Thanks for the hint. I guess I missed that text. As a professional scientist I am always looking at things analytical and try (to help) to improve them. It´s def. not negativity. But a talent to spot the weak spots helps, I `ll give you that And I sign your positive part of your post, I love this game. (BTW I made a parenthesis mistake. I meant :- A smoother (semi) adjustable camera would a help a lot.) Too big for a simple question. So I´ll give you a short answer: Knowledge is never wrong. Always wear the shoes your size, until you feet grow. Shoes to big or too small make you look stupid in appearance and while walking.
The game vid is down, you can still find it at this URL: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/CaDopZ0He4I/
Something I like about the iPhone market is that teams and budgets are smaller. Less financial risk means more room for creativity, style and originality. It also means that a small team can prime, say, game-play, atmosphere or style over feeding the GPU. My guess is, artists coming from video game / 3D schools etc... have a lot to share and dream of amazing stuff that we'll never see, because if we did, we might react something like 'hell no / 10', and the biz won't afford it. I've been working both on the technical and artistic side - style, if any, emerges somewhere in between... What I really wanted was characters to be a little more concrete - working on the camera seemed important, so the characters won't always be a splatter of pixels in isometric. I think I coded the camera at least 3 times... I'm leaning more towards 'fine tuning it', less towards 'complete freedom/customization'. If the camera rotates 360 in a finger-swipe, surely that would hugely affect the design of the gaming experience?
*New And Noteworthy* [UK, Japan, France, Germany, August 6-7] Guys, I really want to say thanks for all the ratings and ponderate, sensible reviews you posted on the US store! Antistar is doing jolly good considering it apparently got just 1 review on a minor referral oriented game site in France. I'll complete reviewing your feedback this week-end and get back to work. I want Antistar to become a **great** game, not just a nice surprise, plus I owe it to all of yous wondering wtf's happening next For the rest of us interested in 3D modeling stuff, I posted a kind of making of on my blog, maybe more interesting for devs...
First of all I wasn't originally going to bother to play this game but fortunately an opportunity came along for me to. I must say this game is very strange and atmospheric, it really is quite out of this world. It's perfect proof that Japanese horror games with the single female protagonist would work perfectly on the iDevice and it's just a shame that there isn't a developer and a publisher willing to risk it. The simplistic controls do there job, but they could use a bit of work. I like the music but it does start to get a bit repetitive after awhile, fortunately it's necessary as it helps set the atmosphere of the game. The gameplay is good and I must say this is quite a fun game, but the enemies are easy to defeat and that seems to be the only problem so far that I've come across. Otherwise this is a great game and I recommend it to all.
I see what you mean, pure Art approach isn't meant to please to a large number of people. But yes the extreme price pressure plus the strong technical possibilities allow more freedom and more space from small team. Myself that's the only thing that interest me in gaming on my iPad. Large classical productions let me more cold for my iPad because i know I can get much better on a computer, if I like that sort of game, not really in fact apart some mass budget RPG.
Lol I can admit I didn't understood this one, well apart applied to real shoes. Knowledge is never wrong but when your knowledge is on how make something, it could jailed you in what you think are mandatory rules. I'm sure any pure Art school have the focus on this, but I'm less that any 3D school took time put focus on this. Also you could know it but apply it and take your freedom is another matter. To go a little out of topic, but there's a link, on PC games mainstream, the general tendencies have always been with graphics more and more realistic. So any game with a realistic approach grow old very fast because next gen allow more, so allow more realistic. With a real style approach in graphics, your graphic will never really get old, just eventually will please more or less depending of the current global moods. But I think that since Team Fortress PC mainstream started realize that pure realism isn't a necessity, even for games targeting to be AAA ie mass market.
Think I missed something when I designed the 'camera control'. Because I have so few iPhone users around me, i missed out the fact that - intended as an effect to make framing more dynamic, this appears to many players to be a very restrictive, hard to use control. The iPad has a bigger zoom out altogether Mmmh... before I rework everything, I wonder if anybody has something nice to say about the current camera?
Yes indeed. I´d sign this. If you don´t have a vision, you may be technically as good as you want and still be boring. And that also is true for the difference between knowledge and understanding. To know fact A and B is fine. But if you cannot make a connection between those two, you undestand nothing. I´ve seen worse honestly it´s ok. Maybe a optional 3rd person over the shoulder lock help too, with a adjustable distance from the character.
Antistar - What next? Exhausted the thread and PM feedback, here's how I feel about the next installment. - 2 to 4 additional chapters; this will be via free updates for existing players. - Small improvements to dpad and dialogue system and, very hopefully, the camera. - Changes to the gaming experience... Don't really want to spoil any surprises. - Kinda light version/teaser. Not sure exactly what form this will take. Trunken Krupp and the blue cat surely will come back. Got a huge, dark beast itching to ship, but she's a little shy. The next chapters will take us to dark underworlds; brief forays on the bright, foggy side.
