Nitrome Touchy

Nitrome Touchy is a free Brass Monkey application for iOS devices released on October 31, 2012 for iPhone, and November 21st 2012 for Android. The app allows for select Nitrome games to be played using devices running the application, using the player's iPhone as a controller (for the iPhone version of the game). The Android version will use the Android smartphone. It is assume that the Android version will be a port of the iPhone version.

The multiplayer function of the Nitrome Touchy was first teased on September 18th, in the form of a mysterious trailer that showed four Spartans going throughout Double Edged levels. The next week, the app was revealed, and for subsequent weeks up until October 31st, new games and features of the app were revealed.

The app itself is free to download, and comes with Super Snot Put free to play, with Swindler also becoming free to play as of December 19th 2012. For full access to all Nitrome Touchy compatible games, extra payment is required. This fee gives app users access to all current Nitrome Touchy compatible games, as well as future releases. .

Ten games were released for the Nitrome Touchy on its iPhone October 31st launch date and its Android November 21st launch date, with another 20 coming within six months of its release. The release of the iPhone version of the app was celebrated with the release of the Touchy skin, prior to the release, a mini site was released that would provide more information, links and resources about Nitrome Touchy.

Despite Nitrome's announcement of "20 games coming in 6 months", Nitrome has announced that Swindler 2 was Nitrome Touchy compatible with both iPhone and Android Nitrome Touchy's when the game was released - November 21st 2012. Although Bad Ice-Cream 2 was also meant to be Touchy compatible on release, due to the rush Nitrome had took to release the game, it was only until January 8th it became Touchy compatible. Nitrome has also stated that Swindler 2 will not be the only game to be touchy compatible on its release date, there will be other games that when released to become immediately Touchy compatible.

Development
Nitrome partnered with developers Brass Monkey to create the Nitrome Touchy app, which would run off there software. One reason for this partnership was for "local multiplayer opportunities that we could never achieve within the confines of a normal keyboard", this allowing Nitrome to somewhat expand the size of the controls used to operate their games, thus allowing more people to simultaneously play a game that the regular limit of two or four.

Nitrome was sent a software development kit by Brass Monkey, and it was through using this kit that Nitrome realized the potential with the Brass monkey technology. Super Snot Put was the first Nitrome game tried with the Brass Monkey software.

Nitrome decided to released the app on the iPhone first instead of Android, as Android would have required much more work, while iPhone would be more simpler. . Nitrome's large fanbase also contributed to the success of the Nitrome Touchy.

Features
The Nitrome Touchy app will allow any iOS device to behave like a Nintendo Wii Remote, as the technology Brass Monkey provides supports almost all the features of a Nintendo Wii Remote. Although Brass Monkey has access to a number of functions, only two functions have been confirmed for use on Nitrome Touchy. Excluding touch screen interface, these include motion control and local multiplayer.

Unlike previous play-flash-game-with-smartphone apps which had lag, Nitrome Touchy dos not suffer from lag as the player's own WiFi is used, as opposed to connecting to a server on the internet.

General controls
Although Nitrome Touchy wasn't the first app that allows one to play flash games with their smartphone, Nitrome Touchy allowed more inuitive controls and simpler design than previous than other "virtual pads". While other "virtual pads" were restricted to only d-pads and buttons, it was Nitrome Touchy that allowed motion sensitive controls.

Nitrome Touchy is also simpler than other virtual pads which involved having to download an EXE to the player's computer.

Motion control
Games which support this: Worm Food, Aquanaut, Thin Ice, Swindler, Flash Cat, Super Snot Put Motion control refers to the physical movement of the iOS device itself to interact with the in-game environment. Confirmed motions compatible for the Nitrome Touchy are swinging, and tilting the smartphone left, right, and down.

The Wii Motion Plus style control method of Super Snot Put provides an example of how motion control works on Nitrome Touchy. Swinging the iOS around in a circular motion takes advantage of the gyroscopic motion control of the iOS device.

Local multiplayer
Games which support this: Double Edged, Bad Ice Cream 2 With local multiplayer, Nitrome Touchy supports the ability to allow multiple players to play in the same game module. A trailer released under the title "Double Edged????" first revealed the feature that would allow four people to simultaneously play the same game (Double Edged) on the same computer screen.

Touch screen
Games which support this: All

The touch screen of the smartphone allows for unique control methods to be used. Buttons, d-pads, and other control methods can be used via the touch screen of a smartphone (iPhone, Android).

Menu interface
Four options are listed on the menu interface: Games, Shop, Help and Options.


