iPhone Orion's Gold - Releasing early 2014

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by digikhel, Jan 23, 2014.

  1. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    #1 digikhel, Jan 23, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2014
    Roundabouts a year ago, during the Global Game Jam 2013, I came up with this idea for a game that involved the management of resources - but not in the typical way.

    [​IMG]

    Set in space, Orion's Gold tries to show what it'd be like to mine precious metals from outer space. You'll need to guide your miners towards appropriate locations, so that they can mine gold.. without harming the mother ship.

    It's a little hard to describe what this game is like, when I haven't seen anything else like it. The closest I can think of is - what would it feel like if you were trying to get a see-saw to stay stationary, but instead of two ends... there's four!

    If this game reminds you of anything, let me know in the comments! For now, here's a glimpse. Mine on!



    For more screens, check us out at: http://digikhel.com/games/orions-gold/
     
  2. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    Just submitted the app for review yesterday, hoping for a no-issues-go-ahead message the first time around... ;)
     
  3. kinshuksunil

    kinshuksunil Well-Known Member

    Feb 24, 2013
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    All the best! *Fingers crossed*
     
  4. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

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    Approved by the Appstore admins!

    We are now green and ready to go! There are a few promo codes I've got, they're just jostling around in my pockets waiting to get to someone's iPad.

    Anyone curious to check this out? Let me know! :)
     
  5. Lavender

    Lavender Well-Known Member

    Dec 31, 2013
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    I'm curious. Would love a code.
    Thank you.
     
  6. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

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    Hey Lavender, sent it to you via priv msg! Hope you like it, tell me what you think! :)
     
  7. Mess

    Mess Well-Known Member

    Jul 17, 2013
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    Got a code for early access, thanks Digikhel :) Here are my thoughts after the first few goes:

    Have to say I agree with how its described in the OP, its quite difficult to describe what you need to do! Basically you have to mine resource from four Asteroids, which can be hot or cold, without over or under heating the main ship in the middle. You can mine resource from (I think) all four positions at once, but their may not be an asteroid at each position. The resource you mine from the asteroid can be used to purchase upgrades such as; heat protection, mine faster, transfer between asteroids etc... There are also achievement to level up, such as; mine 3 asteroids, collect x resource.

    Its a very fast passed game, and typically my games have lasted around 1-3 minutes, as at that point the ship is either too hot or too cold, but I presume this will extend as you upgrade your ship.

    There is a basic training to run through - which is advisable as the first couple of goes are a bit tricky, but once you know what to do it is easy to play.

    One piece of feedback to the dev - I didn't grasp at first that to move the Miner's between the four points I just need to draw a line from where they are now to where I want them to go, I though I needed to rotate the small turret like bit. I think it was the use of the word 'Rotate' in the tutorial, it is better described in the Help section.
     
  8. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    Thanks Mess! Finally! I have another person who agrees with me that this game is hard to describe! :p

    But that's actually pretty good for a description, I should consider using that as an alternate if my hand waving and eyeball-widening dont work first.

    That feedback about the 'rotate' bit is something to ponder over, I didn't consider that could confuse a player. Will look into it for the next update.

    Thanks for the feedback! :)
     
  9. abstractgamefreak

    abstractgamefreak Well-Known Member

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    #9 abstractgamefreak, Mar 5, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2014
    Tx for the code. Been playing for a while, and my thoughts are: Quite original. And you get upgrades soon, which I like. In the tutorial, it wasn't made clear, why it is important whether it is a cold world or a hot one. I think, it is to adjust ship temperature in your favor. Alas, when things become hectical, I just try to keep up with the timers and not, which asteroids better to connect first. Perhaps I just need some more practise ;) And, the alarm sound (aank-aank-aank) grates on my nerves a bit, something less aggressive would be better, because you hear it quite often. Perhaps only the last seconds before game over I would use that sound, before that something more subtle. Curious, whether later levels will introduce new elements, like more asteroids or enemies etc.
     
  10. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    That's right abstractgamefreak, the hot and cold asteroids are to help adjust the temperature in your favour.

    LOL! I'm sorry, but picturing you getting annoyed at the sound is pretty funny. We'll look into that for the next update.. :) And, no, the later levels don't introduce new elements, though the quantity of ore to be mined and the time to do it in, will keep changing.

    Space isn't very forgiving now, is it? ;)
     
  11. Mess

    Mess Well-Known Member

    Jul 17, 2013
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    One thing i think I may have missed; how do I know if an asteroid will explode if I don't mine it? Or do they all explode?
     
  12. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

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    Only the ones with the blinking ring around the asteroid will explode. You can even hear the light ticker of the inevitable explosion... :)
     
  13. andrefriedbeans

    andrefriedbeans New Member

    Feb 15, 2014
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    This looks like fun, plus I'm a sucker for any games involving mining *cough*Eve-Online*cough*. Is it going to be F2P, if not how much are you going to be charging for it?
     
  14. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    It's going to be a dollar... (I NEED YOUR DOLLAAAASSS! :p)

    This game wasn't designed to be F2P, but that's something we're looking at for the next game.
     
