NEWS: I want VP on the iPad, so...

[FeralKitty]

I'm probably going to have to write the app from scratch, for it to come to pass.

I've started working on a list of features I'd want the iPad game to include.

While I'd love for my version to include all the features of the console game that we already know and love, that's completely unrealistic for me to deliver, especially since I'm not a game developer or a graphics artist.

The end goal is to release a completely free fan version of Viva Pinata. The app would never have ads or in-app purchases, and I don't plan to make any money off of it.

When would it be released? Probably not this year, but it all depends on how much interest there is, and whether I can find others to help with stuff like graphics and music, once I get the basics up and running.

My goal at this stage is to come up with a short list of features that would have to be in the initial version of the game.

Tentative initial features:

• Classic (non-sour) species
• Appear/Visit/Resident requirements
• Simple "hearts" romance (no maze, romance dance video, or music)
• Experience, leveling up, gardener ranks
• Events and alerts
• Dirt, grass, long grass, water
• Direct piñatas to another place, piñata, or item
• Name piñatas
• Awards
• Achievements
• Leaderboards
• 1 Variant at least (depends on artwork)
• Gesture-based controls

Things I'd like at some point (1.1?):

• Additional (Trouble in Paradise) species
• Sand, snow terrain
• Tinkering/transformation
• Weather
• Species conflicts (fights)
• Fertilizer
• Romance candy
• Pinata Vision (send your piñata from iPad to Xbox 360).

WAAAY down the road stuff (2.0?):

• Gretchen
• Helpers
• Smash piñatas
• Ruffians
• Sours
• Send piñatas to parties
• Honey/milk/wool production

Some features may never appear in the game, such as accessories or plants that dry out, mostly because lots more artwork would be needed. I won't bother with that list.

Anyway, that's my intent.

One of the controversial issues is a smaller (iPhone/iPod) version. I don't expect I'd do it (even though more people have those devices), but someone else could code it, if they're interested (and this turns into an open-source project).

TL;DR? I want to play VP on the iPad. It might not start out with all the features you'd want, but I'd rather have a minimal playable game, than no game at all to enjoy.

[shrly]

Way cool! No artist but glad to help however I can!

[FeralKitty]

Been working out a touch-based control scheme for my iOS version of Viva Pinata.

As the concept stands now, you would tap to select (or deselect) something in your garden, then drag to move the item (or direct the selected piñata to something else).

Selecting an item would enable a set of item-specific action buttons (e.g., plant seed, sell seed, view Journal). A goal is to limit the total number of taps it would take to do anything to TWO taps total. (E.g., select and sell.)

Any confirmation will likely be preference-based, so power-users can avoid having to confirm anything destructive, if they wish.

Once I finalize the control scheme, I'll write a little test app to take it for a spin, and see how well it actually works. (This obviously won't be the game, merely a simple version to try out selection, directing a piñata, selling an item, etc.)

I know shrly will want to test it. If anyone else is interested in the final game, and wants to be a part of providing input and direction at this early stage, feel free to post with feedback, and/or PM me your iPad's UDID if you want to be a part of the Ad-Hoc testing.

[FeralKitty]

Because the control scheme will be touch-based, and tablets don't have mouse cursors, there might not be things like a "floating shovel" (or a shovel-smashing-object animation*) in the iOS game.

It's possible that some of this could be "added in" to make the iOS version a more faithful and accurate rendition of the console version, and that's certainly a good reason to open source the project so more talented coders and artists could make contributions like that.

I just want to point out that any differences between an iOS version and the console version are definitely not meant to be viewed as trying to "improve" the game. I have the greatest respect for Trouble in Paradise, and all the work and features that went in to making the console version a fan favorite!

One difference that may come to pass, possibly because of the lack of a floating shovel is the "Dig pond" behavior. In the touch-based control scheme, terrain may be drawn simply by touching and moving your finger across the screen (similar to how Pocket Paradise accomplishes planting grass with a stylus). Unless there's a better mechanism, water might start off being "drawn" the same way as you'd "draw" dirt or grass on the touch screen, instead of "dug" shovel by shovelful.

