PlayStation Mobile Thread of Indie Games, and Apps on Android/Vita

hmm I cant seem to find the Cytus game, is it not on the US store?

The only way I could get to it was via the banner that SCEE put up by mistake. If the banner is not updated in your region, you probably won't be able to get it. The game isn't actually meant to have been released yet!
 
Does anyone know if I can develop for PSM for free and run it on an emulator or something? I'm coming from XNA land where I needed only download the free toolset and could run on the PC for free without having a Creator's Club membership. Thanks!
 
Does anyone know if I can develop for PSM for free and run it on an emulator or something? I'm coming from XNA land where I needed only download the free toolset and could run on the PC for free without having a Creator's Club membership. Thanks!

Yes, it's part of the development studio.

Though it doesn't always reflect the performance on actual hardware, so you might run into certification problems when Sony tests it on other devices.
 
Yes, it's part of the development studio.

Though it doesn't always reflect the performance on actual hardware, so you might run into certification problems when Sony tests it on other devices.

That's wonderful -- I just am not ready to commit the $99/yr. (I just came off of a Creator's Club subscription that I ended up never actually publishing under... yeah, a fool and his money...). However, I wanted to start learning the API. I'm assuming I'll have to pay the $99/yr. to deploy to my own devices as well, not just send it through certification? Thanks!
 
That's wonderful -- I just am not ready to commit the $99/yr. (I just came off of a Creator's Club subscription that I ended up never actually publishing under... yeah, a fool and his money...). However, I wanted to start learning the API. I'm assuming I'll have to pay the $99/yr. to deploy to my own devices as well, not just send it through certification? Thanks!

Right now, it's actually free. They waived the fee until September at least.


Anyway, in other PSM news (that I at least find interesting), a visual novel from Japan is being released in English soon.

Miko gakkou monogatari: Sanae episode

BMi0b8YCIAAg8pJ.png:large
 
Just about finished up development for my PSM engine. Probably another month of documentation and making sample games then I will release it to the public.

Also a note about the simulator, you can also have performance issues in the simulator that won't manifest in the actual devices such as frame hitching.
 
Very cool to see a Visual Novel make it over via PSM. And the translation even sounds pretty decent! VA work too? A new dub? for a 3 dollar game? Will probably have to check it out.

Beatdown City on Gamestop Kiosk? Awesome. Looking forward to that as well!
 
Downloaded Sword of Rapier on Vita because of the XBIG topic praise. Wow, it looks and runs worst that Grandstream Saga for the PS1. Looks like shit, plays like shit. Deleted within 10 minutes.
 
Just about finished up development for my PSM engine. Probably another month of documentation and making sample games then I will release it to the public.

Also a note about the simulator, you can also have performance issues in the simulator that won't manifest in the actual devices such as frame hitching.

Let us know when you release. Would love to check it out.
 
Very cool to see a Visual Novel make it over via PSM. And the translation even sounds pretty decent! VA work too? A new dub? for a 3 dollar game? Will probably have to check it out.

Beatdown City on Gamestop Kiosk? Awesome. Looking forward to that as well!



Hey, I saw the Treachery in Beatdown City trailer at Gamestop today too! Which was cool, because I had only heard other people seeing it.

I was given the option to work on a teaser video early this year so I crunched for a few weeks on it, I think it came out really nicely.

This is what's playing, and I wish I would have thrown on a "Fall 2013" on the end card...

We also got to demo at E3, which is pretty awesome.

There are a few previews around, I posted everything on Beatdowncity.com

Just about finished up development for my PSM engine. Probably another month of documentation and making sample games then I will release it to the public.

Also a note about the simulator, you can also have performance issues in the simulator that won't manifest in the actual devices such as frame hitching.

Sounds awesome!
 
Very cool to hear; any additional videos of the Demo gameplay from E3? (Didn't notice any on first look of your site, but will continue to look!) Would love to see how the game looks in play.

While thinking about the BEU's of E3, I actually was wondering if there was any chance your game would be there... but so little noise was made about PSM being there, kinda gave up on the hope.
 
Right now, it's actually free. They waived the fee until September at least.

Anyway, in other PSM news (that I at least find interesting), a visual novel from Japan is being released in English soon.

Miko gakkou monogatari: Sanae episode

BMi0b8YCIAAg8pJ.png:large

Would this be the kind of visual novel with dating sim elements? :3
 
Very cool to hear; any additional videos of the Demo gameplay from E3? (Didn't notice any on first look of your site, but will continue to look!) Would love to see how the game looks in play.

While thinking about the BEU's of E3, I actually was wondering if there was any chance your game would be there... but so little noise was made about PSM being there, kinda gave up on the hope.


