Know your mobile reviews Mini Plane
06.05.2010 - no comments

We review Mini Plane for iPhone, a simple game from Orange Pixel

Mini Plane is what iPhone games should be about, in theory. It has such simple controls that even your cat could control it – with its eyes closed, but the feline would probably struggle to make it past the first level.

Simple pressing the screen makes your plane fly upwards. Not pressing the screen forces the plane down.

Thus, the trick is to time your upward and downward swoops with a series of taps.

To keep in the air, you’ll have to collect fuel and pick up stars to gain points and speed, while avoiding other planes, buildings and items like giant cannon balls.

It may be easy to play initially, but with numerous killer objects flying towards you, and the constant need for fuel, top-flight piloting is soon order of the day in the colourful 2D side-scroller.

More so, when you consider the collision detection area around an object is seemingly larger than the object itself. On a few occasions we crashed when there was what we thought to be an ample-sized gap.

Adding further frustration is certain moments in the game present no feasible path to progress – an issue when the premise is seeing how far you can go.

If it was a mistake on our behalf that meant our plane had ran out of juice, or we collided with a high-rise, we wouldn’t mind. That’s part of the learning curve, after all.

But when there are so many things on screen with seemingly no way to proceed, it feels as if unforgiving lady luck plays an unnecessarily integral part.

A great run can be ruined whenever the game’s programming feels like causing you pain, which is a shame when a lengthy run and the resulting hi-score – presentable to the world via RumbleX, is both intense and rewarding.

We like a challenge, and with a few planes to unlock, we did keep coming back initially, curious to see what was around the corner, but it wasn’t long before we felt the woes of airborne frustration just that bit too often.

Mini Plane offers a visually charming, slice of simple flying action, but when you’ve had to crawl from the wreckage one too many times, it’s unlikely you will keep find the experience anything but grounded.

Rating: 2,5/5

Source: Know your Mobile

Mini Plane review by App Spy
26.04.2010 - no comments

As a simple touch-based endless game, you’ll dive, climb and dodge incoming planes with ease while rescuing stranded victims and claiming stars for bonus points in Mini Plane by OrangePixel. But it isn’t always smooth sailing as you slowly progress through the game’s content.

By touching the screen your plane is given a boost of power, pulling its nose up and out of your initial nose-dive. As you progress, planes and helicopters will provide aerial obstacles to avoid, while the cityscape prevents you from coasting your way to victory at the bottom of the screen. Stars can be collected to unlock levels and purchase new planes or upgrades, while civilians can be rescued to add to your score. Movement is smooth and your plane is amazingly agile once you’ve grasped the game’s physics, but the game’s collision detection is slightly off, with regular moments of ‘I completely missed him’ punctuating the end of a solid run.

The game’s 2D art-style is clean, cartoon-ish and extremely well designed, using a modern pixel art style for the sprites. A bonus mode can be activated, giving you a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the level and access to extra stars. There’s no music track to speak of, but the sound effects are neat and only a few minor graphical glitches ruin the otherwise perfectly fun atmosphere.

Mini Plane is a fun little endless title that will keep casual gamers coming back for more, but until issues like collision detection are fixed it’ll only keep you occupied for so long.

Verdict: Mini Plane is a fun endless side-scroller with a cute style and gameplay that will keep you coming back for more despite a few obvious minor glitches.

Rating: 3/5

Source: App Spy

We Do Tech: Mini Plane iPhone Review
21.04.2010 - no comments

OK – so if you’re wondering what the concept of Mini Plane is – think the ‘Helicopter game’. The aim of the game is to keep your plane in the air for as long as possible. The longer you are in the air the more distance you can travel, press the screen to ascend and release to descend whilst avoiding planes and buildings and collecting star pick ups and petrol to keep your plane in the air. The game is very pick up and play; it should be accessible to most ages and is something you’ll find yourself playing in a spare 5 minutes traveling.

The further you travel the more points awarded. More points can be gained by collecting the star pick ups; which can also be used to buy new planes, picking up characters from the top of the buildings and flying close to the top of the buildings.

This is where the games encounters some quite problematic glitches. The collision detection is- to put it nicely – ridiculous, if you fly even remotely near a plane or building your plane ‘crashes’ and plummets into oblivion, this makes the game frustrating and detracts from the overall experience as more time is spent guessing and hoping how far away from away from the planes you need to fly to avoid crashing. This makes picking up the people from the buildings not worth it due to the fear of crashing, it really is a off-putting problem.

