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iOS Gaming August 2013: The Curious Case of no Subtitle

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Can someone explain to me what makes King of Dragon Pass so unique/worth 9.99?

I've heard nothing but praise for KoDP but the app just looks like a mix of Choose Your Own Adventure-esque vignettes and community management game from the screenshots.
 
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. Anybody help me out?

WINDOWSHOP
 
Can someone explain to me what makes King of Dragon Pass so unique/worth 9.99?

I've heard nothing but praise for KoDP but the app just looks like a mix of Choose Your Own Adventure-esque vignettes and community management game from the screenshots.

That is pretty much what it is.

The reason it is so highly praised is because of the depth. You are always hitting new things and figuring out how it all works. It is a big investment but the payoff is there if you try
I didn't :)

This makes it somewhat unique for the platform, especially in days gone past.
 
Can someone explain to me what makes King of Dragon Pass so unique/worth 9.99?

I've heard nothing but praise for KoDP but the app just looks like a mix of Choose Your Own Adventure-esque vignettes and community management game from the screenshots.

You've pretty much got a handle on it with that description. I grabbed it during a sale and, although I like it, the depth is a little intimidating. A lot intimidating actually, my poor villagers are destined to eternal starvation.
 
This game is amazing

This is one of the very few IAP/game company cross promotion advert riddled games I really really really enjoy and don't particularly mind it's business model.

I'm well aware one pretty much has to spend $ on currency to unlock all the courses (if one doesn't play 24/7 for a year) but since all courses are just fun variations of the same basic gameplay it doesn't really matter. Additionally the game is very gratious with freebie offers/challenges every other day so it never feels like you're being shortchanged with content, and everything can be unlocked with time/effort.

I have both the iPhone and HD edition for my phone/iPad respectively and I play them religiously. :)
Can someone explain to me what makes King of Dragon Pass so unique/worth 9.99?

I've heard nothing but praise for KoDP but the app just looks like a mix of Choose Your Own Adventure-esque vignettes and community management game from the screenshots.

On the page, that's pretty much it. But there's an incredible amount of depth in scenarios one can encounter. I dare say it's one of the 'deeper' games I've ever played in that regard. Infinite (often humourous/outrageous/gutwrenching) replayability, there are some absolutely insane circumstances one can come across.
 
Post about it here if you get to check it, we did play it very early on (day 1!) and I remember the game received a couple updates during the time I was still posting in the OT. The things that got annoying fast are all coming back to me lol, like most smaller airports being pretty much useless, locations closing frequently due to thunderstorms etc, global events being kinda wack (this got some changes early on iirc).

seems like they haven't really changed the game much... and only crazy roleplaying people are still playing lol.
 
That is pretty much what it is.

The reason it is so highly praised is because of the depth. You are always hitting new things and figuring out how it all works. It is a big investment but the payoff is there if you try
I didn't :)

This makes it somewhat unique for the platform, especially in days gone past.

You've pretty much got a handle on it with that description. I grabbed it during a sale and, although I like it, the depth is a little intimidating. A lot intimidating actually, my poor villagers are destined to eternal starvation.

On the page, that's pretty much it. But there's an incredible amount of depth in scenarios one can encounter. I dare say it's one of the 'deeper' games I've ever played in that regard. Infinite (often humourous/outrageous/gutwrenching) replayability, there are some absolutely insane circumstances one can come across.
Ok, thanks. I was curious if there was just more to the experience. So is replay options just selecting different choices the other time around? Of is it set up in such a way that making one different choice could lead to events that you never saw the first time

That's one thing I don't always like about CYoA games, is that a second playthrough is you just actively choosing different choice to see what happens. Oh I was nice here, I'll be a jerk instead. Stuff like that. But KoDP seems like it has more depth than that and that the choices are much more varied and expansive than that

But I'll wait till it goes on sale.
 
Ok, thanks. I was curious if there was just more to the experience. So is replay options just selecting different choices the other time around? Of is it set up in such a way that making one different choice could lead to events that you never saw the first time

That's one thing I don't always like about CYoA games, is that a second playthrough is you just actively choosing different choice to see what happens. Oh I was nice here, I'll be a jerk instead. Stuff like that. But KoDP seems like it has more depth than that and that the choices are much more varied and expansive than that

But I'll wait till it goes on sale.

