Game of Watchcraft: Spawn of Squishy ($0.99) takes only a few minutes to master, but Australian indie developer Clicker stretches that into hours by capitalizing on a retro style and offering minor incentives that encourage players to continue adventuring for as long as they want.
The concept is cool: Game of Watchcraft takes the MMO World of Warcraft and sizes it down to an itty-bitty LCD game like the ones you probably played as a kid — you know, those cheap, plastic portable gaming systems that ran just one game and featured lots of black, moving sprites or character outlines on a static background? I owned a Lion King handheld, and it was tough figuring out what was even going on half the time. Each new action takes a second or two to manifest onscreen.
Lions and hyenas are one thing; a massive online world is another. While Watchcraft retains many of the components of an MMORPG, it simplifies them dramatically. Quests are as easy as collecting a certain number of treasure chests, killing monsters, or defeating a boss. Your mount is a winged creature that transports you from the relatively peaceful land of BottomScreen (yes, that’s what it’s called) to the treacherous TopScreen. And that’s pretty much all you do, over and over and over again.
Goblins are basic enemies that populate the bottom screen, and a water monster called a Naga bubbles at the surface of rivers and streams, hoping to catch players offguard. A single hit kills, so fast reflexes are important. You’ll need to tap (or hold) the virtual D-pad quickly to evade or hone in on foes and then press the Action button on the right to attack. The hero — a priest named Squishy — can use a basic dagger attack on the bottom screen, but on the top, he’s more versatile, able to shoot projectiles as well as execute close-range melee moves. Players will need that extra skill to conquer the giant demon, which lobs fireballs, summons minions, and flits up and down between three rows.
Dying won’t wipe your experience, thankfully, and the game lets you pick up and resume from whatever level you left off (unless you decide to restart from level one). The developer added in a fun feature where your character respawns at a graveyard and must make his way to his body to continue. This gives you a moment to recover at your own pace, but sometimes, especially if you died in the middle of a hot enemy zone, you can hop in your body only to lose the second that you do.
The top screen always involves a boss fight even if the quest goal is to slay minions instead. A healer waits in an upper corner, ready to restore mana bit by bit so you can fire off more projectiles at the boss. Linger too long, and a fire trap will catch you in its flames. A tank character will take some of the damage in the front lines so you can plan your attacks from afar, picking off minions as they spawn. It’s interesting how Game of Watchcraft makes use of different MMO tropes, and if Clicker really is planning more games like this one (as mentioned in the forums), then I’d be happy to see the other “demakes" they come up with.
I was actually surprised by how the top-screen events adopt a rhythm of their own. The various bleeps and blips — of shooting energy bolts, hitting the boss, and even regenerating mana — all culminate in a catchy, unique melody of sound.
What I didn’t care for is the stickiness of the d-pad, which is reminiscent of classic games. Clicker seems intent on tweaking this to facilitate play, and it already feels better than it did days ago, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the controls if you’re thinking of picking this up. Players do have to read couple pages of instructions before diving in, which is an inconvenience, but it doesn’t take long. A playable tutorial would be better.
Game of Watchcraft‘s visuals are faithful to old-school LCD games, too. Tilt your device to the side or hold a finger to the screen, and ghostly imprints of the different characters and items are visible, like the digital residue that fades when you shut off a Game Boy screen.
On the topic of items, the real rewards are the three pieces of equipment you can obtain from completing the TopScreen quests: boots that increase your speed, a cloak that boosts mana, and a staff that grants a double cast ability.
Die even once after receiving any of these, and you’ll lose them. That’s the brutality of Game of Watchcraft: to spend minutes carrying out a repetitive dance with a boss only to lose to a goblin that got in a lucky hit. It’s not a challenge you’ll mind terribly, though, considering it extends the life of the game and contributes to the function and culture of the Game Center leaderboards. You can keep track of how many chests you’ve unlocked or bosses you’ve fought, and there are achievements for earning so many boots, the first of the special items, or holding all three at once. That’s how you know you’ve been playing awhile and that others have, too.