Graphically the game is good, funky backgrounds and plane designs give a good visual experience.

Sound wise the game falters a bit, it mainly consists of the sound of the planes engine with a couple of bleeps and bloops when the pick ups are collected. I think it would have benefited more from some groovy and catchy electronic songs that would increase the experience tenfold.

Mini Plane is a decent game, not spectacular – it has it’s flaws which are easily fixable by the developers. Really it comes down whether or not the free ‘Helicopter game’ will suit your purpose; it’s free, addictive, largely the same and doesn’t suffer from the glitches that hound mini plane.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Source: We do tech

Droid Gamers reviews Mini Plane
21.04.2010 - no comments

OrangePixel has developed a decent amount of games for Android that are usually both interesting and unique. Unlike the billion game clones that are floating around out there, OrangePixel tends to lean towards the different. Their new game Mini Plane is no different. Mini Plane is a continuous flight game where you have to keep flying as long as you can.

While trying to keep your little plane up in the air, you can gain extra points by doing flybys and collecting bonuses. There are also bonuses along the way that help with keeping your fuel supply topped up. While this may seem fairly simple you also have to avoid enemy planes, buildings and other items that shoot at you. Your score can also be displayed on the global high score board should you become a master pilot.

OrangePixel also have plans to update the game with even more features including various types of planes, new worlds, more upgrades, new gameplay modes and more. Definitely a fun little game for the casual gamer. We’ve also posted the Tip and Tricks OrangePixel has released on their site here on Droid Gamers in our guides section so if you need any help, just jump over to there.

Source: Droid Gamers

Interview about Mini Plane
25.03.2010 - no comments

Android App Review Source:

What was your inspiration for developing this app?

OrangePixel:

After a couple of bigger games, we wanted to design a game that had very simple game mechanics but that we could easily add new features and updates to. So we took a simple well known Flash-game idea, and turned it into something fun and full of features. So Mini Plane was born, and we have already added a big update with a new second world (unlockable by collecting three super stars) and have many different updates plannend in the coming months. Players can also send us their update ideas on twitter @orangepixel and we will take the best ideas and possibly add them to the future updates!

Android App Review Source:

What’s your personal favorite Android App that you did not develop?

OrangePixel:

Twigee, a Twitter client that never really gets much attention inbetween the bigger names, but it really is a fast, small and great working Twitter client that basically does all I need from such an App. It needs more attention as it easily beats the more well known names out there!

Read full interview:  Androidappreviewsource.com

Mini Plane on Android App Review
24.03.2010 - no comments

The Mini Plane Android App by OrangePixel is a game for the Android platform with great graphics and two challenging objectives. The first object of the game is to maneuver your plane through the air while avoiding other planes, tall buildings, and several other obstacles. The second object of the game is to collect several different items and even rescue people while maneuvering your plane. Don’t forget to watch your fuel levels and replenish your supply by collecting the green cans with the parachutes.

Once you get the hang of the controls this is a great game and quite a challenge. A few suggestions to make this game even better than it already is would be to add some challenge modes.

Overall, this is a great, challenging game for the Android platform. At the time of this review the Mini Plane Android App is €1.99 which is approximately $2.72. Thumbs Up.

Source: Androidappreviewsource.com

Orangepixel talks about “iPhone” Development
13.03.2010 - Comments Off

We are busy with making our games availble on iPhone. We have choosen Mini Plane to start with and the others will follow soon. The development is a lot diffrent from the Android games. We have to learn a new language, and have tot start working on a different pc.

The dutch site Iphoneclub.nl has taken an interest in our first article and has asked us to write on their site on a weekly basis. So for all our Dutch readers you can find the first episode here: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/63893/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-1-dagboek

Update:
Second episode:  http://www.iphoneclub.nl/64313/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-2-dagboek

Third episode: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/64954/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-3-dagboek

Fourth episode: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/65607/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-4-dagboek

Fifth episode: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/66042/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-5-dagboek

Sixth episode: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/66601/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-6-dagboek

Seventh episode: http://www.iphoneclub.nl/68172/mini-plane-het-ontwikkelen-van-een-iphone-game-deel-7-dagboek

