Universal Bladeslinger - (by Kerosene)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Oct 29, 2012.

  1. relyes

    relyes Well-Known Member

    Mar 29, 2012
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    Kerosene Games
    San Francisco
    Thanks for the feedback, iNexus. re: your issues...

    Definitely focus on fighting the monsters. You can't do anything about the camera in combat except to change position, so focus on combat. Make use of the dodge (two finger tap) and block (hold two fingers). Also watch the enemy indicators. It's intense, but it's more about timing counterattacking than just offense.

    You're right about multi-touch on the phone. it's not as natural a surface for these gestures and multi-touch gestures as the tablet, but with some practice, you don't actually have to perform big gestures to register the action. They can be very small swipes on enemies to trigger the response you want.

    Brett
    @kerosenegames
    kerosenegames.com
     
  2. Ausar

    Ausar Well-Known Member

    Jun 2, 2012
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    great i will continue playing this and if anything else comes to mind i would let you know, for a second fighting style like the beowulf gloves like you said there is already the metal fist it just need more things instead of just that punch and something for his other arm could be nice and he has like some metal protector in his boots that would be nice as well

    In the infinity blade 3 theme in talking about actually about a new game leaving dungeons on the side
     
  3. relyes

    relyes Well-Known Member

    Mar 29, 2012
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    Kerosene Games
    San Francisco
    More great feedback, Ausar! Thank you!

    * Audio especially in combat could use more polish. Agreed. We can definitely mix them more so they're louder in circumstances like the finishing sequences, though the slow motion effect kind of mutes audio
    * The chapter complete screen should have stronger audio and more blingly graphics too (IMO). Working on that...
    * The graphics bug where the Unrelenting Assault graphic effect continues to follow you after you've used the technique is known. Definitely a bug :)
    * Glad to hear the battery suck isn't too bad!
    * re: walk / run...we looked at this at one point, and could definitely revisit. We have a walking animation for William, but no one ever just walked around...they always ran :p

    Brett
    @kerosenegames
    kerosenegames.com
     
  4. Ausar

    Ausar Well-Known Member

    Jun 2, 2012
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    #104 Ausar, Oct 30, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2012
    Well thats glad to hear that the animation for walking could be revisit so maybe it should up in a future update what can i say sometimes i like walking to make the game feels more inmersive lol

    From the 30 min to 1 hour the battery drop was pretty insignificant unlike most of gameloft or even infinity blade that after 30 min the iphone in almost on fire with 40% less battery

    Unrelenting Assault bug i have used it like 3 times more to unlock the blade master skill and the bug didn't happen so its either random or during that fight

    Anything else i would let you know
     
  5. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    Will this ever be on touch 4g?
     
  6. Hero211

    Hero211 Well-Known Member

    Sep 18, 2012
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    Make lips move in cut scenes an in game ! what's up wit that?
     
  7. iNexus

    iNexus Well-Known Member

    Aug 14, 2010
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    The Great White North
    Theres also one pet peeve i have with this game, the character's face is static, his mouth doesn't move when he talks and his facial expression remains the same throughout the game, it doesn't seems like much but these things give life to characters, without it just feels like you are controlling a mannequin.
     
  8. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    Remember the first max Payne?
     
  9. relyes

    relyes Well-Known Member

    Mar 29, 2012
    169
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    Kerosene Games
    San Francisco
    We're a long ways from being the safe memory thresholds for 256MB devices, unfortunately. Never say never, but not soon...

    Brett
    @kerosenegames
    kerosenegames.com
     
  10. Alister

    Alister Well-Known Member

    Jul 1, 2012
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    Philippines
    Congrats to the soft/limited release guys...My stint on the closed beta was fun,thanks for the opportunity..Glad to see the changes made..Though some features at the previous version was cut,overall the new improvements are very nice..

    As for the people playing/testing have fun and enjoy..I guess i'll be waiting for the worldwide release for the finished product..:)
     
  11. jonyhuang

    jonyhuang New Member

    Nov 8, 2011
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    Some clipping

    Don't know if this has been reproduced, but when you first enter town and have to fight two baddies in a cul de sac, there was some major clipping where the hero (and the monster) went straight through the back building from the left side. I was able to come back, so no biggie.

    Great game!
     
  12. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    The Work-At-Home Guy
    Philippines
    Great game, and definitely great on the ipad. On the iphone, controls are a little limited in between running and camera movement. I was forced to hold the iphone with my one hand, and the other hand used n the touch screen, as opposed to me holding it with both hands with 2 thumbs on the screen.

    But this is perfect on the ipad.
     
  13. Zetaspawn

    Zetaspawn Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
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    The only option that is a mix of the two that could sort of work is a "node" type movement similar to horn or dark meadow, where its slightly less on rails but you still have mildly limited movement options, I feel like its a less intuitive control scheme but may help get more mainstream success. Horn has you tapping anywhere and having horn walk automatically and dark meadow has you tap on pre existing nodes in a much less limiting fashion than infinity blade, maybe a mix of the 2 would be something that could work. I am extremely against a "right and left side" divided control scheme for this game, it would help movement but would completely destroy ALL the other controls in the game.
     
  14. Zetaspawn

    Zetaspawn Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
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    In addition to my previous post, the dodge mechanics are admittedly tough on the iPhones smaller screen, and more exact timing cues for the offscreen attackers ,and actually even more so the ON screen attackers, would make the limite screen real estate feel less like its causing your damage.

