Dev Talk: What’s Your Desert Island iOS Game? (Part 1)

Hello, and welcome to Dev Talk, a new weekly iFanzine feature in which I ask a panel of indie game developers their opinion on a topic or current hot-button issue related to the games industry.

Since the devs and I have spent the last few weeks discussing some pretty heavy topics (art, violence and piracy), this week I decided to lighten things up a bit with the following question: “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one iOS game with you, what would it be? (Caveat: you can’t pick one of your own games.)”

Here’s what the devs had to say…

Steven McDade, Groovy Woovy

New Star Soccer. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve sunk in to that game! A few months ago I deleted it and said no more, but it seems like the App Store has accidentally installed it on my phone once again. 🙂

Jaakko Maaniemi, 10tons Ltd

I’d pick… Civilization VI? Mostly because I think there’d be A LOT to play in that one, and I don’t think I’ve played a Civilization game since the original. The island would have to have a recharging plug somewhere though.

Rob Green, FixedUpdate Ltd

Assuming I can still connect to 4G I would like to take an old copy of Zynga’s Mafia Wars, that was one iOS game that I was hooked on for a long time. With no internet I would say something with a lot of replayability like the original Angry Birds.

Sam Coster, Butterscotch Shenanigans

Alto’s Adventure. It’d help stave off the heat of the desert before I turned into a bleached skelly.

Mat Loz, Lozenge Lab

That would be Clash Royale I think.

Trent Gamblin, Nooskewl

Maybe Minecraft. It has some simple programming-like elements I couldn’t live without!

Freddie Honohan, Sumting Sumting Software

That’s a really tough question! I am unsure if there is any single mobile game that would not get old quickly. I think probably from my experience I’d take Halfbrick Studios’ Jet Pack Joyride though!

Thairine Santos, Cookie Pixel

That is an easy one for people like us who love puzzle games: Monument Valley. It is beautiful and contemplative, but also engaging as an interactive experience. Most importantly for a game of this genre, it is capable of providing many unique moments of epiphany in figuring out the solution of its well-designed puzzles. Its minimalism and effectiveness as an original game experience is a big inspiration to us.

Goktug Yilmaz

Clash Royale!

Fernando Dominguez Sarmiento, LemonChili Games

If i’m stranded on an island, I’ll for sure have no Wi-Fi. If that’s the case (unless coconuts have Wi-Fi or something) I would totally bring Downwell with me. It’s such an awesome and challenging game! I’ve played it almost every day since the day of release, and I have yet to finish it.


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