Ooooh, forgot two very important ones: 1. The option to toggle assisted aiming on and off. Assisted aiming should be present as an option, but it shouldn't be too effective. 2. Bring Quake III Arena to the iPhone! Greatest tournament FPS imo!
Guest players Thanks for asking. The one thing that consistently bothers me with almost all games is the lack of multiple accounts and/or a guest account. If you are playing a game where you slowly make progress (through leves for instance), then other people can't try the game without messing up your progress. Games should have a multiple accounts system to allow each person to play the game without disturbing the others' progress/achievements. Space Miner and a few others do this very well, but most don't. Games should also have a guest (account) mode for when people just want to try the game quickly and not save any progress. Certain games I have in progress I won't let other people play (and mess up my progress) which is stupid because they would probably like the game if they could try it and then buy it themselves. Generally developers should be much much much more aware that more than one person use an iDevice. This could be someone's girlfriend - or if several kids share an iPad in a family. Best, Jeppe
1) I preferr games where the stick doesen't change it's postion. So what we need is the option to change between controll methodes!
1. Make sure to have a battery indicator on the pause screen. It sucks to have to close the app to check life, which is something you need to do often with graphically intensive games. 2. Allow us to play our own music, but don't add a music selector into the game, like GameLoft does (it is slow and useless). 3. Allow us to switch landscape orientation (the iPod touch and the iPhone have headphone ports in different places, and only allowing the device to be held one way is annoying. 4. Don't have two virtual analog sticks. Having one for movement is great. Virtual sticks for controlling view and aim are horrible. Just let us drag anywhere on the screen.
These have been said, but let me reiterate: Individual sfx / music volume control. Take Mega Jump: It's great that my music/podcast keeps playing after I start up the game. It's even better that I can toggle the sfx and music separately so I can still hear the in-game effects. But the effects are TOO DAMN LOUD, so I can't hear my podcast anymore, and I end up muting the whole game. Non-network mode. I love Gravity Runner, but if it can't get a decent Wifi/3G signal, I'm stuck at an "initializing openfeint" dialog and can't play the game at all!!
Well, you pulled me out of the lurker status, so hopefully my comments will be of some use to you: 1) Movement: having a virtual thumbstick is great, but I think it kind of limits what you can actually do with the character on a touch screen, and even worse is that it kind of obscures your view even when you have lifted your finger off the screen. For a touch screen game, I think... a dedicated section of the touch screen can be used for gestures instead. Say... touch your finger on the screen anywhere within the section, and slide forward then hold for moving forward. Slide backwards from curren position then pause for moving backwards. Big/faster swipes for running. Even faster and bigger swipe (sudden movement?) for rolling in the direction of the swipe. That way, user will have more control than just moving in one direction. And the position of the movement should be relative to the current position rather than some stationary thumbstick so movement is not limited in any way, and you don't have to worry about letting user choose a place for the thumbstick via a menu of some sort. Actually, you can just have the character in the same place as the section dedicated for movement. That way, you don't have to worry about obscuring the view at all, and I doubt that many people would enjoy seeing how their character looks from behind while they are in a gunfight. You can leave the looking and admiring for the menus instead. 2) Aiming/looking/shooting. I think this is a subject of much debate, but I sincerely would prefer it if I could just tap on an enemy and have my character fire his gun at where I tapped instead. Most first person shooter games on iOS requires the player to take aim carefully by swiping incessantly on the screen, and then tapping on a stationary button to fire. That's just not very efficient in my opinions. Having my other thumb obscuring a part of the screen, I only have so much left of the screen to see, and I wouldn't want to give my other thumb that part of the screen as well. I think... swiping should be done only when you need to look around. Shooting should not depend on swiping. You just touch your target and hope that your bullet hits him. Since your finger is that large, I think your shot would be quite off anyways, giving way for some improvement and precision with practice rather than making the game any easier. Well, I don't think you can say that Doom Resurrection is easy now, right? And this is more of an idea than a requirement for you: two fingers mean two guns, tap and hold to rapid fire, swipe your finger to do a meele attack, and so on. 3) The scale of the game is important as well. I don't mind paying $59.99 for a game that I can enjoy extensively. I paid the same price for any of my console game, which I can't take on the go anyways. So, I think having more contents, and some depth to the story definitely helps. If you're just going to build another $9.99 game like the next guy over, what's in your game that I should consider rather than the other $0.99 offerings in the App Store? I think the App Store is missing some serious apps and games. I don't mind paying big money for an app or a game that is well-written. I paid a lot more for the device itself. So please consider making it a seriously big game rather than a quick shot at how to make an FPS game on iOS. The platform and the hardware are ready, but the apps are still quite infantile mobile versions. I know this is not a super computer platform, but it is still good enough to handle Quake 3 decently.