 * Games - The Games page lists the number of games Nitrome Touchy can connect to, and the number of players that can participate in the game at once.

Startup
When the player begins the Nitrome Touchy app, they will come to the games screen where the app will try to connect. When starting a game, the bronze Nitrome letters will appear before the game starts.

Demos
Nitrome put out a new feature on December 20th 2012 - titled Demos. This feature allows non-premium Touchy users to play a certain part of a Nitrome Touchy game, but not the entire game. Nitrome added this feature as an incentive to buy the full version of Touchy. It is currently unknown whether this feature is a new tab, or what part of a game can be played.

Controller interface
An iOS or Android device running Nitrome Touchy functions as a video game controller while playing a Nitrome Touchy compatible game. The touch screen, motion control and local multiplayer functions are used, depending on the game.

Below lists the layouts and use of the controller for each Nitrome Touchy game, both Android and iPhone versions of Nitrome Touchy using the same controls and layout. As first seen on the layout of the Double Edged controller, a gear image is placed at the top right side of the screen. As with the Music, Sound FX, and Pause button of Nitrome's other Flash games, this gear will likely serve as the options button of the controller, allowing the player to possible toggle the controller's layout to their liking.

Each controller comes with exclusive art pertaining to the game. In the below sections for each game, it will be informed what buttons on the smartphone are used for the game and what each button does. In each game section will be a condensed section, which states the controls of the game by specifying the action on the smartphone and what is done in the game.

Double Edged
Buttons: d-pad (+ shaped), circle button 1, circle button 2

Usage: The d-pad's four arms move the Spartan in the direction the arm of the d-pad is extending. Thus, the upper arm will move the Spartan up, lower arm will move it down and such. The lower button on the right allows the player to attack, while the upper button is for jumping.

Multiplayer
The Double Edged on Nitrome Touchy allows up to four players to play the game on the same screen at once. This can be done with four devices running the Nitrome Touchy app, although two players can also use the original keyboard controls to participate. All spartans in Double Edged cannot be hit by weapons used by another player, but can still lose health when hit by a rock thrown by another player.

Condensed

 * D-pad up/down/left/right - move
 * Circle button 1 - jump
 * Circle button 2 - attack

Super Snot Put
Upon pressing the play button, the player is presented with two modes of playing. With motion control, the player can fling the snot by pressing the screen and moving it continuously in a circular motion. When the player releases their contact on the screen, the snot is flung into the air. Alternatively, touch screen controls allow the player to fling the snot by moving it around in a circular motion and swiping to release it.

Condensed
Wii Motion Plus style control method Swipe screen control method
 * [[File:IPhone-motion.gif]]Hold snot, move smartphone in circular motion, let go - fling snot
 * Grab snot, fling around, let go - fling snot

Magic Touch
Like the Flash game, Magic Touch has players pop balloons by drawing the matching shapes of the balloons on the smartphone. The wizard is seen on the device's screen rather than on the computer screen. The device's screen also darkens as the player draws on it. Also, the wizard flashes between blue, green, and yellow when the player is drawing, along with the flashing dark background effect.

Condensed

 * Draw correct shape on smartphone - pop balloon

Mega Mash
Buttons: D-pad, button 1, button 2

Usage: As Mega Mash has different controls for each game, it is possible that some buttons for some games will not be used. Regardless, controls will be different for each game. Below is the possible control setup for each game:
 * Carrot Story: The left and right arm of the D-pad will likely be used for movement, while it is possible that the upper arm of the D-pad will cause Fluffykins to jump. As only one arm of the D-pad can be pressed at a time, pressing to the upper arm to jump will be impractical as it prevents the level from moving while jumping (most of the time). Because of this, likely one of the two buttons will be used for jumping, while another button will be used for firing fireballs in super mode. The art for the each controller will change depending on the game entered.
 * Xolstar 3: It is probably likely that the D-pad will be used for movement of the Xolstar, each arm of the D-pad when pressed moving the ship in that direction, while one of the two buttons will be used for firing the laser.
 * Blast-Man Joe: The D-pad will probably be the control selected for movement, each arm when pressed moving the player in that direction. One of the two buttons when pressed will cause the player to place a bomb, if this setup is picked.
 * Smash: The D-pad will likely be used for movement, the left and right arm using the D-pad in the picked direction. One of the two buttons will probably be picked to fire the lasers of Smash when it is in super mode.
 * Nitrometris: Either pressing a left or right arm of the D-pad will flip the Nitrometris in the picked direction. Otherwise, one of the buttons will probably move the Nitrometris one way and the other button the other way, possibly. It is also possible pressing any button will move the Nitrometris clockwise or counter-clockwise, and there will be no other choice.
 * Balloon: Similar to Carrot Story, the left and right arms of the D-pad will likely be used for movement, while either one of the circle buttons or the upper arm of the D-pad will cause the Balloon to move up.
 * Ninja: The D-pad's left and right arms will probably move Takeshi left and right, respectively. Either the upper arm of the D-pad or one of the circle buttons will be used for jumping. One of the circle buttons will also probably used to fire a ninja star, holding on to the button causing a ninja rope to possibly be made.

