Space Barrage Arcade - Announcement and Beta

I'd like to announce Buzzabit Entertainment's first game: Space Barrage Arcade
This post is about Beta testing. The game is now on the App Store, and the release thread is here.

We couldn't think of a better place to get some beta testers but...
UPDATE: We are NOT currently recruiting new beta testers. The below is left in place for those who may be interested in the future:

First, you'll need to know that the low end is currently: iPod 5th generation or iPhone 4S or iPad 2. Anything above that should be great.

Second, it should look interesting to you if you are going to spend time testing so here's a description and an image and some more screens attached.

Third, it might interest you to know that the control method is rather novel and probably different from most games you've tried before. It's also very accurate.

Last, you should know we are a very small team and this is our first time getting this far into development (You may remember Snowball Touch as a previous project, and if you remember me from iDevGames you might remember the original vector based Space Barrage game I made for a contest) Also, to start with we'd like to try and sell it. No ads. No IAP.

Still interested? If you're serious about helping apply to get onto our team at TestFlight please wait until we open beta testing again!

My blog

 

Thanks for the interest, we'll be releasing an update this afternoon for approved beta testers to try out. In about 5 to 6 hours, hopefully.

As far as gameplay goes it was originally inspired by an Atari arcade game named Rampart. You'll play through waves of enemies and after a timed barrage of attacks from both sides you have a short time to rebuild your energy shields and power up your guns. If none of your guns are powered the enemy will rush you and it's game over. Build up enough guns and you'll be able to unleash a constant stream of destruction on the enemy.

Even though each wave is broken up into segments, the segments are timed and this is a constantly moving, high pressure, fast thinking game.

In the near future, I'll post a video highlighting the dynamic input system.

 

Thanks! I approved your testing status but I just want to warn you and anyone else who is interested that our game isn't currently optimized for iPhone 4. We are planning on it, but it probably won't happen before release.

On iPhone 4 or iPod 4G and below, and also iPad, it's VERY choppy, but we've made progress and have ideas for lowering the visual fidelity to make it work. It's just not an immediate priority. You're welcome to try it out, just don't expect it to be playable... yet.

 

Anyone who signed up and was approved should see a message from us about the beta update now. Give it a whirl and don't be afraid to create the new GameCenter profile if it asks. That happens on all ad hoc games and it's more fun if you can see the achievements and leaderboards.

We are still looking for someone to test it on the iPad Air, so if you happen to have one we'd love it if you'd at least play a few rounds to see if there are any major glitches. Also we can still use more beta testers so it's still open. Check the original post for the link.

Thanks to everyone is on board so far. Can't wait to hear from you all.

 

I'm glad you can play it. I'm curious what your fps is? You can check it out in the upper right corner. It's a tiny white number.

One item we are working on right now is communicating the game mechanics early on.

A couple of tips:
You get more guns for more ships that you have surrounded with shields. 2 guns earned per surrounded ship at the end of a wave.

Connecting up those shields becomes very important. Guns need to be inside the shields with a ship in order to be powered. If no guns are powered after the repair shield phase is over, the enemy will know your defenseless and rush you. Kaboom.

There are more strategies involving which hero to pick and where to place your guns and other deeper stuff but you'll want to concentrate on those tips first.

On the guns, though: The distance the missile has to travel from a gun to your target definitely effects how long it takes to get there.

 

Sorry about that. We were trying today to get in an update that helps with the initial lack of info, but it didn't go quite right and we wanted to get the rest of the game in your hands faster. The next update that should happen in a day or two will have a bit more help there.

Answers to your questions:
The first two types of enemies that appear have (purple) drones that can attack you THROUGH shields if they reach the green barrier line in the middle. They launch at one of your ships and it is a goner at that point.

When you lose all your ships it's game over.

The surprising part can be when you have no guns powered up (guns need to be inside shields with your ships). In that situation, the enemies with drones will just rush in and get you since you can't even shoot back. It makes the shield repair phase very important!

 

Yes it will. In fact, every ship you have surrounded by the gun phase will earn you 2 extra guns to place.

That does seem better than the last time I checked. That's good news. There will be quite a few more enemies and explosions as you get further but I hope the fps keeps up for you.

 

Figuring out how best to use your shield time (and just getting better at it) is part of the game. Keep at it. The good news is that it's all about enclosing a ship not about keeping a big continuous shield connected. In other words, yes, you can have separate shields structures around each ship.

Ah, upgrades. We have a much more involved upgrading and advancing over time version of this game on the drawing board but we needed to get this arcade version out first. We do have a couple of specific ideas on how to update THIS version with some upgrades without changing too much, though.

That said, there is a little mini upgrade cycle every stage that comes from just managing your space and getting enough guns to continually fire.

 

Looks serious.

I'd appreciate it if you could get your crash log to me (.crash file) Here's some help with that in case you are unfamiliar:

Getting Crash Logs Without Xcode
After plugging in the device, and syncing with iTunes, crash logs can be found in the following locations, depending on the platform:

Table 1 Crash log locations.
Operating System
Location
Mac OS X:
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/<DEVICE_NAME>

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data\Apple Computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\<DEVICE_NAME>

Windows Vista or 7
C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\<DEVICE_NAME>

<USERNAME> is the user's login name for the computer. <DEVICE_NAME> is the name of the iOS device, for example, "John's iPhone".

Once you find it you can send me feedback through testflight.