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iOS Gaming Thread April 2013: Now with GAF Gold IAP

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dream

dream

Member
Brussels said:
It's not running very smooth on mine either.... but I don't blame it, iphone 4 is getting old.

I really am enjoying it though, I like the default music a lot. For some reason, I always smile when the whale shows up in the background and sings, I like to think he's cheering me on
Click to expand...
That is...the cutest thing I've ever read in an iOS gaming thread. Thank you.
 
T

Tayaya

Member
For everyone that's interested in the iOS release of Eclipse, I would totally recommend grabbing either the manual or watching one of these helpful videos to give you a better idea of how the game flows:

Undead Viking's hour-long review and gameplay video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p965QV2Q6Y

Dice Tower's more brief gameplay breakdown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS157k0m-YU

Is it a complex game? YES. Is it complex for a 4X game? I don't think so... the brilliant thing about Eclipse is just how streamlined and player-friendly it is through the use of so many little cubes and markers and really, truly excellent player sheets.

Eclipse is one of my favorite board games of last year. The presentation is excellent, there's a lot of thought put into the gameplay, and it plays much faster than a lot of its 4X kin (albeit with a bit more limited scope than say Twilight Imperium).
 
H

heringer

Member
Brussels said:
It's not running very smooth on mine either.... but I don't blame it, iphone 4 is getting old.

I really am enjoying it though, I like the default music a lot. For some reason, I always smile when the whale shows up in the background and sings, I like to think he's cheering me on
Click to expand...

True, but it still can handle far more demanding games just fine.
 
X

Xaero

Neo Member
Tunesmith said:
I just want to highlight this, got sort of lost in all the Eclipse talk. While it's not my type of game I'm always happy to see GAFer games in these threads! :D
Click to expand...

Cheers man! :)

And yeah, mine came from Quake 3, way back! Guess I'm one of the guys who stole yours ;)
 
F

FloatOn

Member
iOS gaf, I haven't played a really good game on my phone in a long time. I have plenty to play as is I just can't bring myself to do it.

Has there been anything really great in the past few months? Last I heard Year Walk was the big thing.

I'm out of the loop.
 
X

Xaero

Neo Member
RealityExists said:
iOS gaf, I haven't played a really good game on my phone in a long time. I have plenty to play as is I just can't bring myself to do it.

Has there been anything really great in the past few months? Last I heard Year Walk was the big thing.

I'm out of the loop.
Click to expand...


I hear Cosmic Conquest is pretty good ;)
 
M

Mike Works

Member
Mario said:
Well, there is a combination of specific decisions and our hands being bound there.

In relation to the music, the problem was licensing. While there was the intent to try and find a way to get Always as the default music, licensing just wasn't going to allow that to happen if the game was free. And Adult Swim wanted to get to a much wider audience than the previous paid mobile versions had allowed for, so free was a requirement. So, Always is in there, for a price.
Click to expand...
I'll start off by stating that, regardless of your reasons and the validity behind them, it doesn't change the fact that the game is worse without the song. I don't care if it's not in there because Adult Swim wanted to reach a larger audience or because you had licensing issues - the fact is it's not there.

And I'll mention that I can't find where to buy/enable the song in the game. In fact, I can't find the store at all in the game. I've found Restore Purchases in the options menu, but the only thing I can see to buy is the Ice Stage (which is bought through those blue gems, not real cash).

Module was tasked with a pretty tall order to try and "replace" Always. Taking it head on was going to be problematic, so he went for something more directly inspired by the content and the world we are building up rather than trying to match the tone of the original. Some people like it, some don't. It was always (ha!) going to be impossible to please everybody.
Click to expand...
I don't know who or what Module is, but the new music is just dull. Simply, simply dull. What world is he inspired by? The "world" of Robot Unicorn, again, lived through Always. Take that song away and the tone completely changes to, well, just a rainbow unicorn land where the only difference is the animals are machines instead of fantasy land creatures.

By trying to create an original piece of music that's influenced by the tone of the original, Module has completely failed in taking into account the music that so heavily influenced that tone.

There are some specific things that have been done to change (rather than "improve") the tone a little. The game does take itself (slightly) more seriously, and attempts to shift in a more casual direction (again to obtain that larger audience). So there is a definite shift away from pure absurdity towards the fantastical, and a softening of some aspects like the severed head. There is actually a lot more groundwork that has been done to build the foundation for a much bigger world which we'll hopefully be able to realise with continued development.

Again, this won't please everybody, but based on the reception so far it feels like Adult Swim has undertaken an appropriate strategy and we have made the right creative choices.
Click to expand...
I'm not at all seeing how there's a shift towards the fantastical (there's a flying whale in the background now? that's literally the only difference I can see - everything is copy and pasted from the original, visually).

