Carcassonne App

Interview with iPad Board Games

emonk — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:31:55 -0500

Here’s a link to an interview we recently did with iPad Board Games. It has a few behind-the-scences bits, so maybe it’s of interest. Merry Christmas!

Expansion details

emonk — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:02:00 -0500

Hi guys,

I thought it might be a good time to finally give out a few more details. Let me highlight the two available expansions and the new features of the update for you.

The River

“The River” adds 12 new tiles, that are played at the start of a game, laying out a river that divides the game board and adds new strategical challenges while the game progresses. We’ve worked together with the publisher to make sure all rules for river tile placements are working as intended by the author. The River is available for $0.99 in our expansion store.

Inns and Cathedrals

“Inns and Cathedrals” adds 18 new tiles - some of them featuring the eponymous inns or cathedrals. Inns double the value of the road they are next to. In a similar vein, Cathedrals add a point for each tile in their city. Both of these elements make the game riskier, as incomplete roads and cities lose their value when they come into play. The expansion also features a large follower that can be placed on tiles for double the value of a normal figure. It is available for $1.99 in the expansion store.

New Game Modes

Even if you don’t care about the expansions we have good news for you: There are new modes to play the basic Carcassonne (with and without expansions) as well. Both of these are often requested features by the community and we are really happy to support them with this update.

The first mode lets players disable scoring of fields is perfect for beginning and casual players or kids.

For purists there now also is a mode that disables the assistive features of the digital version, i.e. the tile overview and the display of impossible placement spots on the board.

When?

So when will this be available? It will be ready for download later today. :)

The Expansion Update

emonk — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:46:00 -0500

Hi there.

Just a quick update to let you know that we are still alive and will submit the update containing the expansion store to Apple for review this week. As planned two expansions will be available for purchase: “The River” and “Inns and Cathedrals”.

I will post more details (like an availability date, screenshots and pricing) as soon as possible.

PS: Our blog posts tend to be a bit sporadic, when we are working hard in the code mines - sorry for that. For immediate news and feedback, please also check Carcassonne’s twitter account. :)

After another long period of radio silence, we’re back with news. Yeah, I know, finally....

emonk — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:24:00 -0400

After another long period of radio silence, we’re back with news. Yeah, I know, finally. ;)

Here’s the gist: We just sent an update to Apple that - as promised - brings Game Center support. It’s probably going to be available for download within a week. Carcassonne now has achievements, more leaderboards and it has become way easier to just play with your friends and invite them by using Game Center.

We initially released Carcassonne before Game Center was available and had to build our own multi-player experience, so it’s great to now be more tightly integrated with existing games and friends by supporting Game Center as well.

There’s also news about the long awaited expansions: We have made good progress laying the foundations for all expansions and getting the game to a point were it can be played in a more modular fashion to support cherry-picking rules and features of expansions in the future. After the Game Center update, we now will concentrate on polishing the first two of the expansions we’re going to release. Namely “Inns and Cathedrals” and “The River II”. It will still take us a few months to make them as good as we want them to be, however.

Yeah, it sure takes us a lot of time to get these things done. We’re sorry for making you wait. We love the game and think it deserves the time to make it truly great, instead of doing a quick but sloppy port, like it unfortunately happens so often on other platforms and to others of our favorite board games. We want to do better. Thanks for having the patience to let us do so.

Q: So what exactly do all those cute bar graphs in the final...

emonk — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:53:15 -0500

Q: So what exactly do all those cute bar graphs in the final scoring mean?

A: The different colors let you know how the player made her points. Green is for farms, grey is for roads, brown is for cities and red for cloisters. The little gap marks the end of the game. Everything left of it happened while playing, everything right of it in the end scoring.

One more thing: Wallpapers

emonk — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:44:00 -0500

If you can’t get enough of Carcassonne’s table (Remember: It’s your friend.) here are a bunch of wallpapers for your iOS device. Available in dark and light wood tones for the true Carcassonne connoisseur.

iPhone:

iPad:

(Tap and hold on it, save it to the camera roll, and use settings to assign it as wallpaper.)

iPad update coming in December

emonk — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:46:41 -0500

Good news everyone!

After being busy working out details, new designs and user interfaces, we are ready to commit to a release of the iPad update in December! So in a short while you’ll be able to enjoy Carcassonne on the big screen¹ and we will start working on expansions and adding GameCenter support.

To celebrate, here are the first screenshots of Carcassonne on the iPad:

¹ Well, at least slightly bigger. ;)

While we are working on bugfixes and the iPad version,...

emonk — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:07:55 -0400

While we are working on bugfixes and the iPad version, here’s an interview we did a while back that looks a bit behind the curtains and tells the story of how we made Carcassonne.

If you can stomach our german accents, here is the download.

(click the image for full resolution!) We are excited to tell...

emonk — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:49:25 -0400

(click the image for full resolution!)

We are excited to tell you that Carcassonne 1.1, in addition to to various fixes, will add high-resolution artwork for the iPhone 4 and will (probably) look really sweet on a Retina Display.

Server Updates

emonk — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:22:51 -0400

Dear players,

It has come to our attention that a small group of users tried to push their ELO points in quick play by exploiting a bug. The bug led to games not timing out properly and being paused indefinitely, avoiding the penalty for losing.

We are glad to announce that we fixed the issue by changing our server code and did update ELO scores retroactively. So everything should work out as it was supposed to be, again.

Thanks to many players bringing this issue to our attention, you’re awesome.

