What IOS games have you been playing?

I got Steam but I'm disappointed it's the rules with the stupid auction in it. Hoping they'll add in an option for the non-auction rules.

I got Brass but I didn't get Steam yet. I just can not grasp it for some reason, it's an odd game. I get that you have to "activate" the industries, ship cotton through the ports, use coal to upgrade/build rails etc. but for some reason I do not really get how to play. And I've played the board game, it was just a long time ago and if I remember correctly at least one Old Fashioned was in the mix.

That said, it is one of the best board games apps to date in terms of implementation. The UI is perfect and it has features that ALL board games on IOS should have and should have always had. Like the ability to skip the AI players' animation and get a summary of what they did. And to be able to turn your device and see the whole board.

I haven't gotten Steam yet, but resolve is weakening.

A game that is REALLY good on IOS right now is Templar Battleforce...it's basically a more open, more customizable Space Hulk style DoaM...but it has a TECH TREE. Crazy. Graphics are dated, but the gameplay and depth are top notch.

Lara Croft Go is pretty neat. I like it better than the big console Tomb Raider games.

Wizards and Wagons is fun, it's a simple buy low/sell high PU&D trading game with kind of clicker combat system.

Pacific Fleet, all the time.

May have to pick up brass. On steam, you say?

Hitman: Sniper is on sale for $2 right now. I think it's pretty great. Despite only the single map, there's tons of different objectives and targets. I can't wit to play it some more.

With respect Michael, you're just plain wrong about Brass. You usually write with some aplomb but I feel like it's worth pointing out when you've strayed into "bullshit" zone since you're quick to point out this flaw in others (and fairly so, usually).
For the record, I've played Brass well over a hundred times face to face, and about 3 or 4 hundred times online via the order of the hammer site. I also worked for 3+ years in videogame development for Gremlin later to be swallowed by Infogrames and then later for another year at Criterion (working mainly on Renderware). I think my high score for Brass is something like 190. This is presented to support my contention that I know more about the subject at hand than you do, on this occasion.

The Brass app is exactly whats wrong with app design its fucking AWFUL in every conceivable way. Slow, clunky, makes all the game actions take longer than needed, unneccessary clutter and distracting information, shit AI (I can forgive the app this, no AI is going to beat a decent human player at this game) and the biggest crime a total inability to see an overview of the network topography thats key in assessing your decisions in the game

compare and contrast with the order of the hammer site, there is an online implementation thats fantastic, even though it "looks shit" (form over function), see how easily you see the entire network layout properly colour coded, access to everyones tech tree, a pair of clicks to take your card and play your action you can even see a list of cards remaining, action history list for everyone, everything is right there.

What *should* have happened is they used the orderofthehammer design, and simply stylistically added some colour and art (non distracting). Instead they went for the typical "appeal to the casuals" approach but NO ONE who is a serious enthusiast of Brass can prefer this app to the order site, not to mention the huge and active community of competent (along with rookie) players there. I dont fault the guy making the app, I bet he sold a lot to people who are curious about Brass, perhaps think they can learn it from this app, will dabble with it a bit and then like the rest of their giant collections move on. Brass is one of my forever games, to be played regularly and is utterly awesome, the rules are very straightforward once you come past the illusion that they're not (weve all beeen there!), best of all its a player driven, incentive sharing, exploitation and screwage game so that even when you've mastered the basics of the main strategic paths (income-rails, cotton shipping, port strategy etc), competent players will always find the real game underneath all that with the posturing and signalling inherent in the card play and actions, the feints and bluffs and the outright smackdowns.

That you have not played Brass more than once long ago is astounding to me. I recommend everyone give it a go, but please go via the free website theorderothehammer.com and try it out there before wasting your money by buying that crap app which shits all over almost every useful feature of the website which provides a fantastic game experience (it is even worse than what happened to Caylus). In no way is this a good app, and it is very clear your comments on this are based on you not having any familiarity with the boardgame. Without meaning to piss in your general direction, you sir, are just dead wrong- the app and the UI is an abject and utter failure on every level, completely missing the point of the game and focussing on stuff which is not only of no importance but actively distracts from the information needed to actually make decisions in the game.

Steam on the other hand, notwithstanding the lack of the fixed action version and some overbearing clunkiness in how some of the actions are animated and physically managed, is actually a much better stab because its design and layout stays closer to the boardgame, which for these kinds of games is REQUIRED, there are games which lend themselves to reinterpretation digitally and make sense but there are complex games like this that need to have pared down, semi abstract visuals where you can easily see the information needed to play the game, and covering it up with needless art and zooms and stupid perspectives is just idiocy designed only to appeal to casual impulse buyers of people who will never really get to enjoy the game as it should be. Perhaps in that regard the designers are "right" after all if they sell the app 5000 times to "pretend gamers" (the kinds of people with hundreds and thousands of unplayed games on shelves, who follow the herd of what others tell them are good games, who play games twice and think theyve got it, time to move on to the next new thing, well maybe thats better for the designer than to appeal to the few hundred of people actually enjoying and wanting to play the game.

However, the summary: The Brass app/UI is absolutely fucking shit and anyone with a genuine interest in playing the game should pay zero dollars and sign up at theorderofhehammer.com.
I would be happy to organize some learning games for anyone interested and even give comments, advice, rules reminders, whatever. its a great game well worth trying. Just not on the iPad.(unless it is to open brass.orderofthehammer.com/index.php via a web browser)

Put on some clothes for crissakes

Oh and welcome to the Fort

Personally, I believe that if you have problems with your knee joints, instead of using the horrible MapMyWalk App, which is clunky and horrible in every possible way, you should check out a website that I found online, WalkForTheNigerianScammers.com. It is inherently more user friendly than the shitty MapMyWalk app, and all bipedals, including Kangaroos and Wallabies, should be using WalkForTheNigerianScammers.com. In addition to mapping your walks, it will also make your walks more easy due to patented WalkForTheNigerianScammers.com technology wherein your pockets will be exactly 100% lighter after using WalkForTheNigerianScammers.com.

LMAO

Sorry, are you trying to imply Dr Manhattan is a scammer or a shill or something?

He's not a shill! If he is, he's exactly the kind we want. Makes a real account, with a real picture, obviously is reading F:AT for a while, and is super passionate abour BRASS, which man, brings it out in some folks here. So into it he's got a website that plays it arguably better than the official product. It's like that guy that remade M.U.L.E. online.

Welcome aboard, Dr. Manhattan! I will check out your site, and assuming you aren't full of shit, we should talk about game/app UI in a larger sense. There are some solid designers on the site here, and these discussions are always illuminating.

For example, DOMINANT SPECIES got a totally revamped UI and no longer looks like someone took pictures of the boardgame and stapled some PNGs to it to put cones down and stuff. Worth checking out.