MUTANT STORM - (by Crescent Moon Games)

[NinthNinja]

All points have been noted... The transition stuff probably harks back to the Arcade days - at a guess it was put in so that you could have some breathing space... I need to ask Miles what the original intention was, though.

I think I'm going to completely remove the old way of doing the smart bomb and just replace it with the double tap. I think it would be confusing having two methods in the game. When I tried it out originally it worked for me but my fingers are pretty long. But the double tap seems the most natural way of releasing a smart bomb - I'm kicking myself for not experimenting more because I feel the double tap is the correct way to implement it now.

[tops2]

I think ~2 pages back, Royce had another idea for the bombs what using stationary controls. I guess maybe have re-positional and resizable controls. As long as the first touch is in that zone, the game detects that as shoot. But during frantic action, tapping anywhere outside the shooting stick (but on the same side as the shoot stick) activates the bomb.

But I'd suggest adding the new ways of activating bombs as options in case some people got used to the current method. Don't want angry 1 star reviews commenting about a forced change in control..and demanding a refund. Lol.. But maybe after the update that adds the new bomb option, just have a one time pop up window in game informing there's alternative bomb activation methods in the options/settings.

Yeah..if Miles won't mind, maybe add the option for faster transitions. For the Tally mode, the only thing for me is skip the death scene. For the adventure mode, maybe preload the next stage as well as keep the current stage in memory (if enough theres memory). On deaths, skip the death scene and immediately reload current level. When completing current stage, immediately transition the next stage, and in the time waiting for the enemies to warp in, in the corner with the score, you can show the scoring updates at the same time. With games like Geometry Wars and other iOS dual stick shooters I like has a really smooth game flow once you start...

Anyways..sorry for sounding so negative... =/ I think the breaking up of the flow of the game is the only negative for me. It's really a fantastic game and a great port! Back to the game and see how far I can get.

Edit: just wondering if since your playing with double tap for bombs... Since right now to fire, after you put your finger down you won't fire until you swipe in a direction. So if you use double tap for bomb, does it mean you stop firing in that short time period? I don't know what you, or others think if a 1 or 2 second delay before you stop firing while trying to activate the bomb.

[NinthNinja]

Originally Posted by tops2

Edit: just wondering if since your playing with double tap for bombs... Since right now to fire, after you put your finger down you won't fire until you swipe in a direction. So if you use double tap for bomb, does it mean you stop firing in that short time period? I don't know what you, or others think if a 1 or 2 second delay before you stop firing while trying to activate the bomb.

In it's present form you can keep firing and release a smart bomb at the same time - which is why I chose that method to begin with. I don't mind having a finger as well as my thumb in front of the screen and can just tap to release a bomb. But some people are finding this awkward.

To do a double tap you will lose the ability to release a smart bomb and fire at the same time. But in practice it may not matter because of the convenience of releasing the bomb without thinking about it.

I really need to test it out and see if it will work. My thoughts are that it will.

But any other views from people are welcome. So the question is do people mind losing the ability of firing while releasing a smart bomb by using a double tap?

[Connector]

I can think of 4 ways to use bombs:

1. Double tap
2. Two finger tap
3. User defined positional button
4. Shake the ipad

Don't like shaking the ipad at all. The two finger tap is cumbersome because the ipad is so heavy, it is hard to have a third finger in front of the screen.

Double tap seems to be the best option even if you lose firing for a split second.

User defined positional button would be great too, Ballistic does this, and I love way you can put buttons anywhere. This probably would be more programming, but it would be another cool way to solve this problem.

I like how the buttons don't show right now, so maybe all things considered, double tap would be the way to go. But if it could be done, it would be cool to have all 4 ways in the options menu.

Also is there any way to add choose ships in the pause menu? A lot of times I want to experiment with new ships and colors, but it seems like I have to exit the current game. It would be a cool add on too if you could actually draw your own ship or something. It would be cool to have a ship that looks like robotron as a tribute to them, or other ships that look like a traditional triangle vector ship, a circle ship, or star like ship.

