It’s been a really, really busy year for Nitrome, and they’ve got one more game to release before calling it a 2015: their roguelike Rust Bucket is releasing this week on December 17th, as a free ad-supported game with IAP to remove the ads. The bulk of the game is the endless mode, which gives you a point for each room you make it through, with coins to collect that right now serve as a sort of alternate score for you taking the risk to hunt them down. But they are being added to a running total and collected for some purpose.
The game is turn-based, where you make a move and the enemies, who all have specific movement rulesets, all then taking their turns. The game is inspired by Nitrome’s earlier Flash game Turnament and designer Aaron Steed’s Ending ($1.99), who programmed this game, so if you liked those, this is kind of the conclusion of that trilogy. Though, this is a much brighter game than Ending was. The game is gorgeous, with that familiar Nitrome art style, which belies just how brutally challenging it can be, as you have to track several enemies at a time, and use limited resources along with your bopping to stay alive.
#Rustbucket and friends fight a pack of slimes. #strategy #turnbased #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev pic.twitter.com/S9QLvMMmcD
— Nitrome (@Nitrome) December 2, 2015
The game starts off by throwing you into a lengthy tutorial, but you shouldn’t look at it that way, more as a mini-campaign to play through that teaches you how to play the game while also legitimately testing your skills and learning how the game works on your own terms. There’s future content planned beyond the tutorial campaign and endless mode, with a mode locked away that from its icon suggests that it might point to a level select, which would be cool to have. But regardless, there’s some fantastic production values here already, and the game promises a brutal challenge for you in the endless mode. Check this one out when it releases this week.
TA played possum with GTA. I don't recall it being mentioned earlier lmao
It was.
Yes they wrote about a possible surprise release around these days it's my Christmas present,in the release list is a game called "Biker mice from Mars" it was my favorite race game on the SNES but sadly it's not a port,the pics and the view of this version don't look that great to me.
I don't think LCS is out for android yet :(
Vice City or VCS?
GTA: LCS is all im really playing this winter break 😂
Oh yeah and Hungry Shark World
looks interesting
Did the new Hungry Shark game that was mentioned earlier get pushed back?
Would like to know this as well
Looks like it was just a soft launch.
I think I'll give Dungeons of Evermore a shot. Scribblenauts Unlimited is a great game. I have the Wii U version and played through it twice. Only downside was that I found it a tad easy when compared with earlier games.
So is heroes paradox just a blatant ripoff off of battleheart or is it by the same people?
It is not the same people.
weak week
Woo plant wars 2. I liked the first one, hope it has a more reasonable cost of buying in-game currency this time.
I really don't want to complain, because GTA is a big release and even though I never liked the series (just not my genre), I know it's a huge deal for a lot of people, but is this the only AAA release this christmas? With the iPad Pro out and christmas ahead I'd honestly expected more. I'm not one of those who cry "weak week" every week there's not a Bioshock-esque release, but I wanted to thow all the gift cards I'm getting every year at some developers and now I don't know what to buy, because it seems Q1 2016 will have most of the big releases. I thought there'd be more (especially surprises) before the freeze.
I agree. I was in a spending mood, but I don't know where to throw my money at. Maybe I wait for a few more sales. Too bad that games like Love You to Bits, Torchlight Mobile and Titan Quest got pushed back to Q1 2016, but this will only make those games better (I hope). But man, I would like to see some super-suprise late last-minute game popping up in the App Store before Christmas. Like a great Civilization or Warcraft III port. Or Fez or Mark of the Ninja or Invisible Inc. or.....I'm getting ahead of myself.
Don't get me started on Warcraft. That's never going to happen, but boy do I want it!
From all I've heard I'll skip Torchlight, but I'm so looking forward to Titan Quest. But you're right, it'll probably make those games better if they take their time.
But not even a new Telltale adventure...? :(
The year is not over yet and you never know what lies ahead so fingers crossed.
It's a brilliant week so far, GTA will be huge, Badlands 2 is a sequel to Apple's 2013 game of the year so that will be massive, there's also a near identical PC/Wii U port of Scribblenauts Unlimited, as well as a new Cut The Rope which is the latest in a massive mobile gaming franchise. I guess it's down to individual taste but all the games I've mentioned are excellent in their own way, and for me it has to be one of the strongest pre Christmas set of releases in some years and I've been iOS gaming since at 2008 :)
I thought I should point out, if you have Apple TV, Dadako just released Pirate Pop, a very cool game boy-esque action game.
Please check it out if you can!
plenty of rougelikes, plenty of pixel art games. Pixelart is way too main stream, but heeck i'd still picked them over some disgusting HD remake of legendary classics
caRRage and Solaris Rover Expedition are by far the most 2 addictive games in this list for a car race enthusiast... Altho GTA is the big hit, I still love to see these posts filled with new comers - liked the list.
Now that's what you call a list.
Thanks Jared for making discovery easy for all of us, it's genuinely appreciated.
Looking forward to part two.:)
What a bunch of crap. Too bad.
Quality != quantity. When I see a long list of releases, I don't think "oooh nice, lots of stuff to check out", I think "damn, that's a lot of crap to sift through".
All I wanted for Christmas was Drifter for iOS. Maybe next year. :(
Every time a new FREEMIUM game with the absolute potential to be an incredible game is ruined by greed, graft and laziness; I remind myself why as someone who had been a staunch iOS gamer for many years and having spent many thousands of dollars on games barely plays anything on iOS and almost doesn't care anymore. Dear greedy developers, MAKE A WHOLE GAME THEN CHARGE ME FOR IT. Till then, you're shooting the iOS gift horse in the head.
lol
There are a lot of free games out there with very solid pay structures. The solution isnt always to just slap a price tag on a game.In the current iOS market it's unlikely to be a solution at all. Predatory free games are much different than actually good free games, and painting them all with the same brush is at best misinformed, and usually flat out disingenuous.
