The iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming |Thread4| NOT Doomed

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I think it's hugely unfair to expect game devs to make a retina update when many are small groups of people, they charge so little for their product and are (justifiably) trying to work towards making new games and content.

That's just the growing pains of buying new tech that people should know going into it.
 
I have a promo code for my pants

Fantasy Runners is free...maybe he improved it since last time I played it because it is still pretty popular in Japan...basic but gorgeous and good music
 
Pocket RPG is still amazing... although I think I'm approaching the end of the campaign with my Dark Ranger. Looks like there are a total of 5-6 quests and then you're at the end game which sucks!

Can still go through the game again with the other classes (which I'll certainly do), but I really really wish this game was just made persistent in terms of gear and leveling and it'd be GOTY every year for me.

Controls are tight. Framerate is smooth. Loot whoring is great. Can't say enough good things about the game.

I'm just pre-getting upset that I've almost seen it all. Probably going to have spent about 5-6 hours to do the entire campaign with a character when all is said and done unless I'm not understanding how the game ends correctly.

Well, like I said, the dungeons are randomly created with each playthrough (at least, that's my understanding). So, playing the other classes should also bring with it a new experience in terms of the actual dungeon crawling.

I actually really dig the idea of resetting the level with each new dungeon. For one, achievements in this game actually count toward something. The better you do and more achievements you earn in a dungeon run, the more skill points and gold you earn at the end. And of course, skills and weapon abilities are persistent. But I can easily see how some folks wouldn't care for the system.
 
I looked at the description and am disappointed that it's dual stick on iOS. When I think "Diablo Clone" I think "clicking on stuff" or in this case "tapping on stuff". That's kind of why it would work so well, and I'm at my limit on virtual sticks as it is.

It works really well, despite that. As I mentioned before, I feel like I have tight control over my toon as I circle strafe mobs and plink them to death with arrows. I play a class that precise movement is extremely beneficial and I don't think the dual stick controls have been a hindrance there at all, really.

If anything, their choice to make special moves executed with tap patterns and joystick commands creates a somewhat unreliable system of special execution. To release my special penetrating arrow show you're supposed to tap and release, then tap hold and release (or something like that) to shoot it. In reality I'm constantly shooting to try and knock open a secret wall or shoot up some mobs, so to fire the special arrow I just go from holding attack to doing a double tap and it fires. The AOE arrow show is a quadruple tap to get it off which is also fine in a pinch. The one I have trouble executing when I need it is the one where you do a 360 on the attack stick when you're not moving. I have a theory that the game wants you to start a fresh input instead of just rotating the attack stick while you've been attacking. Like it wants you to pick up your finger and then do the rotation command.

Regardless of all of that, honestly I think the game controls really well. The controls for executing specials could be made a little tighter, but I'd much rather have things the way they are than to have hotspots identified on the screen that I need to hit to shoot off a power like in other games like Order & Chaos or Dungeon Hunter. This allows me to do things fluidly where those things require me to actively take my eyes off the action.

Well, like I said, the dungeons are randomly created with each playthrough (at least, that's my understanding). So, playing the other classes should also bring with it a new experience in terms of the actual dungeon crawling.

I actually really dig the idea of resetting the level with each new dungeon. For one, achievements in this game actually count toward something. The better you do and more achievements you earn in a dungeon run, the more skill points and gold you earn at the end. And of course, skills and weapon abilities are persistent. But I can easily see how some folks wouldn't care for the system.
Oh I don't mind the reset so much. The game as is really works, because sometimes you can get the right combination of gear that makes you absolutely IMBA. When my ranger has seeking and penetrating arrows with weakening, my damage becomes absolutely bonkers and I wipe rooms in seconds. I love it when I get like that because it feels like I just punched in IDKFA + IDDQD...but I earned it!
 
Underworlds is still imho the best of the genre on iOS, in that it invokes D1 pretty well:

Linky

Ignore the Vstick, you can set it to "tap to move / tap to attack" so it controls and feels just like a touchscreen Diablo. It has loot, atmosphere and iirc Newgame+

The dev was on touch arcade some time ago talking about a sequel but nothing came of it far as I can tell.
 
Yep I hate to say it because I know it's allot more work for some than other but just like when I got my IP4 no retina or universal support it's pretty much no buy :-(

I just don't think people (and Apple) realize the amount of work that has to go in to reproducing 2d assets that were not produced in that insane resolution to start with (+ there are code stuff that you need to take care of, it's not magically pushing the 2x button).
Sure, free updates see slight bumps in sales, but unless the update gets you a very prominent feature by apple (a big banner on the first page) it's not worth it (and even then it's probably not worth it, old games are still in many ways yesterdays news).

It's not a case of developers being lazy - in many cases they just can't afford to do it.

