Category Archives: Games

Stack the States

Stack the States IconI’ve just submitted my latest iPhone app, Stack the States, to the iTunes App Store. This time around I decided to try something different and create an educational app. The goal was to create a learning app that was actually fun to play.

The object of the game is fairly simple. You are asked various questions about the 50 states including capitals, state shapes, abbreviations, bordering states, location on the map and even nicknames. If you choose the correct state, you get to actually pick it up, move it, rotate it and place it wherever you want. Your goal is to carefully create a stack of states that reaches the checkered line.

Every time you complete a level you earn a random state. As you try to collect all 50 states, you can always check your progress on your personalized map of the US. All of the states you have earned appear on your map in their correct locations. As you earn more and more states, you start unlocking the three included bonus games: Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop.

Bonus Game: Pile Up
Pile Up becomes unlocked and playable after earning 10 states. The object of Pile Up is to remove all of the states before they pile up to the top of the screen. To remove a state, simply tap the state shape whose name is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Bonus Game: Puzzler
Puzzler is the second bonus game in Stack the States and is unlocked after earning 25 states. The object is simple, move the displayed state shapes around and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Puzzler is great for teaching and reinforcing the relative locations of the states.

Bonus Game: Capital Drop
Capital Drop is the third and last bonus game in Stack the States. The object of the game is to match the states with their capitals. When you see a match, simply tap the capital box and the state shape in any order and they fly away. The game ends when a state falls off the bottom of the screen. Match as many states with their capitals as you can.

Click here to see Stack the States in iTunes!

REVIEWS:
★ “Stack the States has filled a void in the average child’s education – geography – and done it splendidly!” -TeachersWithApps.com
★ “If you have children who are elementary school aged this is a fantastic educational app that’s also a hoot.” - The iPhone Mom.com
★ “Stack the States is a must have.” - The iKids Blog
★ “Don’t let the educational nature of this $0.99 game fool you. It is both addictive and fun to play.” - 1st Impressions

Collider for the iPhone is Released!

After two months of intense development, Collider for the iPhone is finally released!

Collider first hit the scene as a Flash game in April, 2009. I started learning iPhone development soon after and released a port of my Flash game Block Drop followed by Furballs!. I’m glad I waited a while to port Collider because I needed everything I learned from the first two projects to even think about creating a game this complicated.

The iPhone version features updated graphics including brighter, more colorful background images. I was also able to preserve the dynamically generated music so each level has a different musical composition. Collider for the iPhone also features a much requested new feature, a fast-forward button, as well as an “auto-save” feature that allows you to quit the game at any time and resume playing right where you left off.

Download Collider Now!
Collider the Game on iTunes

Gameplay Video

About Collider
Collider is an addictive, physics-based iPhone game featuring 56 intricate levels of play and dynamically generated music. Your goal is to destroy all of the positive and negative particle balls. Simply drag the particle balls where you want, press play and watch them come to life! Navigate them through pipes, gears, sensors, bombs, springboards, pendulums, seesaws and more to make them collide.

Collider Reviews:
Collider the Game is definitely a nice physics puzzler with some great level design that is both challenging and rewarding.
TouchGen

Collider Is Physics-Puzzling Paradise
AppSmile

Enjoy hours of fun with this unique puzzle game!
AppShouter

The graphics are surpurb, the physics life-like, and the dynamically generated music really combine to produce a game well worth the $0.99 price tag
1st Impressions

It has great original graphics, it’s casual, easy to access and play, but also features some hardcore levels that are really hard to beat!
ProjectNext

I really liked it. I thought it was a great, fun game.
iPhoneSlutz

Screenshot:

Collider Receives First Fan Letter From Lol Cat

Collider Web Site
Promotional Video
Collider Through the Ages

Local Mom Sees Image of ‘Collider Balls’ On Toast

Charlotte, NC – Local Mom, Margaret Johnson, always believed that she was destined for some greater purpose. She just didn’t think her higher calling would come from a piece of toast.

During a routine morning of making breakfast for her two children before school, Margaret practically jumped through the ceiling when the toaster popped up and revealed two strange ball shapes burned right on the toast. Knowing that her life was forever changed, she quickly parked her kids in front of the TV and after five hours of non-stop web surfing, Margaret finally discovered the balls came from an iPhone game called ‘Collider’.

Quickly pulling out her iPhone and searching the App Store, Margaret was shocked to discover that Collider would not be released until the end of the month. Then things got weird.

“She just keeps searching the App Store over and over for Collider” said her oldest daughter Kimberly. “It’s like she’s possessed…”

“Hungry… so very… hungry…” added Timothy, the youngest child, who hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before.

Margaret was completely unresponsive until her daughter loaded some Collider screenshots onto the iPhone. “Now she’s just randomly tapping the screen trying to play Collider! But… at least it’s an improvement…”

Margaret’s husband finally returned home from work and took control of the situation. Through the local press, he made a short statement to the developer of Collider. “Please, for the love of God, release Collider as soon as possible and help save my wife!”.

Dan Russell-Pinson, author of Collider, said that he was sympathetic to their plight, but explained that he was still in the process of, as he put it, “creating buzz” for the game and that the process couldn’t be rushed. Russell-Pinson then added “Some people just don’t understand marketing…”

Collider Web Site
Promotional Video
Collider Through the Ages

iPhone Game Developer’s Costly Promotion Ends in Terrible Failure

Chicago, IL – In a desperate effort to promote his upcoming physics-based iPhone game, Collider, game designer Dan Russell-Pinson launched a risky and expensive promotional campaign involving skywriting the name of his game over the skies of Chicago. It was a beautiful, crisp day and all signs were “Go” for takeoff.

