Like many other folks, I do a lot of driving to get to science fiction conventions. While I don't mind driving, I do mind running into traffic jams and other complications that make the trip more wearisome than it should be. When I was in San Jose to visit with the Other Daughter for her surgery, she had me use an app called Waze to navigate around the city instead of using a GPS. I didn't download it then since I don't drive much at home, but when we started planning our Florida trip, I thought it would be a good time to check it out. It turned out to be a real timesaver.
Since we ran both our GPS and Waze at the same time, I could directly compare the two. As far as map accuracy, Waze was more accurate -- my GPS was two years old and the maps weren't current. Both showed the same position for our car, so the tracking was good.
At first it was just amusing -- watching out for stopped vehicles and confirming them or reporting them "not there." But Waze showed its real worth when I spotted a notice of a big wreck on the interstate ahead and figured out from the messages and reports that the mess stretched for about six miles and average speed on that part of the road was around 4 miles/hour. A quick view of the maps showed that we could avoid it all with a pretty simple detour.
The interface is pretty simple -- just a map and two buttons. The one on the left allows you to customize your account; the one on the right allows you to report on-road issues to other drivers. The app alerts you (if you wish) when you're within a half mile of cops, stalled cars, and various road conditions including roadkill and weather.
The maps are all real-time maps and are generally more current than your GPS, since Waze gives you points for making edits to correct road conditions -- places where other maps might not be updated (recent construction that's closing the roads, for instance.) It was better at identifying accidents than my GPS (which only reports based on the state's Department of Transportation status reports), and some of the features (tires in road, bad weather conditions) were alerts that turned out to be very useful. Also included is a "gas prices" feature -- Waze gives you points for reporting updated gas prices, but because it can only be done when you're actually stopped at the gas station (the software has a method of checking), it isn't quite as useful as GasBuddy.
Waze shows your position on the map with a custom icon that also indicates your activity if you're in the top 10% of active users for your state. While this is fun, it also leads to some false reporting, which is a problem in some cities.
If you're the only person in the car, it can be a very distracting app, since you will be tempted to respond to alerts. This is especially true if you're driving in a city, since the number of alert messages can be pretty high. But it's THE perfect app to hand to your passengers, and it's a real timesaver (and sanity saver) for long trips.
Waze is available as an Iphone app and an Android app.
Showing posts with label android games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label android games. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Glorious time wasters: Fruit Roll
If you're into old video games, you'll find yourself right at home in this side scrolling platform game for Android devices. This free game offers a very simple scenario -- you start out the game as a yellow fruit (which changes as you encounter other things) and the goal is to bounce and squish and roll as you grab stars (points) and weapons (fruit) through different levels. The weapons (fruit choices) appear on the left hand side of the screen as you collect them; tapping on them allows you to change your character to get that fruit's powers. But choose your fruit weapons wisely, because if you hit the enemy with the wrong fruit, you're going to lose the encounter. Tapping (single, double, triple) give you different jump heights. Time them carefully, because like any physics based game it's easy to misjudge distance. I prefer the "feel" of this on my 7 inch Android tablet, though it's quite playable on my Android phone as well.
Certain fruits change the size of your character or the game speed and affects the gameplay in a drastic fashion as you hit the higher levels.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters: Magma Mobile's "Galaxy"
Glorious Time Wasters: Galaxy
Initial review: Five stars -- deceptively easy for the first rounds.
Game category: Puzzle games
Game type: Puzzle and timed puzzle
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
My tablet chimed softly as the game screen loaded. My husband eyed the first screen: run your finger over three lines to connect 3 stars in a triangle. "Tough, huh?" he joked. I gritted my teeth. "I'm reviewing Android games for kids. Parents always like to have recommendations for little free Android games suitable for children so that they can keep the young ones amused while they're waiting somewhere," I said as the screen flashed "good job."
A four sided figure appeared. "It's a Mom thing," I said.
He looked at me, amused.
"It's supposed to be easy," I swooshed through the figure in two seconds. "Good job!" the screen read.
More stars appeared, connected by lines. The next diagram was no problem for an adult but might be challenging for a four year old learning to play connect the dots games. However, by the time the game had gotten up to level 8, the difficulty level had crept up. There were some "one way" connections and if you tried to go over a line a second time, it would erase the line. By the time I hit level 13, it was taking longer than 3 seconds to get through and I was having to think about which moves would work best.
That's typical of a lot of the Magma Mobile games.
Initial review: Five stars -- deceptively easy for the first rounds.
Game category: Puzzle games
Game type: Puzzle and timed puzzle
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
My tablet chimed softly as the game screen loaded. My husband eyed the first screen: run your finger over three lines to connect 3 stars in a triangle. "Tough, huh?" he joked. I gritted my teeth. "I'm reviewing Android games for kids. Parents always like to have recommendations for little free Android games suitable for children so that they can keep the young ones amused while they're waiting somewhere," I said as the screen flashed "good job."
A four sided figure appeared. "It's a Mom thing," I said.
He looked at me, amused.
"It's supposed to be easy," I swooshed through the figure in two seconds. "Good job!" the screen read.
More stars appeared, connected by lines. The next diagram was no problem for an adult but might be challenging for a four year old learning to play connect the dots games. However, by the time the game had gotten up to level 8, the difficulty level had crept up. There were some "one way" connections and if you tried to go over a line a second time, it would erase the line. By the time I hit level 13, it was taking longer than 3 seconds to get through and I was having to think about which moves would work best.
That's typical of a lot of the Magma Mobile games.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters: Godville
Who it's for: Anyone
Rating: Five REEEEALY weird stars
GODVILLE
I'm.. not sure whose time this android game is actually wasting, because technically it's not wasting your time. This is an RPG game for android devices that you DON'T play. It's sort of a social media thing with sort of guilds as well. And actually, it's a little stranger than that, even. It's a parody life, the universe, and MMO games -- and best of all, you don't play it.
That's right. You DON'T play this one. It plays itself.
This is a text ...err... game -- or, rather, the diary of a luckless wannabe that YOU are godling over. You create yourself a deity and a hero suddenly decides to find you. Your godlike powers aren't terribly awesome -- but that's okay, because your hero isn't that awesome. You can send your hero messages and encourage them (sometimes this means raining flower petals on them.) You can also punish them and attempt to turn them to the Dark Side or become an outstanding do-gooder.
