Apple has just approved, finally, my latest update to the iPhone version of Guru Meditation (to 1.2). Here are the list of updates as they appear on the iTunes App Store:
Added a Sound Mode setting. Options are Requires Quiet, which is the standard mode, Microphone Disabled, which allows the game to be played in louder environments like public transit and busy offices, and Isochronic Tones, which disables the microphone and plays an aural stimulus often used in brainwave entrainment. When selected, the volume of the isochronic tones can also be adjusted.
Added a Saved Scores setting. This allows the player to reset saved scores if desired.
These changes came primarily from player requests. The second one is self-explanatory, but a little more information about the first might be instructive.
One addition I had made to the iPhone version when porting it from the Atari game was the addition of a microphone input that would require reasonable (though not total) quiet around the player. I thought this feature would make an interesting proposal: can you, and are you willing, to find a few moments of relative quiet during your day. And I think it did that work effectively.
Still, many players have expressed interest in having the ability to disable this feature, and I’ll admit that I myself have had such a desire when showing the game in loud lobbies, bars, or restaurants. Over on the Touch Arcade forums, users also pointed out that the feature prevented effective the use of the game in public transit.
Also on the Touch Arcade forums, a conversation arose about binaural beats and other so-called brainwave entrainment techniques. I was initially skeptical because adding such a feature would require stereo sound, a feature not present in the Atari VCS original. But then Touch Arcade user Mindfield told me about isochronic tones, which work using simple square waves like those an Atari can produce, operate effectively in monaural playback, and don’t require headphones.
We’ll see if the addition proves helpful to the kind iMeditators out there who have purchased the app.