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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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Stoney Mason said:
Well it sold like over 600K in Korea so at worst I thought it would be at least an average title and on a platform with a complete lack of such titles average becomes good
Click to expand...

That's how I felt about the game too -- especially after watching videos of the game. Turns out I was wrong, though. It really is a solid action RPG with a fun battle system and addictive skill tree. It's like they took the best of Secret of Mana and merged it with elements of Diablo.

I guess the highest compliment I can give Zenonia is that it's not just a great title for the iPhone - it's a great title period. Definitely a lot better than many of the DS RPGs I've played.
 
I've only played about 20 minutes of Zenonia but its pretty good. I'm trying to understand how the special attacks figure into everything but it has good presentation and the d-pad works much better than I thought it would. (I only messed up a handful of times)

The only thing I could nag it for is the music, it has some good stuff but it also gets real annoying.
 
mjc said:
I've only played about 20 minutes of Zenonia but its pretty good. I'm trying to understand how the special attacks figure into everything but it has good presentation and the d-pad works much better than I thought it would. (I only messed up a handful of times)

The only thing I could nag it for is the music, it has some good stuff but it also gets real annoying.
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Can you play your own music over it?
 
thetrin said:
We've been looking for a platform that would expose our stuff to a diverse group of people, and it really seems that iphone is just that. My friend (the programmer) is pretty interested, and he's actually poring through the SDK as we speak.
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If you guys need another programmer I might be able to help out.
 
dream said:
Let's find out.

Nope.
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Yes you can.

Double tap the Home button to bring up the music controls and when you start your music back up it mutes the game music.

Unless you meant with the game's sound effects also playing. In that case no it mutes the game's sound effects along with the game's music.
 
KeiichiInafune said:
Yes you can.

Double tap the Home button to bring up the music controls and when you start your music back up it mutes the game music.
Click to expand...

That means you probably can't, if you have to do it that way - next time the game tries to change the current song, it'll probably mute your music. I wish more developers would just read the docs, it's a pretty simple thing to check at app startup if there's a song playing, and if so set it so your game doesn't mute the song.
 
dream said:
That's how I felt about the game too -- especially after watching videos of the game. Turns out I was wrong, though. It really is a solid action RPG with a fun battle system and addictive skill tree. It's like they took the best of Secret of Mana and merged it with elements of Diablo.

I guess the highest compliment I can give Zenonia is that it's not just a great title for the iPhone - it's a great title period. Definitely a lot better than many of the DS RPGs I've played.
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Damn you to hell.

Bought.
 
Zenonia is amazing after 2+ hours so far, your mind might be fooled by the menu's since you can't touch it and have to use the dpad but the game overall is high quality and it's not become boring yet which is important. I'm willing to make an official thread for it so gaf can see it's beauty.
 
My Underworlds 'review' is up:

www.standarddrinksreview.com

underworlds.jpg
 
Banzaiaap said:
Quick question: Is there any iTunes API that let's me pull information like price and screenshots from the store?
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There is a way to do it but I don't know how, Arne who runs touch arcade and some other websites is able to pull prices, latest releases and thumbnails / game logo's from apple some how.
 
suikodan said:
Is there a Menu option in Zenonia? I'm trying to quit the game by saving first but I didn't find the option (yet).
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Upper right corner is the menu. Save is the first option under System, I believe.

That said, I'm not liking the d-pad control for Zenonia. I find myself accidentally tapping in wrong directions and then when I try to correct them, acccidentally double-tapping in a direction, and that performs the dash move. It's rather annoying when you have 3+ enemies swarming you pretty early in the game.
 
Mar_ said:
Thanks!

It's tough work, drinking and playing video games. But someone's got to do it.
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One day, I hope to begin a 'green' website that does similar reviews but with more 'smoky' substances.
 
Zenonia truly is badass. One of the best little additions is rumble. The game uses vibration when you hit enemies or get hit. Makes all the difference in the world.
 
Good to hear the positive feedback on Zenonia. I bought it but I won't be able to play until later this evening. It's up to #45 currently on the game's list so hopefully it keeps climbing to show people want rpg's on the system.
 
Actual combat in the game is nice too. Visually it looks wonderful, and to aid players, the main character auto-faces and attacks targets around him. You don't have to finagle with the controls to get him to target someone. Considering controls on a touch screen, this is a huge boon.
 