Your hero does all sorts of things while you're not watching (which gives you a new perspective on how deities might see YOU.) For instance, they will join a guild without your intervention. This is a nice thing for those of you who deal with guilds on MMOs. Less guild drama, more fun.
"Thought about writing in my diary, but then I changed my mind."
"Upon close inspection, this road seems to be paved with good intentions. Huh. I wonder where it leads.
"You know, Exalted One, I would have won that fight with the Wounder Man if that tree hadn't jumped out in front of me."
"Bunnies in burrows suddenly got suspiciously fussy." (Yes you read that right.)
"Avoiding mudholes, monsters, and mimes"
If you get the game, DO make an account on the GodVille site.
http://godvillegame.com/
It's free. Check it out at the link below:
Rating: Five REEEEALY weird stars
GODVILLE
I'm.. not sure whose time this android game is actually wasting, because technically it's not wasting your time. This is an RPG game for android devices that you DON'T play. It's sort of a social media thing with sort of guilds as well. And actually, it's a little stranger than that, even. It's a parody life, the universe, and MMO games -- and best of all, you don't play it.
That's right. You DON'T play this one. It plays itself.
This is a text ...err... game -- or, rather, the diary of a luckless wannabe that YOU are godling over. You create yourself a deity and a hero suddenly decides to find you. Your godlike powers aren't terribly awesome -- but that's okay, because your hero isn't that awesome. You can send your hero messages and encourage them (sometimes this means raining flower petals on them.) You can also punish them and attempt to turn them to the Dark Side or become an outstanding do-gooder.
Your hero does all sorts of things while you're not watching (which gives you a new perspective on how deities might see YOU.) For instance, they will join a guild without your intervention. This is a nice thing for those of you who deal with guilds on MMOs. Less guild drama, more fun.
"Thought about writing in my diary, but then I changed my mind."
"Upon close inspection, this road seems to be paved with good intentions. Huh. I wonder where it leads.
"You know, Exalted One, I would have won that fight with the Wounder Man if that tree hadn't jumped out in front of me."
"Bunnies in burrows suddenly got suspiciously fussy." (Yes you read that right.)
"Avoiding mudholes, monsters, and mimes"
If you get the game, DO make an account on the GodVille site.
http://godvillegame.com/
It's free. Check it out at the link below:
Monday, February 13, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters: Glu's Bonsai Blast Android Game
Initial review: Five stars -- Nice little twist on a target shooting game
Game category: Physics games
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
http://www.glu.com/game/bonsai-blast
It's hard to come up with new concepts in a "shoot the target" game, but Glu has managed to create a very pleasant, simple, and playable game for all Android devices. You're presented a screen with a path and a little "snake" of marbles that start moving along the path to another hole. The object is to add colored marbles to a section until you match three of the same color, and that section of the line explodes and the marble "snake" shrinks. Once you've mastered the basics of this game, you can start to get fancy by ricocheting your marbles off walls, using chutes to guide marbles, and swapping from one shooting spot to the next with a touch of your finger. Each level brings some extra bonuses and treasures.
The game graphics are beautiful, and the play is smooth. Although this doesn't involve chess-like strategy, it does require some quick thinking to place the marbles properly. Best of all, for those with poorer eyesight, you touch the part of the marble snake where you want your next marble to land and it goes there -- no wild blasting all over the screen trying to get the game under control.
Great fun, great quick time waster, great stress buster.
Game category: Physics games
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
http://www.glu.com/game/bonsai-blast
It's hard to come up with new concepts in a "shoot the target" game, but Glu has managed to create a very pleasant, simple, and playable game for all Android devices. You're presented a screen with a path and a little "snake" of marbles that start moving along the path to another hole. The object is to add colored marbles to a section until you match three of the same color, and that section of the line explodes and the marble "snake" shrinks. Once you've mastered the basics of this game, you can start to get fancy by ricocheting your marbles off walls, using chutes to guide marbles, and swapping from one shooting spot to the next with a touch of your finger. Each level brings some extra bonuses and treasures.
The game graphics are beautiful, and the play is smooth. Although this doesn't involve chess-like strategy, it does require some quick thinking to place the marbles properly. Best of all, for those with poorer eyesight, you touch the part of the marble snake where you want your next marble to land and it goes there -- no wild blasting all over the screen trying to get the game under control.
Great fun, great quick time waster, great stress buster.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Not so glorious time wasters -- A Knights Dawn
Android game: A Knight's Dawn
I tried hard to like this one because it had so much going for it -- a hybrid gamethat's a cross between a steampunkish roleplaying game and an arcade shooter. It comes complete with a storyline that weaves through the levels and ties the scenarios together neatly. It allowed flexibility with character choice, and once you figure out the mechanics (where to place ranged fighters (musketeers) and melee fighters (knights, axemen, etc)) it wasn't that hard to successfully complete a level.
But where it really went wrong for me was in the persistent microtransactions where you pay through Paypal or a credit card for equipment upgrades. Yes, you can earn enough points to upgrade ONE of your characters -- if you play six rounds at one level. It was far too easy to hit on one of the "download this and get THIS much XP" ads, and the constant commercials (along the lines of "just upgrade with XP and you won't LOSE this level!") were a total turnoff. I don't mind ads and I do understand that developers need to be recompensed. But I prefer the "upgrade payment" or "free but you've got ads" model to the "buy your way to heroics."
The best gaming experience for A Knight's Dawn is on larger tablets. It was almost impossible to get through the first level on my phone, and the darkness of the graphics made it hard to locate my heroes on the 7 inch tablet. Load time of the game itself was quite long -- I thought my machines had frozen.
And I just hate the constant microtransactions (pay money for gear) -- did I mention that? Yeah. I thought so.
I tried hard to like this one because it had so much going for it -- a hybrid gamethat's a cross between a steampunkish roleplaying game and an arcade shooter. It comes complete with a storyline that weaves through the levels and ties the scenarios together neatly. It allowed flexibility with character choice, and once you figure out the mechanics (where to place ranged fighters (musketeers) and melee fighters (knights, axemen, etc)) it wasn't that hard to successfully complete a level.