Boss fights and quests operate the same way: take one hit, and the boss’s health fills all the way back up, and quest progress resets. It’s frustrating, but hey, that’s an LCD game for you. Every ounce of success comes half from skill and half from sheer luck.
The price seems fair for this game as it lacks any in-app purchases and is low on content. I’d love to see the developer flesh the idea out more so players get a little more value for their buck. After all, these kind of games phased out of popularity for a reason.
Cool comic art, looking forward to this one.
Yeah like FTL with cooler graphics!
Actually not impressed by that at all. More disappointed then anything. Sad.
Internet comments.
I actually feel the same way about this game.
I'm a fan of FTL and star command back in the day.. And also the excellent Escape Velocity series on the Mac...
I can't tell a lot about the game play of this game other than it has elements and looks more like it plays like king of dragon pass than anything else.. It does not look fun.
I was excited when you said FTL and let down when I saw it was KoDP in space.
KoDP not fun !? a King of Dragon Space would be an instant buy for me ! (... well an FTL like too :p )
How so? I can't take a look at it now, so I personally cannot make a judgment, but can you elucidate on why you feel the way you do? That would be most helpful, indeed. Thank you in advance!
He is an example of what we call a troll, just for the sake of it.
The only way to begin to tell if someone is a troll or not is how they respond to a question. Trolls have no respect for the question, ergo folks who do not respectfully respond to a question are more likely to be trolls. And even then, they could simply be having a bad day. Ergo, one must engage them in lengthy conversation in order to better reach a judgment.
Haha yes it is indeed a brave task engaging said trolls. One must be up to the challenge indeed!
Did you over do it on the Haterade today? Maybe just a tad?
One of the most anticipated game for me so far. It looks gorgeous, and promises everything I like in a game.
Yeah, what Pivi said!!
Finally the deep space sim I have been craving for! FTL concept with the Star Command promises!
Looks great! I am hoping there is plenty of exploration with very little on-rails involved. I will be watching this one.
Sign me up! This type of game is right up my alley!
I like the look and setting, love the art approach and the more statistical gameplay then new graphic exploding power hungry approach.
Had no idea this was being created. Looks like a ton of fun and I cannot wait to try it!
I like the look of this one, it's has a simple charm to it, almost a 50's sci-fi cheesiness, but in a good way. And while Star Command went for more of an arcade/action vibe, this feels like the space sim I've been waiting for.
Can't tell if there will be action in this game from the trailer. If it isn't supposed to then disregard my comment but it doesn't look like fun as is.
A few points -- I like the art (ie 2d comic). I like the premise. I like the 4x games, but not sure this has all 4 x's, which is also ok.
As for Star Command -- I liked their idea, they gave it their best shot, and it was ok. I think they're fixing it/adding to it, once they get all their ports (Android, PC, etc) done. Pretty ambitious I thought.
As a non-FTL player, this looks awesome. I would play FTL, but there's no mobile version I'm aware of & I don't generally play PC games nowadays.
Bring it on!!!
I'm super excited for this and will probably buy it the very minute it is available.
That said, please don't compare it to FTL or Star Command. It has nothing in common with those two apart from taking place in space.
Out There has no combat whatsoever. Personally, I love that. But I guess other people might not.
Out There will be a super awesome game, but it won't be "FTL on the iPad".
I completely agree with you. From the trailer I didn't think it was even remotely similar to FTL, aside from graphic style and seeing what you're carrying on the ship on a layer over the ship itself, as you see the different rooms of the ship in FTL.
I think gameplay will be quite different, but of course we'll have to wait and see. I'm very interested in this game, but I'd also love to see FTL on the iPhone/iPad. I don't like playing games on my computer, and FTL is the only recent PC game I've played in years.
Um what ever happened to M.U.L.E.???
Says fall 2013 but it still isn't out and it's only 4 days till 2014
And now we only 4 weeks away from spring
yeah, gimme allready :)