My fiancée Judy is a consummate gamer. The other day I was horrified to see she’d started one of these “harvest and harass” games that have become a cancer on our industry. At the risk of paternalism, I suggested she choose something else to play, to which she protested that she wasn’t able to find anything better. Everything out there was either too violent, or too Zynga.
Since my Twitter stream is a veritable who’s who of the industry, I thought I’d tap the collective wisdom to get some recommendations for her. Capitulating to popular demand, I thought I would share people’s recommendations with all of you.
Note that while I didn’t specify platform, Judy is an iOS gal, so I’ve listed things with an “iOS > Mac > Other” bias. Still, many of these are available on other platforms. Use your least unfavorite search engine, or check the developers’ sites, for different versions.
For starters, a lot of people recommended games by PopCap. These guys are the kings of casual gaming for a reason, and have published games on platforms I’ve never even heard of. Here are their iOS offerings:
Someone recommended anything by Llamasoft. I would have said anything by ngmoco:), yet they were conspicuously absent from people’s recommendations. Why is that?
Other games people recommended are:
- Beat Sneak Bandit by Simogo
- Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys
- Circadia by Simple Machine
- Clickomania by R2 Soft
- Connectrode by Deep Plaid Games
- Contre Jour by Chillingo
- Enigmo by Pangea Software
- Flight Control by Firemint
- Fling! by CandyCane
- Forever Drive By supermono limited
- Frenzic by Iconfactory
- Game Dev Story by Kairosoft
- geoDefense Swarm by Critical Thought Games
- Glider Classic by Soft Dorothy
- Groove Coaster by TAITO Corporation
- Hero Academy by Robot Entertainment
- Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick Studios
- Machinarium by Amanita Design
- Minecraft by Mojang
- Monsters Ate My Condo by [adult swim]
- Osmos by Hemisphere Games
- Paper Toss by Backflip Studios
- Smart Sokoban by Patrick Stein
- Sneezies by Chillingo
- SpellTower by Zach Gage
- SPY mouse by Electronic Arts
- Strimko by Grabarchuk Puzzles
- Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP by Capybara Games
- The Incident by Big Bucket Software
- Ticket to Ride by Days Of Wonder
- Tiny Wings by Andreas Illiger
- Trainyard by Matt Rix
- Triple Town by Spry Fox
- Waking Mars by Tiger Style
- Whale Trail by ustwo
- Where’s My Water by Disney
- Words Play by Stand Alone
- World of Goo by 2D BOY
In addition, people recommended some games not available for iOS:
- Botanicula by Amanita Design (Mac)
- Braid by Hothead Games (Mac)
- Fallen London by Failbetter Games (Web)
- Fez by Polytron (Xbox)
- Journey by Thatgamecompany (PS)
- Portal by Valve (Xbox)
- Skate 1, 2, and 3 by EA Black Box (PS/Xbox)
- VIM Adventures by Doron Linder (Web)
Thank you to everyone who gave a recommendation!