Universal Knightmare Tower (by Juicy Beast Studio)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Jul 31, 2013.

  1. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the info on the memory management. I'm on an iPhone 5, and I have pretty much everything unlocked at this point, and no matter what I do, the game lags like crazy now that I'm going faster and am doing significantly more damage. I see it as the Borderlands effect, where that game at the beginning runs smooth as silk, but when you are level 60, so many calculations tax the system. It's the only thing I can figure. This makes the very last portion of the game more challenging than necessary, and much less fun when it's stuttering. I've cleared processes and removed everything running just to ensure it's as clean as possible. It might be some sort of leak, as I have next to no issues with anything else.

    And to all of those who doubted that the devs just were "too lazy" to make it work, clearly Dad has proven that to be categorically false. Egads that sounds strange to say that...

    Blue - my iPhone is jailbroken. I tested my available RAM (trust me, I know the difference between storage and memory) before I launched the game and then after it was running. Because I use sbsettings, I'm able to check the memory usage with the game in the foreground.
     
  2. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    #102 andsoitgoes, Aug 2, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2013
    You clearly haven't watched a video for this game, or are simply disregarding the huge differences between the games you've mentioned. Even Fibble was very basic and had a small number of things going on on comparison to this.

    Here, monsters pop up everywhere from ever angle at the same time, calculations are taking place each time you slice a monster while soaring up the tower, calculating your rise and adjusting the monsters and drops while doing that.

    Very few games have to load that much stuff as quickly as this game does. You bust through ceilings at crazy speeds later in the game, and it would certainly crash trying to buffer that much data. It's a very busy game.

    And back to your comments earlier, I don't expect any person to upgrade their device for *A* game, but after 3 years you no longer get to waggle your finger at developers OR Apple for stopping their support of your incredibly underpowered device. And mention games that aren't built on iOS from the ground up. No matter how you slice it, this is a port, and it's one in which the software it uses, Toolkit 2D, doesn't offer the same ability to clear things out as other games, especially those designed from scratch on the platform.
     
  3. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    #103 Dad, Aug 2, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2013
    I cannot talk for games I did not play but, without knowing much about Sword And Sorcery I think would be a rather easy task, even for me. A map, the images are 4 to 16 times smaller than they appear on screen (for pixelated effect, scale up 2-4 times) and you can even reuse some graphs not so many different assets on screen too. For Rayman, I'm pretty impressed, they must load/unload tons of things on the fly without the player even noticing it, all that on only one core for ipod 4th gen, only excuse that I can give you is that as a programmer I'm not on par with the team that did this, same excuse for Fibble. Also, I don't mean to whine or anything, but I'm still rather inexperienced in developing for mobile, still learning!

    Edit: For Rayman, they use alot of graphism reusing/skewing to shape the level, we can see a pattern in the large areas, so, it is still impressive, but finally doable if you allow a certain amount of assets, must remember they are level based, so they completely control what assets (sounds and images) appear at any one time, a commodity we don't have when we do en "endless runner". Fibble is really impressive technically, but the amount of RAM taken from textures does not show any feat in making it fit in an iPod 4.
     
  4. andysmash

    andysmash Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2011
    2,067
    1
    0
    This game is a cold beer on a hot day, man. Just what I needed right now.
     
  5. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    @andsoitgoes, Toolkit2d allows clearing textures, it just don't work 100% the way I'm using it, still trying to figure something to make it work...
     
  6. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    When the iPod 4 was made it was heavily underpowered. Single core. 256mb of ram. The fact that it can play anything is impressive.

    As Dad has said, these other games, especially with polygons, are NOT the same. Stop comparing them, they aren't the same in their functionality.

    The 3GS was still being made and sold until just recently, too. That doesn't mean you can expect newly created things to run on it.

    Single core. Lowest amount of ram available. You're damn lucky that anything runs.

    Those of us who have an iPad 2/mini should count our lucky stars, as the fact that those devices were made just last year have extended the life cycle that would otherwise put them on the very edge of support.

    That said, this complaining about games not being supported is why we can't have games that are more graphically impressive, developers are always under fire to support devices that aren't prepared to handle more intensive games. Having to support the lowest common denominator ends up punishing those that have current hardware.

    Just be happy you can play anything, as you are running the equivalent of the first gen iPad. Actually, you're in a tougher situation as the iPod is pushing way more pixels due to the retina display versus the SD iPad 1 which wasn't even given the ability to run iOS 6.
     
