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So... has anyone even played Devils Playhouse on iPad?

natlinxznatlinxz
edited April 2010 in Sam & Max
I read a post on this forum by someone who claims to have played The Devils Playhouse on iPad (apparently its worse than the Wii version of TOMI).

EDIT: Here it is...
Hinchy wrote: »
Except for one, and that is the new Sam and Max: The Penal Zone on iPad.

It is buggy, glitchy, and choppy. Its framerate varies from being as smooth as butter to as smooth as a pit of spikes. The game will periodically freeze for no good reason for up to 30 seconds at a time. Sometimes the visuals will not match up to the action and lag behind for a few seconds. Loading takes sometimes as long as a full 45 seconds between areas. Sometimes the audio will freak out and play blaring glitchy static tones. The game is barely playable.

Now I understand you _probably_ had no access to a real iPad during development, so I'm not REALLY REALLY angry. But, Telltale, I ask you this: could you either fix this mess, or at least refund my $10?

This makes me wonder: Who else on here has played the Devils Playhouse on the iPad? It's to my understanding that TellTale Games didn't have an iPad when developing the game,
Which is incredibly unprofessional and will make me question the quality of future products
so for those who have played it: How is the game?

Comments

  • JeJeJeJe
    edited April 2010
    Here's a spoilery review.
  • guitarsareboringguitarsareboring
    edited April 2010
    Interesting. I'm not going to read the review for the obvious spoiler-factor but can someone please summarise whether it's favourable or not, and if not, for what sort of reasons?
  • WapcapletWapcaplet
    edited April 2010
    Not very positive. Non-spoilery sections:
    There are some good laughs to be had, even if a majority of the jokes fall flat because of predictability or immaturity.
    This isn't the sharp wit of touch-enabled adventures like Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered or The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
    Most disappointing about Sam & Max is the array of technical issues plaguing this iPad release. Audio glitches caused grating sounds to pipe through the speakers on several occasions. A major graphical bug forced me to quit out of the game during one session because the screen was disassembled into a series of distorted triangles. It's also worth pointing out that the game generally runs slowly.

    Technical problems are sure to be fixed, but the low brow humour holds Sam & Max back from earning a badge and being inducted into the force of top-notch touch-enabled adventures.
  • AvelAvel
    edited April 2010
    It's actually fairly spoiler free to be honest, but here's the in-review summation:
    Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone is amusing in parts, but best relegated to series followers rather than adventuresome newcomers.

    Edit: blegh, too slow. I'm honestly surprised that there is no blue highlight mode on the iPad (if it is true and not simply missed) as it was shown on the PS3 demo.
  • KristopfKristopf
    edited April 2010
    I've been playing it.

    The intro sequence is the worst - several glitches and spots where it hangs for several seconds, or dialogue is out of sync. Once you get to the game itself it's...well...mostly playable is the best thing I can say about it. It takes 10-20 seconds to change scenes, the text is all a little pixelated, audio sometimes glitches out.

    Oh, and it runs letterboxed. There's an option to zoom in, but then stuff gets cut off.

    I'm not ready to ask for a refund yet, but I do hope TellTale gets a chance to play this on iPad and puts out an update soon.
  • AvelAvel
    edited April 2010
    What's kind of funny is that this really just sounds like running Season Two on my netbook without downing the settings. Further Optimization may be necessary.
  • KristopfKristopf
    edited April 2010
    Avel wrote: »
    I'm honestly surprised that there is no blue highlight mode on the iPad (if it is true and not simply missed) as it was shown on the PS3 demo.

    There IS a highlight mode. Hold down two fingers, and all the interaction zones are revealed. I believe at some point the game tells you that, but I may have just found it out on my own.
  • AvelAvel
    edited April 2010
    Kristopf wrote: »
    There IS a highlight mode. Hold down two fingers, and all the interaction zones are revealed. I believe at some point the game tells you that, but I may have just found it out on my own.

    S'what I figure, reviewer missed.
  • Hassat HunterHassat Hunter
    edited April 2010
    A major graphical bug forced me to quit out of the game during one session because the screen was disassembled into a series of distorted triangles.
    Sounds like the stuff happening during overheating of a PC. I've had that too with 205... although I thought it kind of cool Max turning all red :D, and my cursor changing into a random texture. :p
  • zmallyzmally
    edited April 2010
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGUppxoJUVg
  • MooshiiiiMooshiiii
    edited April 2010
    I've played it, it's a bit glitchy. The intro looks kinda weird but it gets better afterwards. Still, it was freezing up so much I had to stop playing it. It really needs an update to work out the kinks but the game itself is really fun.

