Canabalt: iPhone Game

http://www.canabalt.com/

by staunch • 17 years ago

99 46 17 years ago

wmf2• 17 years ago

Web version: http://www.adamatomic.com/canabalt/

BigZaphod3• 17 years ago

Does anyone have a theory on what makes this game so successful? I went through a phase where I was addicted to it myself - and yet it's so mind-numbingly simple!

wmf2• 17 years ago

The random procedural map must be a factor; it's like gambling.

BigZaphod3• 17 years ago

That makes me think of the purpose of dice in many boardgames. In particular, Settlers of Catan - which is a great blend of skill and chance.

jazzychad3• 17 years ago

Dead-simple gameplay, retro 8-bit style graphics, nice grey-scale visuals, awesome music. There are no instructions (on the iPhone version), so the discovery of how to play is also fun (helps that this phase doesn't last long, only one thing to figure out).

matthew-wegner4• 17 years ago

I've been viewing games through the prism of how many "almosts" they have lately. Canabalt is fun because you almost fall off dozens of times before you actually do (and when it happens you usually almost made it). Because you think your death was avoidable, and only barely occurred, you immediately want to try again.

Something almost happening is surprisingly compelling. Slot machines are a very pure implementation of this idea; if they just showed you all three symbols immediately you would never have that sense of something almost happening...

BigZaphod3• 17 years ago

I find this comment remarkably insightful. It's such a simple concept and yet that idea never occurred to me - but yet it just feels right! The slot machine example is dead on. Awesome.

pronoiac• 17 years ago

I love the detail & variety of the backgrounds, & touches like the flying birds.

teamonkey• 17 years ago

You're continually testing your skills with steadily-increasing difficulty. You have an inherent yet self-imposed objective (to beat your own score or someone else's). It requires high concentration but allows you to run on autopilot. It's textbook Flow Theory.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Also Raph Koster's book A Theory of Fun

aaronz3• 17 years ago

Also: Try Rope and Fly, I found it to be fairly similar and also quite addicting.

antidaily• 17 years ago

addictive.

bmalicoat• 17 years ago

If you like that game try Hook Champ, same mechanic but with powerups, unlockables, great graphics and a committed developer with a major update already submitted.

amichail• 17 years ago

My DropZap game has a high rating and great reviews in the US app store but it's not popular yet:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropzap/id338490375?mt=8

How should I market it?

(Demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ub6gCU03iE )

matthew-wegner4• 17 years ago

Canabalt's free Flash version has had several million plays, the majority of which have been on Adam's own site. The Flash version's success prompted the iPhone port, and also gave him an existing audience willing to buy the game.

lliiffee• 17 years ago

Your fundamental game mechanic seems fine (though maybe a little derivative, as I'm sure you're aware). I think the major problem is that the app doesn't feel as smooth as drop7, etc. The winning games have a tremendous sense of style. With a few relatively minor changes, I think the game would be a lot more attractive.

1) Get a more pleasing set of sounds. The high-pitched screeching you are going with currently when blocks blow up is torture for me. I like the sound when you die, however.

2) Make a game-mode for the beginner where it is easy to figure out the game mechanic. I died within a few rounds each time I tried. (Start with all little red block or whatever...) Make this auto-start the first time the game is opened.

3) Moves are too clunky. The blocks move to the side of the screen too slowly after the user presses a button. I would make this 3-4 times faster, or just eliminate it. Blocks also maybe fall a bit too slowly-- I would eliminate the pause before they fall.

4) There is too much visual clutter on the screen. Its nice of you to show the time and battery life on top, but this clashes with your application. Also, the colors of the score, and "Menu" "Help", etc. all clash a bit.

Good luck-- I think you fundamentally have a good game, and with just a bit of a nicer interface, you could do very well.

lt• 17 years ago

Grats, it's pretty nice. Just spent some minutes playing it up to lvl 10 and now my wife is having fun with it.

I agree with the other poster that the bar on top with the battery/time is distracting. The menu fonts seemed a bit non-standard to me. The blocks seem a bit simple, could use some extra glow or something.

Keeping the high score on the top is a nice touch to encourage self-competition. The big combos are what make you want to come back for more.

It was kinda hard to figure out the "combo" mechanics at first (which blocks shrink when one disappears and a column falls down). There was nothing in the tutorial about this.

Regardless of the nitpicks, it's fun. I'll definitely play it again.

dylanz• 17 years ago

Ok, this game is great. It has fitting music, it's instantly addictive, and it raises your blood pressure.