It's just dull. A hugely wasted opportunity, especially given the positive aspects like the upgraded visuals, the fluidity, and the team/level structure. It's borderline pointless and that's too bad. My two cents.
 
SuperPac

SuperPac

Member
Draft said:
There is no Robot Unicorn without the song. The sequel looks great but is a fundamentally flawed product.
Click to expand...

It has the song - unfortunately since we have to pay a license fee when it's used it's an in-app purchase (available when the music store opens, Rank 4).
 
R

RaySpencer

Member
toddhunter said:
I've just played around with Eclipse for a while and then completed the tutorial. Here are some early thoughts noting that I didn't really know much about it going in, besides that it looked like a cool 4x game...and I often like cool looking 4x games. I also think Neuroshima Hex is an extremely well put together game, so I was happy to at least give this game a chance (every good dev gets one!):

First a screen so you have an idea what I'm talking about. Note the hexes, because they are important to my impressions:



The first thing that struck me is that it isn't really a 4x game in the traditional/Orion sense. It is actually based on a board game, that I of course have never heard of (and hence have no idea how faithful to it this game is, or even if it is worth referencing).



What does this mean? Well each round consists of you taking actions. These actions may be expanding your territory, researching new technology or upgrading your ships. Each action takes up points, and some turns you may even end up passing to conserve them.

This isn't too unusual for a 4x game in the least, but when you first "explore" and you add a hex to the "board" you realise what you are really going to be doing in general gameplay. The new hex may randomly have planets with resources or an enemy or nothing at all. You then assign the wormholes leading in and out of the new hex (connecting it to your existing territory and perhaps other promising directions) and repeat. Your opponents then do the same and the board gradually expands as you build up your fleets and choose to research with your acquired materials.

Sounds simple enough... but from there, things get a little more complicated...



Apart from managing your resources, you'll want to be acquiring victory points. These points go towards your score at the end of the game and will ultimately decide the winner. Often you may be given choices about if you want to acquire these points now or later. For example winning a battle might give you a choice between two victory points or a new gun for your ships. This appears to add a nice layer of strategy to your actions which could get quite complicated with a large number of players.

Sooner or later things will get real in the world of Eclipse and you'll find yourself in battle. Once you clash with an "Ancient" (neutral hostiles) or your opposition, combat plays out via a series of dice rolls. Your ships are chosen via their initiative priority and you choose which enemy ship to attack. If your roll is high enough? (modified by upgrades) you hit, Otherwise you miss and probably get blown up yourself.

The combat interface is slick and fights play out quite quickly. You'll also get into them quite often because the board seems relatively small and there are not many resources to go around. I haven't gone through a full online match yet, but I'm thinking they will be relatively quick compared to the more epic encounters of other games in the genre. You are limited to 8 rounds to get as many victory points as possible, so there will certainly be a lot of strategy involved in deciding upon your approach. Basically you shouldn't expect Orion type 6 month matches here.



If this all sounds complicated, then it probably is. By no means have I wrapped my head around it all yet, and I somehow doubt given my backlog I ever will. The very good news is that (on an ipad at least) the interface is extremely slick. The icons may be very cryptic to begin with and the screens daunting, but once you work it out, there really isn't too much going on. You'll notice in the screens a row of extra buttons along the bottom, but they are just short cuts to the pop out menus on the side rather than completely new functions in themselves.

Functions like upgrading ships are easy to perform. If you capture a new technology from defeating an ancient? Simply drag it onto the type of ship you want to upgrade and all ships of that type are upgraded automatically. Upgrades concern things like giving your ships two shots instead of one, or providing modifiers so that you only need to roll a 5 to hit rather than a 6.

In general, everything drags and drops nicely and the screen is easy to navigate around on and responds well to zoom in and zoom out with a pinch. Other games, such as Orion and ascendency have been a little clunky in this regard as games dragged on, but the large hex based approach keeps everything well laid out.

There are lots of little nice touches too. No loading times to jump between menus here, screens snap in and out promptly and nothing is too hidden behind other options. Even little touches like the ships having a flashy "warping" animation between hexes add to the overall effect of something that the developers spent a lot of time on. Which it should, because they took forever.

Would I recommend it? I really have no idea. It is a little pricey at $7.50 (Aussie taxed price) so it is hard to just relatively jump in and give it a go. My feeling is that because it is more of a board game with set rules rather than the traditional 4x release and patch for ten years until it turns into a game model, it is probably well worth a look if you are the least bit interested.

In the meantime, I feel hardcore board game players might have a much more detailed take on exactly what is going on with the game and if the depth and long term viability of the design decisions is there to sustain the game. For now? I'm happy to have spent the cash and look forward to spending some more time with it.

Note: Tested on an ipad 2 after ~150MB download. No crashes or other technical issues to report but only after about an hours play. No IAPs sighted.