But where it really went wrong for me was in the persistent microtransactions where you pay through Paypal or a credit card for equipment upgrades. Yes, you can earn enough points to upgrade ONE of your characters -- if you play six rounds at one level. It was far too easy to hit on one of the "download this and get THIS much XP" ads, and the constant commercials (along the lines of "just upgrade with XP and you won't LOSE this level!") were a total turnoff. I don't mind ads and I do understand that developers need to be recompensed. But I prefer the "upgrade payment" or "free but you've got ads" model to the "buy your way to heroics."
The best gaming experience for A Knight's Dawn is on larger tablets. It was almost impossible to get through the first level on my phone, and the darkness of the graphics made it hard to locate my heroes on the 7 inch tablet. Load time of the game itself was quite long -- I thought my machines had frozen.
And I just hate the constant microtransactions (pay money for gear) -- did I mention that? Yeah. I thought so.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters: Star Traders (a rant, a rememberance, a rave)
This is a rant, a rememberance, and a rave review
A long time ago (1984), on a Fidonet far, far away (Dallas) a computer game appeared that members embraced so enthusiastically that members donated cash so that equipment could be upgraded and we could play the latest version. It was a "space traders" game where you visited planets, avoided bad guys, and moved around cash and goods and tried to make enough money to retire. The graphics were simple, but that didn't stop us from playing it for hours on end.
Then the game market changed and the Internet arrived, and the little game we loved was long gone.
I'm not sure what I was looking for a few months ago in Android Marketplace, but I tripped across a game called "Star Traders" in my search for -- something other than a game where you blew stuff up or threw things at other things. The ad for Star Traders said that it was a "role playing game" for the Android; a phrase that intrigued me. I like games that engage the brain. I downloaded it on a whim and opened it -- and I was swept back to that wonderful time where an imaginative simulation game kept us all fascinated for hours.
It also avoided one of my biggest gripes with Android games -- developers who believe that only three types of people who play Android games: Games For Children who need to be amused with sweetly fluffy games, Games For Guys with hot wimmin and bodily functions and rampaging things that must be blasted or squashed until until the screen bleeds red, and Games For Women With An IQ Slightly Higher Than Breakfast Toast who obsess over their looks when they're not doing word puzzles or trying to manage beauty shops or restaurants or farms (why do no games for women ever have us managing a dive team or an archaeological dig or a science lab?)
As a player, I have an issue with some of the developers' philosophies. Many release two versions of a game -- a free and a paid one, which is fine because I like to try before I buy. However, some of the developers create games where the player must use in-game currency to acquire things and deliberately set the amount you can win at a very low figure. If you want to progress in the game, you keep having to run back to the developing company and buy in-game currency through PayPal or other sources (Aquapets has recently become a worst case example of them and although I loved the game, I have joined the crowd of other folks who have erased it after becoming disgusted with their greedy manipulations.)
But occasionally you get an Android game like Star Traders, which is turn based, playable by anyone who can read English, isn't trying to suck your wallet dry, and treats the players like intelligent adults. This particular review is of the free version of this Android game, but honestly, I liked it enough to fork over the $2 and buy the full version. I'll add right now that the free version is satisfyingly complete -- you don't feel as though you were somehow tricked into buying a game you can only play for five levels before you have either solved it or it starts demanding money from you. And (thank you, Cory and Andrew Trese) they don't have any way of buying currency.
The graphics are clean and readable even on a phone. It doesn't require a lot of finger dexterity or screen accuracy to play the game -- AND -- it's easy to turn off the soundtrack and game sounds. I like my games quiet, thank you.
The scenario is interesting -- in a galaxy sector full of political conflicts, you become the captain of a star ship and take on assignments on behalf of your faction (or just for yourself.) You can choose from a variety of roles (my favorite is Explorer, though military officer is interesting as well.) Your job is to run errands for your faction, explore, trade, fight, spy, and survive as your faction brawls with other ruling factions or forms sudden alliances. You may be headed for a port, only to have your clan decide to war with the planet you're approaching and end up being captured or searched for contraband or declared an "undesirable."
There's a nice variety of game levels, from "basic" to "impossible." It IS possible to survive for at least 60 turns on "Impossible" -- you just have to be very good at understanding the game mechanics.
For someone who loves roleplaying, this game is ideal. It's beautifully written, with text that deftly paints (without overpainting) the planets and star ports, from the misery of some of the overrun and conquered planets to the opulence of the clan centers. Without a wall of text, you are free to imagine the glittering lights of Javat Prime from space, with ascending and descending ships trailing thin wires of fire as they come and go.
The naming choices are particularly charming (the planet, Notlach, and the ruler "Drewacious the Wide" along with "Prince Fire Clay" are some of my favorites) and the titles of the leaders (such as High Counsel) suggest a range of governments. There's a nod to some familiar themes -- spice as a recreational drug (shades of Dune!) and to Star Wars, which makes the game even more fun.
Highly Recommended
A long time ago (1984), on a Fidonet far, far away (Dallas) a computer game appeared that members embraced so enthusiastically that members donated cash so that equipment could be upgraded and we could play the latest version. It was a "space traders" game where you visited planets, avoided bad guys, and moved around cash and goods and tried to make enough money to retire. The graphics were simple, but that didn't stop us from playing it for hours on end.
Then the game market changed and the Internet arrived, and the little game we loved was long gone.
I'm not sure what I was looking for a few months ago in Android Marketplace, but I tripped across a game called "Star Traders" in my search for -- something other than a game where you blew stuff up or threw things at other things. The ad for Star Traders said that it was a "role playing game" for the Android; a phrase that intrigued me. I like games that engage the brain. I downloaded it on a whim and opened it -- and I was swept back to that wonderful time where an imaginative simulation game kept us all fascinated for hours.
It also avoided one of my biggest gripes with Android games -- developers who believe that only three types of people who play Android games: Games For Children who need to be amused with sweetly fluffy games, Games For Guys with hot wimmin and bodily functions and rampaging things that must be blasted or squashed until until the screen bleeds red, and Games For Women With An IQ Slightly Higher Than Breakfast Toast who obsess over their looks when they're not doing word puzzles or trying to manage beauty shops or restaurants or farms (why do no games for women ever have us managing a dive team or an archaeological dig or a science lab?)
