Carrom, the extremely popular Indian board game, is a cross between billiards and shuffleboard. Sometimes known as “finger billiards,” the game uses small disks instead of balls and the players ‘flick’ the pieces instead of using a stick. Whether you are new to Carrom, or grew up playing the game, iCarrom will give you hours of fun.
Screenshots
Objective
Use the ‘striker’ to knock all of your pieces into the pockets, scoring points based on how many pieces your opponent has left when you have cleared the board of your pieces. Play multiple ‘boards’ until a player reaches 25 points to win the game.
Features
- Realistic 3-D simulation
- Use of touchscreen makes you feel like you are interacting with a real carrom board and pieces
- Easy controls to allow for getting just the right view when trying to line up a shot.
- Play singles (1 against 1) or doubles (2 against 2)
- Play against friends or computers opponents in any combination.
- 20 computer opponents to choose from.
- Play a tournament! Start with an easier opponent and keep winning until you beat the best.
- Create your own player profile with an avatar and striker design chosen from a large collection.
- Auto-save when quitting, taking a call, etc.
Requirements
iCarrom is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch, requiring iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.
Fun Fact
Carrom was briefly shown in the Academy Award winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. Really... It was only for a few seconds - but it was there!
Development Note
Originally done as an unreleased PC game, the conversion from DirectX to OpenGL for the iPhone was a very interesting process. Among other differences, DirectX uses a left-handed coordinate system whereas OpenGL uses a right-handed coordinate system. That single difference affected equations and data in a number of different places and provided hours of fun for the iCarrom dev team.
Lesson Learned
While developing a custom scene graph and rendering framework, animation engine, and an original physics engine was an extremely informative experience, we've learned our lesson! Current and future projects use proven open-source or commercial implementations wherever appropriate. We only build it ourselves when we have to!