It's even harder to justify for small teams (like us), that don't have any "idling" team members.

AND! there's also the fact that ipad 3/new ipad/apple big screen pushes way more pixels than it can actually handle, much like the first ipad - updating a game with a lot of alpha effects and such may actually make it run worse.
 
I just don't think people (and Apple) realize the amount of work that has to go in to reproducing 2d assets that were not produced in that insane resolution to start with (+ there are code stuff that you need to take care of, it's not magically pushing the 2x button).
Sure, free updates see slight bumps in sales, but unless the update gets you a very prominent feature by apple it's not worth it (and even then it's probably not worth it).

It's not a case of developers being lazy - in many cases they just can't afford to do it.

It's even harder to justify for small teams (like us), that don't have any "idling" team members.

AND! there's also the fact that ipad 3/new ipad/apple big screen pushes way more pixels than it can actually handle, much like the first ipad - updating a game with a lot of alpha effects and such may actually make it run worse.
Agreed 100%. I definitely get the situation it puts developers in...unfortunately as the consumer I want the Retinas :(

An old game getting some new features like Retina probably wouldn't get me to pay it any closer attention...but a new game coming out WITHOUT Retina seems like it would definitely impact sales negatively. I get that the development cycle may have been well underway before Retina came out and that's why, but that doesn't change the fact that from a consumer POV, Retina is the preference. If an old game gets brought up here and it hasn't been updated for a long time or it doesn't have Retina, I'm much less willing to give it a shot.

...Retina graphics with the same good performance is the preference, I should say. Obviously this isn't possible for all games which then creates another problem entirely!
 
An old game getting some new features like Retina probably wouldn't get me to pay it any closer attention...but a new game coming out WITHOUT Retina seems like it would definitely impact sales negatively. I get that the development cycle may have been well underway before Retina came out and that's why, but that doesn't change the fact that from a consumer POV, Retina is the preference.

Yeah, as our next game is not coming out anytime soon the plan is definitely to have it retina enabled from the start. Not sure how it will run though, haven't played around much with the new iPad. One thing is for sure, it will take longer for me to produce art for that resolution.

I have one in the shelf that we bought for the company. Tried it out for 15 minutes, realized the colors are pretty fucked up (way too saturated, like areally bad cheap lcd tv - the reds look like they are about to explode, very surprised that it's not talked abot that much. it's especially surprising as apple's screens are always so nice), put in the box again, will start using it when we're further along with our next ios game. until then, I'll just continue to use my ipad 2. iPad 3/new ipad/whatever they are calling it is definitely the least impressive and unecessery apple device I've ever tried out.

edit:
if our games were 3D, or had a pixely art style (that scales nicely without any filtering) then wouldn't be that big of an issue.
 
Be aware that it has some mental IAPs. Apparently the ability to undo your last move is an IAP. It's awful how much they managed to fuck up this game when it could have been one of the best things on iOS.

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fuck.
 
Oh I don't mind the reset so much. The game as is really works, because sometimes you can get the right combination of gear that makes you absolutely IMBA. When my ranger has seeking and penetrating arrows with weakening, my damage becomes absolutely bonkers and I wipe rooms in seconds. I love it when I get like that because it feels like I just punched in IDKFA + IDDQD...but I earned it!

I'll have to try that. I've been mostly focusing on upgrading my poison damage. Some of the later bosses can be pretty tough.
 
I'll have to try that. I've been mostly focusing on upgrading my poison damage. Some of the later bosses can be pretty tough.

The ricochet on arrows is brilliant, walking through corridors having all your arrows bouncing around makes you feel unstoppable. It's a pity that the mage was an absolute chore to play as.
 
X2eBF.jpg



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Aaah, I love when my friends are pimped :)

I worked at Ludia for a number of years, and know the people who did the Where's Waldo games quite well. I'm happy to see this in here :)
 
I know this is not really the thread for this question as it is not necessarily an ios game, but is their any app that lets me add/remove music from my iphone without itunes? My main laptop is broken and I cannot add/remove music without that computer, unless I delete my whole library. I have a lot of playlists that I don't want to lose.. it is quite frustrating.
 
I know this is not really the thread for this question as it is not necessarily an ios game, but is their any app that lets me add/remove music from my iphone without itunes? My main laptop is broken and I cannot add/remove music without that computer, unless I delete my whole library. I have a lot of playlists that I don't want to lose.. it is quite frustrating.

iOS 5 allows you to do that.
 
I have iOS 5 and when I select manually manage music it says I am synced with another computer and have to delete my entire library.
I haven't tried adding songs, but you can delete music by swiping left. I don't even know that there's an option to manually manage music.
You can delete playlists with long press too.
 