As a player, I have an issue with some of the developers' philosophies. Many release two versions of a game -- a free and a paid one, which is fine because I like to try before I buy. However, some of the developers create games where the player must use in-game currency to acquire things and deliberately set the amount you can win at a very low figure. If you want to progress in the game, you keep having to run back to the developing company and buy in-game currency through PayPal or other sources (Aquapets has recently become a worst case example of them and although I loved the game, I have joined the crowd of other folks who have erased it after becoming disgusted with their greedy manipulations.)
But occasionally you get an Android game like Star Traders, which is turn based, playable by anyone who can read English, isn't trying to suck your wallet dry, and treats the players like intelligent adults. This particular review is of the free version of this Android game, but honestly, I liked it enough to fork over the $2 and buy the full version. I'll add right now that the free version is satisfyingly complete -- you don't feel as though you were somehow tricked into buying a game you can only play for five levels before you have either solved it or it starts demanding money from you. And (thank you, Cory and Andrew Trese) they don't have any way of buying currency.
The graphics are clean and readable even on a phone. It doesn't require a lot of finger dexterity or screen accuracy to play the game -- AND -- it's easy to turn off the soundtrack and game sounds. I like my games quiet, thank you.
The scenario is interesting -- in a galaxy sector full of political conflicts, you become the captain of a star ship and take on assignments on behalf of your faction (or just for yourself.) You can choose from a variety of roles (my favorite is Explorer, though military officer is interesting as well.) Your job is to run errands for your faction, explore, trade, fight, spy, and survive as your faction brawls with other ruling factions or forms sudden alliances. You may be headed for a port, only to have your clan decide to war with the planet you're approaching and end up being captured or searched for contraband or declared an "undesirable."
There's a nice variety of game levels, from "basic" to "impossible." It IS possible to survive for at least 60 turns on "Impossible" -- you just have to be very good at understanding the game mechanics.
For someone who loves roleplaying, this game is ideal. It's beautifully written, with text that deftly paints (without overpainting) the planets and star ports, from the misery of some of the overrun and conquered planets to the opulence of the clan centers. Without a wall of text, you are free to imagine the glittering lights of Javat Prime from space, with ascending and descending ships trailing thin wires of fire as they come and go.
The naming choices are particularly charming (the planet, Notlach, and the ruler "Drewacious the Wide" along with "Prince Fire Clay" are some of my favorites) and the titles of the leaders (such as High Counsel) suggest a range of governments. There's a nod to some familiar themes -- spice as a recreational drug (shades of Dune!) and to Star Wars, which makes the game even more fun.
Highly Recommended
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters - Android Game Review of "Seven Little Words"
Glorious Time Wasters - "Seven Little Words"
Rating: Everyone who reads well
Notes: Great for the vocabulary. You might have to hunt some things up!
We've all been there -- standing in the grocery line while the person in front of you unloads what seems to be a clown car onto the conveyor belt. The checkout machine decides to not scan five items (based on some sort of random algorithm) and as you look around, you discover you ARE in the shortest line. Ennui looms. Tabloids hint at dark secrets. Candy racks hint at high calorie satisfaction.
What to do... what to do? Your fingers start to twitch...
Rating: Everyone who reads well
Notes: Great for the vocabulary. You might have to hunt some things up!
We've all been there -- standing in the grocery line while the person in front of you unloads what seems to be a clown car onto the conveyor belt. The checkout machine decides to not scan five items (based on some sort of random algorithm) and as you look around, you discover you ARE in the shortest line. Ennui looms. Tabloids hint at dark secrets. Candy racks hint at high calorie satisfaction.
What to do... what to do? Your fingers start to twitch...
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Android Game Review: Magma Mobile -- Pinball! -- another glorious waste of time!
Android Game Review: Magma Mobile -- Pinball! -- another glorious waste of time!
Initial review: Five stars -- trip down Nostalgia Lane
Game category: Physics games
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-nix-game-pinball-free-zptm.aspx
I confess that I like Magma Mobile's games -- they're clean, visually appealing, and there's even help screens that explain how to play, something that's rather unusual in many Android games. But there's a zillion pinball games out there -- so why THIS pinball over others?
It's all about the graphics.
I played Pinball back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when it was on the cusp of a revolution. Advances in electronics were just about to hit the pinball world and add digital scoring and digital displays would be added in a few years. Eight years later, Pac Man and Pong would be regular offerings in the arcades and it was You Versus The Machine. But in 1970, it was still all about the physics -- just you, a large table, and flipper buttons that you hit madly. And if you got just the right tap at the right angle, the gods of physics smiled at you and you could get free games. Particularly if you just happened to "bump" the table at JUST the right time.
Pinball was art. Pinball was physics. Pinball was hours of fun for a few quarters.
This version of Pinball for the Android has the "feel" of some of the older pinball machines that I've played -- they're simple, they're clean, and it relys on the right hit at the right angle and the right velocity. Some of the others take advantage of the fact that computers are very very fast compared to humans, and the balls seem to move at speeds not entirely consistent with the way the balls felt back in the days when it was just you and gravity.
I also tried Pinball Deluxe, but the screens (tables) weren't quite as charming as Magma Mobile's table. Maybe it's just me and my Old School ways, but the Magma Mobile game sure brings back fond memories of quiet bars and the music of my friend, Freddy Argir's band. http://www.fredyargir.com/music.html
Initial review: Five stars -- trip down Nostalgia Lane
Game category: Physics games
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? For everyone, really.
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-nix-game-pinball-free-zptm.aspx
I confess that I like Magma Mobile's games -- they're clean, visually appealing, and there's even help screens that explain how to play, something that's rather unusual in many Android games. But there's a zillion pinball games out there -- so why THIS pinball over others?
It's all about the graphics.
I played Pinball back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when it was on the cusp of a revolution. Advances in electronics were just about to hit the pinball world and add digital scoring and digital displays would be added in a few years. Eight years later, Pac Man and Pong would be regular offerings in the arcades and it was You Versus The Machine. But in 1970, it was still all about the physics -- just you, a large table, and flipper buttons that you hit madly. And if you got just the right tap at the right angle, the gods of physics smiled at you and you could get free games. Particularly if you just happened to "bump" the table at JUST the right time.
Pinball was art. Pinball was physics. Pinball was hours of fun for a few quarters.