I'd have to record it off the screen, since that's the only way I know to get footage (I run my game on a retail Vita)

I'll need to find some time for that. There might be a video preview coming this week on Kotaku...
 

Yup, that sure sounds like a Visual novel, lol. Will have to try it out once I have a few random dollars floating around PSN...

I'd have to record it off the screen, since that's the only way I know to get footage (I run my game on a retail Vita)

I'll need to find some time for that. There might be a video preview coming this week on Kotaku...

Cool. Offscreen would be awesome; throw in some crowd noises, and pretend it's from E3! And will gladly brave Kotaku If/When that preview goes up. Don't use it for much else anymore, haha.
 
Hi guys, just to say my game Picbox has been approved for release on PlayStation Mobile, I’m just waiting to find out when it'll be out (hopefully within the next few weeks).

It has 80 puzzles, 14 awards to unlock, and a free trial that grants you unrestricted access to 24 puzzles. Any data will also be carried over to the full version.

The XBLIG version had a bit of Neogaf love back in February 2012.

Here's a short gameplay video.

Cheers!
It looks to be about 2 weeks from approval. So maybe July 3rd?
 
Hi guys, just to say my game Picbox has been approved for release on PlayStation Mobile, I’m just waiting to find out when it'll be out (hopefully within the next few weeks).

It has 80 puzzles, 14 awards to unlock, and a free trial that grants you unrestricted access to 24 puzzles. Any data will also be carried over to the full version.

The XBLIG version had a bit of Neogaf love back in February 2012.

Here's a short gameplay video.

Cheers!

Oh nice, I could see myself getting that.
 
So, Mononoke Slashdown is made by FK Digital, the people who made Chaos Code (And long ago the free-to-play Super Cosplay Wars Ultra...)... The screenshots looks quite nice, like a PSM Muramasa Rebirth! Would love to try it, but don't have $4.50 in account ATM...

A lot of good looking games on the store this week. A real shame they don't get as much mention as other Vita-capable games!
 
I'm a bit confused about the store description for Cytus Lambda. It says "upon one-time purchase of the full version, future updates of chapters totally free of charge"

If anyone here has purchased the full version, are the 70+ songs available immediately, or are there some chapters not available yet?
 
I'm a bit confused about the store description for Cytus Lambda. It says "upon one-time purchase of the full version, future updates of chapters totally free of charge"

If anyone here has purchased the full version, are the 70+ songs available immediately, or are there some chapters not available yet?

I have the full version (moment of weakness) and as far as I can tell, every chapter is unlocked. I must admit that I haven't played them all yet though.

What I think they're saying is that any future new chapters released that you can't see now will be free for buyers.
 
Sea Run is a special game and it's only 40p (50 cents?). Floribund was better than I thought and I'm also having fun on it.

The playstation mobile platform is worth it for Thomas Hopper games alone :P
 
whoa mononoke looks great. and there are a couple games I'm interested in this week release. how's biker dx and searun in the long run? I like cytus on android, but it seems very expensive on vita.

Sea Run has random generated levels and it's tightly designed. It has good replay value if you enjoy endless type of games that are all about high scores.
 
how do you go about purchasing the full version of cytus? I'm a sucker for rhythm based games and this is no different.

Once you have the free version downloaded you just click on a chapter other than chapter 1 (the free included chapter) and it will take you to the store to buy it.

Cross post from the vita thread, but Cytus is such a good game :O I just got a perfect score on the song DRG which is a 7 on hard mode.


Ah im so addicted; the rhythm game fan in me loves every second of cytus. Should I pick up the full version? It seems like a good deal with all those songs.
 
Once you have the free version downloaded you just click on a chapter other than chapter 1 (the free included chapter) and it will take you to the store to buy it.

Cross post from the vita thread, but Cytus is such a good game :O I just got a perfect score on the song DRG which is a 7 on hard mode.



Ah im so addicted; the rhythm game fan in me loves every second of cytus. Should I pick up the full version? It seems like a good deal with all those songs.

Yeah I think I'm gonna pick up the full version. The songs are great! Plus, future updates will be free once you purchase it. Seems like a good deal.
 
Any opinions on mononoke slasher?

I watched the latest livestream from kassatsu and bought it almost straight after. It's been great fun but it's also quite tricky. You'll need to grind through some levels for the unlockables (new weapons, armour, special moves, additions to your hit combo) and it's not the most speedy when it comes to load times. However, I've really enjoyed it so far. Beaten the first chapter.

 
I watched the latest livestream from kassatsu and bought it almost straight after. It's been great fun but it's also quite tricky. You'll need to grind through some levels for the unlockables (new weapons, armour, special moves, additions to your hit combo) and it's not the most speedy when it comes to load times. However, I've really enjoyed it so far. Beaten the first chapter.