Also worth checking out this video review to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qJtPh0PqIuA# (which probably would have saved me all that typing if I had seen it first...but such is life)
Click to expand...


It seems BigDaddysCreations enjoyed your post, they linked to it on their twitter, heh. Its nice to see the opinions on this game from someone who isnt familiar with the physical game.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
I'm rank 22 in RUA2, that's where it stops it seems.. I think I've played it too much. 5/8 achievos.. I'll keep playing as I enjoy this game very much as a time-waster while having downtime at work. Can't sadly sit with an iPad there, or I'd probably be playing Talisman or Eclipse. :)


---

Regarding the May iOS thread -- will post it sometime during the afternoon GMT timezone-wise. I'm endeavouring to let Dash get post 2 or 3 again for challenge stuffs. I'll give a heads-up in this thread once it's time to jump over. :)
 
M

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
SuperPac already addressed that the song is there, and fair enough on your take on the game. So I'll just address this

Mike Works said:
I'm not at all seeing how there's a shift towards the fantastical (there's a flying whale in the background now? that's literally the only difference I can see - everything is copy and pasted from the original, visually).
Click to expand...

If that is your view, then I can say we succeeded at least in the objective of connecting the current iteration to the original through enough touchstones. But I do think you are selling us short with the "copy and paste" comment. Almost everything was redesigned.

Below are two similar screenshots from the original and the sequel. There are supposed to be similarities, but in my opinion there are some stark differences there and you (should) come away with a different impression about the world you are in

mzl.vgvuevdg.320x480-75.jpg


mzl.ypigimiv.320x480-75.jpg



In my view between the added grandeur to the visuals hinting at a deeper world, multiple environments, setting up opposing forces/factions, adding depth and variety to the unicorn designs, flight/powers, changes to music, subtle things in flavour text, and adding giants who shoot lasers out of their face, yes, I think we have moved the game to a more fantastical place.

Sorry to hear you don't like the game.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
Shaneus said:
Make sure you have the syntax right, it's actually "PowerPros". If you search for it with the space, it comes up with an older one that's $4.49 (in Australia).
Click to expand...

Hmm, bit annoyed by that so soon after launch (konami just made the 'list'). But yes, it is a very well put together game.
 
A

AIRic

Member
The house of the Dead game is worth the price. I'm a sucker for headshots, but the great controls made those easy and fun to pull! I rarely buy game at full price, but I don't regret it! I will probably buy the DLC episodes.
 
D

Dog Problems

Banned
Not happy with this new Happy Street update. They made having a Facebook account a requirement to further upgrade the museum as well as a new house that requires Facebook friends to help build. I'm not on Facebook so I guess I'll miss out. And I'm not creating a dummy account just for this purpose. Hopefully the developers get some backlash and change it.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Didn't realise Fur Fighters was only a buck. Should keep me busy until Jacob Jones hits.

And there's a HotD game? I thought there was one that was kinda similar, but basically a knockoff.
PS. And it has IAP? Looks like I'm waiting that one out then.
 
F

Flunkie

Banned
Dog Problems said:
Not happy with this new Happy Street update. They made having a Facebook account a requirement to further upgrade the museum as well as a new house that requires Facebook friends to help build. I'm not on Facebook so I guess I'll miss out. And I'm not creating a dummy account just for this purpose. Hopefully the developers get some backlash and change it.
Click to expand...

Yuuuuuup, let the backlash begin. I'll just use my old Zombie Farm facebook dummy account but it's a bullshit move.
 
D

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Xaero said:
Hi guys :)

My first iOS game, Cosmic Conquest is out now!


Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

First: congrats! Looks pretty neat :)

Just a little heads up:
Read the second post (for instance, it's the one for the GAF iOS challenges) of this very thread and see if you'd like to get some more attention by being one of the sponsors for the next one (which is starting this coming week, sorry if there's little time to work it out, but hey there's always next month if you can't make it and are still interested). Details are all laid out in the op (and you can also click the links to some of the past challenges to get an idea on how it would come together) and if you're interested just shoot me a pm. It's not a code/swag-beggers thingie, quite the opposite: We're always happy to give fellow gaffers a chance to get more attention and you'd be in good company :)
 
D

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
BEJEWELED HD is on sale for 99c

I'm probably the only iOS gamer without this game. Is it worth it now that there's also that Blitz freemium app?

edit: oh well fuck it, bought for the gf, maybe I'll like it too
edit: jeez thanks Snuggler sounds cool, feel pretty, preeetty good about this now

Also REPULZE by the Wip3out guys ex-Psygnosis ex Studio-Liverpool is 99c. I grabbed it.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Dash Kappei said:
BEJEWELD HD is on sale for 99c

I'm probably the only iOS gamer without this game. Is it worth it now that there's also that Blitz freemium app?
Click to expand...