This version of Pinball for the Android has the "feel" of some of the older pinball machines that I've played -- they're simple, they're clean, and it relys on the right hit at the right angle and the right velocity. Some of the others take advantage of the fact that computers are very very fast compared to humans, and the balls seem to move at speeds not entirely consistent with the way the balls felt back in the days when it was just you and gravity.
I also tried Pinball Deluxe, but the screens (tables) weren't quite as charming as Magma Mobile's table. Maybe it's just me and my Old School ways, but the Magma Mobile game sure brings back fond memories of quiet bars and the music of my friend, Freddy Argir's band. http://www.fredyargir.com/music.html
Friday, November 11, 2011
Android games: "Alchemy" -- a glorious waste of time
Android Game Review: Alchemy
Android Market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=me.zed_0xff.android.alchemy&hl=en
Android games: "Alchemy" -- a glorious waste of time
Game category: Puzzle game
Game type: Similar to ...alchemy, actually
Initial review: Five stars
Recommended device size: Any
Who'd enjoy it?: Most ages
Andrey 'Zed' Zaikin's lovely time-wasting Alchemy game is one of the classics of the free game market -- and if you haven't tried it yet, you really should. It's sort of a twist on the Greek view of the Universe -- that there were four elements that made up everything in the universe. You start with fire, earth, air, and water and drag them on top of things to make new items. So, fire plus water equals steam. That was easy! You can take elements you've already made (steam) and add it to something else (air) and make something new: a cloud!
But it gets weird after that. "Ash tray" = ash + glass. "Grape" = earth + wood. "wolf" = werewolf + moon. "Star" = sun + scientist (I like that!)
The final list of elements? Well, the app maker updates it occasionally, and there's always new combos. I had this on another device and downloaded it to my new Samsung Galaxy and was very surprised to find out that some combinations were for countries. The "Kama Sutra" combination also surprised me.
Items with a tiny red dot on the picture are "final products" and can't be combined in other ways.
The first fifty or so are easy... for the rest, there's hints and cheat sheets.
It's a real classic time-waster!
Android Market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=me.zed_0xff.android.alchemy&hl=en
Android games: "Alchemy" -- a glorious waste of time
Game category: Puzzle game
Game type: Similar to ...alchemy, actually
Initial review: Five stars
Recommended device size: Any
Who'd enjoy it?: Most ages
Andrey 'Zed' Zaikin's lovely time-wasting Alchemy game is one of the classics of the free game market -- and if you haven't tried it yet, you really should. It's sort of a twist on the Greek view of the Universe -- that there were four elements that made up everything in the universe. You start with fire, earth, air, and water and drag them on top of things to make new items. So, fire plus water equals steam. That was easy! You can take elements you've already made (steam) and add it to something else (air) and make something new: a cloud!
But it gets weird after that. "Ash tray" = ash + glass. "Grape" = earth + wood. "wolf" = werewolf + moon. "Star" = sun + scientist (I like that!)
The final list of elements? Well, the app maker updates it occasionally, and there's always new combos. I had this on another device and downloaded it to my new Samsung Galaxy and was very surprised to find out that some combinations were for countries. The "Kama Sutra" combination also surprised me.
Items with a tiny red dot on the picture are "final products" and can't be combined in other ways.
The first fifty or so are easy... for the rest, there's hints and cheat sheets.
It's a real classic time-waster!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Android games: "Crystal Portal" -- a glorious waste of time
Android Game Review: The Mystery of the Crystal Portal
Initial review: Four stars
Game category: Puzzle game
Game type: Similar to Paradise
Recommended device size: Tablets
Who'd enjoy it?: Teens/adults who like puzzle story games.
Android Market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.g5e.crystalportal&hl=en
I'd tried and got frustrated with other puzzle stories before, so I was a little wary of this one. There's no real action in these (the art is stunning, however) -- if you're not familiar with this type of game, it's "sort of" like the old "choose your own adventure" book. The protagonist is a journalist named Nicole Rankwist, who arrives home to find her archaeologist father missing. Anyone who knows us anthropologist/archaeologist types knows we're a LOT of trouble. Like all other missing archaeologists, he's just made a discovery that "could change the course of humanity." But he departed (voluntarily?) for parts unknown, leaving a journal that directs her to go to Japan.
The graphics are delightful -- intricate, colorful, and eye-catching. Game play is smooth, with a very useful help and hint function (this is a pet peeve of mine -- bad help screens.
The screens unlock after you find the right pieces to group together (a key, a fan, a statue, a frog -- which may not be related to each other or to the container you put them in.) The game is more or less a "prequel", where you get the first chapter for free. It's a nice little game, and if you've got a boring jury duty call, this is a perfect little time-passer to take with you while you wait.
The only reason for four stars is that the play isn't random. Once you've solved the riddle, that's it. You can go back and re-solve it, but you know how to do it now.
Initial review: Four stars
Game category: Puzzle game
Game type: Similar to Paradise
Recommended device size: Tablets
Who'd enjoy it?: Teens/adults who like puzzle story games.
Android Market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.g5e.crystalportal&hl=en
I'd tried and got frustrated with other puzzle stories before, so I was a little wary of this one. There's no real action in these (the art is stunning, however) -- if you're not familiar with this type of game, it's "sort of" like the old "choose your own adventure" book. The protagonist is a journalist named Nicole Rankwist, who arrives home to find her archaeologist father missing. Anyone who knows us anthropologist/archaeologist types knows we're a LOT of trouble. Like all other missing archaeologists, he's just made a discovery that "could change the course of humanity." But he departed (voluntarily?) for parts unknown, leaving a journal that directs her to go to Japan.
The graphics are delightful -- intricate, colorful, and eye-catching. Game play is smooth, with a very useful help and hint function (this is a pet peeve of mine -- bad help screens.
The screens unlock after you find the right pieces to group together (a key, a fan, a statue, a frog -- which may not be related to each other or to the container you put them in.) The game is more or less a "prequel", where you get the first chapter for free. It's a nice little game, and if you've got a boring jury duty call, this is a perfect little time-passer to take with you while you wait.
The only reason for four stars is that the play isn't random. Once you've solved the riddle, that's it. You can go back and re-solve it, but you know how to do it now.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Android Game Review: "Zenonia 3" -- another glorious waste of time!
Android Game Review: "Zenonia 3" -- another glorious waste of time!
