2048 Pinnacle

2048 Pinnacle

Download on App Store

Why the name Pinnacle?

I was having Piña colada and playing 2048 when the sliver of this idea struck me. When it was time for christening this app, i recalled that moment and decided to dedicate it to the Piña colada. But mind you, if it were to be named after my favourite drink it would have been 2048 Beer.

What is this all about?

2048 is no doubt an awesome game, but a little on the slower side. Strategies have evolved around this game and now I find that reaching at least 1024 is just a matter of time. So I began to think what else could be done and I came up with two new twists which made the game more interesting.

 Maps

• I have introduced two useless hindering tiles, those that stand still and don’t move and those that move but do nothing much. Putting these tiles in different configurations gave rise to different maps. To conquer each map, you have to come up with a different strategy and it is not always possible to get 2048. In the map named Claustrophobia, I could achieve only 64.

Next Tile

• This is the more interesting part. When the board is littered, you have very less place to manoeuvre. Knowing the next tile can sometime lead you from being at the brink of GameOver to getting back in the game. The next tile also lets you plan a few moves ahead, like Chess and Tetris. 

Map which resembles the reel of an old video tape reel. Remember the good old days!

Map which resembles carom board with a hole at each corner.

This is an interesting map for a very tiny game. Use the next tile judiciously!

The all time favourite classic map. Can you score more because now you know whats coming next?

It took me around a month to implement these two enhancements and a few more weeks to make the app production ready fully armed with the following features:

• Ultra refined gameplay. You will feel the tiles obey your mind rather that your fingers. I have spent hours tweaking to achieve near perfection. 
• Simple and neat UI.
• Game Center with leaderboards to compete for high score and highest tile in all maps.
• Night mode to avoid straining your eyes while playing at night.
• Fully compatible with iOS 6.

choose a map or enable night mode from the Menu

Leaderboards!

Finally, it was time to get the icon. I asked Saloni Sinha, my colleague in Pramati Technologies, to design a nice icon real fast. She gave me two options, a nice icon or a fast icon. I repeated that I wanted a nice icon real fast but she remained stubborn, that the choices are mutually exclusive. I gave in and choose to have a nice icon. She took her time but the job was done well. Thanks Saloni for the wonderful icon :-).

Presently, the app is available only for iOS. Android users, stay tuned, I started learning Android development. It should take a couple of years ;).