Come on then...let’s meet face to face, and fight it out!
Nopes, this is not a good old battle-cry! It is, well, the core essence of one of the best mobile multiplayer games we have worked on - App Battles. In this real-time iOS fighting game, players can choose their favourite characters - select opponents, and engage in a fight to the finish. A virtual ‘finish’, of course!
I could almost tell that the mobile game developers in my team were itching to take on a project that had something new about it, a project that presented fresh, exciting challenges. And then, the App Battles project came to us - and the next few weeks were pure creative fun.
Hussain Fakhruddin
(CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)
Including real-time multiplayer features in App Battles was one of the two biggest challenges while we were working on the project. The other, you ask? Adding enough creative touches to it - so that it did not seem anything like the hundreds to shooting and fighting games that are already present at the App Store.
As with most of the apps developed by our company (at least the ones that are not too niche), we wanted to make App Battles available to a wide range of smartphone users around the world. After due deliberation, it was decided that the game should debut on the iOS platform. Our in-house app developers made sure that App Battles was completely compatible with the iOS 9 platform.
For a new mobile game, selecting the right platform is tricky business. My creative personnel and software analysts did a lot of research - before finalizing Apple iOS as the best platform for the launch of App Battles. Given the fast start that iPhone 6S is already off to, it was a given that the app had to be optimized for iOS 9.
Project Owner, App Battles
We created App Battles with the open-source Cocos2d-x game development engine. At our mobile app company, we have iOS developers with years of experience of working with the engine - so the actual coding was a bit of a breeze.
It is just plain sad when a perfectly good, innovative app idea goes to waste - simply because there is no one to actually transform it into a workable piece of software. Thank goodness that did not happen to App Battles, and we were fortunate enough to start working on it. If the concept behind this lovely game had been lost, that would have been a shame.
Hussain Fakhruddin
(CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)
Once the basic framework for App Battles was ready, the next task was to make it...very, very colourful, interactive and personalized (after all, isn’t that what any good mobile multiplayer game should be?). A full fortnight passed, before our iPhone game development experts reached an agreement with the owner of the project regarding the name, number, appearance and powers of the characters in the app. The results, thankfully, indeed look nice!
I am an enthusiastic gamer myself - and I will say this...even the most promising games seem slightly boring after some time. I am fairly confident that this won’t be the case with App Battles though. There are enough fun features in it to keep users...hopefully of all ages...occupied for any amount of time.Project Owner, App Battles
Since App Battles is an online real-time multiplayer game, there were some initial concerns regarding the effect it might have on the battery life of a user’s iPhone. There were several rounds of app testing done - until we were absolutely sure that the app did not cause any battery drain or overheating (two common problems with many otherwise nice games). After all, people will play App Battles for fun - they should not have to worry about anything else.
Sometime back, our mobile game development department had conducted a survey. It revealed that most users preferred to choose their own avatars, while playing an action-based mobile game. We implemented this idea in App Battles. Players can take their pick from a fairly large series of characters...and well, fight their fights!
Hussain Fakhruddin
(CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)
AngryBird, Ninja, Bear and Doodle are four of the most popular avatars that the users of App Battles can choose. Each of the characters have the power to jump, kick and punch...and most importantly, all of them are a lot of fun!
I had a feel that giving the characters only run-off-the-mill powers would not make the game exciting enough. The game developers at Teks floated the idea of providing each character with a single unique power. That, I felt, made the game complete.Project Owner, App Battles
After rounds of brainstorming and Skype discussions, the nature of the unique powers was decided. A player playing as AngryBird can spill bombs, Ninja fighters have (you guessed it!) special swords, and Doodles could fire bullets at a frighteningly rapid clip. And what about the Baer avatar? Well, it can bite...and bite hard!
Next up was the question of how the characters would go to battle against each other. Our team of game developers decided to give players the option to invite opponents online - and once an invitation is accepted, move with his/her avatar to the ‘playground’ (or shall we call it ‘battleground’?). The client came up with the idea of creating several ground levels on the battle screen, across which the characters could jump - an idea that our UI/UX designers implemented with ease.
Moving the characters smartly, and clever usage of the available weapons is key to winning a fight in App Battles. From the very start, I had a rough idea of what the actual playground would look like - with plenty of room for the players to maneuver. Hussain and his team did a great job of working on this vision of mine. Two thumbs up to Teks!Project Owner, App Battles
The fights in the App Battles game are well and truly skirmishes to the finish. A player ‘wins’ a battle when his/her opponent’s character either falls off the playground, or gets killed. We also included ‘Bonus Lifetimes’ within the game play. The player who manages to grab it first receives a boost of extra health. Mighty handy during an intense fight!
Initially, we were in a dilemma about whether a game like App Battles needed any in-app purchase feature. We finally decided to include it - for the simple reason that gamers are likely to be interested in selecting from a wider range of characters than what is available to them by default.
Hussain Fakhruddin
(CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)
Via in-app purchases, users of the App Battles multiplayer iPhone game can do two things. Firstly, they can get rid of in-app advertisements - often a source of irritation for many people. Secondly, new and more interesting characters/avatars can be unlocked - by paying nominal amounts. A chance to move beyond the default settings - that’s what the in-app purchases in App Battles are all about.
Via in-app purchases, users of the App Battles multiplayer iPhone game can do two things. Firstly, they can get rid of in-app advertisements - often a source of irritation for many people. Secondly, new and more interesting characters/avatars can be unlocked - by paying nominal amounts. A chance to move beyond the default settings - that’s what the in-app purchases in App Battles are all about.
App Battles is an iOS game that we created with a lot of enthusiasm, detailing...and yes, love and devotion. It will arrive at the App Store soon - and we are sure that lovers of gaming apps will take to it in a big way.
