iPhone Hello! Here comes the Sun! :D

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by quantumsheep, Nov 2, 2011.

  1. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    Hello everyone! :D

    I've finished my latest game, and thought I'd drop in and give you guys a peek!

    It's called "Sunshine - Here comes the Sun" and will be available for both iPad and iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS and up from next week I hope!

    You play as the sun! No, really! I think this is the only game I can think of where you actually play as the Sun.

    The world has a base level of sadness in it (the red score you can see). Shooting grumpy clouds increases the happiness (the blue score, top right).

    Shooting anything else increases the sadness.

    The aim is to get more happiness than sadness at the end of each world.

    Doing so will earn you a hat! :D

    If you get double happiness over sadness, you get a second hat.

    Three times the happiness will get you a third hat!

    There are 24 hats in total to collect. After all, 'The sun has got his hat on' etc ;)


    Here's a video!



    Here are some screenshots!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Here are some iPad specific screenshots (on my Facebook page so as not to take up too much room here):


    I've gone for a very basic look. One person described the look as that of a kids game.:)eek:) Others have said it looks very Nintendo! (yay!)

    I just wanted something fun looking :D

    If I were to describe it, I'd say it was "Like Missile Command for my mum". Sort of...

    :eek:

    Anyway, hope this piques your interest! Like I said, it'll be out next week with any luck!

    QS :D
     
  2. jumpman475

    jumpman475 Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2009
    1,899
    0
    0
    Student
    Ithaca, NY
    Looks great. I like the appeal of the artwork. It doesn't exactly seem "kiddy" to me (although a picture of just the sun itself would) and the gameplay seems fun based on the video. Will there be achievements via Gamecenter and stuff like that? I think I saw some kind of achievement or something pop up in the video.
     
  3. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    Hey there!

    Yep, there are 10 achievements in the game. Unfortunately NOT GameCenter enabled in this build.

    They're still pretty fun though ;)

    What I *have* put in is GameCenter leader boards for each level, as well as an overall high score.

    The scoring system is quite intricate.

    Every time you destroy a cloud, your score multiplier goes up (the thermometer under the score) to a maximum of 10.

    The score is also affected by the level of difficulty you choose to play at, as well as levelling up the sun (Shooting a certain amount of clouds levels up the sun, and affects the score as well as your shot speed).

    The difficulty affects the 'base' level of sadness in the world. You have to shoot clouds to increase the happiness, and try and avoid shooting anything else (which increases sadness).

    Happiness resets after each level. Sadness doesn't.

    This means any mistakes you make are carried onto the next level. And starting with more Sadness makes it harder to get onto the next level.

    Does that make sense?

    Thanks for looking btw!

    QS :D
     
  4. jumpman475

    jumpman475 Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2009
    1,899
    0
    0
    Student
    Ithaca, NY
    Nice. Yes, that makes perfect sense, and it just added a new level of awesomeness to the game. With that gameplay mechanic it seems like it could be pretty challenging if you want it to, but could also be more casual as well. Thanks for the reply! Looking forward to the release.:D
     
  5. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    Thank you, that's lovely of you to say!

    I set myself an impossible task. Make a game that *I'd* like to play as a hardcore gamer, but also cater to the tastes of my mum!

    Bless her!

    There's lots of risk/reward setups in the game. For example, the smallest clouds give you the most points, and help you get your score multiplier up quicker as they take only 1 hit to destroy (Medium clouds take 3, Largest take 5).

    BUT - they fly fast and low - so there's always the chance that you'll miss, hit a tree, see your score multiplier go down, and the sadness go up! :O

    So going for them is really risky - but casual players can ignore them and just play for the 'safe' shots (the bigger clouds!).

    They won't get the high scores that way though ;)

    Some other things I forgot to mention about the different difficulty levels:

    1. The rays around the sun actually show your ammo count. This recharges as you play. On easiest, it's pretty much instant. On easy and hard, the recharge rate is ever so slightly longer - so you really need to pick your shots!

    2. As well as the base sadness going up, the amount of sadness generated by each bad hit goes up as well. So the cost of hitting a tree, for example, goes up by X amount depending on the difficulty level.

    3. When you miss a cloud, on easiest level, your score multiplier decreases by one. On 'Easy' level, it decreases by two. On 'Hard' it decreases by three.

    I hope I got the balance right! There's a lot going on, but as I mentioned, I've been trying to make it accessible to casual players and also tried to cater for the hardcore too.