To many more fair and friendly games of Carcassonne,
TheCodingMonkeys

How can I play a local multiplayer game?

emonk — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:42:51 -0400

Carcassonne supports local network multiplayer via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Make sure Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth are enabled on your device and follow these steps:

One player choses “Normal Game”, then “Local”, then “New Game” and waits for others to join his Lobby.
The other players join via ”Normal Game”, then “Local”, then “Join Game”.
There is no step three

A Ta(b)le of Many Games

kluepfel — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:06:03 -0400

When we said you can interrupt your Internet Games at any time, you no doubt figured out this means that you don’t have to play a game in a single go – sometimes there are other things you have to do. You get on the train, you get off the train, you’re playing in your office, your boss comes in, and you have to chuck the iPhone into your desk drawer.

That means that games can sometimes take a little time to complete. Hours, even. So what do you do while you’re waiting for your friends to make their moves? Play another game with someone else, of course.

Which is why we wanted to make game switching as fast and comfortable as possible. The Resume Game Lobby shows you can all of your running games, and lets you see at a glance if anything interesting is going on.

Of course, we also notify you when it’s your turn in a game, so you can use the notification to jump right to where you’re up next.

And on top of that, you can switch games from the in-game Settings screen by choosing “Next Table” to get you to the next game where it’s your turn.

So whether you want to complete a game in one sitting, or whether you’re killing time on your subway ride, we’re confident we have you covered.

PS: We apologize for the cheesy headline. We just couldn’t resist.

Internet Gameplay

emonk — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:53:46 -0400

We already mentioned that Carcassonne will have three sorts of multiplayer: pass-around, local network and Internet.

The most challenging of those, of course, is the Internet mode. On the iPhone, and even on the iPod Touch, networked games have to work seamlessly and must be very interrupt-friendly. At least that’s what we’re thinking.

With that in mind we designed the Internet mode to support push notifications to alert players when it’s their turn. That means you can make your move, quit the game, browse the web, read your mail and will get an alert when you’re next. Of course you will see the other player’s moves upon re-joining the game.

We support a “quick matchmaking” variant against equally skilled strangers and - of course - games between friends. Initially you invite (and “friend”) them via email, after that you can add them to games within the game.

Last but not least Carcassonne has text-based chat for networked games so it’s easy to talk to your friends (or taunt them).

PS: The main problem in terms of the Internet gameplay currently is that it works far too well and distracts us from developing, because we play the game too much. :)

Will it be available in my country?

emonk — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:31:24 -0400

We will release the game in all country-specific iTunes AppStores, so if you can buy apps and games with your iPhone and iPod the answer is yes.

The AI of Carcassonne

emonk — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:19:00 -0400

While we have all the multiplayer bases covered, sometimes there’s still need for computer players, of course: We are happy to launch the game with 8 different artificial inteligence players, each once different in behavior and play-style.

To fit into the medieval world of Carcassonne we picked these eight characters:

The Count and The Countess

The lords of these parts. The Count and Countess are a pair of smart, versatile players who are well-rounded overall. Although if you ask the Countess the Count is a little too well-rounded, owing to a few too many late-night banquets.

Maid and Servant

The salt of the earth, the hard-working Maid and Servant are what keeps the kingdom running smoothly. They both play basic, sensible, if a little unimaginative styles.

Juggler and Fortune Teller

The traveling folk. Wherever there’s a circus, you can find these two. Their style is weird but effective, just keep an eye on your valuables if you want to play with them.

Witch and Warlock

The dark and reclusive practitioners of the arcane arts. These two mysterious characters are viewed with respect and fear throughout the kingdom. Challenge them at your own peril.

Personally I think Toby did a great job giving each one of these a distinct personality. I hope you will have heaps of fun competing with his creations.

DFTBA,
Martin

What about expansions?

emonk — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:17:09 -0400

We will ship 1.0 with the basic tile set of the original Carcassonne.

Adding expansions is high up on the agenda, and we plan to offer them as in-app purchases once they are ready.

Will there be multiplayer?

emonk — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:29:00 -0400

Yes. There will be multiplayer. Lots and lots of it.

The most basic multiplayer support is for those that only have one iPhone or iPod with them: Passing the device.

The second kind of multiplayer is local networked play: You and your friends can connect to each other using WiFi or Bluetooth (Don’t worry, you don’t have to setup up anything - it just works.) and play against each other using multiple iPhones or iPods.

Last, but certainly not least, there is Internet play. You can invite friends to play via the Internet, or join a quick game against random strangers on our servers.

What will it cost?

emonk — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:08:00 -0400

One of the most pressing questions answered first:

We will start by selling the iPhone/iPod version for the introductory price of $4.99 (3.99 EUR) this May.

We will begin work on the iPad version right after that and make the app universal - i.e. update the game to run natively on the iPad as well. Once the app is universal we will end introductory pricing and sell the game for $9.99.

So if you buy early, you essentially get a discount on the version that runs on iPhone, iPod and iPad. We hope that’s a fair deal.

Hi guys. Martin here. I thought I’d let you know that we...

emonk — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:56:00 -0400

Hi guys.

Martin here. I thought I’d let you know that we are making good progress on Carcassonne for iPhone (and iPod Touch) and are nearly “feature complete” now! We will have to spent a few weeks on polishing the game, but we’re getting really close to having it ready and are very very excited about that! (We hope you will be excited too.)

We decided to start a dev blog for Carcassonne to show a few new bits and pieces and answer the most burning questions in the meantime. I will of course also link to here from out Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Oh and above you can see one of the first pictures of the German localization. We plan to release both english and german versions for the iPhone and iPod this May.

Keep being awesome!

Martin