The events you're subjected to are randomized, there are active choice moments of course, you can always choose to play a certain way in relation to whats happening (be a warmongering tribe or a peaceful trade-focused one etc etc) but what events happen or if they even happen are random from your point of view. I've mostly been playing as a ruthless backstabbing bastard every time and I've yet to have the same outcome in any of my plays.

Things can change drastically between "identically styled" playthroughs depending on where you decide to settle your tribe at the start (maybe you'll get slaughtered by an evil wizard that happens to live nearby, who knows!).
 
Around the world, there are currently 2,000 "secret games" in development, there's no real need to give a shit about that particular one because we're not getting any more information about it than about any of the others.
We do have more information, it is worth it for IGN or the company to fly out IGN's mobile editor, and IGN's mobile editor is excited about it.
 
beat bloodmasque. had a good time. pretty great cinematics and good visuals with a pretty decent loot base mechanic. A somewhat interesting story too and pretty good music.


Pretty much the best 'cinematic action game' on the platform imo that isn't some virtual controls garbage.


the whole face mapping feature thing seals the package.


Best square enix game in years lol.
 
Ok, thanks. I was curious if there was just more to the experience. So is replay options just selecting different choices the other time around? Of is it set up in such a way that making one different choice could lead to events that you never saw the first time

That's one thing I don't always like about CYoA games, is that a second playthrough is you just actively choosing different choice to see what happens. Oh I was nice here, I'll be a jerk instead. Stuff like that. But KoDP seems like it has more depth than that and that the choices are much more varied and expansive than that

But I'll wait till it goes on sale.

I'm not deep into it and only did a few quick play throughs. I'm my opinion, it's a bit of a randomized choose your own adventure mixed with Civilization...if that makes any sense to you. The depth of the game is intimidating as others mentioned. I can see myself playing this from time to time for the rest of my life. Lords of Midnight is another one of these games that's deep (well, to me anyways).
 
Around the world, there are currently 2,000 "secret games" in development, there's no real need to give a shit about that particular one because we're not getting any more information about it than about any of the others.

I enjoy speculating about upcoming games

I can see myself playing this from time to time for the rest of my life.

I totally agree with you. The game has nearly endless replayability, and they just added a bunch of new encounters in the latest update (not that I was even close to seeing all of them before.)
 
Found a bunch of IOS games that sound promising on SlideDB.
Has anyone played these?

RICO - A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rico/id602656300?mt=8
Rico is an old school jump'n'run game! Run across the levels, jump over obstacles, climb mountains, explore caves, swim through water Collect crystals throughout each level Avoid mines, acid pits and various deadly enemies along the way Find upgrades to get abilities like double jump Reach magic stones to activate checkpoints Find and use weapons to combat enemies Fly with a jetpack Face off against enemies in epic boss battles 4 difficulty levels to keep you challenged 4 different worlds 32 levels full of retro awesomeness If you like platformers, you'll love Rico!

screen1.png

UNSTOPPABALL DX
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/unstoppaball-dx/id489103099?mt=8
Use your skills in this pysics-puzzler to navigate a fragile ball through 30 dangerous environments, all whilst avoiding enemies and searching for fragments.

usb_ipad_06.png

BLIP
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blip/id517284999?mt=8
Tumble, bounce and slide BLiP through an atmospheric world filled with deadly spikes and precarious platforms. Collect stars to unlock over 60 levels of challenging and addictive fun.

BLiP1.png

ZOMBIES.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombies./id568711604?mt=8
An isometric rampage through the deep, dark, dungeons of bureaucracy. Claw your way through hideous swarms of Project Managers as they spew buzzwords and tasks at you. Zombies. The only zombie game that's not about zombies.

walls_of_zombie_bodies.jpg

CASTER
https://itunes.apple.com/app/caster/id314016537
Dash across scenic locations destroying bug like creatures called the Flanx using 6 unique attacks that include massive terrain deformation and high speed barrages of energy blasts!

mzl.mwugztqd.320x480-75.jpg

NIGHTMERICA
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nightmerica-usn/id596231696?ls=1&mt=8
Nightmerica is a game about facing the monsters inside your head, and shooting them with a whole load of bullets. Drawing on the retro spirit of arcade games and the? Explosions? Of modern titles. Face hoardes of monsters in three different arenas, using any of the infinitely randomly generated guns, sidearms or special weapons. Show your nightmares who's boss!