Initial review: Two stars -- good, but just not my cuppa tea
Game category: Manga-type
Game type: RPG
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it?: Teens/adults who like story chain quest games.
Zenonia-3 is GameEvil's latest release of the RPG Zenonia. For this episode, you play the role of Chael, the adopted son of the first Zenonia game's protagonist Regret. This won't make much sense to you unless you've played the first game. The overall theme is that Chael has to find his way home from a place called Midgard (which looks nothing like the Norse Midgard.) Chael can be one of four different classes (Sword Knight, Shadow Hunter, Mechanic Launcher and Nature Shaman) for the quest.
Initial review: Two stars -- good, but just not my cuppa tea
Game category: Manga-type
Game type: RPG
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it?: Teens/adults who like story chain quest games.
Zenonia-3 is GameEvil's latest release of the RPG Zenonia. For this episode, you play the role of Chael, the adopted son of the first Zenonia game's protagonist Regret. This won't make much sense to you unless you've played the first game. The overall theme is that Chael has to find his way home from a place called Midgard (which looks nothing like the Norse Midgard.) Chael can be one of four different classes (Sword Knight, Shadow Hunter, Mechanic Launcher and Nature Shaman) for the quest.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Glorious time Wasters -- Match Up: People Edition
Match Up -- People Edition
From the Magma Mobile folks who created the nice little "Memory Match" game for the Android operating system comes a new twist on the classic "Match" game -- the "People edition." This version of the game uses pictures of people whose biographies you can find on Wikipedia (if that statement sounds a bit dodgy, it's because I don't watch movies or tv much, can't identify most actors or singers (other than the Beatles) or athletes, and have no idea what various entrepreneurs look like). If you're bad at recognizing faces, this is a good game for you. Make that a GREAT game.
It's the standard type of game play -- touch the cards to flip them. Cards that you haven't looked at have a question mark on the back. This particular version allows you to pick how many cards you want in your grid -- 4 cards (yes, 4), 16, 30, 36, 64, 72, 90, and 100 card versions. The images are a mix of black and white and color pictures. This is a good deal for those of us who are very bad at recognizing faces, because you can cue off hairstyles and colors.
Memory match games are mind-numbing amusement (not a thrill a minute) and at the 64+ card level, a good quick brain workout. Now if there was only an option for you to insert photos of your relatives or folks you meet in social situations. That'd be a great review for those Awkward Social Situations we all seem to fall into.
From the Magma Mobile folks who created the nice little "Memory Match" game for the Android operating system comes a new twist on the classic "Match" game -- the "People edition." This version of the game uses pictures of people whose biographies you can find on Wikipedia (if that statement sounds a bit dodgy, it's because I don't watch movies or tv much, can't identify most actors or singers (other than the Beatles) or athletes, and have no idea what various entrepreneurs look like). If you're bad at recognizing faces, this is a good game for you. Make that a GREAT game.
It's the standard type of game play -- touch the cards to flip them. Cards that you haven't looked at have a question mark on the back. This particular version allows you to pick how many cards you want in your grid -- 4 cards (yes, 4), 16, 30, 36, 64, 72, 90, and 100 card versions. The images are a mix of black and white and color pictures. This is a good deal for those of us who are very bad at recognizing faces, because you can cue off hairstyles and colors.
Memory match games are mind-numbing amusement (not a thrill a minute) and at the 64+ card level, a good quick brain workout. Now if there was only an option for you to insert photos of your relatives or folks you meet in social situations. That'd be a great review for those Awkward Social Situations we all seem to fall into.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Glorious time wasters -- "Clouds & Sheep" for Android
Android Game Review: "Clouds and Sheep" -- another glorious waste of time!
Initial review: Four stars -- amusing but slightly sadistic
Game category: Vikings type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone not troubled by some mildly sadistic acts like sheep tossing.
This is another game from Handy Games and as usual features rather charming graphics and an easy to use interface. The object is to keep your sheep happy and finish a series of very amusing quests -- like do the sheep toss. PETA would not approve of the sheep treatment, but they seem to like it.
The designers also allow you to save games so that you could either start at the level you left, restart an earlier version, or begin a new game and take the "best" scores. One of the biggest tips for this would be "don't have too many sheep." They breed like... well... sheep, I guess. It's hard to keep them all occupied.
So there you are, planting flowers to make sheep amorous and planting grass to feed them and handing them refreshing cool drinks or coffee -- and you also get to control the weather. Piled up clouds make a nice rainstorm -- and combined rainstorms make a nice thundercloud. "Sheep coffee" costs stars, but a lovely thunderbolt is free and wakes the sheep up just as effectively (so does bouncing them, but the thunderbolt's a lot of fun, frankly.)
A good time-waster, quick to learn, quick to play, easy to set down and pick back up again.
Initial review: Four stars -- amusing but slightly sadistic
Game category: Vikings type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone not troubled by some mildly sadistic acts like sheep tossing.
This is another game from Handy Games and as usual features rather charming graphics and an easy to use interface. The object is to keep your sheep happy and finish a series of very amusing quests -- like do the sheep toss. PETA would not approve of the sheep treatment, but they seem to like it.
The designers also allow you to save games so that you could either start at the level you left, restart an earlier version, or begin a new game and take the "best" scores. One of the biggest tips for this would be "don't have too many sheep." They breed like... well... sheep, I guess. It's hard to keep them all occupied.
So there you are, planting flowers to make sheep amorous and planting grass to feed them and handing them refreshing cool drinks or coffee -- and you also get to control the weather. Piled up clouds make a nice rainstorm -- and combined rainstorms make a nice thundercloud. "Sheep coffee" costs stars, but a lovely thunderbolt is free and wakes the sheep up just as effectively (so does bouncing them, but the thunderbolt's a lot of fun, frankly.)
A good time-waster, quick to learn, quick to play, easy to set down and pick back up again.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Android Games -- Pretty Pet Tycoon
Sim type games have been around for awhile and seem to be very popular for phones and other small devices. So, when I checked in the Android market to see which games were popular, and "Pretty Pet Tycoon" came up as a high rated, highly downloaded one. So I decided to take the Halloween Edition out for a test drive.
