I made a game you can play without anyone knowing (no visuals/sound)

[appsDev]

Hello everyone! I just launched an iOS game called Tik! and it has no visuals or sound of any kind. So the obvious question is.. how do you play it?

The game uses your phone’s Haptics in order to play a rhythm of “Tiks” (haptic vibrations). The user then has to try and recreate the timing of the rhythm they just felt by tapping it anywhere on the screen. It sounds easy, but getting the timing right is tricky, and so it usually takes a couple tries before your able to get it right.

The inspiration for the game came from wanting something to do in a really boring presentation. It would have been disrespectful to look at my phone, but I also needed a distraction. I typically hold my phone in these kinds of scenarios, and fiddle with the case, when it occurred to me: what if there was a game I could play just holding the phone anywhere (under a desk, in my pocket, to the side, etc.). Sometime later Tik! was born :)

I would love your feedback on it. The game is paid, but if someone would like a promo code to try it please let me know below. Link: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6720712299

[lnyng]

Bought and played for a while, 83 attempts with 12 corrects and max 2 corrects in a row. It s a very difficult game without visual and sound to aid figuring out the exact rhythm, and the game seems very strict about how much you can be off.

Suggestions: - have an option to add 4 constant interval tiks at the beginning to help setup the base rhythm - hold down the small white dot to return to menu so you can see progress without exiting - have a way to visualize a rhythm similar to the example or skip it (maybe two finger hold?) if you are stuck - some rhythms feel to have slightly uneven tempo. Is the duration of the tick taken into consideration when generating the tempo?

Interesting game overall. Well done

[lnyng]

Additional suggestions:

- increase tolerance to slightly off taps, and gradually increase the number of ticks (not sure you already do this but right now it’s too hard win many times in a row)

- tik of the day mode. A long tick that challenges people who can win it in fewest trials

[Wowfunhappy]

I don't think I like any of these ideas!

Interval tiks would add "noise" to a game that has very limited output. How would I know if those tiks are the interval or the pattern?

I don't think I've ever gotten two correct in a row, but the fun of the gameplay comes from slowly learning the rhythm over a few tries. It's not entirely unlike Celeste or Super Meat Boy, where you learn the level over multiple attempts.

I'm worried that I would trigger any sort of menu accidentally. Two fingers might work but if I'm walking or something and gripping the phone in weird ways...

I will say that while walking home this afternoon, there was one pattern I got stuck on. Every other pattern, I was able to get past after a reasonable number of tries, but this one just seemed impossible and I had to quit and re-open the app. So I agree there either needs to be some way to skip patterns, or the pattern generation needs to be tweaked to avoid super hard outliers.

Edit: Fwiw, my stats are: 116 total attempts, 20 correct, 2 max in a row.

[invalidlogin]

OP:

1. Use “you’re“, not “your”, for “you are”. It is wrong in the first “screen” image in your App Store listing.

2. Use an ellipsis — three dots, “…”, never two dots. This is in two images in your listing.

[appsDev]

Thanks for the tip! I will fix that (I have the bad habit of using 2 dots all the time) and the "your" part will definitely take care of. Thank you!!

[password4321]

Ellipsis also has its own dedicated Unicode code point if you want to get fancy, (U+2026): …

[867-5309]

agree with 1. but for 2., any value more than one conveys the same meaning..

[password4321]

A game for people who get carsick looking at screens, awesome! I would love more suggestions that fall in this same category, aka games for the vision impaired.

Where can I sign up for notification of a future Android (specifically Kindle Fire [Kids+]) release?

[pbhjpbhj]

I think you could do an audio-looping app. You'd make a loop up from a series of instruments, but the instruments would appear consecutively. You choose the loop type (3 bars of 4-4 time, say, I'm not a musician!). Then you get an announcement "clap", with a metronome sound in the background, you tap the phone for a beat. Next the app announces "snare" and you tap for each snare, etc.

Maybe it works best by giving you a few bars of a tune and you make the percussion up to fit?

Whatever, I think there's something there.

[jedberg]

Semi-related note, the new iOS has a new feature that provides motion queues to reduce car sickness, called Vehicle Motion Queues.

[appsDev]

Thank you so much, I'm glad you like the idea!

