iPhone: Spaceteam

[thenightfly42]

I've only played one round, a 2 player, and enjoyed it greatly. I sent notes to my son's friends' parents, so that he can play with friends.

To everyone wishing it was single player -- huh? The whole point of the game is the crossed communications, where you are trying to read, speak, and listen at the same time. I can't imagine a successful single player version.

[Appletini]

Originally Posted by thenightfly42

To everyone wishing it was single player -- huh? The whole point of the game is the crossed communications, where you are trying to read, speak, and listen at the same time. I can't imagine a successful single player version.

Try playing the game by yourself on two devices at once; I think you'll change your mind as things start getting incredibly hectic and supremely funny. The issue of whether or not it could make a good single-player game is less about "single player", and more about "single device".

An iPad in particular easily has enough screen real estate to bump up the number of individual control panels available at once considerably. Throw in a reduced time limit for commands and increase the number of random events on top of that, and a challenging "single-player, single-device" mode becomes feasible. The great thing about having the entire control deck change each sector is that you never get time to fully memorise everything before it all becomes entirely different.

[putermcgee]

man, after unsuccessfully trying to play at lunch with my coworkers (we were only just connecting when the food came), I had my wife download it. if you think it's crazy as it is, try playing with a non-english speaker! after a couple tries, the best we've gotten is to sector 4. also I tried playing single player on my iPad and iPhone, and it's definitely fun (but not as fun as yelling at people).

I bought the challenge IAP before I had even played a round, and I think it's actually pretty cool that they locked the achievements like that. for the average player, achievements mean nothing, so they might just play the free version with their friends...but if they start to get into the game more, they might feel inclined to get the pack for the other challenge options. for me, I do like achievements, and it was an easy purchase since just the potential of the game had me wanting to support the dev.

now I can't wait till later this week when I'm back in the states and can play with my friends and family there... which makes me wish this supported more than four players!

[puzzledra]

i have tried talking with a non english players..ermagerd!

[Appletini]

Originally Posted by putermcgee

now I can't wait till later this week when I'm back in the states and can play with my friends and family there... which makes me wish this supported more than four players!

It'd actually be pretty straightforward - and eeeeevil - to play with more than four people because of the way individual players aren't identified: have as many people load into the lobbies as possible, then everybody beam up at the same time.

Play as normal; while everybody is yelling instructions, they're also listening to more incoming instructions than usual. While somebody may well have the panel to which an instruction refers, the kicker is that even if they do, they might not actually be on the same team, so flicking that switch will actually damage their ship because it isn't actually required.

At that point, if you can separate who is working with whom based on a process of elimination while in the midst of everything, and keep instructions separate with up to eight people passing conflicting information, you're pretty much ready to crew a real ship.

Ah, visions of somebody shouting "Worm Hole!", and everybody turning their devices upside-down, half of them doing so entirely unnecessarily.

[puzzledra]

worm hole lol on that

[putermcgee]

Originally Posted by Appletini

It'd actually be pretty straightforward - and eeeeevil - to play with more than four people because of the way individual players aren't identified: have as many people load into the lobbies as possible, then everybody beam up at the same time.

Play as normal; while everybody is yelling instructions, they're also listening to more incoming instructions than usual. While somebody may well have the panel to which an instruction refers, the kicker is that even if they do, they might not actually be on the same team, so flicking that switch will actually damage their ship because it isn't actually required.

man, that's awesome. i think that if you separate people based on the team they get randomly put on, you could have a fun team-based competition. like you do what you suggested, but as people are beaming up, they figure out what team they're on and separate into groups.

i'll see what i can do over the next few weeks.

[thenightfly42]

Two questions about the Challenge IAP:

1. Does it apply to each of the devices on the same Apple ID, or is it a consumable?

2. If I play with people who haven't purchased the Challenge IAP, which settings are used?

[Appletini]

Originally Posted by thenightfly42

Two questions about the Challenge IAP:

1. Does it apply to each of the devices on the same Apple ID, or is it a consumable?

Applies to each device, so if you have multiple devices, you can unlock and play the new modes on all of them with a single purchase.

2. If I play with people who haven't purchased the Challenge IAP, which settings are used?

Don't know about that; I assume it'd default to the normal settings.

[Buttons]

Originally Posted by thenightfly42

2. If I play with people who haven't purchased the Challenge IAP, which settings are used?

The Challenge IAP gives you access to a couple switches. If those switches are on, then that challenge mode will be active in any game you play, regardless of the settings or purchases on the devices of your teammates.

For example, I turned on the "logographic malfunction" mode and played with three people who hadn't purchased that option, and all four of us had our switch labels replaced with pictographs throughout the game.