As a crowd in downtown Chicago slowly assembled to see what the commotion was all about, it became clear that something was terribly wrong.

“Why would anybody want a colander for their iPhone?” asked an obviously confused onlooker. “Wow, I guess there is an app for everything…”

Apparently, there was miscommunication between Russell-Pinson and the pilot of the skywriting plane. The message, which was supposed to read “Collider for iPhone”, ended up coming out as “Colander 4 iPhone”. This put the clearly distressed game designer in the unfortunate position of being thousands of dollars in the hole before the game has even been released.

Russell-Pinson was not available for comment.

Collider Web Site
Promotional Video
Collider Through the Ages

Game Designer Humiliates Himself in Desperate Plea for iPhone Success

Charlotte, North Carolina – Game developer Dan Russell-Pinson resorts to begging iPhone game reviewers to give him publicity, defacing famous works of art and making juvenile jokes about balls in order to promote his new physics-based iPhone game called Collider, due to be released by the end of January, 2010.

“It’s pretty sad” says a close friend who didn’t want to use his real name. “He used to have so much self-respect and confidence, but the drive to push Collider into the Top 100 of the Apple AppStore has made him… regress”.

His slide into immaturity was evidenced when he released a promotional video for Collider (see link below) which depicts well-known works of art shamelessly defaced to include the positive and negative particle balls from the game. As if that wasn’t enough, Russell-Pinson is also using the tagline “Do you have the balls?” as part of the promotion.

“Did he have to go there? I mean really…” says another close friend who also refused to give their real name. “Is he still in Middle School or something?”

To make matters words, the game designer has also been witnessed practically groveling to any and all iPhone game reviewers who will listen to him in a desperate attempt to gain pre-release publicity for Collider.

Concerned friends and family, currently planning an intervention, released this statement to all members of the media: “We’re simply asking that all iPhone game reviewers please just give Collider a little attention, maybe a small blog post, something… anything!”. When asked what could happen if Collider isn’t successful, they said “I don’t know… He might do something desperate like make a sequel to Furballs or worse, create more videos…”.

About Collider:
Collider is an addictive, physics-based iPhone game featuring 56 intricate levels of play and dynamically generated music. The goal is to destroy all of the positive and negative particle balls on the screen by making them collide together. An auto-save feature automatically saves your progress so you can suspend the game and continue playing where you left off at a later time.

Collider Features:
* 56 unique and challenging levels
* Computer generated music that adjusts to your gameplay
* Option to play your own music
* Special rewind and fast-forward controls
* Auto-save automatically saves your progress
* In-game tutorial
* Hours of gameplay

Collider Web Site
Promotional Video
Collider Through the Ages

Dan Russell-Pinson has been independently creating online flash games since 2007. His best known titles are Tipping Point, Block Drop and Collider which can be seen on hundreds of web sites across the Internet. In 2009, Dan moved into the iPhone arena with a port of his popular game Block Drop followed by his second title Furballs! and is currently promoting his third iPhone game Collider. Copyright (C) 2010 Dan Russell-Pinson. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Other web sites have picked up the story:
TouchMyApps.com

Collider for the iPhone – Creating Some Buzz Before the Release

In my effort to promote my latest physics-based iPhone game, Collider, I’ve just released this promotional/gameplay video called “Collider: Do You Have the Balls?”. I created it completely with iMovie. Have look here:

Furballs! for the iPhone is Released!

Furballs!, my iPhone follow-up to Block Drop, has just been released and is now available in the App Store. The “light, happy” style is a bit of a departure for me, but I’m pleased with the final product. Furballs! was designed specifically for the iPhone although I do have a Flash version available too (currently awaiting sponsorship). Furballs! Lite should be released shortly.

Furballs! is an addictive new iPhone game that combines the two popular game genres of path-drawing and match three into one package. Using the familiar “tap and draw” control system made popular by Flight Control, you must guide the colorful furballs through space to make matches. As you progress, special objects appear such as meteors which can burn furballs, comets which freeze them, wildcard furballs and satellites too. Furballs! features original music and over 150 levels of ever increasing difficulty.

See Furballs! on the iPhone App Store

Visit the Furballs! Home Page

See Furballs! in action on YouTube

REVIEWS:
“Superb graphics, exciting and challenging gameplay and a charm all its own, Furballs is a must for every iPhone and iPod Touch out there.”
Under The Radar

“Furballs! offers a great experience that tackles both the match-3 and line-drawing genres.”
AppSmile

 

Block Drop Lite is Released!

Block Drop Lite

After weeks and weeks of wasting away in the iTunes “Awaiting Approval” status, Block Drop Lite is finally available for the iPhone! Block Drop Lite is basically the same as the full version except you can only play the first 10 levels of the game. Also, the levels are not dynamically generated like they are in the full version.

I’m hoping the lite version will help spark sales for the full version of Block Drop. We shall see…

If you have an iPhone or and iPod Touch, please follow the link below to download Block Drop Lite now. I’d appreciate it if you could leave a positive rating and review on iTunes. Every little bit helps!

Visit Block Drop Lite on the iPhone App Store

Mecklenburg Times Article on Charlotte iPhone Developers

Dan Russell-PinsonI was interviewed for a recent Mecklenburg Times cover story about Charlotte iPhone developers. The coordinator for the Charlotte iPhone Developers Meetup, Brian Spencer, was also featured in the article.

Thanks go out to Austin Light for giving us some exposure. We’ll see if Block Drop can “dial in the dough”!

Read the complete article here