If I ever release Tik! on android in the future I will reply back on ur comment again here ;)

[soneca]

I have a mobile game idea that is “juggling for blind people”. You would use your phone as the hand to catch and throw balls in the air. All user feedback would be sound (ball going up, then going down) and haptic (catching and throwing the ball).

I am just a web dev so I don’t think I have the skills to make it. Just leaving the idea here in case someone wants to build it

[captn3m0]

You'll like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Send_Me_to_Heaven - your high score is how high you can throw your phone. Apple unfortunately didn't allow it on the AppStore.

It might be possible to do this as a PWA, using https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Acceleromet...

[kroltan]

Go for it!

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_A...

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Vibration_A...

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Sensor_APIs

[appsDev]

This is a super near idea! Thx for sharing :)

I also really agree that Haptics can be used in super unique ways for people with disabilities like blindness, since you are not dependent on visuals. Even for Tik! I tired to add some accessibility labels and support, but the possibilities are truly endless!

[calimariae]

That's a really fun idea

[jonpurdy]

Bought it for the novelty, easy decision.

Feedback: it's pretty difficult even at the first level. As a distraction, even just easy 2-3 beat patters might be good to start with. So having difficulty levels would be great.

Maybe the difficulty comes from the strength of the haptic engine, but not sure how to easily change that (somewhere in Settings app I'm sure).

[appsDev]

Thank you so much for buying it!! I really appreciate it!

That is really nice feedback. The main thing that impacts the difficulty is how off the user's taps can be from the exact timing, and I tried to set it at a level that is not too easy/hard - but that is good feedback and will definitely look into it!

Till then, I would suggest tapping along to the haptics as they occur just to get a feel for the timing. After a couple of tries it should get easier..

Thanks again for trying it out!

[furyofantares]

Love it, although none of the app store copy resonated with me and was a little offputting.

I suppose I don't really buy the premise put forth from either direction; I don't buy that it's possible to be present while doing something else (for me anyway) AND I don't buy that this is gonna be immersive. I'm not stating these things as claims; this is just my reaction to the app store copy.

I did buy it and love it though. What really works for me is as a way to hang out with my kid when she's doing her own thing. I want to be available to be present at a moment's notice.

[appsDev]

Thank you so much for bringing up these points, and for your purchase!!

I tried to make the copy a little intentionally attention grabbing; The idea isn't honestly to be completely present in what is in front of you and on the app, but to use the app as a distraction since it takes your mind off of something in front of you (which is why I used the word immersive)

I am super happy to know that you love the app. If there is anything specific about my copy and marketing though that you think I could change to present it better please let me know.

Thanks!

[razadots]

I found the app store copy incredibly funny. i found your copy to be rather tedious and offputting.

[RedNifre]

If you added Morse code, you could play classic text adventures!

I don't have an iPhone, but could you also play this with the screen off by tapping on the volume buttons instead?

[appsDev]

Thats a nice idea too! Yes the Morse code with haptics idea can lead to tons of cool stuff!

Using volume buttons could be neat, something to keep in mind! Thx

[Wowfunhappy]

Is there any chance you will port this to the Apple Watch? That's where I'd really want a game like this!

It is quite fun, I like rhythm games.

[ryankrage77]

Difficult to find by search on the app store - 'tik', 'tik game' (and with the exclamation mark appended) didn't return it, but 'tik! haptic' did.

[appsDev]

I noticed that too. I am not sure what to do about it though... since I don't want to change the app name.

I am happy that writing haptic or game brings it up though!

[birracerveza]

Had to search by the author's name, "Tik" is so incredibly generic not even "Tik game" helped. Very neat game otherwise!

[jimmydddd]

Me too! I had to search the Casual Games category, where it happens to be a top paid game.

[mattw2121]

I'm over here visualizing people holding their phones in their pocket while continuously tapping on them. The goal of not looking disrespectful might backfire on you :).

[appsDev]

I get what u mean :) - I usually use it under a desk though, or just to the side. Probably inside a hoodie pocket could work sometimes too - the point being just anywhere that someone will not immediately notice

[jscheel]

Read this post on my laptop... got my phone out and went to the app store. You can imagine what happened then. I literally could not find your app. Even searching with the same capitalization and punctuation, or by adding "game", etc. to the end. It's a neat idea, and I am purchasing now, but if you want any kind of visibility, you know what you have to do with this name.