The idea for this episode of Pretty Pet Tycoon is that you're helping a cartoon pig (Piglina, who has moved to a farm in the countryside) set up a business that grows and sells fruit -- as well as (if you choose to go there) running a juice bar. Later levels unlock the candy factory section as well along with a mysterious competitor who seems bent on driving her out of business.
The instructions are... well... hard to find. I figured it out after a bit, but it took some doing.
The scene begins with Piglina on her farm and boxes of vegetable seeds coming down a conveyor belt. You use the touch-and-drag method to pull these plants to a certain box (red or blue... the plant will have a red or a blue box around it.) Then you tap the planting box and Piglina comes over to tend the crop. A few seconds later it's ready to be harvested, so you you drag it to the scale and tap the scale icon. Piglina trots over and boxes it. You drag it onto the truck and tap the truck. Piglina starts the truck and it heads off to Pretty Pet Tycoon Town and sells her merchandise.
As the days go on, the seeds come down the conveyor belt faster, and if you don't get them planted quickly enough they will go bad. If you don't harvest the crops quickly enough, they'll go bad. If you leave the packages sitting on the scale too long, they'll go bad and she'll lose money. My early mistake was buying plots of land rather than hiring workers -- as it turns out, workers are only hire-able with "Pet Points"... an in-game currency. You start out with zero pet points, by the way.
I played this one to level 8, but found that I could only hire one worker for Piglina with the money she had. There is the option to buy enough Pet Points for workers and automatic machines with Paypal, but I really don't care for games that rope you into paying for extras. The quick pace of the gameplay wasn't enough to hold my interest -- frankly, it was a bit too much like some jobs I've had.
For people who've played this style of game (Soda Shop, Waitress, Hair Salon), this one will have a lot of charm. The graphics are clean, and visuals are decent on an Android phone.
As for me, I deleted it and went back to "Dragon, Fly!" I've almost mastered swooping now.
The idea for this episode of Pretty Pet Tycoon is that you're helping a cartoon pig (Piglina, who has moved to a farm in the countryside) set up a business that grows and sells fruit -- as well as (if you choose to go there) running a juice bar. Later levels unlock the candy factory section as well along with a mysterious competitor who seems bent on driving her out of business.
The instructions are... well... hard to find. I figured it out after a bit, but it took some doing.
The scene begins with Piglina on her farm and boxes of vegetable seeds coming down a conveyor belt. You use the touch-and-drag method to pull these plants to a certain box (red or blue... the plant will have a red or a blue box around it.) Then you tap the planting box and Piglina comes over to tend the crop. A few seconds later it's ready to be harvested, so you you drag it to the scale and tap the scale icon. Piglina trots over and boxes it. You drag it onto the truck and tap the truck. Piglina starts the truck and it heads off to Pretty Pet Tycoon Town and sells her merchandise.
As the days go on, the seeds come down the conveyor belt faster, and if you don't get them planted quickly enough they will go bad. If you don't harvest the crops quickly enough, they'll go bad. If you leave the packages sitting on the scale too long, they'll go bad and she'll lose money. My early mistake was buying plots of land rather than hiring workers -- as it turns out, workers are only hire-able with "Pet Points"... an in-game currency. You start out with zero pet points, by the way.
I played this one to level 8, but found that I could only hire one worker for Piglina with the money she had. There is the option to buy enough Pet Points for workers and automatic machines with Paypal, but I really don't care for games that rope you into paying for extras. The quick pace of the gameplay wasn't enough to hold my interest -- frankly, it was a bit too much like some jobs I've had.
For people who've played this style of game (Soda Shop, Waitress, Hair Salon), this one will have a lot of charm. The graphics are clean, and visuals are decent on an Android phone.
As for me, I deleted it and went back to "Dragon, Fly!" I've almost mastered swooping now.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Glorious Time-wasters --"Fly, Dragon!" Android Game
(Review of free game, "Fly, Dragon" found in Android Marketplace)
Initial review: Five stars! Fun!
Game category: Angry Birds type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone. Good for distracting kids, whiling away time in the dentist office, de-stressing after a nasty morning, etc.
This one's got a really cute premise -- you're a baby dragon who can't fly yet but CAN glide... and you're hopping out of the nest to have an adventure, gliding through the sky. You have a ten second head start before Mom notices you're gone and comes to take you home. Along the way you can pick up speed boosting potions, invisibility potions (to sneak past her) and so forth. Game levels add complexity to the setup.
You start out by sliding downhill -- the trick is to let your finger represent gravity -- so you touch the screen when dragonlet is headed downward, but lift the finger off just before dragonlet gets to the ground. Don't touch the screen when dragonlet is headed upwards -- unless there's a line of potions over the hilltop that you can collect on the way down. If you get the right kind of glide (a 'swoosh') three times in a row, the dragonlet will breathe fire. But Mom's right behind you (there's a distance indicator on the lower left that shows how far back she is) and if you slow down too much, Mom's gonna get you and take you back to the nest.
It's an easy game to learn (so it's good to share with the kids) -- and the scenery changes to different "lands" as you get farther away from Mom. Different levels have different challenges that you can accept... or you can just have silly fun letting your dragonlet fly all over the place. The screen is colorful and uncluttered (so it's easy to handle, even on a small screen)
It's ad-supported, so expect ads on the bottom of the screen -- but it's free!
Initial review: Five stars! Fun!
Game category: Angry Birds type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone. Good for distracting kids, whiling away time in the dentist office, de-stressing after a nasty morning, etc.
This one's got a really cute premise -- you're a baby dragon who can't fly yet but CAN glide... and you're hopping out of the nest to have an adventure, gliding through the sky. You have a ten second head start before Mom notices you're gone and comes to take you home. Along the way you can pick up speed boosting potions, invisibility potions (to sneak past her) and so forth. Game levels add complexity to the setup.
You start out by sliding downhill -- the trick is to let your finger represent gravity -- so you touch the screen when dragonlet is headed downward, but lift the finger off just before dragonlet gets to the ground. Don't touch the screen when dragonlet is headed upwards -- unless there's a line of potions over the hilltop that you can collect on the way down. If you get the right kind of glide (a 'swoosh') three times in a row, the dragonlet will breathe fire. But Mom's right behind you (there's a distance indicator on the lower left that shows how far back she is) and if you slow down too much, Mom's gonna get you and take you back to the nest.
