Hello!
I downloaded TPA to play on my tablet, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that it works very well on my phone (a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, a comparatively low powered Android device) too.
So that set me wondering, what criteria do you think make a table work on a phone, and which ones hit the spot for you?
For me;
1) Frame rate / visibility - some tables are just too complicated for most hardware out there, and pinball is unforgiving when it comes to framerate.
2) Small area of focus / works with 'low' camera angle. I find with a 'normal' size phone I need to run it in landscape with camera set to 'low' or 'normal' at a push, or everything is too small and my fingers / thumbs obscure the play field. That rules out anything with complex player input happening at the top of the table - though this is somewhat mitigated by the camera behaving well (quickly shooting up to bonus multiplier lanes, and back down again, for example).
3) Not focused on multiball. Multiball is no fun with your thumbs. It isn't impossible, it just feels disappointing because you know you could be doing so much better. A table with multiball is fine, a table in which multiball is the primary goal just depresses me.
4) Accessible objectives. Doesn't matter whether it's toys (MM, AFM, MB), or just an immediately challenging playfield (Firepower, Gorgar, Big Shot), you don't want a table that involves drawn out games before the 'payoff'. Both because phone games tend to be games of opportunity, and because the constraints of the controls / view tend to increase chance drains, so working hard for a goal can feel like wasted effort.
----
The tables I like playing on my phone (in no particular order):
Attack From Mars
Space Shuttle
Firepower
Medieval Madness
Monster Bash
Gorgar
Big Shot
Genie
Others that work OK, but haven't necessarily got into yet...
Scared Stiff
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Cactus Canyon
Theatre of Magic
Central Park
White Water
Harley-Davidson
The Champion Pub
Cirqus Voltaire
No Good Gofers
Black Hole
P.S. Hope this isn't a dupe, I did search... And obviously although it relates to IOS and Android it fits in neither forum specifically, so I put it here.
Cheers.
I downloaded TPA to play on my tablet, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that it works very well on my phone (a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, a comparatively low powered Android device) too.
So that set me wondering, what criteria do you think make a table work on a phone, and which ones hit the spot for you?
For me;
1) Frame rate / visibility - some tables are just too complicated for most hardware out there, and pinball is unforgiving when it comes to framerate.
2) Small area of focus / works with 'low' camera angle. I find with a 'normal' size phone I need to run it in landscape with camera set to 'low' or 'normal' at a push, or everything is too small and my fingers / thumbs obscure the play field. That rules out anything with complex player input happening at the top of the table - though this is somewhat mitigated by the camera behaving well (quickly shooting up to bonus multiplier lanes, and back down again, for example).
3) Not focused on multiball. Multiball is no fun with your thumbs. It isn't impossible, it just feels disappointing because you know you could be doing so much better. A table with multiball is fine, a table in which multiball is the primary goal just depresses me.
4) Accessible objectives. Doesn't matter whether it's toys (MM, AFM, MB), or just an immediately challenging playfield (Firepower, Gorgar, Big Shot), you don't want a table that involves drawn out games before the 'payoff'. Both because phone games tend to be games of opportunity, and because the constraints of the controls / view tend to increase chance drains, so working hard for a goal can feel like wasted effort.
----
The tables I like playing on my phone (in no particular order):
Attack From Mars
Space Shuttle
Firepower
Medieval Madness
Monster Bash
Gorgar
Big Shot
Genie
Others that work OK, but haven't necessarily got into yet...
Scared Stiff
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Cactus Canyon
Theatre of Magic
Central Park
White Water
Harley-Davidson
The Champion Pub
Cirqus Voltaire
No Good Gofers
Black Hole
P.S. Hope this isn't a dupe, I did search... And obviously although it relates to IOS and Android it fits in neither forum specifically, so I put it here.
Cheers.
(Although some phones these days are larger than my iPad..)