Another weird sales note is that Amateur Surgeon has really exploded in sales for some reason. I mean there is nothing wrong with that. It's a good game but it it's also a relatively old game in terms of a release date since it was released way back in December. It got a price drop but but that still doesn't explain how its climbed back up to #3 on the games chart.
 
Tobor said:
I said I wasn't going to buy Zenonia, but I caved. I have no willpower.
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The low prices make it so hard to restrain yourself if you have any desire at all to buy the game.

Sidenote - watched a GeoDefense strategy YouTube clip; it's funny how slight tweaks in strategy make enormous differences in tower defense.
 
boutrosinit said:
One day, I hope to begin a 'green' website that does similar reviews but with more 'smoky' substances.
Click to expand...

There are some games I'd love to play like this. I fully intend to at some point.
 
Stoney Mason said:
Another weird sales note is that Amateur Surgeon has really exploded in sales for some reason. I mean there is nothing wrong with that. It's a good game but it it's also a relatively old game in terms of a release date since it was released way back in December. It got a price drop but but that still doesn't explain how its climbed back up to #3 on the games chart.
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It has it's own commercial during Adult Swim shows for the last week or ago.
 
DJ Crimson said:
It has it's own commercial during Adult Swim shows for the last week or ago.
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Hey, what do you know, old school advertising still works. I wouldn't be surprised if EA starts experimenting with this as well. A few well placed ads could explode sales, even at $5 or $10 prices.
 
Beatrider has a release date now. June 1.

For those not familar it's basically a rhythm music action game ala Tap Tap Revenge that generates itself based on the beat of the song. It achieves this by you uploading the tracks you want to play via a PC. And since 3.0 doesn't give devs the ability to read music tracks on the iphone itself to generate beats and visualizations, this is the only game of this type we will be seeing for awhile. I'll give this post a final bump when it releases.

http://www.mybeatrider.com/

Video #1 The Black Eyed Peas
Video #2 Play Demonstration

BeatRider is rhythm game you can enjoy with all your MP3 files.
Now you can enjoy this rhythm game with your favorite artist's music around the world.
Set a new world record by competing with beat riders around the world.
Now you can be the best beat rider of iPhone(iPod Touch)

You can use MP3 and M4A(iTunes Plus Music) files.

*Features.
-Music is provided 4 basic tunes and 1 training rhythm.
-Lite version you can save up one song. (Full version you can save up 20 songs)
-Six levels from Very Easy to Crazy are available.
You can enjoy stronger beats and achieve higher records as your level gets higher.
-Slider notes are attaching on both sides, the slide notes left and right.
-You can enjoy exciting rhythms as speed increases from 1x to 5x.

*How to enjoy BeatRider with MP3.
1. Install BeatRider in iPhone(iPod Touch).
2. Select My Music from BeatRider and create an account.
3. Access BeatRider web site(www.mybeatrider.com) from PC and log on your account.
4. Upload MP3 files to Music Upload.
5. Press the Refresh button on My Music of BeatRider installed in iPhone(iPod Touch) and enjoy game with registered MP3.
Click to expand...

ss2.jpg

ss3.jpg

ss4.jpg
 
Loving Zenonia right now. Wonderful little gem of a KRPG.

The story is surprisingly prevalent in an otherwise addictive melting pot of Diablo, Mana, and Alundra or something.
 
So here's a really dumb question:

I purchased Zenonia, but for a change I purchased it via my notebook (Windows-based) and iTunes. However, it doesn't seem to want to sync up and appear on my iPhone. I thought about "buying" it through the App Store on the iPhone, but it looks like I'd give them $6 more.

Edit: Got it. Thing is touchy sometimes.
 
I'm really enjoying Zenonia. It just passed the "I played it from full battery to 20% warning" test on my first go. The D-pad is so-so, and the menus are a little clunky, but otherwise it's solid.
 
Thanks for the beatrider info Stoney. I tried tap tap, but the controls felt clunky to me. I still want a phase port, but I think rythm games are something better left to buttons rather than touch screens.

Is zeonia new? I remember dling a lite version of an arpg, but I didn't like it.
 