    And everyone in-between! ;)

    Thanks for the comments!

    QS :D
     
  6. jumpman475

    jumpman475 Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2009
    1,899
    0
    0
    Student
    Ithaca, NY
    Yes, I noticed those small clouds in the video. Definitely looks challenging. Also, how many different 'themes' are there? I see three different ones in the screenshots. Are there other ones as well?
     
  7. NthDegree

    NthDegree Member

    This looks incredible because of the idea alone. I love when people go the extra mile to create a weird and original gameplay concept. :D The art style is just great as well. If this gets a sequel sometime down the road I could see it having really slick art/animation, which would really boost this to the next level.

    I'd love the chance to play this, I support this game all the way. :D Looks addicting.
     
  8. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    #8 quantumsheep, Nov 3, 2011
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2011
    Well, there's eight worlds in total, spanning the history of the earth - from Prehistory up to... well, I don't want to give it all away!

    Each world has four seasons.

    Each season lasts a day (the sun rising and then setting).

    Eight worlds may not seem like much, but it just felt right... because this isn't a physics puzzler or something that *demands* a bazillion levels.

    No. It's based on replayability. It's ostensibly a shooter at heart. And something like Gradius doesn't have 100 levels in it ;)

    Also, getting all the hats will probably require the playing of single levels. But to get the higher scores, you'll want to play all the way through (I hope!).

    There's an end scene for those that manage that!

    Then there's levelling up the sun, which doesn't take too long, but as I mentioned previously there's a score bonus associated with getting the sun level up to 10.

    Also, there's a little surprise in there for people that manage it. But that's a secret ;)

    That's very kind of you, thank you!

    I'm not sure *how* original it is really. I mean, sure, I can't remember having played a game where you're the sun shooting grumpy clouds while wearing different hats through historical periods.

    ;)

    But as I said, it's a shooter at heart. Missile command's the closest to it I guess. Except your 'base' is always moving, thus changing the angles of the shots you make. You have to compensate. It's quite challenging!

    Additionally, having the 'Sun' as the main character posed its own set of problems. I knew I couldn't have the player directly controlling him, but I think that lets people concentrate on the shooting. It's certainly a boon for casual players I'd imagine. It's very, very simple!

    Also, the sun can't die! There are no lives! This is why there's sadness and happiness in the game. So, trying to get enough happiness to beat a level is how success/failure is dictated in this game.

    I've tried to put a lot of thought into it, and the testers seemed to enjoy it and find it addictive, which is encouraging.

    But in all seriousness, I have no idea how this will do sales wise. I just know that it's a very, very silly game, and puts a smile on my face! I hope it will do the same for a few others too!

    Many thanks for your comments, guys!

    QS :D
     
  9. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    A little sneak peek :)

    Hey all,

    I got a little sneak peek thingy for Sunshine which can be found here:

    http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/254wG3/theappreviewer.com/reviews/first-look-at-sunshine

    The iPhone version was submitted yesterday, but the iPad version (submitted earlier) still hasn't been approved at Apple.

    I'm guess they're really busy over there!

    Anyway, will keep you updated with any new articles/release dates as I get the info!

    Thanks for the support! It's lovely!

    QS :D
     
  10. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    A bit more news! :D

    Hello everyone, hope you're having/have had a lovely weekend!

    Some more bits and bobs - firstly, an almost TEN MINUTE video of Sunshine here:



    It should give you some idea of what to expect ( though shooting multiple times to get the tiny clouds completely destroys this guy's score multiplier! Don't do it, kids!:D )

    Many thanks to Sanuku for making the vid - very interesting to see how others play the game! :D

    Also, there's a preview up on arcadelife, here.

    It's a fun read!

    Will be emailing some key sites tomorrow, then releasing a press release in the next couple of days!

    Hope you guys enjoy reading about/watching Sunshine!

    Many thanks!

    QS :D
     
  11. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
    iPhone version now 'In Review'

    Hi all, hope you're well!

    The iPhone version of Sunshine is "In Review" at Apple HQ

    Hopefully it'll be approved today, with an official launch tomorrow (Thursday) for both the iPad and iPhone versions!

    Yay!

    Thanks to everyone that's posted in here - when the game's out, I'll make a new thread that will get lost very quickly!

    So I'll provide a link here :D

    Cheers,

    QS :D
     
  12. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
    1,143
    0
    0
    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London

Share This Page