Condensed
In the Nitrome Touchy version of Mega Mash, the player's smartphone is a simple controller with a d-pad on the left side, and two orange buttons on the right side - the same setup as Double Edged's Nitrome Touchy controller. This controller remains the same for all games, except that the art in the background changes when the player enters a game.

Smash
 * D-pad left/right - move paddle
 * Circle button 1 - fire lasers (super mode)

Xolstar 3
 * D-pad up/down/left/right - move
 * Circle button 1 or 2 - fire

Blast-Man Joe
 * D-pad up/down/left/right - move
 * Circle button 1 or 2 - drop bomb

Nitrometris
 * D-pad down/left/right - move around
 * Circle button 1 - rotate



Carrot Story
 * D-pad left/right - move
 * D-pad up - jump
 * Circle button 1 - pick up or drop boxes
 * Circle button 2 - shoot fireball (super mode), jump

Balloon
 * D-pad left/right/down - move
 * D-pad up - move up

Ninja
 * D-pad left/right - move, jump off walls
 * Circle button 1 - fire ninja star or rope
 * Circle button 2 - jump
 * D-pad up - move up ninja rope



Flash Cat
Buttons: Brake button, special button, jump button

Usage: The player's smartphone acts as a steering wheel. Tilting the smartphone left will move the player's caterpillar left, and moving the smartphone right will move it right. The left button (labeled "brake") causes an immediate halt to the cat, while the right button causes the cat to jump. The bottom pink bar has a button labelled "special". This button has a cat head on it, and will cause the player to use whatever power up they currently have.

Condensed

 * Brake button - make an immediate stop
 * Special button - bounce (mega bounce)/become invincible (invincibility)/fire bullets (bug bullets)/activate enormous boost (turbo)/create shockwave (shockwave)
 * Jump button - jump
 * [[File:Iphone-steer.gif]]Steer smartphone - move caterpillar horizontally

Swindler
Buttons: ↑ button, ↓ button

Usage:The player will move swindler when they tilt their smartphone. To advance up or down, the player has to press either the up or down button.

Condensed

 * [[File:Iphone-tilt.gif]]Tilt left/right - move level left/right
 * ↑ arrow - move swindler up rope
 * ↓ arrow - move swindler down rope

Off the Rails
Buttons: Bar, jump button, reverse direction bar

Usage:The player has to slide their finger quickly back and forth on the the middle bar. Placed at the top right and bottom left edges are buttons which when pressed, cause the player's in-game handcart to jump. The the reverse direction bar is placed at the top-middle of the smartphone, and allows the player to reverse direction. The player has to drag the reverse direction lever in the direction they want the handcart to move.

Condensed

 * Swipe finger back and forth on middle bar - move handcart
 * Press bottom left/top right button - jump
 * Move reverse direction lever left/right - alter direction the handcart moves to left/right

Thin Ice
Buttons: Skate button, boot button

Usage:The player controls the on-screen Eskimo by tiling the smartphone in the direction they want to move the eskimo. Holding down the skating button (left button) will cause the Eskimo to skate, while holding down the boot button will cause the Eskimo to skate and also cut into the ice.

Condensed

 * [[File:Iphone-steer.gif]]Twist smartphone left/right - move eskimo left/right
 * Press skate button while skating - move on ice
 * Press boot button while skating - move and cut into ice

Aquanaut
Buttons: Drop bomb button, movement button

Usage:The player moves the submarine by moving the inner blue sphere on their smartphone. They have to move this sphere in order to move the submarine. To move the submarine, they have to place their finger on the sphere and twist it in the direction they want to go. Pressing the two bottom buttons lays a bomb. Tilting the submarine increases acceleration.

