Loving this. As mentioned, levels seem a little small and cramped at times. Even so, this is awesome and will draw me away from space miner for a while for sure. IAP model is wicked. This is how it should be done. Free to attract attention to the game itself. One content unlock / upgrade IAP. Great game.
Ha, I like the small levels ... in arcade mode I think there are 5 or 6 of these. If you start these levels blasting everything, the level will quickly fill up with little rocks ... it's best to try tackle one asteroid at a time as much as possible. These are great levels for smart bombs too ... as they're small, everything just seems to be in range! No such thing in Darkside ... just a single 'unlock full game' IAP : ) I was keeping things simple for my first IAP and completely missed that this was a common inclusion. It's already on the list for the first update.
Stunning game. I've been playing it for about a week via promo code on 4th gen Touch and 1st gen iPad - performance very good on both devices, which surprised me. The visual effects are excellent, sound too. Controls can be customised for size, fixed or floating and visibility. As everyone else is saying, the free Arcade mode + 69p/99c for unlocking the full version is spot on. Good luck to Clockwork Pixels with this one, deserves a New & Noteworthy at the very least.
Really nice game, unfortunately it's one of those rare cases where a game makes me feel dizzy almost immediately upon starting to play. Pretty sure it's the spinning planet. Interesting to note: I did not have this problem with Super Stardust. In any case, if you don't have the same problem, this should be a no-brainer. Support this developer people, we could really use more like him on the app store.
Amen to that. Support him by buying the full game unlock of course. Even though I too would have preferred a full standalone version, as long as George is planning on sticking with his guns and doesn't end up releasing a "full" version in the future (hello Shantae...I'm looking at you), I can honestly say that $1 for this is an absolute steal. If it were just Arcade and Survival, I'd get it...but 100 missions too? Infinite re-playability, retina graphics, no consumable IAPs, 20 frickin' megabytes...all for a buck? Sheesh!
Thank you! That's very interesting ... it might be because Darkside's camera slowly tilts towards where the players is heading, not sure if Stardust does this or not. Will look into it and provide an option to lessen and switch off the effect ... thanks for pointing that out and sorry for the dizziness! Cheers : ) George
It would be great if that were possible to do. Only thing I could guess, was that it was perhaps due to the planets not being round, unlike in SS. But I really have no idea what the cause is for sure. If you ever do implement it (not expecting you to unless it's an issue for enough folks) I'll be very curious to try it again.
Blown away by the visuals. But IAP for mission mode and survival seems a no-no for me. I'm sticking to endless arcade mode. Hope future updates offers ship upgrade or stuff without grinding..., Fruit Ninja is ruined with power-up grindfest. Seems I gonna have to own a credit card soon, since I don't have one...
I think its fine, seen a lot of games like that where they wont instantly stop the second you change direction, its quite realistic, be weird if it instantly stopped and changed. I cant see the dev changing that at all. Be so much easier if it did that dont get me wrong but i think it works really well
This is an awesome game and it runs perfectly on my third gen device! I just played the arcade mode for a short while and then immediately bought the other modes. Great dualstick shooter!
I think it's the extra camera movement. Not only is it zooming around an asteroid, but it is constantly tilting. It's mimicking what happens when you tilt your head to see where you're going ... but ... your brain is thinking 'Wait! I didn't tilt my head, what's going on!' and then it tells you to throw up, just in case : ) I will definitely add a slider to the options menu (in the first update). It will let you adjust the effect and switch it off entirely. I'll send you a PM when it's out Gabrien ... thanks again!
Hi Metalcasket! No, the 'Full Version' is the current single IAP ... that's what it's called on the store and I'm sticking to it : ) I think this is down to personal preference. I think the momentum on the space ship is fairly minimal, and I'm not sure being able to switch directions instantly would work for this game ... but a slider allowing players to tweak this based on their playing style may be a very good thing : ) I've had a few comments about adding ship upgrades and being able to control the ship's characteristics. I don't think I'll add a whole 'collect gems to buy upgrades' thing, but I might add a screen where you can 'tune' your spaceship in various ways ... maybe even add a paint shop!
Dang! You totally beat me to it! It's the first thing I thought of when I heard the ship going back up again after the mission is complete.
Some kind of upgrade or tweaking system that allows players to tune their ships to their individual play-styles would be a nice addition, but on a purely arcade-style action level, this game really nails it! I was surprised and impressed by the great graphics for such a minimal memory-footprint, as well as the very fair, one-time only (so far) in-app purchase that's pretty optional (but, honestly, a bargain for the full version of such a great game).
nVidia has a jingle!? Whoever 'created' it must have bought it at the same place I did ... then sold it to nVidia for $50k ; ) Thanks, I think that sums it up. The game is a arcade/action game at heart, so any additions shouldn't mess with that ... also I don't want to unbalance the high scores by adding upgrades that radically change the game's balance. But yeah, an extra screen allowing you to tweak the ship to how you like to play DSS's can only be a good thing. Btw ... Thanks to Touch Arcade & Jared for featuring the game on the homepage! ... that's made my day! The game is starting to get some love from a number of sites. Just had a couple of great reviews ... am I allowed to post links? If not, let me know and I'll remove them straight away : ) Arcade Life : 95% "Get the free arcade mode. Play it for a few minutes. Shove your eyes back into your head. Buy the full game." Smartphone App Review : 91% "A brilliant shoot em up that is surprisingly tactical and full of depth." Also ... someone called SilentSpartan has locked out the leaderboards with scores even I will find hard to challenge ... got to be a good thing! Cheers : ) George
Meh I was hoping this would fill my dual-stick needs for the week, but this one misses the mark. Graphics are too busy, and too similar. Music makes me want to gouge out my ears when it repeats at every level. Pinballing off rocks is annoying at later levels (7-9) on Arcade, and scoring system is too basic. For those of your equating this with Super Stardust, I highly recommend you check out the iOS game Meteor Blitz, which is superior in every way to Darkside. HD version available as well. Meteor Blitz is an oldy in terms of iOS games, but it still has no equal when "borrowing" Super Stardust gameplay.
