It's a combination of sorts we think since we don't see the problem with the new improved controls on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. We're tracking down why the older devices still have an occasional stutter. If we do go the radial menu route for the other parts, it would seem also to be a natural fit for replacing the ? and M menus. Otherwise, we'll have to experiment to see which way to go. The unpaused ? menu goes to real-time reporting of information and control of wingmen whereas the M menu is for more static information (the map) and stateful changes. But the distinction is perhaps a little arbitrary still. There is an undocumented way to change ammo by holding down a specific weapon module's button, but we also wanted a clearer menu-driven approach that applied to all weapon modules. What probably makes sense is to add options so the user can change the defaults that we may set, so he can make everything pause or everything unpaused, etc. I admit there is some benefit to removing those buttons and using an existing UI element. But consider this though: I like how Skyrim hides the health, mana, and stamina bars when they're full. We might do something similar, and in that case, they couldn't be used as buttons. This would be ideal to add down the road I think. The trick will be making radial menus look correct and work on everything from the 3GS/iPod Touch to the huge monitors of today. It's a shame that a game like Vendetta is so easily overlooked due to its graphics. We sort of have an excuse since we're targeting mobile, but we still have some fancy effects and are planning on replacing the models sometime. We're thinking about adding an option to control how many dust particles there are with sensible default settings for different devices. Maybe add streaks or clouds later, too. I think something like this would be possible if our plans to integrate a scripting language comes to fruition down the road. WoW uses Lua to build its interface. We're thinking about doing the same (and using it to build missions), and perhaps exposing some kind of API so modders could improve graphics or add a cockpit view. People could upload their mod to our database, and then users could download and pick the mods they want to use. I've thought it would be cool to have some sort of MMO-like feature like this as a stepping stone on the eventual road to an MMO. Perhaps down the road? This is an interesting idea that I think should be possible with the Unity engine. We'll have to come back and investigate it later when time permits. Gah, too bad this forum software limits reply length. Will have to break up the reply into two.
You'll be happy to know that the mobile devices are getting two d-pad modes. One with a fixed d-pad in the lower left, and another where you can slide your finger on the screen anywhere there's not a button. This will be in the upcoming 1.0.5 release (we're skipping 1.0.4). Has the 1.0.3 update improved controls for you? If you have precise fingers, you can select the target directly by tapping on the ship's icon. You can also lock the ship directly by tapping the lock icon next to the ship. Due to the size of the 3GS and older iPod Touch screens, this may not be possible for people with large fingers; hence, the reason we have the separate buttons to select and lock. No targeting system to lead shots yet. We experimented with this and didn't find our first iteration useful. Part of the problem is that it's very hard to dogfight due to the fast speeds involved. The specialized dogfighting ship, the Poseidon has bonuses to a webber, so you should try that ship if you enjoy dogfighting. Interestingly, Galaxy on Fire 2 (GoF2) did away with the leading target indicator which they had in GoF1 perhaps as a way to up the difficulty. If you have any specific suggestions, we'll definitely consider it. We did add the auto-hide feature in 1.0.3. One of the leading contenders in a future update is a radial menu concept. Thanks, we are definitely continuing to work on improving the game experience for the smaller screens. Hopefully, some of you guys get the chance to play it on an iPad or PC down the road, too. You can select a target directly from the contact list, just tap the ship icon or the lock icon next to it. It's just a bit tougher on the smaller screens and if you have larger fingers. Let us know if you have any ideas on how we could improve things still. Sorry about this! We are working on making sure the text will show scroll bars if it all won't fit on screen. By the way, the color of the ship icon in the contacts tells you: red - enemy or hostile green - ally or wingman (friendly) gray - neutral The color of the brackets in the contacts list that enclose modules tells you: red - that module is targeting you white - module is not being used green - one of your modules is targeting this ship blue - this module is targeting somebody other than you purple - this ship is being targeted by somebody other than you Hmm, the perk isn't suppose to happen till you dock at the hub station. Are you seeing it before this? We could add more text panels to explain combat more during the tutorial. Part of the concern was that players might get too bogged in text that it would be a turn off. But we do have the ability to make them into dialog windows, so the player could choose to skip them I suppose. There is Newtonian flight possible, you'll need to get the Newtonian Flight skill from one of the corporations as a loyalty quest. This lets you keep flying in one direction while shooting in another. When you get the skill, make sure to put a point of skill into it. Then you'll see an "I" button that lets you toggle Newtonian flight mode. Perhaps we could add another camera option to let people pick how the camera behaves for each autopilot... Thanks for all your feedback everybody!