    Ok it's REALLY glitchy. Oh well, price for being impatient I guess.
  • HinchyHinchy
    edited April 2010
    I'd ignore any comments about Sam and Max's humor being "immature" or "stupid" as it's pretty much the same quality as other games in the series. In other words, when it's playable, it's hilarious.

    The highlight mode is activated with a two-finger hold, btw. Pretty simple.

    I stand by my original post saying that it's unplayable, though.
  • tmsmyth4tmsmyth4
    edited April 2010
    "Puzzles are few and far between in this adventure"

    Thats a shame, obviously all the psychic-ness in season 3 is going to reduce the amount of classic item based puzzles but tbh dialogue puzzles bore me and based on this review, episode 1 relies on them alot. They ruin the replay value for me and arent really much fun first time round. I hope the inventory hasnt been reduced too much. Discworld Noir is the only game I can think of that made dialogue puzzles+a small inventory fun. Cant wait to play season 3 but I have my doubts as puzzles should surely come first in an adventure game
  • HinchyHinchy
    edited April 2010
    tmsmyth4 wrote: »
    "Puzzles are few and far between in this adventure"

    Thats a shame, obviously all the psychic-ness in season 3 is going to reduce the amount of classic item based puzzles but tbh dialogue puzzles bore me and based on this review, episode 1 relies on them alot. They ruin the replay value for me and arent really much fun first time round. I hope the inventory hasnt been reduced too much. Discworld Noir is the only game I can think of that made dialogue puzzles+a small inventory fun. Cant wait to play season 3 but I have my doubts as puzzles should surely come first in an adventure game

    I don't know who the heck did this review. The psychic puzzles are actually a ton of fun and change up the gameplay nicely, in my book. And like I just said,
    Hinchy wrote: »
    I'd ignore any comments about Sam and Max's humor being "immature" or "stupid" as it's pretty much the same quality as other games in the series. In other words, when it's playable, it's hilarious.
  • SlasherManSlasherMan
    edited April 2010
    Also read on the iTunes customer reviews that, yes a number of people are complaning about it being slow, choppy, laggy ect. Something not to be found in the PC/MAC/PS3 versions ;)
  • Hero1Hero1
    edited April 2010
    Yeah I hope the PS3 version isn't choppy.. It seems to be something that all of Telltale's non-PC ports have struggled with. It's a shame because it's bringing down some quality games like Sam & Max Season 2.
  • GibbeynatorGibbeynator
    edited April 2010
    It's disheartening to hear that the iPad version is as buggy as it is. Maybe that extra couple weeks that the other versions are getting could have helped.
  • GinnyNGinnyN
    edited April 2010
    natlinxz wrote: »
    It's to my understanding that TellTale Games didn't have an iPad when developing the game,
    Which is incredibly unprofessional and will make me question the quality of future products

    The official SDK for develop apps, at least for iPhone, do not come with an iPhone either, so, I'm pretty sure a ton of Apps aren't developed with the actual thing, but with an Emulator developed by Apple. In a way, they had to buy the gadget by separate, and Apple sometimes offers discounts for developers, but it's not inmediatly. Even if they wanted it, Apple could say to them the emulator is just enough, and they can't do nothing about it.

    Even if I understand the technical reasons why the Game is slow and everything (Something I recall to think about Easter Saturday, mostly for how fast the development was), that thing specifically I'm pretty sure wasn't their fault, I'm sure was Apple's.
  • ahintzahintz
    edited April 2010
    I was excited to play Sam & Man on my iPad, but it is really, really glitchy. I'm going to wait for version 1.1 before trying to play it on my iPad. Hopefully Telltale will be able to quickly fix the problems.
  • adventureaddictadventureaddict
    edited April 2010
    I fear this is going to bring down sales for Season 3 in the future...

    "Oh, it's so buggy on platform x, why bother trying it on platform y."
    Ah well. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
  • RipcordRipcord
    edited April 2010
    Perhaps, but my Expert Opinion is that that blip won't affect sales for other platforms a single iota. Not even .1 iotas.
  • PariahKingPariahKing
    edited April 2010
    I really wish Telltale would stop releasing these bad ports that hurt their image.

