iPhone Skull Smasher: Puzzle Game from Gilded Skull

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by gildedskull, Aug 6, 2010.

  1. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    I was fortunate enough to see a beta of the game and lived to talk about it!

    The game is just what you see in the above photo, a "tap to destoy a group of 3 or more adjacent same typed thingies" (scary heavy metal themed skull doodles in this case) but with some fun original twists.

    The skulls are continuously flying in from all sides into a big nasty cluster. If the pile gets too large you'll begin rapidly losing health.

    The bosses (those big guys with the yellow circles around their faces) have to be taken out indirectly by clearing groups of normal skulls next to them to damage them until they're destroyed. I love how the bosses pose a big threat simply by their size and persistence which in turn makes it harder to keep the entire demonic cluster at a manageable size.

    That massive bomber flying overhead is just an example of one of many cool power-ups you can activate to help you keep the baddies population in check.

    The bats are also fun unique element in the game. Pop a big enough skull cluster and a bat will fly by. If you manage to tap the bat before he flies off screen you'll earn back some lost health fluid.

    Very fun and I can't wait to see what the release version will add!

    5/5
     
  2. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    It's ALIVE!

    Skull Smasher is back from the dead!

    It has been submitted to Apple for review.

    Here are a few screens from the finished version:

    [​IMG]

    In the first image, the player has just activated a 'Big boy' power-up. This causes a WW2 bomber to fly over the screen and carpet bomb the skulls. The player is starting to lose health (as seen in the red globe in the lower left), the skulls are beginning to take over the screen!

    In the second screen, the player has just tapped an iron bomb, destroying a large group of skulls and releasing a 'blood bat'. The bat can be tapped to regain some health.


    [​IMG]

    In the first screen, the player has set off a plasma grenade. This will clear the screen of one type of skull (making it easier to get larger matches with the other skulls).

    In the second screen you can see several grenades nestled among the skulls, ready to be exploded. There's a giant skull boss in the center of the screen that's just been defeated (the rings around a giant skulls represent their 'health').

    Skull Smasher should be available for iPad very soon!
     
  3. Misguided

    Misguided Well-Known Member

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    Cool. How about a little video to see it in action?
     
  4. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    #24 gildedskull, Mar 13, 2012
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2012
  5. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    Beat me to it!
     
  6. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    Available TOMORROW, March 15th!

    We're excited to announce that SKULL SMASHER will be available tomorrow, March 15th, worldwide.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Emos

    Emos Well-Known Member

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    Love the artwork, I'll have to purchase this to give you additional incentive to work on and release Galactic Keep! ;)
     
  8. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    Game Impressions

    Holy Hand Grenades! :eek:

    I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the final release and this game is pure creepy frantic clicking skull smashing Hell (in a good way)! Besides the death metal riffs and clearly demonic artwork, there is even some really sick text scrolling by in the upper right (hard to read it while playing, but from what little I've seen, it ain't happy stuff). ;)

    There is just the one game type but with 3 difficulty levels which I can only assume indicate the rate at which the baddies spawn.

    The core gameplay mechanic has been done a million times before. Tap any skull in the fray and as long as there are at least three same type skulls in that cluster, they'll blowup for some points. As the screen fills with more and more skulls your health (a big vial of blood in the lower left corner) will drain away, faster the more skulls that are on the screen. Simple stuff...but that is only the beginning!

    Everytime you clear a cluster of skulls, a skull of that same type somewhere else in the playfield will start glowing (sympathy pains?). If you manage to tap a cluster with 3 of these glowing skulls you'll increase the game's multiplier (I think this goes down slowly over time or completely resets on your death).

    Sometimes when clearing a big cluster a blood bat will spawn and start flying about. If you manage to tap this wily flying rat before it flies off screen you can earn yourself some extra points and a little extra blood back in your vial. The catch here being that in trying to tap the bat, you could easily miss by a hair and clear some cluster you've been trying to setup (either to get the 3 glowing bits or simply to make one huge scoring cluster).

    Occasionally a BIG skull with a red circle around him (indicates his current health) will join the fray. These guys don't match with the little skulls so the only way to kill them is blow up a bunch of adjacent little guys or blasting him with one of the game's weapons.

    Weapons!? You bet. Various grenades will work their way into the fray of skulls that you simply tap to set off (some might require an additional tap to indicate their target).

    Lastly, you have the ability, although fairly limited, to pick off individual skulls if they get in your way. Just double tap on a skull and it will disappear at the cost of some blue mana (indicated right there by your health vial). Continued normal tapping of skull clusters will slowly refill the meter if you ever run out.

    5/5
     
  9. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    It's out now!
     
  10. thevagrant

    thevagrant Well-Known Member

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    dOWNLOADED! Can't wait for my lunch break now.
     
  11. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    #31 gildedskull, Mar 15, 2012
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2012
    Live worldwide!

    Skull Smasher officially went live early this morning!

    [​IMG]
     
  12. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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