Problem I'm having a problem finishing breakdown quests. I accept the quest, the pilot will say he's in need of repairs so I use my remote armor repair but I get no confirmation the quest was finished. It doesn't matter how long I use the repair module and their armor is fully replenished. Is anyone else having this issue?
Thanks BinaryHelix, the fixed D-pad will do the trick for me. I'd rather slide my fingers on-screen, but they are too fat for the amount of icons on screen, so I'll stay with the D-pad
How are tings going with the next Update? Cant wait to see what there is in store for us! Hope there will be something with the boarding other ship or something like that! It just sounds so cool, hel* even if it came to be a bit trivial-ish like the mass effect planetside side quests was, it will still bee cool, I remember those missions in mass effect, and even though they were extremely trivial, I still found them cool to play.
Awesome, thanks for the comment and feedback! I appreciate the explanation on the contact indicators. As far as further suggestions on how to accommodate increased HUD button functionality.. I was thinking that a scroll/zoom effect on buttons and on the contact list would be fantastic. Your buttons and contact list could be tiny but legible on screen during flight. But when you put your finger over/on the list of contacts or buttons the button could pop out and zoom in allowing you to run your finger across/down them (e.g. like the dock on OS X) and zooming in to each item consecutively allowing you to select the one you want. Yeah, it happened for me while I was still "following" Cali. And yeah, I guess for me with the style of game you're trying to accomplish the initial pacing of introduction could be just a bit slower... a few ships to fight.. a bit of flying around... a few more ships to fight, etc. Cool, can't wait to find this one...
I'm sorry binaryhelix, I seem to have missed your post! Responses below. iPad 2, 16 GB. So, after getting the expanded statements from Cali on slavery, and going though the gate, once on the other side, there is no further text from Cali. At all. And, in the quest log, it lists the tutorial as Incomplete. Even if I dock at Toballa Hub, nothing seems to get rid of it. I understand. No worries I'm still enjoying the hell out of the game either way That's what I figured out after I posted. It's not too big of a deal (now knowing that). To be honest, I really only use the local map for scanning right now. There isn't enough information on it to really be necessary. Very cool! Good to know! I need to run the scan skill down and test it. I'll work on it over the week, and see what happens, before I scan it, and then after it's scanned.
I couldn't find a wiki for this game, so I made one. Dangerous.wikia.com was still available! http://dangerous.wikia.com Please, add some pages so that I maybe I can stop dying!
This seems to be an erratic bug that we're trying to track down. Doesn't seem to happen all the time. Having Cali repair them seems to work all of the time, so might be related to the player repairing them. The new controls are a huge improvement. We're also trying to get rid of the block of text at the top and replacing it with more context-driven info. We've made the scroll bars bigger and added scrolling for text wherever it can't fit on any sized device. Since it's still about improving the controls and UI, we won't start on the boarding changes until at least after this update. We hope to have this 1.0.5 update done this week. This is an interesting suggestion. We originally thought it would be nice to have a way to drag the Contacts list up and down. The need for this and your suggestion is somewhat reduced since the new update already orders the list by importance. We can't seem to duplicate this problem (getting the perks selection before you dock). If anyone else has seen it, please chime in. Do you remember the context of when it happened? Like where were you and what just happened prior to it? And what device model and iOS version are you using? We can't duplicate this bug either (not being able to complete the tutorial). Anybody seen this? One thing to try: reboot your device and see if you can trigger the bug again. Awesome, that's what we love to hear! Cool, would be interesting to see where the wiki goes. Where are you dying? What ship and wingmen do you have with you? In general, I can suggest that you upgrade to a destroyer to deal with core or high security, a cruiser for low security, and a battleship for null security. Here's one other survival tip for null-sec (semi-spoiler): Spoiler You normally draw all the aggression from enemies, but if you have Havok with you, he'll get the aggro. This lets you fly virtually any ship as long as you can keep him alive.
