

Tuning Canabalt (explaining all the basic systems) - abstractwater
http://blog.semisecretsoftware.com/tuning-canabalt

======
zdw
Interesting how the game "cheats" in the players favor in order to give a
better/more forgiving experience.

This reminds me of the mobile UI recommendations of making the hit boxes for
buttons be larger than the button graphic, to forgive sloppy gestures.

~~~
Das_Bruce
It's not a rare thing for games to cheat in your favour, what was the last
shooter where you had the same health as the hundreds of grunts and monsters
you slew?

~~~
beaumartinez
That's not the same; not enforcing "realism" (for want of a better word) isn't
the same as cheating. A more appropriate example would be something like "when
was the last time you played a shooter where your crosshair didn't stick to or
gravitate towards enemy targets?".

~~~
khafra
That's rather common, too, among less-than-absolutely-hardcore-fps games which
are still shooters and played in first person or over-the-shoulder. There's
quite a few games in the genre that give enemies more health and weaponry than
you have, but grant you superior tactical options.

~~~
eru
Especially in console shooters. It's frowned upon in PC games somewhat.

------
DLWormwood
Articles like this only make me grumpy. I tried this game last year, but I
gave up on it in disgust for being too hard. And now the developer is telling
me that he made it easier than it could have been? Bah humbug!

Still, these details may explain why games like this are dime-a-dozen now.
This one gave people the confidence to make their own, not realizing the
details sweated by the original developer. Hence, all the knockoffs
(especially on iOS) play worse; which initially surprised me, but now makes
sense in retrospect.

------
exit
how well has canabalt sold?

totally different genre but i'm curious after reading about minecrafts
success.

~~~
jon914
115,000 copies as of March 2010 according to [http://www.next-
gen.biz/features/gdc-semi-secret-talk-canaba...](http://www.next-
gen.biz/features/gdc-semi-secret-talk-canabalt-flixel)

~~~
Sukotto
$2.99 * 115,000 copies = $343,850

That was over the course of 5 months = $68,770 per month

Impressive for a game that took 5 days to develop.

~~~
exit
is app store their only sales vector? seems like it.

~~~
eru
You could also play it online via flash. But that's free.