Again, a potential difference like that isn't meant to be an improvement. I'm particularly fond of how the devs let us dig ponds -- and make them deeper -- in the Xbox 360 version.

My goal is to make the touch behavior intuitive, so that anyone who has used an iPad can feel right at home in Viva Pinata, but we'll have plenty of opportunities to test and refine how to best interact with the game, in-game tools, and garden objects.

So, bear with me as the iOS version touch controls come together, and as we work out other aspects of the iOS version's User Interface.

*In terms of animations and sprites, I'm not an artist, and doubt I can draw these by hand, myself. How nice the game eventually looks will probably depend on the talents of others. So, yeah, if we can have a "watering the plants" animation or "smashing garden junk" animation or "digging pond" animation, I think that would be neat and a salute to the console version. We're still a long ways off from that point, but wherever possible, I'd want this game to be Viva Pinata we're playing. That's the ultimate goal!

[shrly]

Sounds great! You know I'd be glad to help test. Let me know when you'll need the UDID.

[FeralKitty]

Originally Posted by shrly

Sounds great! You know I'd be glad to help test. Let me know when you'll need the UDID.

I might have it already, because I believe you had beta-tested PV Creator HD on your iPad, but you could PM it to me whenever, just in case.

Data collection:

I'm quite psyched about the game. I tend to think about a lot of different aspects of it at once. One of the things that will have to be done is collect some data about the game play, to make this version behave as similarly as possible to the console version.

If anyone is interested in helping out with this, I've setup articles at the wiki to help keep track of information about Trouble in Paradise.

Naturally, anyone who helps out with this project will receive appropriate recognition in the app's credits.

[FeralKitty]

Work is proceeding on the test gesture app for buying and selling stuff, and directing piñatas around the garden, and the red/yellow circle is happily spinning around the selected item.

Depending on how busy I am, I may have a beta version to send out this weekend.

After we're happy with how to best use touch to interact with the garden/game, I'll get back to finalizing V1.0 features, then start on some "sketches" for possible UIs for the iOS version.

My gut feeling about the UI is that the garden should fill the screen, similar to how the console version looks, and that the journal and shops are secondary (possibly modal or popup views).

The garden and its piñatas are what's important, and I want the iPad game to give the impression that its garden is as big as, and can hold as much as the TiP gardens do.

Once the whole game is up and running, I'm hoping we can attract talent to make the game and its garden as appealing as possible. We may or may not run into licensing issues along the way, but I'm determined to deliver as similar a garden sim as possible, whether the bunnies are referred to as Bunnycombs or rabbits!

[jimmcq]

At least for the base version I think you should be targeting Pocket Paradise for things like control scheme and feature set. Get this simple version up and running before moving on to the advanced features of Trouble in Paradise.

[FeralKitty]

Originally Posted by jimmcq

At least for the base version I think you should be targeting Pocket Paradise for things like control scheme and feature set. Get this simple version up and running before moving on to the advanced features of Trouble in Paradise.

Agreed. I'd even deferred some Pocket Paradise features (weather, tinkering, fights, sours, fertilizer, sending piñatas to parties) to a later version, because the initial version is a big enough undertaking as is, for me.

[FeralKitty]

The TestVPcontrols app is almost finished. If you have an iPad (running iOS 5) and are interested in testing out a possible control scheme for interacting with garden items, please PM me your iPad's UDID.

(Note that this is not how the app will eventually look. The only point of this simple app is merely to test out ease of interacting with the garden objects to help decide on a control scheme. UI design will come later.)

Control features currently implemented in the app:

• Selecting (and deselecting) a garden object
• Moving a garden object to a different spot in the garden
• Directing a garden object to another garden object
• Selling a garden object

Remaining control feature to implement:

• Buying/placing objects in the garden