iOS, Android, Mac •
When it comes to board game ports for mobile we immediately start thinking of the greats: Playdek, Czech Games, Digidiced, and Goko. Okay, Goko isn’t great, but you can’t tell me that you don’t think about them, particularly when you need something to laugh about. One developer that isn’t on that list is Outline Development. Who? See, I told you! They’re the folks behind iOS versions of games like Qwixx, Camel Up!, and the unfortunately monikered, The Game. Who? Okay, so none of those are “must have” board game ports (although The Game is a nice solo diversion), so why am I talking about them? Let me explain.
Outline Development’s mobile titles have been less than warmly received. Their version of Camel Up!, for example, lacks a decent tutorial and the ability to save games if you shut it down in the middle of a race. Qwixx has no undo feature and also lacks any ability to resume a game once the app is shut down. Thus, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we haven’t been paying much attention to their future developments.
Earlier today, however, they tweeted that things are turning around. Both Qwixx and Camel Up! are going to get the polish they should have had at the get-go with undo functions, new tutorials, new CPU players, more detailed scoring, and the ability to resume games. It sounds like we might have to give Qwixx and Camel Up! a look-see once the updates go live.
Our roadmap for 03/2018 —> 3 Updates, 2 Releases!#boardgameapps #RollAndWrite #qwixx #thegame #camelup pic.twitter.com/F5TfNd7t8k
— Outline Development (@outlinedev) February 27, 2018
As for The Game (yes, that’s really its name. It was actually nominated for SdJ in 2015, even with the skulls on the cards and the dumb name), it’s already a decent solo time waster, although it does lack the polish of a lot of other board game apps. That’s getting an update as well, including more polish, extreme cards, and a release for Mac if that’s your bag.
The more interesting news is what else Outline has planned next month. Apart from the updates, they’ve also announced two unnamed board game apps coming to the App Store. We’ll see if we can dig and find any more info, but for now we’ll just have to speculate. Let’s hope, whatever they are, that they release with the polish their other apps are getting well after release.
- Camel Up! for iOS Universal, $2
- Camel Up! for Android, $1.50
- Qwixx for iOS Universal, $1
- The Game for iOS Universal, $1
- The Game for Android, $1.50
Qwixx also is a great solo filler, but you’re right. An Undo feature would be great.
Hope that’s one of the updates!