

Show HN: My First iPhone Game – can you beat it? - rachelpinsker
http://www.mgw.us/penguin-plunge/?c=2

======
baddox
Just a tip: the validation on the SMS phone number should really be a lot
nicer. I tried AAAPPPNNNN (Area code, Prefix, Number) first, and it said I
needed the international code. So I tried 1AAAPPPNNN and it still complained.
So I tried 1-AAA-PPP-NNNN, and after getting the same message for the third
time, I realized that the message was _very_ literal, as in, I _had_ to type
+1-AAA-PPP-NNNN. Requiring a format that virtually 0% of people will type the
first time isn't a great idea.

Humorously, the success message then says "Success! SMS sent to +1AAAPPPNNNN."

~~~
DesaiAshu
Hey, thanks for the feedback! We (MakeGamesWithUs) are just rolling out these
landing pages and when building this we were not 100% sure the best way to
implement the phone number validation. About half the people downloading our
games are outside the US, so it seemed relevant to address international
numbers. The dashes don't actually matter, but without forcing the '+' it
wasn't clear how to figure out what country the number is from. If the '+' is
optional, we could assume any 10 digit number is from the US, but I think this
would cause problems for a few smaller countries. We could check your IP and
prepend if the correct country code wasn't present in number, but my instinct
says this would cause unforeseen issues. Alternatively we could simply give
inline feedback (instead of the notification at the top) to specify you need
the '+'. I agree it sucks that most people won't get it right the first time,
but I'd also like to guarantee nobody gets a success message when the SMS
wasn't sent to their number, any suggestions on how to fix this?

~~~
martin_
Ashu! Your friends at iCracked would love to help... reach out to me anytime
man! Rachel, I feel it'd be nice to have a visual indicator as I touch the
screen, right now if you can press anywhere and it just seems unresponsive.
Also, for a while I didn't realize you could move obstacles so the "get a
hint" constantly resetting the level was a little confusing. Finally, undo
occasionally crashes the app. Overall, great work!

~~~
rachelpinsker
Someone else also mentioned getting feedback when you touch the screen. That
seems like a great idea and I'll try to update the app to respond to touches
immediately.

And thanks for letting me know about your confusion. I'll try to update the
tutorial so it's as easy as possible to figure out!

As for the crashes, I am aware of users encountering a few issues and I'll
work on fixing those problems.

------
biot
I don't think I'll have enough interest to beat all 1000 levels, but I can
crash the game reliably:

    
    
      1. Slide a block off the board where it starts wiggling.
      2. Attempt to slide it back.
      3. Press Undo.
    

Crashes the game every time for me.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Thank you for letting me know, I'll try to fix this issue.

------
JakeSc
This is a great game. I also appreciate your positive attitude as you handle
the feedback in the comments.

Do you have any ideas for how to incorporate multiplayer gameplay into
Penguins? It's generally harder to do (or not as fun) with puzzle games, but
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Keep up the great work!

~~~
rachelpinsker
Thank you! One of my ideas is to let people design their own levels and
challenge their friends with the level they wrote. This is something I've
thought about implementing in a future update. If anyone here has any
thoughts, I would love to hear them.

~~~
DesaiAshu
Rachel, we're beta testing a new 'hub' feature of our SDK that allows users to
create and share levels, Elemental Fury ([http://mgw.us/ef](http://mgw.us/ef))
will be using it in a future version. The hub behaves similarly to a social
network, where every level created is a post that can be liked, completed and
commented on. You can view the feed of levels that everyone you're following
has interacted with, or look at lists of top, new and trending levels. We're
curious to see whether it can become an fun multiplayer mechanic for puzzle
games

------
stevewilber
Nicely done, I'm on level 11 and having a good time with it so far. A question
and some feedback:

I've always wondered how people do level design for puzzle games like this. Is
there a formula or is it just experimentation?

I think the feedback when sliding the penguin could be improved. Sometimes it
doesn't respond at all and when it does it either goes or doesn't move at all.
I think it would feel better for the user if the penguin slid with your finger
but would pop back into place if you don't pass a threshold.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Thanks so much for your feedback.

I designed the first 50 levels by experimentation. There are a total of 1000
levels, so the last 950 were computer generated.

That's a really great idea and definitely something I would love to implement
in the next update.