MeandmyAndroid reviews Mini Plane
12.03.2010 - Comments Off

As for today’s game… Mini Plane takes the old SFCave and slaps some pretty graphics, power ups, and a fuel tank on it along with a price tag. I like this style of game if only for the reason that it fits a touch screen device perfectly with its simplicity of control… touch to go up, release to go down, and tap at a constant pace to stay level (which can be pretty hard to do). In the original there were some basic obstacles to avoid. Mini Plane has buildings and other planes / helicopters you can collide with. Interestingly enough the very top of the screen is a safe haven so you can just hold down on the screen and so long as no enemies occupy the top row you’re safe… until you run out of fuel. Fuel is the interesting twist in this variant… you are forced to surface for air now and again and pick up a fuel package. Otherwise, you die!

The game’s parallax scrolling is pretty… certainly far, far superior to the bland graphics in SFCave. The game’s audio is nothing to write home about (as can be experienced in the video below). And, as has become standard, the game has online leader boards so that I can feel embarrassed by the guy that has scored almost 90 times more points than I have.

At 2 euros (about $2.80 US) I have to question whether this game is worth a purchase with similar, yet inferior, offerings in the Android Market like the original SFCave and Throttle Copter. Once again it depends on how much you are into this type of game. If you’re a big fan then you won’t be disappointed, but if you’re more or less indifferent then you’ll probably be just as satisfied with either of the two, free aforementioned titles.

Rating: As for the game itself I give it 4/5 stars.

Source: MeandmyAndroid

Mini Plane receive Bronze award at PocketGamer
08.03.2010 - Comments Off

If there’s one thing that simultaneously illustrates humankind’s ingenuity and its stupidity it’s heavier-than-air flight. Actually, a better example would be war, but that’s a bit heavy for Sunday morning on a mobile gaming site.

Heavier-than-air flight, then. Brilliant idea and all, but who in their right mind would strap themselves into a metal tube and launch themselves thousands of feet into the air? We all would, of course – and we drag out kids along for the ride.

Lunacy aside, though, the mechanics of flight make for great gaming material. Take Mini Plane, for example, which is concerned with the simple climb and dive physics of a wee jet plane.

Plane simple

And when I say simple, I mean simple. There’s only one virtual control to worry about in Mini Plane, and it can be activated by pressing anywhere on your Android device’s screen.

Your buzzy little plane makes its way from left to right in a charmingly hand drawn, 2D scrolling world. Left unattended, its natural inclination – as with all airborne objects – is to hurtle towards the ground. Touching the screen reverses this effect, causing your plane to climb.

You’ll need to do plenty of climbing and diving in order to collect the many pick-ups that are littered around the screen, including point-yielding stars, fuel (which floats down on parachutes) and the larger superstars that combine to unlock the next level. If you’re feeling particularly daring you can even swoop in close to a building or rock and rescue a stranded member of public or two.

Not all plane sailing

Contact with these solid structures, or any of the air traffic clogging up the busy skies, will cause you to crash instantly, bringing about an instant state of game over. It’s a little harsh, particularly as the collision detection – like another OrangePixel release, Gulp – is a little too exacting. On a number of occasions you’ll swear blind you managed to narrowly avoid nicking a building, only to be sent hurtling to the ground.

The way your plane reacts to collisions, too, is rather unsatisfying, gracefully arcing downwards (even through solid objects) rather than bouncing off at an angle or coming to a sudden and destructive halt. The two factors sit at odds with the otherwise graceful physics implementation, and combine to take away some of the game’s lustre.

Only some of it, mind. Regardless of these frustrations, Mini Plane will continue to pull you back in for another go at besting your high-score – which is instantly uploaded to an online high score table – or to complete the list of achievements on offer.

Ultimately, it’s just plane good fun. (Sorry.)

“Though spoiled slightly by some dodgy collision physics, Mini Plane is an instantly compelling casual experience that will have you returning repeatedly to climb that high-score table”.

Rating: 7/10

Source: Pocketgamer

Mini Plane update 2.0
13.01.2010 - Comments Off

At the top world 2 and under the new helpscreen.

We have updated our game Mini Plane. We have added Superstars, if you collect 3 of these you get an extra life. That life will be played in the next level. Yes, that’s right! we added a second world.  We have also updated the help screen. It is now a blueprint that explains how to play the game!