Bringing Hexy Back
I’ve been working on iPhone apps since before it was “legit” and even gained a bit of fame from last year’s mind-bendingly intense iApp-a-Day project. Even so, I’ve only recently managed to have one app that I could call “mine” get into the store - Tapulous’ Photo Collage. Ironically, that didn’t happened until after I quit!
In the down time between Tapulous and my new gig, Greg and I had this plan to build an app of our own. It had been years since we’d done anything together, so this seemed like it’d be fun. Naturally, the timing didn’t work out so well as things kept coming up, clashing schedules, general laziness, etc all conspired to make progress shockingly slow to the point of wondering if it’d ever really get done…
Of course unlike other projects we’d taken on together and not really finished (most not making it past the idea stage), this one had more at stake - we actually paid Louie Mantia (and, indirectly, David Lanham) for some art and it’d be stupid to not get it into production and hopefully try to at least break even on it… Plus, the game rules.
Experience addictive strategy gameplay with Hexy: it’s easy to learn, challenging to master, and impossible to put down! The game is simple. To win, build a bridge connecting your two sides of the board while blocking your opponent from doing the same thing. Play against a friend or take on Buzzy, the Hexy artificial intelligence, for hours of fun!
- Three modes of play: by yourself (against Buzzy the AI), against a friend on the same iPhone or iPod, or against a friend on the same WiFi network
- Choose between three levels of difficulty
- Beautiful graphics and nifty animations - look out for the bees!
- Optional fun sound effects and compelling background music
- Use your own music too - Hexy won’t stop whatever’s playing on your iPod
- Automatically saves your game if you receive a phone call or exit Hexy while playing
- Built-in help explains the rules of the classic strategy game Hex, on which Hexy is based
- Carefully designed graphics that are suitable for colorblind players
Known bugs: Bees
It was just submitted to Apple for review tonight, so there’s no telling when it might show up in the store, but hopefully things will go smoothly!
UPDATE: It’s approved and for sale! Tell your friends!
November 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Yay Sean & Greg! You guys do such cool schtuff, congrats, hope to see many more fun things in the future
November 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
3.99? really? The game looks like it would be fun but that is a little pricey for me. Maybe if there was a Hexy Lite for people to try first so they know they like it before commiting 4 bucks to something they aren’t sure about.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
@Xander: Aww.. come on.. It’s less than most fancy coffee drinks…
In truth, though, it’s very hard to know how to price something like this before seeing how it sells. Essentially by definition, things are only worth what people are willing to pay - and we have no idea what people are willing to pay. You think $3.99 is too much.. maybe it is… but right now, we have no data. It’s not like the price is set in stone, either… 
November 28th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Excellent! I just bought a copy — I have to support good board games for the iPhone.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:23 am
@Jens: Thanks! Hope you enjoy it.
November 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
@Sean: I do like it quite a bit! It’s now tied with iBacteria as my favorite iPhone game (especially since I’ve been able to beat the AI 2 games out of 3, though only by the skin of my teeth.)
I gave the app a 5-star rating. I’ve also added a page for it to the Hex Wiki:
http://www.hexwiki.org/index.php?title=Hexy_%28iPhone%29
Feel free to improve it, of course. I couldn’t give any detail about the AI other than listing the names of the people the app credits for inspiration.
My biggest request is to rotate the board 30° CCW so that it will fit better on the iPhone screen. It looks as though the entire board would fit at the default zoom level.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
@Jens: Thanks for the kind words! We’ll think about the 30deg rotation idea. I’m not sure why that didn’t occur to us the entire time while building the game..
You’re right - it should lead to much better use of the screen space!