Snap_2012-09-19_at_22.04.49.png
 
I enjoy speculating about upcoming games

Me too, but my point is, why do you need a shitty tweet to do that? There is nothing in that tweet at all, NOTHING which could aid in your speculation, so it's a waste of everyone's time. Add to that that there are literally thousands of titles in development you don't know about, so why aren't you speculating about all of them? Pick any random developer currently in existence. Any one at all. Got one? Right. They're working on something you don't know about yet. OH! WHAT COULD IT BE!

There is only ever ONE reason game-journos do this, and it's so they can make it clear how they're in a special exclusive little club that you're not allowed any part of, and it's pathetic. Any one of them that denies this is a liar.

Tweet when you've got something to say.
 
Me too, but my point is, why do you need a shitty tweet to do that? There is nothing in that tweet at all, NOTHING which could aid in your speculation, so it's a waste of everyone's time. Add to that that there are literally thousands of titles in development you don't know about, so why aren't you speculating about all of them? Pick any random developer currently in existence. Any one at all. Got one? Right. They're working on something you don't know about yet. OH! WHAT COULD IT BE!

There is only ever ONE reason game-journos do this, and it's so they can make it clear how they're in a special exclusive little club that you're not allowed any part of, and it's pathetic. Any one of them that denies this is a liar.

Tweet when you've got something to say.

Well, I'm guessing it's probably an important game.Justin seems to have better access than most iOS game sites, and all his teases have always resulted in genuinely exciting reveals.
 
Well, I'm guessing it's probably an important game.Justin seems to have better access than most iOS game sites, and all his teases have always resulted in genuinely exciting reveals.

Yeah, it probably is, but without even a developer name what is there to go on?

Justin is basically one of those 12-year-old girls on Facebook posting "OMG I had the worst day EVAAA!!!" and then saying "I DONT WANNA TALK ABOUT IT" if anyone asks what's wrong.

He's got some way to go before he's as bad as Keighley, at least.
 
Ok, got a good release to recommend this week:

Geometry Dash (1.99)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geometry-dash/id625334537?mt=8

It's like a mix of the Impossible Game and Beat Sneak, a rhythm based one touch action platformer with a level editor as well. Added elements include gravity flipping, other vehicles, and customization. It's challenging and the user levels so far have been pretty good. The developer is planning more levels, more music, and more game modes

Oh, and no IAP

Here's a trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=k90y6PIzIaE
 
Me too, but my point is, why do you need a shitty tweet to do that? There is nothing in that tweet at all, NOTHING which could aid in your speculation, so it's a waste of everyone's time. Add to that that there are literally thousands of titles in development you don't know about, so why aren't you speculating about all of them? Pick any random developer currently in existence. Any one at all. Got one? Right. They're working on something you don't know about yet. OH! WHAT COULD IT BE!

There is only ever ONE reason game-journos do this, and it's so they can make it clear how they're in a special exclusive little club that you're not allowed any part of, and it's pathetic. Any one of them that denies this is a liar.

Tweet when you've got something to say.

This.
It's getting so irksome. They can tweet all they want but why pick it up and make news about it? It's alright when you're a developer announcing that you've got some exciting news soon (so we have something to speculate about) but that whole "hey I know more than you - feel excited, NOW" the journos do is just silly. If you can't say what it is, what's the point?
 
This is too awesome!!!
Despite more than 150 hours under the belt, Warhammer Quest never ceases to amaze me.
I was white-questing in search for loot with my maxed out hardcore dream team before facing the last red quest and moving to Reikland when I found a fantastic tower shield...never saw it before.
It's HUGE, green and nasty looking.
It was guarded by a really powerful unique Orc Warboss (forgot the name) and various 'normal' war bosses and shamans.
Forged with acid, grants you one extra melee attack at the expenses of no less than 3 point of toughness (which is pretty hard, but I went all in for fast killing in this build).
Graphically it is fantastic too.
Did I mention it is huge?
When the marauder strikes with the long sword, he moves the shield overhead and it covers everything!!!
 

Yes.

Edit:

Me too, but my point is, why do you need a shitty tweet to do that? There is nothing in that tweet at all, NOTHING which could aid in your speculation, so it's a waste of everyone's time. Add to that that there are literally thousands of titles in development you don't know about, so why aren't you speculating about all of them? Pick any random developer currently in existence. Any one at all. Got one? Right. They're working on something you don't know about yet. OH! WHAT COULD IT BE!