  7. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    All this argumentation is fine and all, seriously I like to talk about tech stuff, but I think that we should keep it simple and follow andysmash's example and actually comment on the game ;) Another thread for this argumentation would be nice too!
     
  8. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    I concur!

    I am in desperate need for help on
    the jerk of a boss!! I've tried many many many times and my inability to play bullethell shooters is abundantly clear. I have fully upgraded my sword, boots, health and all potions (love that by the way ;)) but nothing seems to help me win! I get just destroyed.
     
  9. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    There is really no easy trick aside from skills, but some things are meant to be understood in order to get them right
    The violet/pink bullets are a little smaller than they appear, all patterns can be avoided with the right skills, the multiple-cannon burst at the end of each stage is easily avoided by placing your knight over the spot where there is no cannon. Be sure to kill the basic cannons as soon as they appear and focus on the laser cannon as they keep their health between appearances and they can be son of b****es when they prevent you from reaching the face, once they die, they don't come back. Also, when you have a burst of following turrets + a potion, try to not hit your potion right away, wait a little (not too much if it is on the bottom line because you won't ever be able to reach it then...), it helps after the cannon wave
     
  10. Boardumb

    Boardumb Administrator
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Apr 14, 2009
    8,804
    817
    113
    THE BOSS
    Sacramento, CA
    Stop arguing about device support. Talk about the game instead please.
     
  11. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    Awesome, thanks. I tried to focus on some of those tactics, but man when
    the face appears for a bare instant
    it gets so challenging!

    Reminds me of the Ridley boss fight from Metroid Prime. Holy Moses was that a hell of a struggle.
     
  12. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    The face stays longer, the longer the fight lasts, so at worst, just focus on the cannons and not beign hit for a while, then, when the face stays long enough, spam it as fast as you can ;)
     
  13. Qwertz555

    Qwertz555 Well-Known Member

    May 22, 2010
    2,318
    29
    48
    For me, it's one of the best boss fight in ios history.

    I've beaten him only twice now. Once for unlocking Survival and just a moment ago, twice for the leaderboard in Best Times.

    I can forsee lots of frustrated gamers, but i promise you that you will get such a huge satisfaction, once you've beaten the boss - amazing !

    Forgot to say thanks for your precious tips Dad.
     
  14. Qwertz555

    Qwertz555 Well-Known Member

    May 22, 2010
    2,318
    29
    48
    And for the people still on the fence concerning tilt control, i consider this game as one of the top five out there, controled by tilt !

    My prefered gaming position is 'laying on my back'. Works perfectly here.
     
  15. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    hehe yeah, the boss fight is something... glad you like the controls, though on the back seems to be the worst position for this, well.. nice for you if you found a way to be comfortable like this :p
     
  16. WCFields

    WCFields Well-Known Member

    Dec 6, 2009
    2,865
    0
    0
    steel worker
    Thanks for the help, I've rescued 8 princess so far & the last 2 being tough so far. I hope more content is coming
     
  17. WCFields

    WCFields Well-Known Member

    Dec 6, 2009
    2,865
    0
    0
    steel worker
    Critter kings

    On the defeat at least 2 of the critter kings quests, which one's are the critter kings?
     
  18. Dad

    Dad Member

    Aug 2, 2013
    19
    0
    0
    I admit this is unclear as they are barely named in the game, but the design of the horn on the label of the mission should give you a hint ;)
     
  19. Bronxsta

    Bronxsta Well-Known Member

    On the fence about this game.

    Enjoyed the flash version, the reviews and impressions here have been excellent, but 2.99 seems a bit steep for this kind of game and I have limited $$
     
  20. Nobunaga

    Nobunaga Well-Known Member

    Jun 2, 2012
    1,094
    0
    0
    #120 Nobunaga, Aug 3, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2013
    Then don't buy it and wait for a sale like you do on any game that's not free.
    Do you really need to post on every thread for a game that it's too expensive, even if it's only $.99 ? But even more so if it's $2 or even, wow, wait for it, a whole $3. Come on. I don't care that that's your viewpoint. I just don't find it helpful to read about it on every thread.

    I've barely had any time to play this or anything else I picked up this week. Seems like a game I'll be spending some time with though. It'll easily be worth the asking price to me just to see if I can beat frosts high scores.
     

Share This Page