  15. andrefriedbeans

    andrefriedbeans New Member

    Feb 15, 2014
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    Honestly, I prefer to pay up front :)
    I play some F2P games but only when they're really unobtrusive about IAP.
     
  16. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    Well, I'm thinking for the next game - that I keep the first few levels free, and then charge beyond that. So, it's like a one-time iAP.

    I'm hoping it will also help players feel a little more confident about their purchase, after having given it a whirl. I'm sure others have tried it before me, it's the standard shareware model... I hope it's a worthy experiment. :)
     
  17. CzechCongo

    CzechCongo Well-Known Member

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    #17 CzechCongo, Mar 14, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2014
    digikhel was kind enough to give me a code, so here are my impressions.

    First, my take on the gameplay. The name of the game is balance, and a regular 2-sided seesaw is a fine enough analogy. You command a space station that mines asteroids, which gives you gold. Your goal is to mine as much gold as you can, since it acts as both the scoring system and the currency for upgrades that you apply to your space station. The twist is that the asteroids from which you mine the gold are also either hot or cold, and mining the asteroid changes the temperature of your space station. If it gets too hot or cold, the game ends, so you must balance your greed with the temperature balance of your station. Some asteroids threaten to explode if you don't mine them completely in time, which introduces a large temperature change. Non-exploding asteroids give you a gold bonus if they're mined completely within the given time frame.

    There are four asteroid portals around your station, and you start with one power ball that you drag from portal to portal by swiping a finger. Small mining ships follow the power ball to whichever portal it is in, and mine the asteroid in the portal, if one exists. As the game proceeds, you'll get more power balls and it will soon become a juggling exercise in balancing which asteroids your miners are mining, or whether they're mining at all; sometimes you'll want to keep your miners going to an empty portal because there aren't any of the asteroids you want to mine on the screen at that time.

    There is an interesting amount of subtlety to the timing of your actions. It takes time for your power balls to shift portals, and it also takes time for your mining ships to follow the ball, get to the portal, and get back to the station with the ore. After a few games you get a feeling for how long you have to keep your power ball at a portal to completely mine an asteroid.

    After each game you get to upgrade your station with your collected gold. There are some basic upgrades that widen the allowable temperature swings of your station, increase the capacity of your miners, and decrease the amount of time it takes to transfer a power ball. There is another set of upgrades that allows and improves upon "thermal capsules" which can immediately bring your temperature back towards normal. You are limited to three of these capsules per game, and the one IAP option (1 million gold for $0.99) is enough to purchase an upgrade that gives you one of these capsules to start every game. There are those out there who look down upon consumable IAP on principal, so I would recommend adding another IAP option for a gold doubler or something similar.

    The bit from a poster above about "rotate" in the training was about the power ball rolling around the portal, which is just graphical, although the electrodes that shoot the power balls rotate as well. One thing I didn't figure out until I'd been playing for a while was that you can drag from one portal across to the opposite portal without going first to one in between; the power ball will be consecutively accepted by the in-between one and fired along to the next.

    One thing I would like to see is a full-fledged options menu for the sfx/music options and an inclusion of a slider for each. The music is awesome and very appropriate. I agree a bit about the loudness of the alarm klaxon. I would definitely turn the sfx down a bit.

    Something else I would like to see is enabling of multi-touch. There have been times when I want to transfer power balls between two sets of portals - for instance send one from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock and one from 9 o'clock to 6 o'clock. The graphical representation of the electrodes seems to indicate that this should be possible but it's not allowed. This also gives me an idea for a new upgrade; increase the number of electrodes on the portals. For instance, with two sets of electrodes you could send power balls from 12 o'clock to both 3 and 6 simultaneously, or go from 3 and 6 back to 12.

    None of my games have lasted 5 minutes yet, but with more upgrades I could see them getting longer. This is a great little time filler or one to sit down with for a while if you want to chase scores or power level. There are many missions included that provide bonus gold and give goals for more motivation to play "just one more". Gamecenter leaderboard is included. No ads, one generous IAP option, and (seemingly from the credits) developed by a small team. All in all, this a great action-oriented arcade game.

    Edit: Also, change the title of the app to include the apostrophe.
     
  18. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    Hey CzechCongo, that's a really detailed post you wrote, and with a lot of interesting feedback that I'll take back to the team (and yes, it is indeed that small a team)!

    Regarding the name on the store - I chose to avoid the apostrophe for fear that if players ever searched for the game, they might neglect to add that apostrophe (and part of me also wanted pretty links (orions-gold), unlike a ghastly (orion%27s-gold or something?) when sharing the link) :rolleyes:

    Thank you again, all of you, your reviews and thoughts have really made us feel less nervous about how players might percieve such a different game.
     
  19. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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  20. digikhel

    digikhel Active Member

    Sep 2, 2013
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    Not for iPads alone!

    Orion's Gold was just released for the iPhone as well!
    Come and get it: http://bit.ly/OrionsGold
     

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