Condensed

 * Twist/Touch blue core - move submarine
 * Press bomb buttons - lay bomb
 * [[File:Iphone-steer.gif]]Tilt smartphone - increase acceleration

Worm Food
Buttons: Finger button, hand button

Usage: The player has two playing options: the option of using their finger or both their hands. The option of using their finger is toggled on by pressing the left button, the finger button. This probably allows the player to control the giant worm by swiping their finger. The second option is toggled on by pressing the right-hand hand button. This possibly allow the player to take advantage of the motion control of their smartphone, and tilt their smartphone to control the worm. Both buttons cannot be active at the same time.

Condensed

 * Finger button - toggle touch screen controlling controls on
 * Move finger on touch screen - move worm
 * Hand button - toggle tilt controlling controls on
 * [[File:Iphone-steer.gif]]Tilt smarthphone - move worm

Swindler 2
Buttons: ↑ button, ↓ down button

Usage: Swindler 2 follows the exact same controls as Swindler.

Bad Ice Cream 2
Below are the controls for each smartphone playing Bad Ice-Cream 2.

D-pad - move ice cream

Buttons - shoot or break ice

Game availability
Nine games will be available for download upon the initial launch of Nitrome Touchy (both iPhone and Android versions), with twenty more games to be made available for the app within six months after its release.

Game adjustments
Several of the originally Flash Nitrome games will have new features given to them. Some of the features range from only supporting 4-player multiplayer, to new game modes.

Other games such as Dirk Valentine have been experimented with on the touchy controller. A duel stick-style controller was attempted but due to the lack of shoulder buttons on the device, it was deemed "uncomfortable" for gameplay. Nitrome later decided to focus on developing "games that play well on the controller and ideally where the controller brings something extra to the gameplay".

Nitrome tested Roly Poly on the Nitrome Touchy, but said that it may need new levels, as the game became incredibly hard after the first few levels, using titl controls.

Nitrome revealed on October 26th 2012 that all game's playable with the Nitrome Touchy, the game will be able to played in full screen on the monitor the game is being played in.

Requirements
To use Nitrome Touchy, the player will be required to download the application from the App Store onto an iOS device. Upon being downloaded, the player will then be able to play the selected game on Nitrome.com on their computer.

iPhone requirements
The Nitrome Touchy app is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. All devices have to have iOS 4.2 or later.

Android requirements
The Android version of Nitrome Touchy requires Android 2.2 and up. Also, the app requires 499 kilobytes of space on the player's Android.

Android permissions
The Android version of Nitrome Touchy is allowed to create network sockets, read the player's Android phone state ant identity, modify or delete USB and SD card storage & contents, and also write information to the aforementioned objects. The Nitrome Touchy app also prevents the player's Android tablet and the phone functionality of the tablet from falling asleep.

Updates
Throughout the lifetime of the Nitrome Touchy, Nitrome will release updates for the app.

Update 1
This update - issued on December 19th 2012 - allowed the player to play Swindler for free, and also play a demo of Swindler 2.

Usage
Nitrome Touchy compatible games work once a player runs the app and is connected to the same WiFi network as the computer running the game. When opening a game, the app will automatically connect to the game screen to display a list of games the app has currently connected to. Selecting a game from the menu will automatically start it up. From there, the player can select options from the device's menu screen as they would on the game screen. Touchy controls can only be viewed from the help screen on the Nitrome Touchy app.

Technical
In reality, once the player connects to the internet and to the game, the connected game loads the controller configuration and controller artwork to the player's smartphone.

TV connectivity
Despite the Brass Monkey technology shown to work on a TV, the Nitrome Touchy said and shown to work on a TV, the Nitrome Touchy nor the Brass Monkey technology allows for connecting to a TV. In fact, this connectivity is reliant on the player's computer. In order to connect one's computer to a TV, they have to have the necessary cables. Unusually, Nitrome did not speak of this until responding to a Facebook comment about the Nitrome Touchy on a TV.

Bulk use
If there are multiple iPhones linked to one iTunes account, then if one person pays the fee for premium access to all games, the all subsequent iPhones linked to the same account can obtain free access to premium content without having to pay for it.

It is not known if this applies to the Android as well.

General game/site changes
The release of this app changed the front page of Nitrome.com slightly, and also changed some games compatible with Nitrome Touchy. The bottom-right box in the inner box of the front page had its far right button that reads "More games" replaced with "More touchy". This was to allow Nitrome Touchy users to easily find the Nitrome Touchy page.

Along with that, going to a game that can be played on the Nitrome Touchy will cause the word "Play with Touchy" to pop up, and a speech bubble next to that with a signal symbol. The symbol possibly changes when one connects the Nitrome Touchy to the game. Along with that, on the bar above the game is a button that reads "fullscreen". This button when pressed will cause the game to in full screen, but only when playing the game with the Nitrome Touchy.