    I think with the off screen attacker switching to the "about to attack" image leaves way too much time variance on when the actual attack will come in. To feel more fluid I think that image should be a prepping to attack and then a new one maybe with a bright red flash or a shrinking circle to help you time the dodge better would be helpful. I don't think it would make the battles too easy, just more fluid when knowing when to time a slash or gunshot with a dodge move. With the offscreen character the only thing we have to rely on is that indicator.... Another option I think would help immensely would actually have a little more of a pulled out camera during battles, not a ton but enough to give your fingers and eyes more room to see around the player character and react to the battles.

    I haven't gotten very far but you could even put more enemies per battle than just the two I've faced at a time so far with a slightly pulled out screen and a better timing indicator about when an offscreen attack is coming in.

    As for the onscreen enemies I feel like their attacks are even more difficult to tell when they are coming, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how far they can jump in an attack or giving me any decent way to intuitively predict their movements or actions. I think it's far more satisfying to barely dodge a group of attacks at the last second than to panic and tap the dodge gesture any time an enemy makes any type of movement whatsoever. Maybe give the enemy a quick flash of red right before they attack or above the characters head potentially even with the side the attack will come from as to know which way to dodge.

    In fact what might be more enjoyable is to remove the offscreen attack indicator all together (leave the normal offscreen indicator for switching targets) and switch all incoming attacks to a "spidey sense" type of attack indicator that covers both on screen and offscreen enemies. You would have to play with the timing to know how much time to give us to dodge without making it too easy, but I think it would be far more intuitive.

    A nice little bit of time dilation "slow down" (similar to the time slow down on the finishing moves) when a perfectly timed dodge occurs would be a great way to add a little extra something to the experience as well.
     
  15. sizzlakalonji

    sizzlakalonji Moderator
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze

    Apr 16, 2009
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    Indiana, USA
    The more I play this, the more I like it. I'm playing on an iPad 2, and feel like I'm getting the hang of the combat more and more. That being said, maybe I should install it on my iPhone 5 to see if it's viable on the smaller screen. I don't have any issues on the large screen, but it might be tough to pull off all of the multi-touch gestures with less real estate.
     
  16. Zetaspawn

    Zetaspawn Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
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    A few more thoughts.... Sorry I just really like this game and desperately want it to succee, in the pause menu a little bit of text explaining what each section is would be helpful, such as the one time use store and the upgrades.

    I also think a a section that actually shows how many of each item you actually have seperated from the store side (with an option to "quick purchase" more of said items) would be helpful too, with SO many one time use items and so many other types of upgrades you can buy (from the cards to the permanent character upgrades) I definitely think a "store" side that looks exactly as it does now and an "owned" or "unlocked" side that ONLY shows the items you have unlocked and purchased would work wonders. I can just see me forgetting I owned 3 pairs of those dice since they are soooo deep in the store, a page just showing which cards i already had and which potions i already had would really help me strategize while trying to conserve coin. there are already so many items that its dizzying and you haven't even added equipment yet! I can only imagine it getting even messier and busier when that time comes.

    I just opened the game back up and a couple more things jumped out at me, I find myself using right hand for 99% of the gestures and that leads me to almost always tending to dodge right. A problem occurs when I have enemies on my right or I am up against a wall or building, I understand wanting to deepen the combat by letting us choose which direction to dodge, but with the screen size limitations of the iPhone maybe it would just be better to have a double finger tap anywhere on screen and have the character dodge away from the enemies and wall geometry. Instead of being a dodge left, right, or forward (that dodge forward button has messed me up plenty of times but I will come back to that) just have it be a one gesture and dodge whichever direction is most beneficial (especially backwards which is often times the best direction but I can't seem to figure out if there is even a way to do it)

    More things to pick up, maybe a tiny bit of coin lying around, or a potion here or there, or even a copy of an unlocked card. Whether they be in a chest, just floating around like the green things or from beating enemies, all of those options would help make the game feel a bit deeper and less empty. This will be even more important when equipment and weapons get added into the game.

    One minor nit pick, those rune circle things that are plastered all over the game world, why are they there? Do they do anything? Are they just there to be confusing? I feel like they should do something, especially when I came across one that actually did (find the missing piece of the rune to move forward). Unless these become functional at some point (which you need to tell us about first thing in the tutorial, something along the lines of these runes seem to be pulsing a strange energy maybe you will find out what they do later, type of thing) if they don't, then honestly I think you should get rid of them or at the bare minimum make them not so bright and seeming like they actually did something...


    Again apologies for the billions of huge gigantic rambling posts, but I really think these are things that need to be addressed if you want to be more than just a flash in the pan game.
     
  17. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k Active Member

    Dec 11, 2010
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    Yeah it kept crashing on my ipod4g (though I guess it wasnt designed for that anyway). The problem I found was that at least with the tiny screen it was very hard to see what you were doing when you were "punching" or using your sword (your finger is blocking most of the screen) and when the enemies take that many hits its a big problem.
     
  18. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
    22,664
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    The Work-At-Home Guy
    Philippines
    Yup... played a bit more, and it's brilliant on the ipad, but it felt mediocre on the smaller screen because of the controls.
     
  19. relyes

    relyes Well-Known Member

    Mar 29, 2012
    169
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    Kerosene Games
    San Francisco
    Yikes! Sounds like a bug :) Thanks for the note. We'll look into it!

    Brett
    @kerosenegames
    kerosenegames.com

     
  20. relyes

    relyes Well-Known Member

    Mar 29, 2012
    169
    0
    0
    Kerosene Games
    San Francisco
    Good note, Zetaspawn. We actually looked at a tap-to-move / tap&hold control style earlier this year really closely. It had some positive attributes, no doubt, but you're right, the combat controls were then a much bigger context switch, or far more compromised than we felt good about. Very happy with where we ended up :)

    Brett
    @kerosenegames
    kerosenegames.com
     

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