Third In The Space Watch Trilogy

WatchOS 6 is launching soon, and I've been busy preparing some new games exclusively for the Apple Watch.

I've already released Kepler Attack, a fast paced space shooter inspired by the arcade classic Gyruss, and I've recently completed Star Warp, which is now available for pre-order on the App Store. Star Warp will launch on the 4th of September and is inspired by Galaxians.

And right now I'm busy working on another space game -  the third in my Space Watch Trilogy - and that game is called Asteroid Commando. No prizes for guessing the inspiration for this one...

Like the other two games, Asteroid Commando is built using Swift 5 and SpriteKit and is designed to take advantage of all the latest features of the Apple Watch. It uses the Digital Crown with haptic feedback, runs at a silky smooth 60fps, works with Game Center for the Watch and runs independently of the iPhone.

I've built up a framework while developing Snappy Word, Kepler Attack and Star Warp - sharing a menu system, leaderboard and save/load system between games lets me kick off new projects and get into the core game a lot faster.

Initial sprite set for the game

I'm finding the constraints of the Apple Watch a joy to work with. The smaller screen size and limited input, coupled with the shorter play sessions means that a Watch game is much smaller in scope than the average mobile game. And this means shorter development times without compromising the quality of the experience. In some ways, the Watch is a great delivery platform for what is essentially paid hyper casual games.

I plan on doing more regular updates as I close out Asteroid Commando, so please check back to see the new features I'll be adding over the coming weeks.

Cheers,
Johnno