
Show HN: I built this game alone – design, code, music, sound, marketing - phest
http://www.toucheliss.com/
======
phest
Hey HN! Thanks for the feedback! I studied graphic design, played/made music
as a hobby, and became passionate about coding (mostly self taught), so much
that I tend to integrate code into everything I do, including in the design
process. The idea for the game happened while coding, all the art in the game
is procedural (except the wiggly lines in the center of the planets, that's
the only in-game texture), and the trailer is generated in one swoop by code
(by automating the game engine and outputting every frame as a png file).

Eliss Infinity is a reboot of Eliss which was an early iPhone game (2009)
which took me 5 months of work (+2 months to learn and build libraries in
OpenGL and Objective-C). I polished it, made it more accessible, added a
tutorial, added new modes, new music, a text-free interface... made it
universal (there was only one resolution when Eliss came out), added Game
Center, sync ... All this work took me more than twice the work I put into the
original game.

Let me know if you have any questions.

~~~
Mithaldu
I found myself annoyed that after the beautiful and charming video you hide
the "APPLE ONLY" bit behind the first scroll-down. It is not a big thing, but
it has soured me a bit on any future products i might see with the name little
eyes on it.

~~~
phest
Sorry it made you feel that way, it's nothing personal against non Apple-y
things :) I hope to be able to ship to Android too soonish.

~~~
Mithaldu
Cheers, that's nice to hear. :D

Though, i guess i expressed it poorly. I didn't mean to imply that you
intentionally hid it, just that the way you laid it out hid it to the average
user no matter what and since you probably have both devices, weren't even
aware that an important piece of information wasn't available until after the
sales pitch. :)

------
gregschlom
Hello! Just a quick feedback on the website: I didn't realize I had to scroll
to see the rest of the content at first. I tried clicking on several parts of
the image but that didn't work. Eventually I pressed the spacebar and was very
surprised to see the page scroll.

Root cause: your title graphics is beautiful and well centered, so it looks
like a splash screen, not like something with more content below (and scroll
bars don't show on OS X).

Suggested fix: just add an onclick handler so that you smoothly scroll down to
the next screen of content when the user clicks the image. That should be
enough to teach the user that they have to scroll to see more content.

Other than that, game looks gorgeous, congrats!

~~~
phest
And added! Thanks for the feedback gregschlom! I love HN.

------
dschoon
I adored Eliss when it released. I still use it at one of the single best
examples of how a touch UX radically changes the computing experience by
aligning software behavior with physical intuitions.

Consider multitouch. Conventional mouse-desktop thinking orients us to one
pointer and a one-point interaction mode. "Normal Users" (aka, the Your Mom
archetype) new to the touch experience and to Eliss almost always use a single
finger to drag around the screen objects, switching to two only to pinch. But
around level 3, the game ramps up in difficulty, and this is when the magic
happens. The user starts falling behind. Without asking or thinking about it,
nearly every single one of them suddenly starts using their other hand. Nobody
told them it would work! These are users terrified of clicking the File menu,
because it once ate their Word document. Experimentation has a huge mental
inhibition, and yet touch is so intuitive it bypasses the block. I've asked
all these users whether they noticed -- and while this isn't rigorous by any
degree -- nearly all of them reported they did not. This is magic.

Thank you Steph Thirion, for hours of enjoyment in Eliss as well as a lovely
natural experiment in UX.

------
eyeareque
The link gives an error now:

"Error

Over Quota

This application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again
later."

~~~
phest
Thanks for the heads up. Enabling billing on App Engine right now ...

In the meantime the trailer is here:
[https://vimeo.com/85870689](https://vimeo.com/85870689)

------
carl689
Maybe it's just me but after watching the video I don't understand what the
game play is.

I saw what I think was a combining and separating spheres mechanic but past
that it wasn't clear to me.

On a positive note, I did like the music.

~~~
masklinn
I tried to explain what happens in the trailer:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191947](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191947)

------
famousactress
Did some googling and came across mention of an interview that tells some of
the story : [http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/news/2014/2/5/eliss-
infinit...](http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/news/2014/2/5/eliss-
infinity.html)

Unfortunately, I think the posters mis-linked the trailer video instead of the
interview one. Someone have the other link? [Edit: NM.. The first image in the
post is the video embed for the interview. Just missed that it was a vimeo
embed]

Trailer is awesome. Really neat music.