It's an easy game to learn (so it's good to share with the kids) -- and the scenery changes to different "lands" as you get farther away from Mom. Different levels have different challenges that you can accept... or you can just have silly fun letting your dragonlet fly all over the place. The screen is colorful and uncluttered (so it's easy to handle, even on a small screen)
It's ad-supported, so expect ads on the bottom of the screen -- but it's free!
A partial Aqua Pets Fish and food list
I'm still trying to work out the algorithm on what fish are being fed and how much they drop. I've had two pearls drop, but not on a reliable basis where you could say "feed this fish this particular food and 20% of the time you get a pearl." There's a lot of fish in Aqua Pets to work through, and I'm trying several foods each day, which means it's kind of slow to get a real list. I'm not keeping everything (I generally get rid of shrimp and crabs) -- tonight I'm trying out an "organic morsels" tank.
I'm not sure if Bionic Panda's actually figuring a weighted "rareness" factor on the food because it seems as if rare fish and common fish drop similar amounts of coinage.
Here's the list so far of what food the Aqua Pets animals that I've fished up prefer:
I'm not sure if Bionic Panda's actually figuring a weighted "rareness" factor on the food because it seems as if rare fish and common fish drop similar amounts of coinage.
Here's the list so far of what food the Aqua Pets animals that I've fished up prefer:
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Special food the key to getting pearls?
I had my carnivore tank set up yesterday and was feeding them chicken nuggets. They returned 110 coins plus one pearl. Most of them were rare or uncommon (Isosceles Squid, Ribbon Seal, Baby Harp Seal, Caribbean Reef Squid, European Squid, Excited Golden Lionfish, Red Lionfish, and a Piranha) and they all flashed happily when fed -- and then hid offscreen. I'd like some smaller carnivores but am not sure the common ones will drop pearls as often as the uncommons and rares do.
I haven't counted to see if they all drop the same number of coins.
Today's tank is the (Legendary) Night Sky Angler, Baby Harp Seal, Candy Angler (apparently all Anglers eat chicken nuggets), Isosceles Squid, Caribbean Reef Squid, European Squid, Golden Lionfish, Ribbon Seal, and a Piranha. We'll see what they drop.
Many of the fish don't seem to want a specific food. They'll be happy with basic foods -- I haven't compared gold drop rates yet.
I tried fishing with the Rainbow Pellets, but am not sure they were any better than the Glowing Red Pellets.
I haven't counted to see if they all drop the same number of coins.
Today's tank is the (Legendary) Night Sky Angler, Baby Harp Seal, Candy Angler (apparently all Anglers eat chicken nuggets), Isosceles Squid, Caribbean Reef Squid, European Squid, Golden Lionfish, Ribbon Seal, and a Piranha. We'll see what they drop.
Many of the fish don't seem to want a specific food. They'll be happy with basic foods -- I haven't compared gold drop rates yet.
I tried fishing with the Rainbow Pellets, but am not sure they were any better than the Glowing Red Pellets.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Fish Food For Fish
Sometimes I think it'd be simpler and more exciting if they just ATE each other. You know; toss a couple of those I-can't-believe-I-caught-another-one Chalk Basselets in with a few of the Seals and Sharks and let them have at it. In any case, I'm experimenting with the fish food bits to see what's the best bang for the buck.
I did get my very first pearl from feeding fish yesterday, but it was on a tank of miscellaneous fish that I was feeding "Organic Pellets" to... and I have no clue which fish it was, either. None of them flashed with excitement about the "Organic Pellets." As I recall, the tank was one of those miscellaneous "I'm just fishing it up, what the heck" tanks.
Meanwhile, a partial list of Aqua Pets fish that adore "Chicken Nuggets"
I did get my very first pearl from feeding fish yesterday, but it was on a tank of miscellaneous fish that I was feeding "Organic Pellets" to... and I have no clue which fish it was, either. None of them flashed with excitement about the "Organic Pellets." As I recall, the tank was one of those miscellaneous "I'm just fishing it up, what the heck" tanks.
Meanwhile, a partial list of Aqua Pets fish that adore "Chicken Nuggets"
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The Aquapets Fish Foods List
So after the last screeches and howls of outrage about the game (I think they're valid ones), I uninstalled it and then reinstalled it to start from level zero. This time I'm figuring out some of the "extra things" that would make it even better as a beginner. One of them is figuring out what in the heck to feed which fish. They will accept the basic food, but the goal is to find out what food they really like. When you feed them, they "blink" to a shadowy gray color for a moment.
You can spend a lot of coins trying to figure out what to feed your Aqua Pets fish so that they'll give you a present of coins the next morning. Sadly, the number of coins they give you doesn't seem to be related to how common or uncommon the fish is. Bigger fish give more coins than little ones... but the downside is that three size 1 fish give about the same amount as one size 3 fish.
Best strategy is to go with one category of fish (carnivores, freshwater, etc) per tank and use slightly larger fish. It's fun to watch the little ones scooch up into a feeding frenzy, but the advantage of going with larger fish is that it's easy to make sure you've fed everything in your tank. And they won't give you coins unless they've been fed.
Hands down, the easiest thing to focus on when you're at levels 1-6 is to keep all the freshwater fish you get (caught with the original fishing rod.) I've made a list of the ones I caught with "black bugs" and "orange bugs" and as long as you keep fishing with the wooden rod, you'll fish up enough of these to make a tank.
A list of fish for your first "money tank":
You can spend a lot of coins trying to figure out what to feed your Aqua Pets fish so that they'll give you a present of coins the next morning. Sadly, the number of coins they give you doesn't seem to be related to how common or uncommon the fish is. Bigger fish give more coins than little ones... but the downside is that three size 1 fish give about the same amount as one size 3 fish.
Best strategy is to go with one category of fish (carnivores, freshwater, etc) per tank and use slightly larger fish. It's fun to watch the little ones scooch up into a feeding frenzy, but the advantage of going with larger fish is that it's easy to make sure you've fed everything in your tank. And they won't give you coins unless they've been fed.
Hands down, the easiest thing to focus on when you're at levels 1-6 is to keep all the freshwater fish you get (caught with the original fishing rod.) I've made a list of the ones I caught with "black bugs" and "orange bugs" and as long as you keep fishing with the wooden rod, you'll fish up enough of these to make a tank.
A list of fish for your first "money tank":
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