~~~
aidos
1000 levels! I think I'm going to call it a night at level 21 in that case.
Enjoyed it so far. Well done :)

------
kaeruct
You should change the title, I thought it was iPhone only but then I went to
the website and realized you have it for Android as well.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Yes, it is available for android too. Thank you for pointing this out.

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hayksaakian
No. I don't have an iPhone.

\-----

And unless I clicked to see if there was an android version, I never would
have known.

~~~
rachelpinsker
I know, sorry about this. Someone else mentioned that the title of my post
should include android, but I don't think I can change it at this point. I'm
glad you clicked the link anyway and found it!

------
gcanyon
.99 for random access to all levels would be a no-brainer purchase. My other
suggestion is to allow sub-optimal solutions, while letting the user know that
they are sub-optimal. You could show the best solution so far, in blue if it's
optimal.

If you're unaware of them, check out Lunar Lockout and/or Pete's Pike.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=lunar+lockout](https://www.google.com/search?q=lunar+lockout)
[https://www.google.com/search?q=pete's+pike](https://www.google.com/search?q=pete's+pike)

~~~
rachelpinsker
Those are really great suggestions. Thanks for posting, I'll try to include
those updates soon.

And I'll look into those!

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tieTYT
The site is so simple I'm going to feel like an idiot if missed it, but is
there a video of the gameplay? I'd rather see that before I give you my
email/phone number.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Unfortunately, there is currently no video of gameplay. There are images on
the app store info page. You could search for "Penguin Plunge: Stuck in
Antarctica!" on the app store to see the pictures of gameplay and then
download the app.

~~~
DesaiAshu
We're definitely planning to add gameplay videos to these pages down the road.
If you don't want to give your email/number you can also click the "Download
on the app store" and "Get it on google play" buttons to go directly to the
app store

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GoNB
Could someone please give a summary of the game play and what makes it hard?
The description of the game doesn't reveal much. (not able to try it at the
moment)

~~~
rachelpinsker
This is a puzzle game in which you're able to slide objects (one penguin and a
few ice blocks) around a 5x5 grid. The objects will slide off if they are not
stopped by anything else, and the goal is to get the penguin to a waterhole in
the center of the grid. It's difficult also because you get limited number of
moves on each level.

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ProgrammerKid45
Love how great apps like this make it to the front page. This under-the-radar
game deserves more attention! #downloaded

~~~
rachelpinsker
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the game and let me know if you have any questions or
comments about it.

~~~
ProgrammerKid45
=)

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Stu1223
I thought I was stumped at level 23, but I feel like I got smarter and figured
it out. I love that it challenges me, but if I focus I can solve the puzzles.
The artwork is really cute and I like the way the penguin slides on its belly.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Yes, most people I know that play the game find that as they play longer they
get better. There are patterns in different levels and users learn how to see
the solutions more quickly.

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maxmcd
Sidenote: It looks like the sms link routes through a linksynergy url. Is that
a reliable monetization scheme for free apps? Does apple provide affiliate
revenue if I end up buying a paid app after clicking on the link?

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anonymoushn
The name of the game on the landing page, "Penguin Plunge", is the name of a
different game in the iOS app store.

I liked the gameplay. The game would be a bit better if you could undo more
than once.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Yes, there is another game named Penguin Plunge. This is the free app and the
full title is "Penguin Plunge: Stuck in Antarctica!".

I agree being able to undo more than once would be nice. I'll look into
changing this in a future update.

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hyung
I really like how you send a link to the game via SMS. May I ask which service
you're using to do that?

~~~
fuddle
Yes, great idea. I'm guessing Twilio?

~~~
DesaiAshu
Yup, twilio for sms, mailgun for emails

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d0m
Reminds me Zelda and the puzzle blocks you need to move on the ice : )

~~~
rachelpinsker
That's cool, I hadn't made that connection before now!

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jeff1112
I love this game--it's totally addictive. I agree with some of the other posts
about wanting the game to be more responsive, but overall this is a well done
app.

~~~
rachelpinsker
Thank you, I'm glad you like it!