If one clicks the fullscreen button without a Nitrome Touchy connected to the internet, they are prompted to buy the Nitrome Touchy. Along with these changes, Nitrome released a skin to commemorate the release of the app.

Universal game changes
Some Nitrome games had their gameplay slightly changed when they were made Nitrome Touchy compatible. For example, in Aquanaut, the submarine 's health was changed from three blows to six blows, therefore doubling the health of the sub.

Beta elements
The Touchy, in fact, has beta elements. Planned for the game select screen of the iPhone app is a "heart" button and "share" button. Ultimately, these were eventually scrapped for unknown reasons. Also, Magic Touch and Super Snot Put were meant to support 4 players instead of one, as seen in pre-release images.

A possible reason for Magic Touch's cut multiplayer function is due to many lines of varying lengths across the screen would clutter the screen and potentially cover up balloons. Super Snot Put's cut multiplayer function possibly has a similar reason, as the computer screen would have to be divided into four equal parts, but due to common screen sizes, each individual screen would be rather small.

Even in one of the Android images on the Google Play store page for Nitrome Touchy, shows an Android device that shows that four people are playing the game. From this, it is seen that the 04 in the image is a placeholder, as it is shown that 4 people and playing Swindler, while another four people are playing Mega Mash.

September 18th 2012
Nitrome revealed an unusual trailer consisting of four spartans - two more than usual - going through levels of Double Edged. The trailer was titled Double Edged????, and ended with four different coloured ? in the colour of each of the crest of the spartans.

September 25th 2012
Nitrome reveals the Nitrome Touchy Controller, along with two images of the game's interface.

October 2nd 2012
Nitrome launches the Nitrome Touchy mini site.

October 19th 2012
Nitrome reveals more Nitrome Touchy games.

October 25th 2012
Nitrome reveals even more games for the Nitrome Touchy.

October 26th 2012
Nitrome releases a trailer for the Nitrome Touchy that shows how you can play Nitrome Touchy games in full screen.

October 31st 2012
Nitrome releases the Nitrome Touchy, and also releases a trailer of the game.

November 21st 2012
Nitrome releases Nitrome Touchy for Android.

Nitrome Touchy advertisements
Main article: Advertisements

On October 31st, Nitrome released an ad advertising their newly released iOS program. There were four versions of the ad, one showed a scene from the Nitrome Touchy version of Flash Cat, one showed the Nitrome Touchy version of Off The Rails, one showing the Nitrome Touchy version of Magic Touch, and the fourth showing an iPhone with words in it. At the bottom of all the ads was the word "download". Upon clicking on the ad, the player would be linked to the iTunes page for the Nitrome Touchy download.

Also, another ad can be found when waiting for a distributable Nitrome game to load. After the sponsor ad, a randomly selected ad made by Nitrome will pop up - one of these being for Nitrome Touchy. The ad encourages fans to download or buy Nitrome Touchy from the App Store.

In the shop section of Nitrome.com, the MochiCoins ad was replaced with an ad for Nitrome Touchy. Also, on Nitrome's YouTube page, a large ad was placed at the top of the page, which informed visitors of the Nitrome Touchy.

On December 12, Nitrome updated their site, adding several larger ads to their website. These ads included ones for Off The Rails, Flash Cat and Swindler, all advertising the ability to use Nitrome Touchy to control the characters of those games.

Also with the 2.1 update, Nitrome added a section to their site labeled "Featured", which held small, square ads for new/upcoming things. One of these ads was for the Nitrome Touchy.

Release
Nitrome Touchy was released on October 31st 2012 for iPhone, which probably was incidental with coinciding with Halloween. Prior to the release, there had been strong support of an Android port, which Nitrome put out on November 21st 2012.

Reception
Reception of the Nitrome Touchy was largely positive, although some fans experienced difficulty trying to actually play games. Criticism was aimed at the premium price of the console, which some stated was rather high. Unusually, Nitrome Touchy was not reviewed by major flash gaming sites like JayisGames, likely due to Touchy being a controller rather than a game.

Sales
On Friday November 9th 2012, Nitrome announced in their Friday update that the Nitrome Touchy had received close to 10,000 iPhone downloads. Nitrome did not specify how many paid for access to all games, however. Nitrome's large fanbase likely contributed to the success of Nitrome Touchy.

Trivia

 * The music used in the Nitrome Touchy trailer is actually unused music for Super Feed Me.
 * The games and shop tabs are updated versions from the tabs on Nitrome's website.