Not sure if a mouse was a common device to play a game back then. Most likely a keyboard. I surely didn’t use a mouse to play the classic DooM.
Mouse is definitely supported back then in Wing Command 1 (non-CD version) and the original X-Wing (non-Collector Edition). But it is dang hard to fly using one, especially for X-wing. One legend said somebody finished the whole campaign using mouse only. For me, I played using "sexy hardware by Microsoft", but I did not rich enough to own a 386 with EMS-support.
These were the first computer games I ever played. Have a verrry soft spot in my heart for Pool of Radiance.
When we finally got Wolfenstein, it was the game that got me used to playing with a mouse. Not 100% sure that having mouse movement set to look + move was the right mapping, but I guess mouse.y would’ve gone unused if not for move.
Oh hey.. new patch is out All aboard Here it is, the post-launch tutorial revamp I've been promising for a whole two weeks! There's a ton of improvements, bug fixes and other changes in this update, with the end result hopefully meaning that the game is in a better spot for everyone to play. It's by no means perfect, but hopefully it's a big old step in the right direction! First up there's the new and improved tutorial experience, I've Updated the tutorial flow with clearer graphics and more time for the user to figure out the game. Theres also a controller specific tutorial flow with some minor amends to make it more useful and easier to get through. The tutorial has been mostly rewritten, with less, but more clear wording. And I've had a bunch of people verify that there are zero tutorial bugs or blockers at this point in time. There's also been lots of balance updates and fixes. The big one being tying control sensitivity to enemy projectile speed, as it turns out, people playing on anything less than max sensitivity were at a significant disadvantage and now this is no longer the case. I've also generally nerfed some of the faster enemy projectiles in the game (enemy auto cannons, and rail guns) . Also, mines no longer insta kill players. All this should add up to player deaths being more of an "Oh no" moment and less of a "what just happened" moment. Finally, there's a bunch of UI Changes to Post-run flow. When you die, the game now tells you loud and clear, it has a list of all the items you've lost or conversely when you survive, a list of all the items you've gained. The Swipe to loot card has also been updated with pressable buttons, and the swipe mechanics have been improved a bit. I've been working on this patch more or less since day one, and hopefully it's an indication of where the game is going and my intent to support the game going forward. For all of you who are enjoying the game, thank you! For those who've had issues with it, my most sincere hope is that this patch solves a vast majority of them! Full Update List: Gameplay Changes • Design: Enemy projectile speed now tied to control sensitivity. • Design: Removed Rail frigates • Design: Added Plasma Cannon Frigates • Design: Mines no longer insta-kill player • Tutorial: Give player a button to progress to next component (i.e. tell them when they've succeeded, but don't auto progress.) • Tutorial: Seperate Tutorials for varied input types (Controller, Touch) • Tutorial: Added Reload section • Tutorial: Split Health info from Utilities. • Tutorial: Added specific callout for yaw vs roll as a tutorial step (with graphic highlight) • Tutorial: Added Earning loot section • Tutorial: Added Warp out section. • Tutorial: Several UI Graphic design updates • Audio: Dodge roll now has a sound effect. • UI: Post game now shows what the player has lost when they die, and a full list of what they've earned when they survive • UI: Buttons added to the manifest swipe card for accept and reject. • UI: Tutorial run title has been changed to Practice Run in the mission select screen • UI: Improved Incoming missile UX + fixed a bug where the sound effect didn't sync with the graphic • UI: Feedback button now points at correct TouchArcade forum • UI: iPad UI scale adjusted a bit for landscape. (made it so that the text is a wee bit bigger) • UI Controller: Focused indicator gets lost during tutorial intro, made highlights more obvious. • Graphics: Increased view cutoff for fighters.. you should see them now. Bugs Fixed • Manifest page not showing on some completed runs. • Players being instakilled on level entry after X amount of playtime? • Pitched battles: Friendly ships turn on the player. • Play tutorial button showing up in settings during the tutorial. • Tutorial: Thrust now actually works.. no really. • Skip tutorial sometimes doesn't work • Opening settings during warp out will open the main menu without a menu.. locking the game. • Fixed Missile UX audio-visual sync • Loadout cards sometimes animate in and out ... after the page has loaded. • Tutorial: Thrust doesn't complete on first try • Tutorial: Make target ship now respawns when killed • Thrust still stops between tutorial segments for some reason.. • Tutorial: Warp button stuck on engaged after playing tutorial • When dying, sometimes the manifest screen goes to loot instead of main menu • Tutorial: controller: stop thrust, pitch, roll yaw until explicitly needed • In loot manifest, swiping left right to pick up or discard gear makes the card studder, and often takes multiple attempts • Tutorial: Warp button stuck on engaged after playing tutorial • Tutorial: Not sure that the warp text hangs around long enough. Close thing on complete • Tutorial: controllers, dodge tutorial doesn't function correctly. • On wave select, when using controller, popup takes precedence, then select UI takes precedence.. make popup force precedence • Controller: Tutorial: Scroll bar is selectable in ui mode, means controller frequently gets lost
Well, I am not sure if this is a problem unique to rather old phones, but on my iphone8 sounds occasionally go missing. It’s not the shell shock effect or the deaf effect while the health is low (by the way what is the purpose of lowered volume when the hull is low?)
