attack if I move next to an enemy) of malefice (can damage an enemy adjacent to one I damage), a malefice gravity helm (move enemies closer to me, and also damage them), and an amulet that prevents enemies (archers) from moving away from me and also deals damage to adjacent enemies who damage me. I have no idea if it's good, but it feels like a build.

[sambojin]

(^Labyrinth of Legendary Loot is actually free, or "pay what you want" on itch.io, if that was what was stopping anyone trying it. I'd rather support developers where possible, but it is what it is:
https://dominaxis-games.itch.io/labyrinth-of-legendary-loot#:~:text=Labyrinth%20of%20Legendary%20Loot%20is,nothing%20but%20a%20dull%20sword
It's a really good roguelike, so at least, try it out)


Been playing a bit of Mighty DOOM recently, to get away from the Magic Survival (or, Vampire Survival)-likes that seem to be the trend these days.

It's, ummm, Archero. But with better weapons and a few gimmicks and a good IP. Because I love me some Doom spin-offs. And gimmicks.
(doomRL mobile version pls bethesda? Cough cough, give Kornel some money, and that could happen. Hell, I made a touchscreen interface for the DOS version and it worked fine)

What gimmicks? Well, instead of health potions, you do glory kills. So you have to get to that enemy body quickly (yes, you do have to kill them normally first) and you gib the body and get some life.

Oh, and it's not a stop'n'shoot, you just keep shooting. Your main weapon always, and you get a another one. Like a cool-down kaboom, but you have to press a button for that.


This all sounds pretty tame, but it's actually incredibly satisfying and refreshing on the genre. You literally can and should go in, all guns blazing, and mulch half the floor's baddies within the first few moments of each level start. Take a shotgun, take a rocket launcher, charge at the enemies and press the rocket launcher button at the appropriate time. Kaboom, splat, glory kill, no I didn't lose any life after that, but there's bodies everywhere, and now onto the next level.

Same same 1-out-of-3 upgrade thing from most archero-likes (different weapons get different perks), same sort of item upgrade system (different thingies give different stats and bonuses), a bonus special weapon that charges off kills (I use the 7-hit sword thingo, because single target damage on bosses, and a moments rest, is nice), and a weapon attachment that does a "thingy" every once in a while (varies, but a flamer on a shotgun works ok). And that's it.

But, it's actually quite enjoyable to play. Movement is key, instead of sitting back and sniping. Unless you have a sniping weapon set. But, it does *feel* very Doom'y, even in gameplay, despite the cutesy graphics. You really do rip and tear.

The level designs aren't bad, and have jump platforms and teleporters and spike-traps and stuff, and kaboom barrels. The enemy layout isn't bad, and they do have some interesting attack types, that are somewhat faithful to the IP, but in this genre.

I mean, I've only played it a couple of days, and am only up to world 3, but it shows promise. It does have a stamina system, but it recharges fairly quickly, so it's a quick 4 runs and you're out, which might keep up the tempo on splat'n'blat play. You don't get ads unless you want freebies, and they're not that necessary. And while high-end gear would be nice, it seems as though weapon choice and playstyle and vague skill is more of a determining factor than in many potential grindalots.

So it's not perfect, but it is good, and kind of refreshing. It's not like there's great or novel or "oh wow!" things going on with the gameplay mechanics here, but it's quite well done, is enjoyable to play in a Doom'y way, and good for a quick bash. So give it a go.


(It's like if Angel Saga and Archero had a baby, and he was angry. This is a good thing.

It's not the extreme cutesy wonder of a rune run in Wizard Legend either, but it's got that sort of risk/ reward movement thing going on too. Which is also good. I just wish it had that sort of itemization going on as well)

[sambojin]

Still playing a bit of Catalyst Black. Please don't judge me. I like to feel like I'm good at a game, even when I'm playing explosive-healer builds. I mean, I press the healer button sometimes. Which is nice.

Played a bit of wh40k: Tacticus. It was ok. I kinda hate that you have to be ultramarines for the first 45 missions or so. I am up to mission 45 or so, so I hope this doesn't last. Ok, fair enough, you get heavy flamer girl, and I did buy "almost definitely dead canonically" lasgun-call-in anti-ork boy, but that sort of made it feel worse. I'm kinda an Ork or a TSons lad, and the story was even shitter than I could have hoped from them.


I also tried playing a bit more of Streets of Rogue. Now, there's a game that needs a *true* mobile release. And definitely on the part 2, coming soon. With a useable control system. Hopefully. Because playing this version is like playing the mobile release of Nuclear Throne. It's kinda shit, even though the game is amazing. I hope part 2 is fucking way better!

((Even more annoying, we still don't have a basic port of FTL to Android phones. That's still shitting me))

[None]

I got a new phone, so I wentokking for phone games. Had a brief discussion with my partner about Arkanoid, then went looking for an arkanoid clone in the play store.

Only one I found worth a damn between Bricks Ball Bricks Ball Break Balls and Ball Crusher Ball Breaker Brick and other such tripe was Ancient Bricks, which doesn't try super hard to gouge you out of your money for failures or inundade you with horrible ads.

Like, cmon. It's breakout. Ball, paddle, bricks, powerups. Throw in some gold to collect from broken blocks and some incremental upgrades to keep it interesting. Dummy easy formula. But this is the only one I've found so far that is a) like a real game with some effort put in, b) doesn't make you wait twenty minutes or spend real money per ball.

So, uh, if you happen to have suggestions, I'm all ears. If you need an arkanoid clone to wile your time away on, well, this one works.

[Frumple]

The closest thing to arkanoid on mobile I've found I enjoyed quite a bit is, well. The recollect games (Soul Armor, Chimera), and they're less arkanoid and more pool. No paddle, but it's got the ball, bricks, powerups, and incremental upgrades to keep things interesting (plus a fairly adorable plot for chimera in particular). Ads they have are fairly unobtrusive, too.

Sadly, the only three vaguely adjacent to arkanoid things I can think of other than that -- Brick Odyssey (Roguelite RPG fusion), Plong (will destroy your mind), and Whackerball (more pong than brick breaker, but most of the components are there) -- don't seem to have mobile releases.

Though, that said? The dummy easy formula is why there's a tremendous amount of really shitty, super monetized ones. It's pretty easy to shit out a brick breaker game and fleece some rubes, basically, so lots of folks have done it

[n9103]

Emulation. That is all.

[BigD145]

Emulation. That is all.

This is the answer. Get an Amiga emulator.