Gravity Coming to Mobile!

April 25, 2013

Because I was not working on nearly enough over here, I decided to add something else to the plate.  (Yikes?)  As I wait to finish the first round of feedback about the Electric Shocktopus, and with the Circuits game under-development-part-time… I’ve turned my attention briefly back to the Gravity Simulator.  Why?

The Gravity Simulator was one of the first things that I made and put up on the site.  At its core, it is a very simple idea.  (Play around with it if you haven’t yet, this will all make more sense.)  I’ve never invested too much time or effort in developing it, and I certainly never marketed it at all.  Yet in spite of all that, it remains to this day one of my more popular creations.

So when I got some feedback from a player that he’d like to see the game playable on tablets — I realized everything fit perfectly.  I had a bit of time to squish it between other projects, people seem to enjoy it, and it was always really designed for touch screens.  And to boot, I’ve been learning HTML5, which is a great tool for making games cross-platform.  So I’m picturing a new browser version, yes… but also putting it on iPads, iPhones, Android, the works!

I’ve just started working on it, and in spite of hitting my head against a bunch of tech-issues (learning a new language and using new software tends to lead to a bumpy ride), I’ve got a version working on my iPad.  Check out something I drew… with my fingers!

Tatooine ain’t got nothing on this solar system

There are two big things I’m looking to get out of this.  One, of course, is to make the game playable on a bunch of new platforms.  But the other is to really improve its design & use-ability.  I don’t just want to transfer the simulation, I want to improve it.  So, to that end, I turn to you, the users.  What could be better about the Gravity Simulator?  What features are you dying to see?

-Andy