Maybe something very different like a fire breathing space dragon, giant robot insect. Or to keep with traditional spaceships, maybe a ship with high firepower but dual cockpits (2 hitboxes).
I had a feeling it was just the stars, but I didn't want to get into it after being too harsh on Madbrainz >_> As for a new ship, I would make something that would be a cross between the Shogun and Corsair. The main idea would be set in the ship not being able to use Alpha Strikes, or high powered weapons but the ability to hack/sabotage turrets (along with a basic set of dps weapons). You would do this by locking onto a specific turret with two fingers, like with Alpha Strikes and then the ship would start the hacking/sabotage. But during this process you cannot deal any damage, if you need to resume firing your main weapons you would have to cancel the hacking by touching with two fingers again. Weapon Powerups would improve the basic dps guns but also improve the hacking ability, to possibly hack two turrets at one time at the highest level. Turrets on bigger ships and turrets with high dps/speed would take more time to hack. Once hacked the turret would immediately fire a huge barrage of concentrated fire but then explode, resulting in an EMP like situation. High risk, high reward. So the general idea would be to use the basic dps guns for dealing with small fry but pulling out the hacking for tougher ships and turrets. The hacking will test both dodging and endurance, possibly even more than the Shogun since you'll deal no damage while hacking. Another challenge that would be added by default is that this ship can only store and auto-use health/shield, unlike all other ships.
Hah, that's very specific sapphire! Let me say first and foremost that I am posting as a player now, first and as a developer second. So don't take this the wrong way I think I don't like it very much because the 'controls' change and my first impression doesn't think 'WOOAAAH', because it involves 'less shooting'. So, what about a flying 'victorian ship' with BIG cannons shooting forward with an angle. And when you move close, little pirates swing over to the enemy ship and destroy it from within? :> too much?
You know what I'm going to say. Have both the lasers from Raiden IV, especially the blue one. Lightning fighter has this (I think it's red), but it recoils too much when using touch controls. It'd be easier to implement than the pink one. I prefer the blue one anyway!
haha, I like the toothpaste laser idea. I think maybe instead of new ships you should think about introducing new modes of gameplay. I'm not sure how to implement them, maybe using chains, grazing to power up a super weapon/bomb, using the gold tokens to create an awakening a la galuda II. I don't know. just a suggestion!
I hope people won't kill me about this idea.. How about mini-missions mode a la Jetpack Joyride? Kill certain number of certain types of enemies. Stay on the left or right side of the screen for x distance.. etc? I know Phoenix doesn't have the gold coin collecting system.. but maybe for a mission mode..you can add gold coin collecting just for that mode for each game. The coins don't have to be kept over..its just for the missions. I'm not into endless runners at all, but the missions in Jetpack Joyride is what kept me coming back. Anyways..just throwing something random out there.
Haha, toothpaste lasers? Meh! We had something like that in a prototype of Flare Elite actually. We called it a laser-whip! Keep the ideas going in all directions! It's great to read how you guys see this game in a different light. We have a very cool concept on the drawing board for a new ship which is far from all the suggestions, so don't worry, we're not running out of ideas. We always gather concepts for ships/modes/patterns etc. so we have a lot of material, just so little time! We released a patch last week guys, it will take some time before a next one, but it's always allowed to dream/fantasize
Hmm a semi-melee ship? Crazy enough to work maybe! As for my idea, I was going for the most out-there idea I could possibly come up with
So on the leader boards, it shows obviously how many stars the player played on, and what's the little icon next to that? Is it the shogun ship? I guess everyone uses it....
on the ship selection screen they each have little icons next to the ship. that symbol on the score page corresponds to which ship the player was using.
Let me say... this is by far the best bullet hell shooter for ipad, period. The graphics are amazing. By the way, a campaign mode would be awesome; and you could add a crazy spaceship like in Tyrian... the supercarrot shooting sandwiches
The Shogun is more difficult to use, trust me, it's not a one way ticket to the top of the leaderboards. But if you are able to master this ship it has very high potential. I would not recommend it for new players. Thank you very much! I love Tyrian! It may not be the most popular shmup and is hardly a 'bullet hell' game, but I have spent many many hours playing it. It also has the best multiplayer (on PC at least) mode of any shmup! Supercarrots etc. are fun, but I don't want to take this "awkward wacky" route with Phoenix. (I mean, a carrot shooting hotdogs and oranges... really... ) We might do a shmup with a campaign again at some point, but I don't see us adding one to Phoenix. The whole structure of the game needs to be focused on it and Phoenix is designed for epic, dazzling, short* bursts of action *some people play Phoenix for hours a day though!
Yeah that's the one thing that I didn't like about the Shogun update. Before it, there was a great deal of parity. All three ships were represented at the top of the leaderboards. The Shogun just has more scoring power than any of the others though. I still wouldn't say everyone uses the Shogun. Maybe everyone chasing a high score, but it's such a different play style I would imagine everyone with the Shogun still plays other ships just for some variety. The Shogun is almost like an additional game mode since it plays so differently.
Just wanted to say you guys are all awesome, all 1.500.000 of you who are playing Phoenix HD. You have a combined number of 50.000.000 games played! That just blows my socks off! This does not include Phoenix classic, just HD! Simply amazing and incredible, thank you
Congratulations on reaching another epic milestone Phoenix HD will always be my favorite iOS shmup hands-down.