[appsDev]

Thats a really good point, going to have to do something about that.. If someone writes "Tik! haptic game" or something it comes up, but that is understandably too much to ask from most users.

I will try and think of a way to fix this. If you have any ideas please do let me know! Thanks for this comment!

[urbandw311er]

To be fair, App Store visibility improves dramatically over time. Brand new releases are often difficult to find organically.

[aziaziazi]

> You just sit here, loosing brain cells in seconds. At least, that’s how things where before Tik!

Am I the only one that can’t help seeing irony here? Search for a constant attention and distraction may not lead to a better mental condition, if not making worse as subsequents boring times will be even more boring.

Here’s some alternatives some phoneless can engage while staring at a speaker:

- imagine another life for the speaker

- mentally check your grocery list

- build inner abs, perineum and other hidden muscles

- wank yourself from a hidden hole in you pocket

- think what where the outcome and what you could have done differently in previous social interactions

- my favorite : deeply concentrate on all noises, voices sounds that does not come from the speaker itself.

Also congratulations, AFAIK this is a novel game ideas. Being bored leaded here to creativity.

[thomashop]

I thought it was quite funny when I read it. I'm pretty sure that sentence is half joking.

[_bramses]

Very fun game concept! I got stuck on level two. The difficulty is a bit too much, and it seems when i’m halfway through my pattern input a random haptic feedback happens from my phone, which throws me off/signals i’ve failed? iPhone 15 Pro Max/iOS 18

[appsDev]

Yes! The way the app works is if you mess up then it has an error haptic that tells you messed up and plays the sequence again, and if you get it right then there is a clapping like haptic.

There is a help section if you click the ? at the top right of the screen when you first open the app (to see it again just close the app from the background and the re-open it, and you will see it again) It has a full tutorial explaining everything well

Thank you so much for downloading the app too! I have seen other comments about it being too hard too and thats something I will try to fix in an update! :)

[michaelscrypt]

I bought the game because it's a new and unique concept. But I couldn't even pass the tutorial after maybe 20 tries. Probably the problem is me since I don't have any feeling for rhythm. In games with controller vibration I turn off the vibration because it's just a distraction to me and I can't make the connection from vibration to gameplay. As a (maybe) more useful feedback I strongly dislike the clapping animation in the example. It doesn't feel like a "positive" feedback whereas the fail vibration clearly feels like a "failed" feedback.

[creativenolo]

My kids play a game where they clap a rhythm and the next person has to clap the rhythm back _unless_ they clap to the rhythm of ‘try not clap this back’. Not tried your game yet… but wonder if this could be included.

[appsDev]

That sounds interesting, yes that could definitely be a possibility for the future!

[teknico]

The game should not be available for purchase from an iPad. I can’t believe I only now found out that iPads have no vibration hardware, after using them for several years. Too bad.

[giancarlostoro]

Everyone else is focused on this being a game about when you're bored to keep yourself busy... Aren't literally all games for providing entertainment? This is really cool and unique.

[appsDev]

Thank you so much! :)

[cultureswitch]

Genius idea, though in the grand scheme of things this is probably bad.

[appsDev]

I get where you, and honestly a lot of the other comments are coming from. I really do, and maybe I am bias cuz I made the app, but I just feel like being intentionally bored is different from being bored when we don't want to be.

For example, I like to take time off with no music or phone and just walk around sometimes and choose to be mindful, but other times I have already had a long day and don't want to be mored more..

Let me know your thoughts too though..

[wiether]

What's interesting is that I get better results if I close my eyes to focus on feeling the sequence I need to copy and feel the feedback.

The usual : improve a sense by shutting down another?

Anyway, it's fun!

[appsDev]

I have noticed that too! I also like trying to tap along with the haptics as they play for practice to see where I am getting the timing wrong!

Thanks for downloading the app!! :)

[Humphrey]

Have you considered that this could be extended into a musical rythmn training app? Eg, as somebody who plays guitar, this could be a good tool for learning to identify and play rythmns. So you could create levels that correspond to things such as number of bars, tempo, time signatures, and whether they include crotchet, minims, & quavers.

Eg, I'd like to be able to pick a tempo and sit down and work on different 6/8 rhymns. I assume this could be a causal way to get better at music.

[appsDev]

This is not something I have thought of before but is a great idea! Having levels would be great for something more structured like this. Thanks for the idea!