So this is my current iOS kick. A Godzilla tower defense (Royale style) game. Godzilla Games for mobile Godzilla Battle Line Official website | TOHO CO., LTD.
I’m still trying to figure out if it is actually a good one, in terms of mechanics, but it definitely has me hooked on aesthetics. As befitting a kaiju game, things are actually pretty slow relative to your usual Royale clone. The units move slowly, get distracted by buildings, and battles sort of roll to a leisurely conclusion. A lot of it resolves around having patient in not using your leader monster’s ability too soon or hanging on to a spell type card to just the right moment.
DrCrypt
3985
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is finally out on iOS. It’s widely considered the best mobile rogue-like, but for licensing reasons, was locked to Android and PC up until now. I bounced off Pixel Dungeon, which SPD uses as its base, but Shattered has much stronger mechanics.
It looks like it is tap to move. That seems…awful
LordGek
3987
Yes! Pixel Dungeon was always a favorite and I longed wondered if we’d ever see anything more done with it at which point I learned those darned Android folks had access to a Fan Made spin-off with no plans for an iOS port. So seeing it pop up now is such a wondrous surprise!
Then how does it work, because I just looked at two different videos and that’s certainly how it seemed
DrCrypt
3990
I meant: it isn’t awful, not that that isn’t the mechanic.
There is no world where tap to move isn’t awful for this game, imo
DrCrypt
3992
Well, great to have your expert opinion on this then, Mr. I-Haven’t-Fucking-Played-It. But in practice, it’s totally fine: you tap to move, you stop automatically if you tap somewhere dangerous and ask for confirmation, and combat is made less squirrelly thanks to a few smart hot buttons. It’s a hell of a lot better of a control system than most iOS rogue-likes I’ve played, and I’ve got ten years of them under my belt.
I should have said, “for me”, which was the intended context, but there’s no need to be a dick about it. I’m not trying to dispute your experience, but I’m not interested.
DrCrypt
3994
The thing is, YOU were kind of a dick about it. Whether you misspoke or not by omitting “for me”, your contribution to this discussion came across as a drive-by, know-nothing, all-sweeping opinion about something you hadn’t actually tried. I’m sorry I got annoyed with you, but let’s not pretend that I wasn’t replying tonally in kind.
Everybody’s a dick. Especially me, because when I saw it was being charged 5 bucks, I immediately thought “oh what is that shady shady thing there must be some asshole trying to take advantage of this all!” in a true modern conspirationnist fashion.
Well, turns out there isn’t, and the guy (who publishes the Android version as well) just wants to cover the silly cost of releasing something on the App Store. Details here:
Pixel Dungeon is freaking awesome, and its interface was the best, be it on a 4-direction, 2 buttons gamepad portable console, or on a touchscreen. Lovely.
Clay
3996
This is exactly what happened when some folks ported Brogue to mobile devices a few years ago.
LeeAbe
3997
How much is it on Android? Aren’t they the same costs? 15%? I think a developer account is $100 year.
Edit: it looks free with IAP on Android. Not a chance I am buying it then.
It’s a yearly thing to not get your app delisted on the Apple store, while it’s a single initial $25 to get to publish something on the Google one.
Sadly, it’s the reason why a bunch of nifty apps disappear regularly on the Apple store. But that’s a whole other topic.
LeeAbe
3999
I don’t think they remove apps if you don’t renew, there are tons of abandoned apps on the App Store. (Edit: I might be wrong, every app I could find that hasn’t been updated for a couple of years had an active developer with newer apps.)
Every study says iOS users spend a lot more on apps than Android users. So it might be worth it, regardless of that. The hard part is getting noticed, especially if you charge money just to try it. It just rubs me wrong to charge for a game on iOS that is free on Android. Although, I have heard iOS devs say they had to go free on Android because it’s harder to make money there.
Apple started pulling abandoned apps a while back, but there are still tons out there. The games you mentioned wouldn’t have survived the great 32 bit purge anyway.
When I upgraded to a new iPad, most of the games I had purchased some time ago were no longer available, as they had not been updated in ages.
LeeAbe
4001
Places pull them as well because they don’t want to spend the money to support them on latter OS versions that break them as well. EA bought the makers of Flight Control and then pulled it for this reason.
This is all why I can’t bring myself to buy $60 iOS games. Who knows if a developer will update it when the next version of the OS comes out?
This is a great piece on the enduring power of Papers, Please.