There is only ever ONE reason game-journos do this, and it's so they can make it clear how they're in a special exclusive little club that you're not allowed any part of, and it's pathetic. Any one of them that denies this is a liar.

Tweet when you've got something to say.

Now, this just plain isn't true. I think it is very unfair and needlessly rude.

Myself and most of my peers, most people in general, I'd say, use Twitter to share things in their life. Pictures of interesting things they come across, links to articles, thoughts on what they're working on... or just whatever is in their head in general. I sent out that tweet because it was almost midnight and I had to get to sleep because I had an early flight. It's what was happening in my life at that moment and I chose to share it with people.

To label me as "pathetic" and even stronger language than that I feel is very undeserved. And to say there is no other reason someone might send a tweet out like that is pretty thick headed, imo. There's no tone of "ooooh get psyched up for what you'll be reading about on IGN.com in a couple weeks!!!" It's just me sharing what's happening in my life.

If I tweeted "about to go eat a california burrito and it's going to be epic" then it's the same deal.

Call me a liar.

Yeah, it probably is, but without even a developer name what is there to go on?

Justin is basically one of those 12-year-old girls on Facebook posting "OMG I had the worst day EVAAA!!!" and then saying "I DONT WANNA TALK ABOUT IT" if anyone asks what's wrong.

He's got some way to go before he's as bad as Keighley, at least.

I'm just a guy living my life and writing about games is how I earn a living.

It isn't my job to make sure tweets about my schedule give people "something to go on." If your cousin who is an accountant tweets "getting up hella early for a flight. Excited about where I'm going though," it's fine. But if I do it then I'm a liar, I'm acting like a little girl, I'm pathetic. No one writing about games, hell no one ANYWHERE, owes you anything. Beyond the work I go into the office to do each day.

I enjoy my work and I enjoy the extra "off hours" time I spend playing games, keeping up with communities like GAF, interacting with fans on Twitter. But I'm not sure what it is about this line of work that makes so many people think it is okay to sling bullshit at us, as if we're not just normal dudes trying to do our best to keep readers informed about games. My wife is a teacher and no one talks about her the way I get talked about, in this line of work. I could really do without it.
 
Lots of stuff...

I think it's doubly sad because before joining IGN you were a longstanding and upright citizen of GAF, not to mention this thread, but now that you work for IGN there is a lot of mud thrown at you and you're overly scrutinized.


Pitta, show us a picture of the giant shield!
 
I think it's doubly sad because before joining IGN you were a longstanding and upright citizen of GAF, not to mention this thread, but now that you work for IGN there is a lot of mud thrown at you and you're overly scrutinized.


Pitta, show us a picture of the giant shield!

People say nice things, people say mean things. It is what it is. Dunno why this got under my skin. Maybe because I'm tired because I had to get up at 5:45AM.
 
TeamJustin


Justin always does nice things for us in this thread-let's us know about free games on IGN and put out that iOS show on IGN. He always has a good pulse on the iOS gaming community and I think getting worked up over something minor like this is incredibly petty.
 
Sage Fusion (an RPG/visual novel/adventure game hybrid) is free to celebrate the release of the sequel.

I've had the original downloaded for a while now, but never really got around to playing it. Guess the sequel coming out gives me a good reason.
 
People say nice things, people say mean things. It is what it is. Dunno why this got under my skin. Maybe because I'm tired because I had to get up at 5:45AM.

Get cats. (or kids)

Daddy, daddy, are you awake? Wow, you are, so are we! Fancy that!
 
Pitta, show us a picture of the giant shield!

Eh how???
I'm in holiday on iPhone only, I can't seem to find a way to upload an image to NeoGAF, just links.

This is the best I can do, it's on my twitter.

http://twitter.com/Pitta_twit/status/367433537512697856/photo/1

That is my dream team: Crom, Thorin, Arendil and Gandalf :P

Did you find other tower shields???
This is awesome but I do not think I can live with the -3 toughness penalty...Crom is too fragile against bosses and risks death everytime.
The sword is a new one too, it's a black long sword with a dent in the middle...really cool looking.
I do not know if these are high level hardcore mode only loot...never saw them before.
 