I bought it and I have to say I'm kind of bored with it. I might delete it. I really like how colorful it is, but it's not very fast which hurts the flow and makes it feel grindy, and going back to button based atttacks after playing Draw Slasher, which really opened my eyes to the potential of touch based combat (I wish they took the platforming futher tbh), makes me feel like this is the worse game.
 
Hmm, 2 very different opinions on Mononoke Slashdown, eh? Well, here's a 3rd!

... I think it's excellent! So far... (In the middle of chapter 2)

It starts off with a character that's generally way too "boring", in that he doesn't have much to hold you attention. The jump cancelling and enemy types might hold your attention long enough...

...then you start to open up the abilities. Ok, first off, they do a lot more for him than initial gameplay would EVER suggest. He has Ground and Air dashes, a Strike-through screen-sized attack that hurts all ground based enemies, uppercut combo ender, a multihit air-to-ground lightning attack combo ender, and full ARENA (not just screen) Ninjitsu, and selectable Kunai that all have a purpose, from what I've seen (the first Kunai Upgrade isn't just a damage dealer; it causes the enemy to be bounce into the air, making enemy round-up a lot easier.)

These abilities make the game more fun, and it actually starts to get some nice play depth.

But the game, to me, shines in it's enemy concepts and details.

One of the biggest weaknesses of most "cheap" Hack-and-Slash, or indie games made by new devs, is that they lack the polish that older games refined over countless re-iterations. This game has a LOT of fine-tuning to make gameplay WORK (Something I found to be SLIGHTLY lacking in recent Vita indie-favorite, Hotline Miami, even.)

Slashes from the MC have smart, generous attack boxes. Enemies have tells to almost everything they do. Enemy types all control certain spaces of the screen, and they each change how you play a stage. Examples:

  • The weakest skel-samurai are slow and annoying in groups, but you cannot follow up on knockdown immediately with them, as they have an invincible on-wakeup attack.
  • the Spear samurai attack out of your slash range, so they disrupt combos very well. But they are very easy to knock down -> hit on wakeup.
  • Horseback samurai rule the horizontal. You want to wait until they bunch up, and then start to lay in with combos. They are also the only enemies that get hit OUT of screen bounds by your combos, so you can't air-juggle them in the corner all day.
  • Spiders control the upper horizontal, with their jump attack. They're the first enemies to do this, so they negate the normal "jump is safety" strat. They also do a fantastic job juggling you.
  • Fire torch enemies force air combat, but their fire spit stays on the ground, constantly hitting your decent after attack. They force you to conserve your double jumps, for more tactical use.

Jumping (and dashing) are your main defenses in this game, as their is no block. However, this perfectly meshes with the gameplay and attacks; it's all part of the game flow. Enemies are designed to punish your defense (much like Muramasa's sword breaks for over-guarding), so you never get to over-rely on 1 tactic. Every move (I've seen thus far) has a use, and should be employed with planning.

The bosses are also a treat, in the fact that they're very well designed. They are full of tells, punishes for button mashing, well-timed attacks that flow with your motions, and unique attacks for a variety of situations (such as full-screen punishes, creation of "danger zones" on screen, etc.) It's a level of polish that you don't find in many sub-5 dollar games... heck, I've purchased many 10, 15, or 60 dollar games that seem to have a harder time understanding these classic ideals.

------

In the end, I'm highly impressed with this game, but I don't think it's for everyone. It's arcade-y (no during-game story to follow, all about score and gameplay), it's highly dependent on your appreciation of it's nuances, and it takes a semi-long time to build up to the button / attack complexity that gamers now expect straight out the gate.

But if you stick with it, you find a well-planned, technically deep game.

I actually find the enemies MORE fun to fight than Mutamasa Rebirth's, for the simple fact that they are more direct and meaningful, in a way. Muramasa's Main Characters are more fun to play out the gate though, and have a few more defensive options (which kind of make it less punishing?)

This is exactly what I needed after Hotline Miami though! (Played, and beat it, for the first time ever, over the past 2 days.) That game has such obvious "Based on a mouse and keyboard" control... activation zones for steal kills and some attacks just feel sloppy at times, and while they're understandable, they don't feel like they're as polished as old-school, more grid-based, pixel perfect games.

On comparison to Draw Slasher? Eh, this feels like a whole different league, gameplay wise. DS is smart, more in depth than I'd expect, and very nice to look at, but it plays like a mobile game, not a console one, if that makes sense? Though I think it's the better "modern" game, with it's challenge mode + story to go through. But I haven't felt nearly as compelled to try to learn it's in's and out's yet, as there don't seem to be as many, at all.
 
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