We are currently finalizing our new title Phoenix! The title was already announced on our website, but we'd like to put some of the game details here on TouchArcade exclusively at first. Phoenix is a top down shoot'em up, shmup if you will, that is close to the bullet hell subgenre, which means intense action and screens filled with highly detailed fast moving exploding objects! The game does not follow a standard storyline, instead it offers a completely procedurally generated infinite challenge, continually creating enemies with unique weapon combinations of increasing difficulty. The generated content will also be adapted depending on how well the player is currently doing, so everybody can play at their own pace. Of course, this is also reflected in the score, which makes the whole experience streamlined for players of any skill level. Scores are synchronized online if an internet connection is available, with online leader boards already up and running in the beta. Your ship can hold several different types of weapons that can be added and upgraded by picking up power-ups. Our motto here is "the more the better". Other bonus power-ups are offered while the player progresses, providing full health, shields or short bursts of screen clearing action. Now, as these screenshots from the beta generally call for question how this would run on a real iPhone, instead of a simulator, we have added a live demo on an iPhone 2g! We recorded this especially for you guys at TouchArcade so you can see how smooth it runs, even on the oldest iPhone model. A full gameplay trailer will be released along with the game. Now enjoy this teaser in HD! We will be sending press demos around soon and are aiming for a September release.
That's what I thought . Nice to see that older device owners might have some sort of alternative to Espgaluda/Dodonpachi. I think the ship itself is a little big though.
Bright colors are giving me a headache (sorta) but this game does look cool! I agree the ship is a bit big, though.
Looks beautiful, and I'm certainly impressed it runs well on a 2G, that's great news. The weird thing about the ship being so big is that it means the hit box has to be a lot smaller than the ship itself, which it looks to be. I'm not sure how severely that will effect the gameplay.
In some bullet hell shooters, the hitbox itself is smaller than the ship, but the game gives the player extra points and stuff for hitting the ship sprite but not the hitbox, so it's like rewarding them for 'playing dangerously'. Dunno if that's the case here though.
Thanks. The hitbox is indeed smaller than the ship model. The hitbox, hitcircle in our case , is just the cockpit that sticks out on the front of the ship. Like Eduku states, most bullet hell shooters have bigger apperances for the player than hitboxes, usually with a little glowing spot or contrast, to indicate the 'weak' spot.
Ah, I see. So it will be clear where the hitcircle is? I was worried it would make the game difficult to play but if some obvious contrast is shown that should help a lot.
This game looks interesting, does it have any relationship to the Phoenix that is for graphing calculators. That game was awesome. In the iphone version is the ship and weapons upgradable or no?
No relationship no. You pick up new weapons and upgrade your existing ones as you go along. edit: thanks medianotzu
I'm really intrigued by the concept of a procedurally-generated shmup. It's a great idea that I haven't come across before. Looking forward to this one. I'm also hoping that, unlike Flare Elite, it has audio options (specifically, the ability to turn off in-game music but keep sound effects).
I'm looking forward to this one as other Bullet Hell shooters won't run on my iPhone 3G (I'm looking at you, Cave ¬¬ ) ^^