Just wanted to say that the Kingdom Rush games are now my 2nd fav tower defense games ever, just behind Pixeljunk Monsters.

So awesome!
 
It's toythatkills, I'd say he's renown around GAF for having abraisive opinions about 'unethical' game industry/business behaviour.

Haha, as if anyone on GAF knows who I am :lol

(outside the XBLIG threads, anyway.)

Myself and most of my peers, most people in general, I'd say, use Twitter to share things in their life. Pictures of interesting things they come across, links to articles, thoughts on what they're working on... or just whatever is in their head in general. I sent out that tweet because it was almost midnight and I had to get to sleep because I had an early flight. It's what was happening in my life at that moment and I chose to share it with people.

I have nothing against you personally (same as I have nothing against Mario personally, even though he's probably convinced I hate him.) You're one of the people whose opinions I respect in this thread, but I have this thing where I can't just pretend one flaw doesn't exist because there's something else I like. Don't take it as an attack against you so much as an attack against this practice in general. You're just the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's just this behaviour that annoys me. I mean, you could have tweeted "ugh, I have to get up at 5:45 tomorrow for a flight," but you didn't. You chose to tweet "hey guys I'm going to see something you're not allowed to know about but I am, lol." I can honestly see no other reason for that than you letting everyone know how important you are and how important we're not. To be honest, it's hardly even your fault. If it wasn't posted on GAF I wouldn't know about it, because this is the very reason I don't follow game-journos on Twitter, because they just can't resist this stuff, and it's utterly tiresome.

Much like this discussion must be for everyone in this thread. I'm sure the iOS thread isn't the place for this, there are new games coming out tonight! We can take it to PM if for any reason you want to discuss further. I could tell you that teachers suck or something to be a little fairer ;)
 
same as I have nothing against Mario personally, even though he's probably convinced I hate him

Not at all. Though I'm not expecting our exchanges to get any easier based on our current work.


It's just this behaviour that annoys me. I mean, you could have tweeted "ugh, I have to get up at 5:45 tomorrow for a flight," but you didn't. You chose to tweet "hey guys I'm going to see something you're not allowed to know about but I am, lol." I can honestly see no other reason for that than you letting everyone know how important you are and how important we're not

Let's be fair here. He said

Getting up at 5:45 AM tomorrow to get on a plane to see a secret game. Excited. About the game. Not the wake-up call.

Your "interpretation" of it is complete conjecture as far as Justin's intentions go. You haven't chosen to give him the benefit of the doubt, and you are pretty much putting words in his mouth and then inferring he is a liar based on those false words even though he has offered his actual intent in the thread.

If you actually respect him, you might want to take a step back and take another critical look at the situation.
 
Not at all. Though I'm not expecting our exchanges to get any easier based on our current work.

Just include "pure mode" in all your games. The same gameplay, but a mode where all the power-ups are removed and any perks you've bought in cash moneys aren't usable. 69p IAP to unlock it.

Everyone's a winner.
 
Six O'Clock High by ColePowered

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/six-oclock-high/id674629093

Saw this game on SlideDB. It's already released in Australia and according to the dev, will be releasing in the US either later this week or next week.

It's $0.99, universal, and has no IAP.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmDk34Om0A


Six O'Clock High on the other hand is quite different. First off, it's ultra-simple. In the game you take control of a two seater biplane, the player is the pilot with the gunner being AI. The game is all about piloting, dodging enemy fire at high speed while manoeuvring into a good position for your gunner to get a shot on the fokkers.

I'm designing this with touch screens in mind. One thing I definitely wanted to avoid was on-screen buttons...

What I came up with was a system that turns the plane around your touch relative to the aircraft's position. To turn upwards simply touch above the plane, or down below the plane. While this scheme takes a little getting used to, it soon feels quite natural to me. I hope others will find it easy and accessible too. Another thing to note is that there isn't a fire button- your forward guns will fire if there is an enemy infront of you, and your gunner will fire if there's an enemy within their field of view. I didn't want to have to make the player fiddle around with fire triggers, in this game it's all about the flying.

The game itself is wave-based survival. At the end of each wave your aircraft will receive a repair and you'll get experience points to put into a tech tree to upgrade your aircraft. I've yet to flesh out the upgrade tree itself, but this should add a little strategy to what is otherwise a very fast-paced action game.
 
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