[Edit Again: The interview is great, and explains some of the gameplay:
[http://vimeo.com/86028762](http://vimeo.com/86028762) Also contains a great
quote that sums up software development timelines pretty well: _" What I
thought would take two weeks took five months, and the whole five months I
thought I was two weeks from being done."_]

------
frakkingcylons
Please provide some (any) information about your game that isn't contained in
a video.

~~~
Blahah
This. I'm at work, I don't want to watch a video (even on a legitimate break).
Even if I wasn't at work I wouldn't want to watch a video. Some of us like
words :)

------
misterkeeter
Love your work. Your Indie Soapbox bit
[http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015763/The-Indie-
Soapbox](http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015763/The-Indie-Soapbox) and your game
design talk [http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014442/Game-Design-
by](http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014442/Game-Design-by) have been very useful
and inspirational.

------
xenophanes
Looked at the video some, it doesn't tell me anything about what i'm trying to
do or how to play, i just see stuff moving around. hard to sell it like that.
other than that, looks cool, as far as i can tell.

------
joshschreuder
I LOVE the video, the music and visuals are really awesome. As others have
said, I'm not entirely sure what the gameplay is, but I am curious. So I guess
that's good!

The gameplay looks a bit like Osmos ([http://www.osmos-
game.com/](http://www.osmos-game.com/)) in lo-fi. I'm not sure if that's
accurate, but that's the impression I got.

In fact, the Osmos website is probably a good example to follow on how to
explain your game a little better when it might not be clear from the video.

~~~
masklinn
> I'm not sure if that's accurate, but that's the impression I got.

They have one mechanic in common (merger), but more or less everything else is
different:

* The goal of Eliss stages is to fill traps with planets of the right size and color

* Eliss uses direct input (you drag the planets directly), although in both cases planets have inertia. Eliss does not have a gravitational (or repulsive) model, movement is either directly input or linear inertial

* Eliss allows splitting planets into half-planets

* Eliss's field is not static, planets and traps regularly appear.

* In Eliss, sizes are not relevant to absorption, only color is. Differently colored planets interfere, both lose mass and the player loses health

* Eliss is faster-paced

* Eliss is very specifically built for and around multitouch, initially you can get by with a finger or 2, but as difficulty ramps up you'll have to start using more fingers simultaneously in order to keep your planets under control and out of one another's way

* I think Eliss is a better fit for very small devices (Osmos always feels cramped on a smartphone screen, Eliss did not). OTOH, Eliss simply wouldn't work on a PC (the input does not work). I'm not sure how it works on a tablet either. That's one's a personal qualitative judgement rather than an objective description though.

Not relevant to gameplay, but Eliss also predates Osmos by several months
(March 2009 v August 2009)

------
barbs
This has been out for a while. I'd buy it if it were on Android...

------
audionerd
The original Eliss was the first iPhone game I installed. The use of multi-
touch was really inspiring - it really took advantage of multi-touch and did
so in a creative way, very early on.

------
Timothee
It's all a matter of style, but I removed the border on the iframe that holds
the video player and I liked it better because the video started to blend with
the rest of the page. I felt it made it more immersive.

Cool music and the 8bit style gave me flashbacks of some games I played in the
80s.

Good luck, it looks great! (though I, too, didn't really get the gameplay or
the type of game it is)

------
mind_heist
This looks really good! Downloading the game in a bit as a token of my
support. Just a couple of questions

How did you learn to do pixel art ? I guess thats what you would classify the
art in this game.

And why did you mention 'sound' and 'music' separately ? Hmm.. Did you have to
do different type of work for these two ?

~~~
phest
Thanks! I learned pixel art just by watching and doing. Sites like eBoy [1]
are a big inspiration. In this case though it's procedural pixel art. :)

And sound as in sound effects. I wrote more about that process here [2].

[1] [http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/](http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/) [2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7192558](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7192558)

------
aye
The three iOS device silhouettes in the video reminded me of the family
stickers people put on the backs of their cars (Mom, Dad, kid, kid, baby, dog,
cat).

Turns out, they exist:
[http://ifamilystickers.com](http://ifamilystickers.com)

------
ZanderEarth32
Cool, I'd be interested in hearing your experience with generating sales and
how your app performs. I recently released an app and saw, first hand, how
difficult it is to get any traction behind it, even with a small following and
engaged users.

------
wgeorgecook
I too have no idea what the game is, but think it looks pretty cool.

------
cnp
Hah, after watching this trailer I just went and bought it --and this is
coming from a person who has literally never bought a game before. It looks
beautiful. Great work.

------
tumes
Did you have anything to do with bringing the the scarf that's for sale on
attractmo.de to market? I got one for my wife and it's really beautiful.

~~~
phest
Yes, I designed it. The image was generated using the game engine. Adam
Robezzoli from attractmo.de produced it (his idea) in collaboration with
LOOMLAB who are really good at making amazing scarves.