Honestly it is too hard to distinguish. I have been burnt too many times byfreemium game starting out good, only to hit a pay wall after the first hour. I have gotten to the point where if a game has IAP currency it is automatic skip.
It is too bad that the majority of games have ruined it for the small number of games with less scummy pay models.
Amazing.. So I'm sure you can name 5 "freemium" games with "very solid pay structures" that I can spend $5 on tomorrow (say) and in 5 months return to the game and still enjoy that $5 spent?
My money would be on you not getting much enjoyment out of life, no matter how much you spend.
So you got nothing? Me neither man. Thats my point. Wish you all the best in your video game endeavors.
I can easily name a host of free games that I have enjoyed for more than 5 months, but asking me to tell you what games you will enjoy through a single price point is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as saying all free games are this or that or the other, so at least you are consistent.
Here's some you can enjoy at a single price point: baldur's gate 1 and 2. Kotor. War hammer quest. Bastion. Transistor. Death rally, banner saga. Any kemco game. Agarest war. War hammer death watch. Battle academy 1 and 2. Autumn dynasty. Any kairosoft game. Just off the top. :) have fun with those!
Not a fan of some of those games, but just off the top of my head here are some free to play games that I have found fun with more replayability than a typical premium rpg and have months and months of staying power:
Vain Glory
Hearthstone
Call of Champions
Outwitters
Disc Drivin
Subterfuge
Seconding this.
You are willing to spend the whopping sum of $5 and expect to get months of entertainment from it, and yet it's the DEVELOPERS who are greedy? Amazing.
Actually willing to spend up to $20 (Maybe more dependent on game) and $5 was an example, you know for argument's sake? Just trying to keep it simple.
Whoa, TWENTY whole dollars!? It boggles the mind that developers aren't literally lining up at your doorstep to create AAA level games specifically for you and the VERY TINY HANDFUL of other people who would pay money for a mobile game. Unfortunately for you, 99.9999999% of the mobile gaming population isn't willing to pay even a cent for a game upfront, so now all games are free. If you have a problem with that, I'd question what you are even doing here in the first place.
So a $5 price (used to be the upper spending cost for a complete game) is too low and so is $20. You aren't making much sense mr developer. Pro tip: make a complete great game and people will buy it. Kairosoft games (as an example) aren't AAA are they? I am here because of my aforementioned love of iOS gaming and I'm disgusted with the direction it is headed. By the way, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.
You've become a whole lot more eloquent than your first capslocking assumption spewing post. I wish I could say your ignorance of the app store has improved too.
Well I'm not having a temper tantrum, or trolling; I'm trying to take part in a discussion. Merry Christmas developers; especially to those that get what I'm saying. Peace + Love.
calling devs greedy for making a ftp game after so many other devs have gone under for trying to stay premium = trolling or ignorant, take your pick.
calling all ftp games "ruined by greed, graft and laziness" = trolling or ignorant, and again, take your pick.
Pro Tip: There are a trail of bodies miles and miles long of developers trying to make paid games and failing miserably. Honestly, do even the most basic amount of research on the topic. Kairosoft? They port their decades old PC games to mobile, because it is low cost and low effort, and they have a pretty substantial audience of existing fans so they can make it work for them. There's a handful of developers who can make paid games work, a VERY small handful. So when you come into a comment section and blanket berate developers for using the only business model on mobile that's proven to work with any sort of consistency, basically an incredibly easy decision for anybody who has even a lick of sense to make, and inexplicably chalk it up to "greed, graft and laziness", it makes you not only look like a massive asshole, but woefully uninformed. I mean hey, if that's what you were going for, then great! Unfortunately you'll have a hard time getting people to take you seriously when you drop in and throw a tantrum like you did. Paid games can work but it takes a very specific set of circumstances. Berating people for choosing a path that gives them the best chance of success, as opposed to one that's proven a multitude of times to be a dismal failure, is not just developers being these greedy jerk meanies that won't give you your precious paid video games. It's about peoples' actual lives and not wanting to go into financial ruin or have their dream be a failure.
Awesome.
Simple as that.
Why people don't see the reality every comment you've made here in this article thread is beyond my understanding.
Developers Gotta eat and buy shoes too. Feed their children, buy cars, buy food, buy clothes, get out and have lives and function as part of civilisation. It ain't a charity shop.
Everybody has to get by. Some do it badly but some do it a hell of a lot better.
It's time for players to recognise that not all developers are money hungry greedy bastards trying to screw you over.
Some are just trying to entertain people and make a living at the same time.
That seems perfectly fair.
It even seems fair that they make a bob or two and live a better life as a result of their hard work.
Why people complain so much about that is just crazy.
It's especially ironic considering the device the complainers are most probably typing their complaint about iOS game companies on are using.
Tons of games this week... but my dream of the Super Star Wars series to hit iOS was not realized. Profit opportunity missed for them. Oh well. We also didn't get a any word of any The Force Awakens game or Disney Infinity app content.
Is there a list of holiday sales anywhere? Or have the sales not started yet? I feel like last year around this time the sales were already starting but I could be wrong.
Badlands 2 is out
If only I could skip xmas and new year right now I would, for crashland.
What happened to the "gods will be watching" and "dropsy" release from the guys that released Downwell?!?? I thought it was out today and I have been waiting for gwbw. If anyone knows please let me know??!
Definitely developer(s) need to do something to innovate F2P,....
tldr? Dashy Crashy, Drifting penguins, Crossy Maze. 3 good ones.