For the upcoming update, I was wondering how people feel about this potential change: The Rocketeer perk will be the standard behavior (the player and only the player can start warp at any distance). By the way, we're also speeding up warp so there's less waiting. And we're adding an easy, hard, and impossible difficulty selection at the start of the game (maybe allow changing this setting in stations). The current game mode is "normal" difficulty. Let me know if there's anything else fundamental about the game that hasn't been covered that you'd like to see changed. Our goal is to remove impediments to fun but keep the challenge and fun intact. Thanks!
Do you mean that Rocketeer perk will be the only one available and there won't be a selection of the others?
The Rocketeer perk would no longer be a perk, but just how the game works for the player. Everybody will be able to start warp at any distance regardless of the perk that was chosen. Those who picked the Rocketeer perk will get to pick a different perk. The Rocketeer perk will be replaced by something else. Still figuring out what the new perk will be... p.s. Meant to post this as BinaryHelix (the swiftest account had some weird issue that was recently fixed, but I think I'll go back to BinaryHelix)
Ist an idea! But what about the warp skill then? And the associated faction? That faction should have another skill then! And the explanation of warping should be changed as well, Deciding such a small things can easily become an avalanche of small things needed to be done!! Personally I DON'T mind the warp safety limit, it sound reasonable and realistic. What other use would afterburners have if you removed the need for a quick escape? If things got hairy you could just warp away! No I think the warp limit is a great idea! Besides, I think there are other more importend things needed implemented in the game, then the removal of the warp limit! Wouldnt you agree?
The Warp Nav skill still controls how far away you arrive, so it's still needed. Some enemies will have warp jammers, and the ones that don't can follow you through warp. Since you'll have to transit to dock, there is still that element of danger (especially since being webbed means you can't dock). But I do appreciate your feedback. This change is not set in stone, but I do feel like some new players might be getting frustrated by the need to transit to warp. This change still keeps (half of) the danger element, but speeds up gameplay a little.
I dont really like this idea either. I personally appreciate the actual pace of the game. Reducing warp time and removing warp limit would be cool when you do a 10min session but this game isnt for "on the go" playing. Add it to the difficulty settings somehow (difficulty based on gameplay factors and not on player/enemies health) Sorry if I'm hard to understand but its late in france
Newbs don't stay newbs, they learn to, just like I did, and everyone els who bought the game, but I see your point non the less, the decision is yours!
Well, you both made good points. We did address this with the Rocketeer perk. For now, we'll back burner this and come back to it later. Thanks for both your feedback!
I'm enjoying the game so far and love the potential here (finding it far, far better than the other newest open world space game, Traveller AR, for what it's worth). But I'm running into what I perceive to be a bug in the equipping/selling of ship modules. If I unequip lt missile launcher from the ship it disappears completely from my cargo, it's not in my storage or anywhere, just gone? I think this is a bug, but maybe hard to duplicate as it seems to work in my other saved game? Also, I find it slightly cumbersome to have to move things back and forth between hold and hangar in order equip them on the ship... Why can't you just assume that when you place the order to have something equipped, if it's in your hold the mechs don't just go get it? The same goes for selling things out of your hold, I mean why should I have to go through the process of moving things to storage just to sell or equip it? And as a byproduct of this game mechanic, I really don't like the pop-up when I dock asking whether I want to move all of my commodities/hold items to storage as I don't yet know the prices at a new station, etc. If you could just sell and equip things directly out of the hold it would eliminate this cumbersome step (either one, moving everything from hold to storage, or moving everything back by hand once you decide that prices aren't good and you need to go elsewhere). Thanks again to the devs for all their time and support! Also, is there anyway we can get a way, like a double-tap or something to move all items of a particular slot from cargo to storage, or storage to sell, etc.? It's just annoying to have to keep tapping to move single items across.