It's here if anyone is curious: [http://shop.venuspatrol.com/products/eliss-
scarf](http://shop.venuspatrol.com/products/eliss-scarf)

------
Sir_Cmpwn
Looks neat, but why make games only for iOS? It seems like a very limited
market when it's so easy to get into game dev for other platforms these days.

~~~
phest
You're right. I'm planning on publishing on other platforms soon, I wanted to
focus on one first.

------
Fogest
Damn this firewall blocks stuff fast:
[http://i.imgur.com/HGoQN8f.png](http://i.imgur.com/HGoQN8f.png)

------
criswell
I downloaded it for the hell of it and really enjoy it so far. I love the
whole mood / vibe / difficulty of the game. Great work.

------
angelinvest
You did a great job of creating a style and ambience for the game. The
colorful graphics make it stand out among similar apps.

------
ph4
You're like the Survivorman of development, carrying your own cameras and
playing the harmonica on top of the real stuff.

------
cLeEOGPw
While doing everything alone, developers tend to create really alien-looking
things, just like your game. It is awesome.

------
davidhariri
This was one of the first iPhone games I ever REALLY enjoyed back in 2009 ish.
Stoked it's back

------
realrocker
That is some impressive graphics.

------
dilap
Love the music. What'd you use to do it? What's your music background?

~~~
phest
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191782](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191782)

Thanks! I used Apple Logic, long time user since the Emagic days. [1]

My dad and his brothers and sisters grew up under a strict piano every morning
before school regimen.

He tried to teach me too when I was 5 or 6 with little discipline and moderate
success, it never went very far, I wasn't very interested in the technical
stuff, I just sometimes fussed with it. Eventually in my teen years I got into
playing guitar and come up with structured songs, then piano, then singing,
then music production, then electronic instruments... But always as a self
taught hobby, not much discipline. I know close to nothing about solfege. I
mostly fuss with stuff and try to find melodies that sound good to my ear.

It's funny because musically I became the opposite of my dad. He has absolute
pitch, I absolutely do not. He can't memorize songs because he was taught to
play while reading scores, I can't read scores and play everything by memory.
He never made a song of his own, I only play my own stuff. That said the times
he tried to teach may have been important, I think I have a good ear for
melody and those very early days of piano playing may be why (but that's just
a guess).

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emagic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emagic)

~~~
bashcoder
Yes, love the soundtrack - EDM producer here - great job!

------
hubtree
Very cool. Congrats on making that yourself. What's the gameplay like?

~~~
masklinn
(not the dev) the gameplay is shown starting at 00:40, I attempted a write-
up/explanation:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191947](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7191947)

~~~
hubtree
thanks

------
enneff
I've been playing Eliss for years. Great game. Thanks :)

------
malnourish
Will you (please) make the soundtrack available?

~~~
phest
:) Working on it!

~~~
malnourish
Excellent news. Your trailer track is excellent.

Have you had prior experience to making music? What tools did you use?

------
Greenisus
It looks amazing. I'm buying it right now.

------
JungleGymSam
"Download on the App Store"

Well... Fuck.

------
benihana
Great production values and music and a really cool video. But I have no idea
what the gameplay of your game is. It looked more like a really cool music
video than a game trailer. I'm just a little confused about what it is. But
everything else is top notch.

~~~
masklinn
> But I have no idea what the gameplay of your game is.

> I'm just a little confused about what it is.

(note: not connected to developer, but bought the original Eliss on iOS back
when it was first released in early 2009. I've never played Infinity, but it
looks like an "expanded" and more polished version of the original with more
stuff and modes)

The gameplay is actually shown starting at ~00:40. Eliss is very simple when
you play it, but confusing to explain/show (it also quickly becomes frantic,
and was one of the first good multitouch games[0]).

You get planets and targets.

00:42 planets of the same color can be merged (into a bigger one) by making
them overlap

00:45 by putting a planet of the right color and size into a target, you make
both planet and target disappear

00:50 you can split a planet in half-size planets by pulling it apart with 2
fingers

01:00 when planets of different colors overlap, they interfere and lose mass
(and you lose health)

01:04 apparently there's some sort of planet eating interference I didn't know
about

01:08 planets continuously spawn on the field, you get a warning showing the
color and size of the arriving planet and should move other colors out of the
way _fast_

01:12 any contact will lead to aggregation, you can clear a field

It's a delightful game with great design and very cute sound effects.

[0] and remains one of the few where you wish you 1. had more fingers 2. had
more nimble fingers and 3. had fingers able to go through one another. It
remains one of the best and most complete uses of multitouch I've seen.

~~~
Schwolop
Cool - sounds very similar to Osmos. Is it?

~~~
masklinn
Only in that it involves mergers. Eliss uses direct-control rather than
movement, allows splitting, and the goals are different (you don't need to
conquer the whole field, but to fill a specific number of traps). Furthermore
sizes are irrelevant to mergeability, only color is important.

Osmos has a much slower and more reflexive gameplay, Eliss is faster-paced and
reactive. At the end of the day, they're very different games although both
fall under an umbrella of "extended puzzle games" I guess.

------
almosnow
So we finally meet! I've been enjoying eliss for years, great work man!