Also the bomb radius is quite small, maybe it could be made a bit bigger to get more enemies?

PS check out the thread crossbullets in the iphones section, it is quite humourous. Shows how not to act if you are a developer. Kudos to ninthninja for interacting well with players here.

[NinthNinja]

Choose ship can be added into the pause menu.

Control overlays that can be positioned for static sticks can also be added.

The bomb radius cannot be changed as that's a game design decision that was made long ago by Pompom Games and has been the same size in all versions of Mutant Storm.

[PurpleHaze]

Originally Posted by NinthNinja

I think I'm going to completely remove the old way of doing the smart bomb and just replace it with the double tap. I think it would be confusing having two methods in the game. When I tried it out originally it worked for me but my fingers are pretty long. But the double tap seems the most natural way of releasing a smart bomb - I'm kicking myself for not experimenting more because I feel the double tap is the correct way to implement it now.

It sounds like a lot of people hold the iPad in their hands and use the controls with their thumbs and I can see how that would make a two finger tap difficult. However, I tend to use the iPad on my lap, using my left index finger for movement and my right index finger for firing - which makes a two finger tap very quick, easy and convenient. Personally, therefore, I would be disappointed to see the two finger tap go away altogether, as it works perfectly for me.

BTW: Great game I loved it back on the Xbox and this is a really slick port.

[syntheticvoid]

Any way your progress can be saved locally as well? I was playing at a friends house yesterday but had to start on room 1, and couldn't play on the harder difficulties...

[Connector]

Originally Posted by syntheticvoid

Any way your progress can be saved locally as well? I was playing at a friends house yesterday but had to start on room 1, and couldn't play on the harder difficulties...

I play all the time in non wifi areas, and it seems to save fine locally for me. Strange that you are having problems, there must be some reason it is happening.

[Royce]

Originally Posted by Connector

I play all the time in non wifi areas, and it seems to save fine locally for me. Strange that you are having problems, there must be some reason it is happening.

It doesn't save locally as far as I can tell. You don't need wifi if you have 3G though.

[NinthNinja]

Just to clarify the saving local of progress. Yes it's there and it works this way.

Because the game is Game Center enabled there are certain rules that need to be followed.

The game actually syncs with Game Center so that you don't lose scores or achievements. Now following Apples guidelines about logging into Game Center there are quite a few scenarios to consider:

1. You start the game and log in.
2. You multi-task out and come back in as the same user.
3. You multi-task out and log out and someone else logs in and then come back.
4. You multi-task out and log out then come back.
5. You never use Game Center.

Each one of these states gets saved locally on the device and gets treated as a separate user and local save.

Now if you consider anyone of those 5 points of saves... What happens if someone plays the game with Game Center then logs out. Then someone else logs in, especially when Game Center syncs up? You don't want to have scores and achievements from someone else. So all Game Center users are treated separate for local saves. All fine and simple and follows Apples guideline.

Except when you consider this case. You start a game and don't use Game Center. That gets saved local on the device. Then you log into Game Center. What is supposed to happen now? Lots of things can happen.

1. A user logs into Game Center and the local save gets transferred across to the Game Center user.

And that's where this all breaks in the FAIRNESS of gaming to the game. If you as a user play the game and gain achievements and top scores which then gets saved locally on the device and at any time someone else who uses the device logs into the game then all the unlocking, achievements, and local high scores now belong to you. So without playing the game you can gain someone else's game progression when the game syncs to Game Center.

I thought about this for ages and the only way to stop this unfair gain from other peoples games was to treat each local save separately. So local saves work as such.

1. Game Center users all have a local save on the device.
2. A game that has no Game Center users has it's own local save.
3. The non Game Center save cannot be transferred to a Game Center user to stop UNFAIR GAIN of someone else's game.

When you actually consider all this you begin to realise that Game Center has a major flaw in it's design.