El, Thanks for the always thorough responses. Us Phoenix HD fans are ravenous with what is going on with our favorite shooter and are ripe with awesome ideas for how to make it even better. I know that trying to tame us can be a tall order. I can't wait for the new ship. I mean, I am really excited for that. The way I see it, this game can go on forever with the addition of new player ships, new enemy vessels and new environments added periodically, or at least until Phoenix 3: The New Saga comes out People may claim a game like this gets boring with no ending, but actually it is the games WITH an end that have less replay value. This game just needs the occasional refreshing. It never gets old. In terms of the Tesla Bots... I was going to suggest homing (if I didn't already, can't remember), but I thought it may look too similar to the other Alpha Strike (the yellow one which I think is patterned off the Corsair). However, I personally can never get enough of weapons with homing/heat seaking properties. If the Tesla Pods were in fact homing, you may be able to get some pretty crazy patterns (more random criss-crossing) with the electricity too. Even better, since there are 12 pods, make 6 homing and 6 that aren't. Now THAT is something worth looking into! The changes you guys make with Phoenix HD are always tasteful and subtle. I would be careful in changing too much with the Corsair and Mirage (since they're so good already), but since you're looking at them I, of course, in all my infinite wisdom, have to add my two cents Besides the idea of stage 4-5 of the NightFury Laser, I sometimes wish the NightFury kicked in a little quicker than it does now. This is a MINOR issue, but I feel like I sit still slightly too long before it goes off. Other than these suggestions, I think the Mirage is fantastic. I think it is the sleeper ship and I often get the highest scores with it. Ah, the Corsair... The best ship in shooter history? Quite possibly. My suggestions for improvement? Few and far between, but here's a couple. Firstly, the Corsair has a lot of the color yellow. I actually thought the old Corsair had a little more distinction between the weapons. For example, I liked how the missiles that shoot straight in a series of 4 (WASP?) looked in the first Phoenix better since they were shaded differently and stood out more. I thought they were a defining weapon in the old version, but now they kind of get lost in the mix. Secondly, I think the machine gun sound effect should match the rate of fire more accurately. Right now it is too slow since that mini gun rips ass when it is fully powered up. Other than this, the Corsair is an absolute gem. If anything, I would look the closest at the Phoenix. I always do better with the Corsair and Mirage. Why? Homing properties. The weapons of the Corsair/Mirage lock on, meaning you have more freedom to dodge while still hitting your target. Sure the Phoenix has homing missiles, but adding 2-4 more to what is already there would be huge. I also think the Phoenix is weaker in general. Mathematically it is probably equal compared to the Corsair/Mirage, but it doesn't feel that way. I still think if the machine guns (the 4 on each side, most specifically the two that stay angled) had slightly less spread, the overall firepower would feel 'tighter' and 'more compact' with more power being focused straight at the enemy in front of the ship. Well it's been a while since my last Phoenix HD brainstorm/rant (Brainrant?), so I had to get that out. Feeling much, MUCH better now Keep in touch Selachii!!!
@RCranium: No, I wish that was the case, but we're still very much amazed with 2mil players Keep it coming Agreed, Phoenix HD will be with us for a while We try everything, don't worry, but when multiple bots are homing, they generally bunch up because there aren't many targets on screen (not across a large distance at least). Thanks for the feedback, everything is noted and processed
Personally, I think the tweak to go with is to boost the Corsair in some way because I actually play a bit better with the Mirage despite not taking that much advantage of the stationary laser, at least not enough for me to be doing better with it than the Corsair. Also, it seems the top scorers in the world use the Shogun mostly, so if there's to be a tweak on the Phoenix, it should probably be something along those lines where it's going to be worse for most people than the Mirage and Corsair, but potentially better for the best, albeit not quite to the same extent as the Shogun. Although now that I look, I see someone with 2 billion using the Phoenix, so perhaps that's unnecessary.
Even though the Shogun might get the higher scores, I find it difficult to mention it in the same conversation with the other ships simply because it is so unique and, frankly, it doesn't fire weapons. It's a ship that doesn't shoot in a shooter, so it's somewhat of an anomaly. While score is an indicator, it's hard to go by this alone to tell which ship is the best. Many factors are involved. I do worse with the Shogun than the other ships and do the best with the Mirage and Corsair. Like I said above, since the Phoenix doesn't have nearly as many homing weapons, I find it weaker. I personally find the Corsair to be the most diversified and probably the strongest ship in the game. It has equal parts homing and forward power attack, making it so it's weapons attack from all angles simultaneously. I don't know how much more it can be made better. Well we all have our opinions right? That's what makes the world of Touch Arcade go 'round!
One of us (two) is heading out to WWDC next week, he will be bringing a nice dev version of Phoenix HD along. We'll see if someone from the TouchArcade staff has time for us
It's the Apple developer conference. @troberti will be there, I personally will not. I will be making weapons for a certain ship in Phoenix HD
Well Eli from ta will be shown some stuff at wwdc, let's see if something comes out of that :> If not, I should be able to something for you after the weekend
Well I think he got an avalanche of stuff on him during wwdc so it might take a while. We provided him with some exclusive info and screenshots, so it will be worth it (if it's posted )
OK El, in the meantime maybe you can you answer this: Which of the ships will the new ship resemble the most (if it resembles any of them at all)?
It's is hard not to say something cheesy like "it's unlike anything currently in game", but it is true What I can say is that the ship, among other things, also has traditional weapons (like most ships have) AND it's mechanic has a risk-reward type aspect
It's truly awesome to have a player ask us about a tip jar, really! We won't be adding one though, we are super happy with our player base and will continue to add more free and paid content
Phoenix HD 1.2 info+screeshots Right guys, here we go. We got a lot of awesome stuff in the pipe for Phoenix HD this year, trust me, you have no idea what's coming! We're kicking it off with an anniversary update. While this update is not finished yet, we can reveal some of the features we are adding. I'll be quoting a statement below together with two brand new screenshots. Enjoy! New and dangerous Focus Vision in action
