accelerometer game

G-sensor game LunarTilt comes to the Samsung Omnia

October 3, 2008 | By Surur

LunarTilt, one of the first accelerometer games for the HTC Touch Diamond, has now been adapted to work also on the Samsung Omnia. The Omnia, despite having an excellent accelerometer implementation, has been significantly underserved in the developer community, so this is certainly good news.

See a review of the game in action here and download LunarTilt 0.95 from the PocketMax forum here.

Credit: Ef Jay

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Diamond Cubes updated

September 23, 2008 | By Surur

We don’t usually report on every little update of most software apps, but Diamond Cubes is pretty special, mainly because it is now excellent. The Dice Simulator, which works using the G-sensor, now looks great, and additionally sounds great. See the video below for the app in action.

The software is freeware, available in this XDA-Developers thread here. If you dont download this app and keep it on your Diamond or Pro, I really only have one question – why not?

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DirectX 3D tech demo for your HTC Diamond/Pro

September 22, 2008 | By Surur

As developers are finding their feet with the latest powerful Windows Mobile hardware we are seeing all kinds of odd, essentially useless but still very interesting software pop up.

The latest is this 3D Model Viewer, which is an adaptation of a DirectX sample that modified by developer Andrec to respond to the G-sensor in the HTC Touch Diamond or Pro. The result is that one can view the model from all directions merely by tilting the screen, as if it is a real 3-dimensional object embedded in the device.

The software is downloadable as a simple exe which can be executed directly on your device.

Download it from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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Dice for Samsung Omnia

September 21, 2008 | By Surur

We don’t really post enough about the Samsung Omnia, considering its one of the most high-end Windows Mobile phones widely available at the moment. Part of the reason is likely that there is not such a vigorous development community around it, generating news.

Here is one tidbit we would like to share with Omnia users. The recent Chinese ROM’s include a new G-Sensor based game (not compatible with HTC’s implementation) called Dice, which is simply an application for simulating Dice throws, useful for when you are playing a board game for example (or just showing of the G-Sensor functionality too of course).

See the video below for the app in action, and download the exe (to execute directly on your device) here.

Via Modaco.com

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Seismometer for the HTC Touch Diamond/Pro

September 16, 2008 | By Surur

Here is another fun G-sensor application. It will likely not save your life in an earthquake, but its a cool way of showing off the functionality of the accelerometer in the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro. the software lacks and exit button at present, but can easily be ended by using the close button on the today screen.

Download the application from here, or see this XDA-Developers thread for the latest developments.

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Diamond Cube – Dice Simulator for the HTC Touch Diamond

September 16, 2008 | By Surur

While not as slick as its iPhone counterpart, cgeboers’s dice simulator for the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro does the job just as well.

Diamond Cube functions using the accelerometer in the HTC Touch Diamond or Pro, it responds to your shaking rather naturally. I do notice however a penchant for snake eyes and other doubles.

Download the application from the XDA-Developer page here.

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PocketGravity now G-Sensor-enabled

September 14, 2008 | By Surur

PocketGravity is an innovative piece of software for Windows Mobile phones which allows one to create 2 dimensional objects and then run physics simulations on it (if that is confusing the video should explain all). The software has now been updated to support the accelerometer on the HTC Diamond and HTC Touch Pro, meaning the user has another way to interact with his creations.

If you have a Diamond or Touch Pro download the updated software from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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VR Hologram – create a virtual hologram on your HTC Touch Diamond or Pro

September 12, 2008 | By Surur

VR Hologram is software created Pauloke which simulates a hologram by using the G-sensor in your HTC Touch Diamond or Pro to detect movement and change the image accordingly. Unlike the similar (fake) program for the iPhone this one is all real and ready to download. See the video below for the application in action. The animations are courtesy of Managed Direct 3D Mobile. The software is inspired by a demo using headtracking with the wiimote.

Read more about the app and download from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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Resco Bubbles – first commercial G-Sensor game

September 5, 2008 | By Surur

Resco has released the first commercial game using HTC’s still unreleased accelerometer API. Bubbles is an action puzzle game where the idea is to clear the grid of bubbles in order to advance to the next level. Control the steel ball by tilting the device and try to pop all the bubbles in the order from the lowest to the highest numbers. Try to do that as fast as possible and avoid all the dangerous bubbles. Numerous explosive, speed-up, slow-down and damage bubbles keep the game play exciting and challenging. There are 30 levels with different arenas.

This application is an interesting development, as its restricted to only the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro, which form only a small part of the windows mobile universe. As the G-sensor API is unpublished, there is also no guarantee that the API will not change in later devices or even ROM updates of current devices. These issues underline the need for a universal API for the advances sensors in new Windows Mobile devices.

We hope to have a full review of the software soon.

Download the game from Resco here.

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Diamond Beer 2 – Better head, better bubbles

August 24, 2008 | By Surur

Diamond Beer has been updated to version. Version 2 features:

- Beer “label” on your glass.
- Multiple types of drinks: “Duvel” is the default, and a root beer (non-alcoholic) for kids.
- Bubbles in the glass which always drift up.
- If you tilt your “glass” to far, the beer empties immediately.
- A nice icon in the Programs group

See the video demo below.

Download the cab from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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G-Invaders 0.4 – G-Invaders becomes a real game

August 24, 2008 | By Surur

We have written about G-Invaders before. At that time is was little more than a tech demo, showing how the accelerometer in the HTC Touch Diamond can be used to control a space-invader type game. Since then the developer has been very busy, and has been turning the demo into a real game. Currently at version 0.4 the software now features:

4 different difficulty levels
70 levels in 10 galaxies
more enemies
bombs which destroy all visible aliens
extra life every 25 Shields upgrades
helper ship every 10 Weapon upgrades
high score list
saving and loading of game states
use of scroll wheel
calibration of tilt sensor

See the video below of the game in action. Apologies for the cinematography – its difficult to video a constantly moving screen.

Download the game from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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Sensory Overload – asteroids game for the HTC Diamond using G-sensor

August 10, 2008 | By Surur

Koushik Dutta, lord of .Net CF, has created a game for the HTC Touch Diamond that brings together many of his efforts to ease development of .Net software that takes full advantage of the excellent hardware of the HTC Touch Diamond.

His version of the venerable Asteroids game utilizes the G-Sensor, Nav Sensor, and the 3D hardware capabilities of the the HTC Touch Diamond and looks simply gorgeous and works reasonably well.

The game is simple:

Move the ship by tilting the device.
Don’t run into an asteroid.
Blow up the asteroids into tiny pieces.
When an asteroid spawns (it will be faded out), you have 5 seconds to get away from it before it can hurt you.
Rotate the Nav sensor clockwise to fire a bullet.
Rotate the Nav sensor counter clockwise to fire a spray of bullets. You can only use this special ability once every 5 seconds.
Asteroids spawn every 15 seconds.

The author mostly intended the game as a proof of concept to provide other developers starting ground to create their own amazing games for the HTC Touch Diamond. With this in mind not only is the game freely downloadable, but also the full source code.

Visit Koushik Dutta’s website here to read more and download the game.

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YABGBT – Yet Another Ball Game Based on Tilt

August 9, 2008 | By Surur

The title is not our indictment of the game, its the developers rather modest name for what is actually quite an innovative take on the usual accelerometer controlled game. In the game you control a platform (the white square) and attempt the keep the ball in the air. You can just the height of the ball based on its size.

YABHBT controls well, and unusually for a g-sensor game, can also be controlled by the stylus. My only suggestion to the developer would be that he could make better use of the parallax effect using the background to increase the motion and depth perception effect.

Download the software from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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