Blitz is just the classic mode in 60 second rounds with timers and IAP's and stuff. Bejeweled or Bejeweled HD have an untimed classic mode and a few other, really entertaining alternate modes like Diamond Mind and Butterflies. It's way more fleshed out, and definitely one of the best games on iOS.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Shaneus said:
Didn't realise Fur Fighters was only a buck. Should keep me busy until Jacob Jones hits.

And there's a HotD game? I thought there was one that was kinda similar, but basically a knockoff.
PS. And it has IAP? Looks like I'm waiting that one out then.
Click to expand...
The HotD IAP is the third episode in-game, so you get 2 episodes for 4.99 or whatever instead of 7.99 upfront.
Like Walking Dead offers episode IAPs.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Tunesmith said:
The HotD IAP is the third episode in-game, so you get 2 episodes for 4.99 or whatever instead of 7.99 upfront.
Like Walking Dead offers episode IAPs.
Click to expand...
Ah. Any idea what significance the "Kash Packs" have? It was actually those I saw that made me cringe, not the level add-on thing.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Dash Kappei said:
BEJEWELED HD is on sale for 99c

I'm probably the only iOS gamer without this game. Is it worth it now that there's also that Blitz freemium app?

edit: oh well fuck it, bought for the gf, maybe I'll like it too
edit: jeez thanks Snuggler sounds cool, feel pretty, preeetty good about this now
Click to expand...

No Bejeweled game is worth it now that Zookeeper Battle exists!
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Shaneus said:
Ah. Any idea what significance the "Kash Packs" have? It was actually those I saw that made me cringe, not the level add-on thing.
Click to expand...

Flunkie said:
Is it good?
Click to expand...

If I interpreted it correctly, kash is in-game currency used to buy upgrades, it can also actually be used to buy the third episode I believe.

It's a faithful port of the old Wii game, cheesy fun? :) It controls by moving around a reticule with dedicated shoot/reload buttons - it takes some skill in nailing a headshots this way. Though you can unlock a straight tap on shit to mode later in the game.

Haven't spent too much time with it yet due to all sorts of other pre-existing game commitments so I can't say if it has any long legs.
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
So....hate me as you want...but I had the pleasure to play Warhammer Quest all night.
And what a pleasure it was.

I had to stop when wife made clear I was a dead man if I insisted playing.

It's no secret I loved Hunters 2 and I had the pleasure to play the original boardgame more than 20 years ago....it's no secret my expectation were incredibly high.
I was literally BLOWN AWAY and soon I was sucked in the Warhammer world that was alive between my hands.
The passion, quality, slickness and sheer content is dripping from every screen....since the intro one.
It's a quantum leap.

I can't get into anything specific and I hope I didn't said already too much (sorry Rodeo devs...I couldn't bear to keep this inside my chest)...but it's safe to say that if you loved Warhammer Quest (the boardgame) and Hunters 2, you are in for a awesome ride.
I already know the rest of my gaming year is set.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
PittaGAF said:
So....hate me as you want...but I had the pleasure to play Warhammer Quest all night.
And what a pleasure it was.

I had to stop when wife made clear I was a dead man if I insisted playing.

It's no secret I loved Hunters 2 and I had the pleasure to play the original boardgame more than 20 years ago....it's no secret my expectation were incredibly high.
I was literally BLOWN AWAY and soon I was sucked in the Warhammer world that was alive between my hands.
The passion, quality, slickness and sheer content is dripping from every screen....since the intro one.
It's a quantum leap.

I can't get into anything specific and I hope I didn't said already too much (sorry Rodeo devs...I couldn't bear to keep this inside my chest)...but it's safe to say that if you loved Warhammer Quest (the boardgame) and Hunters 2, you are in for a awesome ride.
I already know the rest of my gaming year is set.
Click to expand...

Rule 1 of the WQ beta is that you don't talk about the WQ beta.

:p

I agree with you.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
PittaGAF said:
Well...I've been authorized of sort.
Or at least I asked...if it's not ok I'll remove the post.

To be honest I'm so hyped I couldn't resist.
Click to expand...

I'm just messing with you, I'm not Rodeo, I'm sure your impressions are wanted by them too (as well as salivating GAFers). It's shaping up to be a great game. :)
 
S

SteveWD40

Member
So....hate me as you want...but I had the pleasure to play Warhammer Quest all night.
And what a pleasure it was.
Click to expand...


Rule 1 of the WQ beta is that you don't talk about the WQ beta.

:p

I agree with you.
Click to expand...

j5uUici.gif


So, is there randomization of dungeons / re-playability? a lvl cap? how much meat is in there? Any clue on the install size of the app?
 
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