I’m sure this will surprise no one, but yes I’ll be releasing Smiles HD for iPad.
The iPad port will be based on my current Smiles code running on Netbooks and some Windows Mobile devices (Samsung Omnia II), but I’m in the process of adding several more enhancements on top of that. I’ll dive in to more of the specifics as iPad launch gets closer.
The biggest different between iPhone Smiles and my current code is I’ve squared the playfield (was 9×8, now 8×8) and added rotation buttons. The original game uses the accelerometer to rotate the playfield, but I figure since the iPad is larger and heavier, you don’t really want to be spinning it around all the time. So Smiles for iPad will support both physical rotation and rotation via the on screen buttons.
And due to the smaller playfield, games are shorter now. One of my complaints about the original is that an Easy or Long Play game would always last a really long time. I don’t have any fancy statistics to back this up, but roughly speaking an average Long Play game would take me 30+ minutes in iPhone Smiles, and now takes me 20+ minutes. I think this is an improvement, but I will be leaving iPhone Smiles as-is for those that prefer the original way.
Also as the name suggests, Smiles HD will feature higher resolution graphics. After all, the iPad has more resolution, so I may as well use it. 😉
There’s numerous other changes to the game as well. The differences between Drop and Drop+ should make a lot more sense now (Drop+ is now the “ice cracks in 4” modes). It’s something I wanted to fix in the original iPhone version, but would break a lot of things. It’s the kind of change that had to wait for a clean slate like an iPad version to do.
That’s all I have for now. I’ll post more details as the iPad launch date gets closer. I’ll be making every effort I can to get this out as close to launch day as possible. That should include a development log video, and eventually a new trailer for the game. Stay tuned!
Some high resolution shots (click for highres PNGs):
Tall Aspect Ratio
Wide Aspect Ratio
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That’s all for now.