Hey everyone,

I’m working on a sandbox survival game called WatchBlocks built for Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

One of the things I’m currently experimenting with is a new visibility/cave system where blocks are only revealed if there’s empty space next to them. The goal is to make caves and underground exploration feel cleaner and more atmospheric while also helping performance on smaller devices like Apple Watch. I'm trying to debate if it's a good idea, or something that needs to be modified

I’m mainly looking for feedback on:

- how the visibility system feels

- whether caves feel more immersive or confusing

- overall readability/game feel on Apple Watch

- general gameplay feedback

The game includes:

- procedural worlds

- mining/building

- crafting

- survival mechanics

- farming

- caves/biomes

- controller support

- cross platform sync across Apple devices

If anyone is interested in testing or giving feedback, I’d really appreciate it. Especially feedback around visibility, caves, and overall usability on the watch itself.

Thanks!

Hey all, this may be a dumb question

I am a game developer, and have recently released a game for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS. It's the same game for all 4 platforms, and I'm pretty proud of it. My next step is tvOS (easy), and visionOS (I'm not sure how hard this will be...)

I think visionOS will be fairly easy to port over, but I also want to be able to test it, specifically some hand stuff that would be hard to do over simulator (or I think it would be). I also don't have the money to spend ~$4000 on an AVP. So can anyone answer my question:

How/Where can I test my game for AVP?

Hey everyone, I’m working on WatchBlocks, a 2D survival sandbox game for Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

I just finished my first devlog-style video about the project, mostly covering the idea, the challenges of making a real game work on Apple Watch, and where the game is headed next.

Before I officially publish it, I’d really appreciate some honest feedback on the video. Specifically:

• Is the hook strong enough?
• Does the pacing feel good?
• Is the concept clear?
• Does anything feel boring, confusing, or unnecessary?
• Would this make you want to follow the project?

Any feedback is helpful. This is my first devlog, so I’m trying to make it feel polished without making it too stiff.

Hey all! I have 2 apps/games I’m developing for the Apple App Store that also have iOS apps too. My question is, why do Mac apps usually not get reviewed in a timely manner compared to iOS? Usually I have to expedite a Mac review due to it taking 2 weeks or more.

A while ago, I had an idea that honestly sounded kind of ridiculous:
What if I made a sandbox survival game for Apple Watch?

Not a tiny arcade game or simple tap game, but an actual Minecraft/Terraria inspired experience with world generation, mining, crafting, survival mechanics, inventory systems, and cross device support.

At the time, I knew exactly why most people were not making games like this for Apple Watch. It's a tiny screen, it doesn't have a lot of power, and it doesn't have a large demand for games

And honestly, after building it, I completely understand everything better now.

But somehow, it still worked out.

What Went Right

The novelty factor was real

The biggest surprise was how many people were simply curious about the concept itself. Even people who had no intention of seriously playing the game still found the idea interesting enough to watch videos or ask questions.

A lot of reactions were basically “Wait… this actually runs on Apple Watch?”

That curiosity carried the project a bit further than I expected.

I got a total of 15 purchases so far!

Optimization became one of the most interesting parts

Working within the constraints of Apple Watch forced me to think differently about performance and game systems.

Everything mattered:

• Rendering
• Lighting
• Inventory systems
• Save handling
• UI scaling
• Controls

On more powerful hardware, it is easy to brute force problems. On a watch, you really cannot.

That limitation honestly made development more rewarding.

Cross platform support helped the project feel “complete”

The game eventually expanded from Apple Watch to iPhone, iPad, and Mac. That made the project feel less like a gimmick and more like an actual ecosystem.

Being able to move worlds between devices especially changed how I viewed the project.

What Went Wrong

Controls were difficult from day one

The Apple Watch simply is not designed for games like this.

Trying to balance movement, jumping, inventory, crafting, and combat on a tiny screen was incredibly challenging.

Some solutions worked better than others, but controls were probably the single hardest design problem throughout development.

Scope creep happened constantly

Originally, I wanted something much smaller.

Then I added:

• Creative mode
• Crafting
• Armor
• World generation
• Biomes
• Caves
• Farming
• Enemies
• TNT
• Cloud syncing
• Controller functionality
• Multiplayer experiments

The project kept expanding because every new feature made the idea feel more legitimate.

But it also dramatically increased development time and complexity.

App Review was harder than expected

One thing I underestimated was how difficult approval could become once the project expanded beyond a simple watch experience.

The Mac version in particular took significantly longer than expected to get approved, and platform specific issues added a surprising amount of overhead.

What I Learned

Weird projects are valuable

Even if a project is niche, impractical, or commercially small, it can still teach an enormous amount.

This project improved my understanding of optimization, UI design, cross platform development, performance management, user feedback, marketing (wow... did not realize how important this was) far more than many “safer” projects probably would have.

Finishing something matters more than perfection

The game still has flaws. There are features I want to improve, systems I would redesign, and ideas that never fully worked.

But finishing and releasing something teaches lessons that endless planning never will.

Of course I'll keep adding to it though.

Small audiences still matter

Not every project needs millions of users to be meaningful.

Even a relatively small number of players can completely change how a project feels as a developer. Seeing people interact with something you built, especially something unusual, is genuinely motivating.

Final Thoughts

At the start of this project, I mostly wanted to answer a simple question:

>“Can a sandbox survival game actually work on Apple Watch?”

I think the answer is:

Yes… surprisingly. Not perfectly. Not conventionally. But enough to make the experiment worthwhile.

And honestly, it's completely worth it.

https://preview.redd.it/y2sletb6k6yg1.png?width=416&format=png&auto=webp&s=6db56d145454683e0df61199d698c9cb40be54d3

Hey all!

I'm looking for some testers who want to test my new watchOS game, WatchBlocks. If you don't have an Apple Watch, it's available on every other Apple device (other than Vision Pro, I have no clue how it would work on there, although if someone has one and wants to work with me on if it can work well, I'd be happy to support it)

Just DM me, or comment if you want to be a part of the test, and I'll send a link to join. This latest update will be focused on making the game smoother, and look nicer.

Hey everyone!

Right now I have about 6 purchases of my game, WatchBlocks, and I'm really excited about where things have been going, but I need help on one thing.

I have been told by a few people they'd like to try a demo of the game, which could be nice, but I'm worried it will take away people who would pay for the game.

The idea I have is making a "Lite" version, similar to how Minecraft PE Lite worked, where you get the base game, but you're stuck with an old version, you get all the features, but your world doesn't save. Is this something that would make any of you at least interested in trying, and possibly purchasing the game?

Hey everyone! I've been working on something pretty exciting for WatchCraft, a new block building game for WatchOS, and it's finally ready for beta testing.

What's new: Local Multiplayer:

You can now play WatchCraft cooperatively between your iPhone and Apple Watch! Here's how simple it is:

- Open a world on one device (Watch or iPhone)

- On the other device, tap Multiplayer

- Your world shows up automatically - just hit Join

That's it. You're in the same world together.

It works both ways — your Watch can host while your iPhone joins, or flip it around and have your iPhone host while your Watch joins. The two players share the same world in real time, so you can mine, build, and explore together.

How to try it:

The update is live on TestFlight right now. If you're already in the beta, you should get it automatically. If you want in, link is here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/jxAjxHG7

Would love to hear your feedback, especially on the multiplayer stability. This is the first version so there's definitely more polish to come, but it's playable and genuinely pretty fun seeing another character show up in your world.

Thanks for the support, building a 2D block game on an Apple Watch is crazy, and I can’t wait to see your thoughts!

https://reddit.com/link/1s83v00/video/qj89q5gh29sg1/player