So, I finished the tutorial for the first time. I think you should explain that warp out cannot be always activated. With the current explanation, the warp out sounds like an easy ticket out of danger.
Yeah it's the sound engine in unity getting overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I'm throwing at it. I've got a ton of optimisations in there to stop it from happening, but something tipped it over or got past my optimisations in the weeks leading up to launch. It's on the list of things I'm gonna be fixing .. eventually. As for the sound lowering with low hull, it's meant to tell you "oh something bad is happening" i.e. there's no actual sound in space, and whatever ships systems you've got to simulate sound die off. A little bit of immersiveness would be the way i'd describe it? Hm, The interdictors are meant to be a bit of a nasty trick, the kind you experience once and learn from in the future (think Dark Souls). Not sure if they're too nasty or if there's not enough of a UI connection between being interdicted and not being able to warp out?
Gonna be real, the pace I've put in since launch week has been a fair bit more than I'll normally be able to handle. At some point I'll have to go back to working just one day a week on this haha. Tossing up at the moment whether I'll do one release a week, but keep them small, or less frequent but larger updates. I'll report back when I've figured it out lol.
If the sound bug is something that occurs rarely or happens only if specific weapon combinations are used, then I understand a decision of setting its priority low. However, it occurs pretty much every run. I hope you consider the bug a bit more seriously. As of the sound muffling at low hull, it would be great if you can add an option to disable the feature. To me, it’s equivalent to red circles that occupies the center of the screen Near death for some FPS games.
Trust me, definitely considering the sound bug seriously. The game opens with “best experienced with headphones”, the least I can do is actually deliver sound to said headphones haha. Its more that it’s a fair bit more complex and a lot less critical than *tutorial is broken, can’t play game* If not the next update then the one after (again, as it’s complex it might take me a while to figure out an elegant fix for it.) You’re running an iPhone 8 yeah? Same for me, and I generally find it happens when the game gets intense, i.e. too much happening at once, usually in the later waves of medium or hardest runs. If there’s a more specific pattern that you’re hearing, I’d love to know! As for the low health sound dulling effect, one of the things I’ve been thinking of doing since launch is splitting the settings menu into a more traditional game settings panel (multiple pages) One of which would be specific to gameplay choices, such as turning off the cockpit model / reduced ui. I could pretty easily throw the sound toggle in there too.
Wow. This game is fantastic. Still learning how to fly properly, though. I love that I can play this in portrait mode! One change I would like to see is tapping the back arrow on an equipment slot will remember the previously equipped item if you do not select something new. Still only able to complete easy missions, but I’m hoping to get better. Thanks so much for making this and your dedication to it!
Building what is effectively an arcade flight sim for mobile was hard. Learning how to play my translation of that is also gonna be hard haha, sorry! The inventory screen is one of the older bits of the main menu, some parts of it still exist from my original prototypes and they show. You’re 100% correct that an item shouldn’t unequip unless you specifically change it or remove it, it’ll probably go in with the control update thats coming later on.