I've seen the screenshots, saw the video, read some of the posts, and ... I still don't really know what to make of this. It looks like one of those obscure adventure/puzzle games, but there's just something ... odd about it I can't quite nail down. It looks creative and atmospheric, but I just can't pin down whether it would be entertaining or not. I appreciate game that dare to be different as long as they're doing so in the name of creativity rather than for its own sake, and this appears to have accomplished that quite well, it's just that I guess the important stuff doesn't translate well to still shots or even video. Also, it says it's universal, which means iPhone and iPad in one app, but does it support the iPhone 4's Retina display?
@Mindfield: Playing this at the moment. As you say, it is indeed odd and atmospheric, but rest assured it's also thoroughly entertaining/compelling. Not sure about Retina support though.
Retina display support On iPhone 4, definition for 3D is x1.5 iPhone for the 3D, and x2 for the UI. As I don't have a device to test, I think x1.5 ensures best depth of field / definition combination. On 3GS we support antialiasing too...
Kind of an odd choice there for in-game. 1.5x would be 720x480 scaled up, which would look a little odd for diagonal lines. Any particular reason for lower res in-game? Is it just the lack of a device to test on? I did get your PM by the way, I'll check it out as soon as I'm at home.
It is a pleasure to support such art... Tea, thank you for making Antistar. I love everything about it: the dialogue, the characters, the music, the procedural landscapes, everything. Antistar definitely deserves more attention than it has received up to now. And yes, more chapters (please!) but I'm already happy with my purchase. It is a pleasure to support such art. P.S. plays and looks great on my iPad!
From testing in the simulator, it should look pretty good -- let me know... Doubling the definition of the device will cause a strain on the hardware. So here we got faster hardware, but we haven't tested it yet; being a little conservative should be better than having FPS drops.
Okay, so I've had a chance to play through some of it, and ... well, I'll be honest. I am still am not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe that's part of its charm though; it's deliberately inscrutable in order to create a sense of "what the hell is going on, and what am I doing here?" I do give it points for styling. It does a good job of creating a fantasy, almost alien landscape even when it feels familiar; a kind of Alice in Wonderland, through-the-looking-glass approach. The gameplay is ... well, it's a little awkward. The stick works well enough, but the camera just stays still where you'd expect a follow cam. As a result you end up walking toward the camera at times, unable to see where you're going or what paths lie ahead. I would have liked to have had an over-the-shoulder cam or something. The fixed position camera almost feels like its sole purpose so it can show off the main character's features instead of just her back. I'd also like non-interactive cut scenes to have a more concrete stopping and starting point, maybe with a sudden zoom-in. Too often it's entered into a cutscene while I thought I was still playing and I inadvertently skipped some of the text. There were also some clipping issues with your character falling through the edges of some of the models, such as the left staircase of the first strange town you come upon. It's got style, no question, but its not without its somewhat minor issues, and it left me with a feeling that something is a little ... off. I know it's all supposed to be a little left of center, that's the point, but this is apart from the gameplay itself, and more to do with its structural composition. It feels a bit rough around the edges, like the potential is there and most of it is realized, but there is still room for polish. I guess that's really what is missing here: Polish. It's a beautifully designed game, it's just got some loose threads, hard edges, and none of the extra, non-essential stuff that makes a game truly polished. Like a nice cherry wood cabinet that still needs to be sanded a bit here and there and then covered with some nice stain and a coat of varnish. Yeah, I know that's not very specific, but it isn't really any one specific thing I can point to. Oh, and the graphics do look okay on the iPhone, perhaps a bit better than average, but it very obviously does not make full use of the Retina display.
I must say that I agree with Mindfield - this game is certainly interesting, original and made well enough, but it does lack some polish. It can be made better
Friday the 13th - 66.6% off Cheers, It's sweet to get this kind of comment (sigh). Believe it or not, at the time of this writing it is ALREADY friday the 13th in some waters. I have adjusted the price accordingly, and the change is now effective. A murkier topic being, when will it stop? And how long is it gonna be friday the 13th? By my reckoning, 48 hours. Oh well, you needn't wait until the last minute either. Bigger and better, today may be the best time to announce that I'll be supporting the Antistar project, and others at Anime 3D SFX, full time! Antistar started as a part-time, solo project. I guess we didn't do badly with a .75 head count, managing a game engine, stylish gfx and animations, plus an attractive (if ever slightly foggy) story line. Hard fun ahead.
Great news, for 99c, this is the chance for those who are on the fence to get this very unique game. A little gem than deserves more attention