    No iPad to develop with? Really?
  • KromsKroms
    edited April 2010
    Although I haven't seen much of it, Devil's Playhouse made me laugh. It was pretty funny. I think people just like to be elitist, which is why they say "wit", as in "Joke only I and my equals will get". Although Sam and Max sometimes skirts too close to their trademark humor, I've mostly found this to be rather funny. Keeping in mind I just saw some gameplay videos, and not very long ones either.
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited April 2010
    Avel wrote: »
    What's kind of funny is that this really just sounds like running Season Two on my netbook without downing the settings. Further Optimization may be necessary.

    Or any game besides sbcg4ap on MY netbook(no wait I cant even get the game started my bad)
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited April 2010
    Seems like all the bad reviews are for the
    l
    aggy iPad and people who aren't planning on following the rest of the series. I'm planning to follow it on PC, so I'm good.
  • joeldeejoeldee Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2010
    Hi all

    For getting best performance, we suggest you have the game as the only app running. As a 3D game with richer graphics, it'll be smoothest if you don't have other apps running at the same time.

    1. Hold down the sleep/wake button at the top of the device for a few seconds until the screen displays the message 'slide to power off.'
    2. Power off the device by moving the slider.
    3. Hold down the sleep/wake button again until the device powers back on.
    4. When the home screen is displayed, relaunch the game

    - Joel, Telltale
  • LeakLeak
    edited April 2010
    adventureaddict wrote: »
    I fear this is going to bring down sales for Season 3 in the future...

    "Oh, it's so buggy on platform x, why bother trying it on platform y."
    Ah well. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
    Well, reviews like this one haven't stopped China from cranking out badly made video games... :D

    np: Autechre - Yeesland (Cichlisuite)
  • ahintzahintz
    edited April 2010
    joeldee wrote: »
    Hi all

    For getting best performance, we suggest you have the game as the only app running. As a 3D game with richer graphics, it'll be smoothest if you don't have other apps running at the same time.

    1. Hold down the sleep/wake button at the top of the device for a few seconds until the screen displays the message 'slide to power off.'
    2. Power off the device by moving the slider.
    3. Hold down the sleep/wake button again until the device powers back on.
    4. When the home screen is displayed, relaunch the game

    - Joel, Telltale

    Joel,

    Thanks for the tip - that definitely improved the performance. Of course, when coming to Telltale's website, I noticed you've dropped the price on the game already... Oh well, at least it is working now.
  • KevinKevin Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2010
    For those who haven't seen it, check out the new video of the iPad in action! And it's on sale this weekend only!
  • light_riseslight_rises
    edited April 2010
    Kevin wrote: »
    For those who haven't seen it, check out the new video of the iPad in action! And it's on sale this weekend only!

    Neat! I was curious about the controls. Who was the VO for the video, by the way?
    (I have a feeling it's gonna be someone blindingly obvious in hindsight, but hey.)
  • WapcapletWapcaplet
    edited April 2010
    Kevin wrote: »
    For those who haven't seen it, check out the new video of the iPad in action! And it's on sale this weekend only!
    The end of the video says the sale lasts until April 18, which is the end of next weekend... :confused:
  • ShauntronShauntron Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2010
    light_rises wrote: »
    Neat! I was curious about the controls. Who was the VO for the video, by the way?
    (I have a feeling it's gonna be someone blindingly obvious in hindsight, but hey.)

    That's Mark Barbolak, I think he played the treasure pirate in ToMI 5. He's primarily our legal representative believe it or not :)
  • GibbeynatorGibbeynator
    edited April 2010
    Anyone up to answering a few basic questions?
    1. Is the world still censored after Sam swapped the swear list for Satan's shopping list?
    2. Are the COPS back?
    3. Followup, if so, did they fix Bluster Blaster?
    4. Is the DeSoto still possessed?

    I'll throw these in spoiler tags to be safe, but really, Season 2 has been over for 2 years at this point, they really shouldn't be spoilers at this point.
  • RipcordRipcord
    edited April 2010
    Shauntron wrote: »
    That's Mark Barbolak, I think he played the treasure pirate in ToMI 5. He's primarily our legal representative believe it or not :)

    I love that this is true.
  • AvelAvel
    edited April 2010
    Gibbeynator wrote: »
    Anyone up to answering a few basic questions?

    1. Unknown. I'd tend to doubt it beyond a potential gag or two.
    2. All except BB confirmed.
    3. Unknown. Probably not, for Jared's sake.
    4. Confirmed as yes.
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