Spellsword -(by Everplay)[Universal]

[Eli]

I'd effortlessly give this game five stars if it just relentlessly stole the control scheme from Mage Gauntlet. These giant virtual buttons on the iPad are seriously no bueno and not a whole lot better on the iPhone.

[Everplay]

Originally Posted by Hodapp

I'd effortlessly give this game five stars if it just relentlessly stole the control scheme from Mage Gauntlet. These giant virtual buttons on the iPad are seriously no bueno and not a whole lot better on the iPhone.

Alright, will do. Funny enough, Kepa has already given us a few pointers that we are implementing over the weekend.

And for those of you with iCade/ControlPad, it is supported if that helps.

[Kepa]

Originally Posted by jar0d

This one looks great. Really like the art/style but reminds me heavily of a rocketcat game. Which is a good thing of course!! Hey Kepa. Are you around?

Ya

Originally Posted by Hodapp

I'd effortlessly give this game five stars if it just relentlessly stole the control scheme from Mage Gauntlet. These giant virtual buttons on the iPad are seriously no bueno and not a whole lot better on the iPhone.

We're thinking about making our control scheme freely available to other developers. We'd just need to make the code more modular. Will probably do this when development dies down a little on the games we're working on.

Spellsword thoughts (repeating what I said on twitter after playing):

- The first arena, Trap Forest, is really fun. Gives a great first impression of the game. The monsters work well together, and the landscape is fun to run around in. The swinging traps give you another layer of things to pay attention to. It proves that the game concept could work really well, and I'm guessing this is what most of the development time was focused on.

- The other two arenas are kind of clumsily designed. In both cases, it's simply because the enemy AI doesn't fit well with the platforms, at all. It's especially bad in the third arena. In the Mine, enemies will often just fall to their death if you avoid them. In the Hot Spot, enemies will perch on the upper platforms and just kind of hang out up there. They'll only drop to the lower platforms if the upper ones get full, and at that point you have no hope for recovery. It's boring, then suddenly you're doomed, with no real middle ground.

- Cards can spawn in an area where enemies also spawn. This was annoying in Super Crate Box, but at least you had a chance, because enemies dropped downward instead of teleporting right on you. In Muffin Knight and this game, enemies can literally spawn right on top of a card sometimes. Arena 3 is particularly bad about this, especially due to the enemy spawn platforms being both super tiny and also sometimes the only obvious way to get on the perches.

- Enemies should probably have a clearer attack-warning. At the very least, the big eyes should have some sort of indicator before shooting. Sometimes it can be really hard to tell what's going on.

Edit: Arena 2 and 3 do work better in Endless Mode. Mostly got a bad impression of them due to some of the missions. But still, the first arena does seem like the most cohesively designed to me. The monster AI works well in the level (enemies still tend to perch sometimes, but the perches are a small part of the total level), and the monsters themselves are challenging. In Arena 1, the monsters swarm too thick and kill me. In Arena 2, I just kind of slowly lose health due to monster hits that seem accidental to me. In Arena 3, I eventually just kind of fall in the lava after I become tired of playing.

[spott96]

Originally Posted by Everplay

And for those of you with iCade/ControlPad, it is supported if that helps.

Any chance of getting Joypad support?

[chickdigger802]

Liking it so far. I do wish your swing is a bit higher. is a bit frustrating when you can't 'reach' a hornet that's at eye level.

[Zinger314]

A great game, aside from one glaring design flaw: equipment that enhances only one card attribute. Since the elements of cards are generated at random during play, there's little advantage to boosting only one of the elements. Therefore, people will mostly use the Boost All, Boost Rupee, or Boost Heart equipment.

A good fix would be to proportionally boost the appearance rate of an element if wearing the appropriate corresponding equipment.

[ItouchBrett]

Ok so... What does the +1 earth ring do? Or the light? I equip them and still only get the 4 element cards still...fire ice poison and wind. Any other cards? What does the "light" do. Still on the first world.

[Eli]

Originally Posted by Kepa

We're thinking about making our control scheme freely available to other developers. We'd just need to make the code more modular. Will probably do this when development dies down a little on the games we're working on.

A true champion of the people.

[Zinger314]

Originally Posted by ItouchBrett

Ok so... What does the +1 earth ring do? Or the light? I equip them and still only get the 4 element cards still...fire ice poison and wind. Any other cards? What does the "light" do. Still on the first world.

You get Earth and Light in the second world.

[Jdragoon19]

Lol, I'm blown away. How did this game NOT win GOTW? What's wrong with you, Apple?!

Spellsword didn't make Top 5? And I haven't even heard of the games that are in the Top 2 and 3 spots... That's bad. Horrific choices IMO.