I know this might not exactly be the best place to ask this, but there are no other active Iphone threads atm:

Is there a program/mod that allows you to adjust volume more selectively? Sometimes I want to listen to some mp3s to help me sleep, but at a lower volume than the lowest volume that the iphone allows.
 
Yeah, as our next game is not coming out anytime soon the plan is definitely to have it retina enabled from the start. Not sure how it will run though, haven't played around much with the new iPad. One thing is for sure, it will take longer for me to produce art for that resolution.

I have one in the shelf that we bought for the company. Tried it out for 15 minutes, realized the colors are pretty fucked up (way too saturated, like areally bad cheap lcd tv - the reds look like they are about to explode, very surprised that it's not talked abot that much. it's especially surprising as apple's screens are always so nice), put in the box again, will start using it when we're further along with our next ios game. until then, I'll just continue to use my ipad 2. iPad 3/new ipad/whatever they are calling it is definitely the least impressive and unecessery apple device I've ever tried out.

edit:
if our games were 3D, or had a pixely art style (that scales nicely without any filtering) then wouldn't be that big of an issue.

Fwiw, my screen has no colour issues. In fact, it's like the others in almost every way. Sure it's not just yours? Dodgy screen maybe?
 
Waking Mars is dropping a couple bucks, down to $2.99

Damnit, Waking Mars is not on sale in AU :( Does the US store say how long it'll be on sale for?

From the dev :
The price drop is scheduled to go live on 5/1... which I guess means late tonight in the US?

It's set to coincide with a nice little update, with enhanced retina iPad support and some other goodies. We'll have more for you soon!
 
iOS games can't be direct console ports simply due to the control differences.

Take a game like Epoch for instance. It's a cover based shooter, but instead of giving you dual analog controls they make the game auto-aim for you and the difficulty comes more from managing your cover, choosing your targets, timing your specials and dodging attacks via gestures. It makes for much better gameplay than a game like Modern Combat 3 where it's trying to recreate Call of Duty point for point and it falls a little flat due to the controls.

I like it when devs make controls that are obviously made with iOS in mind first, and not an afterthought.

Of course, I say all of this while simultaneously pimping "Pocket RPG" as my favorite game right now, which is a dual stick game of sorts. I'd argue that that game does things with dual sticks to make it very iOS centric, but that's all besides the point!
 
yeah. im hoping for really great level design. something that plays like run roo run. one screen, whole level. get from a to b. multiple characters.

Nah, it's going to be randomly generated 'cause he says he doesn't want it to be based on memorisation so very likely just endless.

I suppose it could be randomly generated single screen levels, that'd make a pretty ace game if someone could do it right.
 
Nah, it's going to be randomly generated 'cause he says he doesn't want it to be based on memorisation so very likely just endless.

I suppose it could be randomly generated single screen levels, that'd make a pretty ace game if someone could do it right.

wish i know how to code. id make a game like that with the quickness. no gimmicky shit or tools. just one man needing to scale a single stage with wall & double jumps(LoE with no controls, just constant running and the whole level viewable.)
 
I just don't think people (and Apple) realize the amount of work that has to go in to reproducing 2d assets that were not produced in that insane resolution to start with (+ there are code stuff that you need to take care of, it's not magically pushing the 2x button).
Sure, free updates see slight bumps in sales, but unless the update gets you a very prominent feature by apple (a big banner on the first page) it's not worth it (and even then it's probably not worth it, old games are still in many ways yesterdays news).

It's not a case of developers being lazy - in many cases they just can't afford to do it.

It's even harder to justify for small teams (like us), that don't have any "idling" team members.

AND! there's also the fact that ipad 3/new ipad/apple big screen pushes way more pixels than it can actually handle, much like the first ipad - updating a game with a lot of alpha effects and such may actually make it run worse.
this.

Our next game ichi will be retina. Making Kids completely retina is a lot of work.
 
Right guys, promo codes, can we stop now?

The way I see it is that we've got two kinds here. On one hand we've got developers who have been actively involved in the thread who want to repay the community's support and give back, and promote discussion or get feedback about their game. On the other hand, we've got people giving away random codes for no reason at all other than that they picked a ton of them up in Starbucks or wherever the hell they're coming from.

May I suggest that the first continues to happen, but the second just goes elsewhere? There is a thread for giving away PSN/XBLA/Steam codes and a thread for trading PSN/XBLA/Steam codes and I think if you have absolutely no association to the game you're giving away, it would be much better to expand those threads to include iOS giveaways than continue to spam up this thread.

Again though, I have absolutely no issues with developers giving away their own games here, it's just going way too far at this point. Over half the posts in this thread are quote to fucking reveal.
I completely agree. I don't mind the giveaways, but let's just put them in a different place.
 
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