Hmm idk about Zenonia. Its just like the other rpgs I purchased for the Iphone. I'd rather play Geodefense or Drop 7. I like the gesture of making an action RPG but why not turn based? It lends itself much more to touch controls and hell would even work with a few Super Mario RPG like QTE during certain attacks.
 
Flunkie said:
So many people talking about Zenonia. I smell #1 app soon.
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It's contrary to the belief that iPhone owners only want shallow diversions. I think a lot of people are like me, and want the type of games we get on the DS and PSP. Full size games, or at least full size portable games.
 
Flunkie said:
So many people talking about Zenonia. I smell #1 app soon.
Click to expand...
No chance. It is impossible for an app at this stage to hit #1 that costs above $1.99 or indeed hit the top 5 most times which is why I constantly harp on about reorganization and the tyranny of the 99 cent app. Zenonia has hardcore appeal but very little name broad brand name casual recognition. Which is why Sonic is able to be at #5 right now despite being a barely competent port. It will be lucky I'm guessing to hit the top 20 at that price unfortunately although I'd love to be proven wrong. Currently it's at #33.
 
Flunkie said:
So many people talking about Zenonia. I smell #1 app soon.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I think we're talking about it because, you know, we're nerds on a video game message board. My sister who has an iPhone is unlikely to ever download it, or even think about it.
 
Tobor said:
It's contrary to the belief that iPhone owners only want shallow diversions. I think a lot of people are like me, and want the type of games we get on the DS and PSP. Full size games, or at least full size portable games.
Click to expand...

The problem is, people may want those games...but they don't want to pay full price for full size portable games, on the darn iPhone where 90% of its games are under $5 (heck, most are $.99). The game developer I work for can barely break even when doing DS-quality (yet small) iPhone games due to the low prices needed to acually sell decently. Think about it, an average DS game has 10 people on the team and takes 6-9 months to develop. Assuming each person on the team makes $50,000 a year (low for some jobs, high for others), that game cost $250,000 to $375,000 to make. Charge $5 for it, and you need sales of 50,000 to 75,000 just to break even; but to get sales like that, you need to be pretty high up in the popularity, and unless you're lucky, you'll only get that with good advertising, which costs more money.

Sure, you hear about the rare case of a game that sold 750,000 copies, but usually those are early/launch titles that got a whole ton of press, or very well-known games/franchises ported from other systems. Or they are games that were the first of their kind - the first game showing off great 3D graphics, or the first professional-looking Smash TV clone, things like that.
 
Stoney Mason said:
No chance. It is impossible for an app at this stage to hit #1 that costs above $1.99 or indeed hit the top 5 most times which is why I constantly harp on about reorganization and the tyranny of the 99 cent app. Zenonia has hardcore appeal but very little name broad brand name casual recognition. Which is why Sonic is able to be at #5 right now despite being a barely competent port. It will be lucky I'm guessing to hit the top 20 at that price unfortunately although I'd love to be proven wrong. Currently it's at #33.
Click to expand...
How can you say its impossible? Improbably yeah but I don't think its that restrictive. In fact I think the quality is improving on the iPhone and you will see more expensive games on the top 20.
 
Dreamwriter said:
The problem is, people may want those games...but they don't want to pay full price for full size portable games, on the darn iPhone where 90% of its games are under $5 (heck, most are $.99). The game developer I work for can barely break even when doing DS-quality (yet small) iPhone games due to the low prices needed to acually sell decently. Think about it, an average DS game has 10 people on the team and takes 6-9 months to develop. Assuming each person on the team makes $50,000 a year (low for some jobs, high for others), that game cost $250,000 to $375,000 to make. Charge $5 for it, and you need sales of 50,000 to 75,000 just to break even; but to get sales like that, you need to be pretty high up in the popularity, and unless you're lucky, you'll only get that with good advertising, which costs more money.

Sure, you hear about the rare case of a game that sold 750,000 copies, but usually those are early/launch titles that got a whole ton of press, or very well-known games/franchises ported from other systems. Or they are games that were the first of their kind - the first game showing off great 3D graphics, or the first professional-looking Smash TV clone, things like that.
Click to expand...

Good point, that's why I think the iPhone should stick with smaller games and if people want big handheld games that go with the DS and PSP.
The iPhone have room for big games, but they need to be published by big company like EA or Capcom where they have money to advertise the games. If small developers want to make big games, they need to partner with the big guys to stand out.
 
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