iPad MMO “Castle Craft” is hella’ cute
It’s hard to tell from these smaller screenshots of CastleCraft, a new mmorpg for the iPad, but trust me when I say that the hand-drawn maps and tiny characters are really charming. There is even a slight day/night cycle that features the little villagers walking around with glowing torches!
It helps that the game is already running on a device that feels like pure techno-joy. The iPad is great for this kind of thing, and I’m excited to see the device in a year or two. Yes, you can probably do more with a 300 dollar netbook, but the iPad is not trying to be a netbook or anything like it. It’s a surprisingly easy-to-hold (yet a little weighty) device that does all that stuff that I spend 70 percent of my time doing online: searching the web, watching videos, writing emails and blogs and playing tiny games like this.
At the end of each night and the beginning of each morning, me and Leala retire to the bedroom to watch T.V., check emails and catch up on news. I get up earlier than her and always go check on her to find her checking her emails and researching on the tiny screen of her iPhone.
Not anymore. Now, she can do all the PC tiny work that normally chewed up a lot of her time, right there from bed. It’s magnificent.
The browser game is due for huge successes, namely because of games like Castle Craft and others that allow players to actually chat in real time and to participate in “groups” or alliances. Right now, I am playing another one in between writing this blog that has animated avatars and armies, as well as an in-depth tutorial. Browser games are becoming more and more advanced and there are plenty that do not require Flash to run!
Castle Craft’s hand-drawn maps and icons are fun to view, and little touches like moving clouds and flashing icons make it feel like something more than just an app. It has the usual click-and-wait depth, but with the added benefit of simplicity that is closer to We Rule.
I would suggest nabbing it, if you have an iPad. I am looking forward to more MMORPGs like this. The device and the games are so neat, that they tempt me to do everything in my life from the iPad: write, play and chat. It does it all. In a few more years, these devices will be insanely fun.
Beau