I would have liked the difficulty level to remain low for a longer period of time. Also, it would be nice if there were other obstacles. After about 20 seconds of game play, it got pretty damn hard (read fast), and I wasn't able to memorize landmarks, which is crucial in fast pace, side scrolling, platformers.

jazzychad3• 17 years ago

It slows down if you run into the boxes on the rooftops. Use them to your advantage.

klipt• 17 years ago

But if you slow down too much, I think it becomes impossible to jump some of the gaps.

waxpancake• 17 years ago

The levels are randomly generated, so don't bother memorizing them.

begemot• 17 years ago

Reminds me a lot of http://www.kaninkul.com/games/773/copter.html , both great games.

AdamAtomic5• 17 years ago

hey hackers, matthew pointed me here and I thought I'd share some stats (more about the Flash version than the iPhone version but yea)

  Days spent making Canabalt: 5 (long ones)
  Hits on my server: ~2 million
  Hits on other major portals: ~2 million
  Estimated hits on crappy portals: ~4 million+?
  Hits on my server from twitter: 50k+
  Best Referrer: Stumbleupon
  Money from donations: ~$500
  iPhone sales: can't say but good enough!
  Top App Store Ranking: 37
  Bandwidth Bills: $1000+
  Top legit score I've ever seen: ~30km
  My top score: ~8km
  Resolution: 480px x 160px
  Initial Piracy Rate: 12%
  Current Piracy Rate: 25%

Inspirations: Half Life 2, District 9, Banlieue 13, Another World/Flashback/Prince of Persia, War of the Worlds (book, not movie)

Trivia: I never finished drawing the space ship that flies by since it is barely on-screen for more than a few minutes. Sadly, multiple screenshots have captured it in all its under-realized sloppiness.

andreyf2• 17 years ago

iPhone has piracy? Is this from Jailbroken phones? Why would someone pirate something worth $3?

evgen• 17 years ago

Yes. Yes. Because they are cheap bastards who won't pay for anything unless they absolutely cannot get away with stealing it.

eli_s2• 17 years ago

wow only 5 days making the game? Does that include programming, artwork, music all from scratch?

AdamAtomic5• 17 years ago

My friend Danny made the music but otherwise all programming, artwork and original sound engineering/foley was done by me in basically two serious weekends ( one in matthew's office). But that's why I made flixel! I made space invaders in two hours this afternoon :)

matthew-wegner4• 17 years ago

Those donations were well-spent:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flashbangstudios/4069363572/

(I'm the goon in the top-left of the frame)

antipaganda2• 17 years ago

I have one request: the little guy should roll like a paratrooper when he comes down from his jump while moving fast.

timdorr• 17 years ago

"Best Referrer: Stumbleupon"

What's this based on? I've tried StumbleUpon ads before. The bounce rate is insane. Approx 99.5%. It's basically useless for anything other than real-world load testing.

BTW, Reddit's new self-serve ad system is awesome. Dirt cheap, quality traffic, commenting on the ads to talk with your customers directly, and general Internet Bonus Points™.

AdamAtomic5• 17 years ago

we didn't do any ads with anybody

iman• 17 years ago

Can you talk about revenue that came from the flash version? millions of hits seems like it should give some nice ad revenue. And did you consider seeking sponsorship for the flash version?

prbuckley• 17 years ago

I have noticed more iphone developers making a flash based version of their games for web promotion. I think it is a great idea, play before you pay. Does anyone have stats on how well this works as a promotional technique?

Also here is a link to the game in itunes http://appsto.re/canabalt

tptacek• 17 years ago

The Flash version predates the iPhone version.

yumraj• 17 years ago

Does anyone know if this was created using the Flash Pro's iPhone app generator or is it a native Obj-C app? I'm asking since there seems to be a Flash version so that would have been the simplest route for this game.

AdamAtomic5• 17 years ago

This was a homebrewed port of my flixel framework, from what I've heard from fellow flash devs the CS5 beta is having trouble getting anything better than 1 or 2 fps. Canabalt runs at 30+ even on the original iPhone :)

s3graham• 17 years ago

This is how we played the Super Mario Brothers Lost Levels in university: mandatory hold down of Run+Right and only tap jump with varying pressure. You can finish all the levels like that!

tfh• 17 years ago

awesome game. If you make an android version, i'll buy it!

Canabalt: iPhone Game

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