Most of my focus is as an owner of both iPhone and iPad: Universal games are a must. I will not buy two versions of the same game. I will pay a small premium for a universal game however. Cloud saves so I can go back and forth between iDevices on the same saves. There's a chance to go big here: have a saved game work on iPhone/iPad/PC/Mac versions to make it truly portable. Not an easy task certainly. Not a fan of virtual joysticks, but if you must, have them scale to the device size. There's few things worse than having the worlds largest joystick/movement controls on the iPad. Touch-to-move works better for me, especially with the additional screenspace on the iPad. In-game configuration/options. Do not put them in the Settings app. Save in-game progress anywhere. Checkpoint-only saves are a game killer. Multiple player/character profiles to improve replayability and preserve domestic harmony. Lots of individual save-game slots within each profile as well. Most importantly: Apps should not be a vehicle to nickle and dime customers for DLC and in-game micro-purchases that should have been included to begin with. Games should be a complete artistic statement. Create a sequel if you have something more to say. If your first game was good I will buy the sequel.
That, is actually a pretty viable option. I wish there were some way to base movement on sensitive, where when you apply more pressure with your finger on the "viewing" joystick, you shoot.
Dlc Keep updating the game to add more stuff. If you make a Dlc for the console version, do the same or similar for the iphone. Updates get everyone excited and will get more people playing
1- controls (I think you already got it right in the demo) 2- graphics options are cool 3- what is with the hate of intros here? just let it play first run 4- How are people expecting you can make battery life longer..let the engine take maximum of the device! 5-gyro controls are awesome-(combined with swipe) 6-autosave when left
3- My hate for intros doesen't apply to animated ones. 4- I don't really see the need for a brightness toggle either. showing how full/empty your battery is in the pause menu would be good though. 5- make it an option!
I didn't read all of the pages, but didn't see these in the first few pages: #1. Save games should be stored in the cloud. I frequently switch between iPhone and iPad gaming, and would prefer to continue games where I left off regardless of which device I use. Example for where this even costs the developer real money: I have a save game for Monkey Island 1 on iPhone (about 2/3 complete). The iPad version came out, and I don't have a problem spending the additional $5...I just don't have time to replay to my save spot. $5 loss for LucasArts. Obviously, for devices without 3G access, save games would be stored locally. In this case, allow email of save games so I could pull up game on appropriate device. #2. Unless iOS eventually supports password lock per App (or folder), I need my games to provide parental controls when launched. My kids frequently use my iPad, and I am reluctant to purchase certain games that they may launch. Reasons may be because of inappropriate content or ease of purchasing in-app DLC. I don't want it to be my main passcode lock (the kids already know that), it needs to be a separate code. As mentioned in previous posts, these devices are being used by the entire family, and without separate login IDs, we need ways to provide different capabilities to different users. My kids also know my iTunes password, which is fine for downloading some things from iTunes, but I will not install Freemium titles (or those that allow unlimited 'resource' purchases) in case they decide to go crazy. For that, I would recommend a passcode way to enable/disable in-app purchases.
plenty of suggestions but will add my own anyways controls. if they cant be customized, callibrated and generally set up how you like them the game tends to put a group of people right off. for what its worth i though doom controls were spot on. the orientiation of the device seems to bug people, im not fussy but can see how headphone jacks and speaker coverage can annoy. content is also an issue. the iphone4 at least should be able to contain full blown content without making serious sacrifices due to the device limitations. i know theres memory issues to consider, its not endless afterall, but please try and keep the pc and idevice versions as close as possible. really looking forward to rage!
A few things about achievements: 1. Use names and descriptions wisely. I want to know what I need to do to get it, I don't want to have to look it up online. 2. Don't just include achievements for beating levels. Include the random and longer play ones like kill 300 enemies, play for 2 hours, complete a level with just the pistol etc. 3. Show progress for those that it makes sense for. For example if it was 300 kills, display my current percentage of that. 4. For certain achievements or milestones include unlockable content, maybe just artwork, sound files, extra skins etc. As for Rage, and its FPS elements, controls and AI are critical. I'm not a big fan of touch/swipe aiming as its too imprecise, necessitating the need for aim assists. Build on the controls you pioneered with Doom Resurrection (look at CoD Zombies for excellent tilt & movement) and also build on that with the iPhone 4's gyro (look at NOVA, but i'm sure you can do better). As for AI, try to avoid overly scripted enemies as they tend to be to similar on each successive play through. Variety is the key. Oh and 1 last thing. Whilst I appreciate a good tutorial, don't hold my hand forever. I'm a grown man and I would like to do things myself. Show me the controls and explain the interface, then let me do the rest. Just make objectives clear and all should be good.
Please give the game cheats. I hate having to give up on a game because my ipod lags too much for me to complete the level without cheats, the game is bugged, or I just suck. Having cheats in Doom RPG allowed me to finish it because my ipod kept crashing in the first Hell level.
My top three requests, based on the things that annoy me the most about games I play regularly : 1) Always save your state/progress. This one's pretty obvious. 2) Handle all orientations, not just one vertical and one horizontal. There are many cases and stands out there for iOS devices, and some of them restrict, say which landscape orientation you can useHome button on the right or Home button on the left. Too many games don't auto-rotate 180 degrees if you flip the device over. 3) The capability to sync progress across devicesthis is probably my biggest wish for all iOS games. I realize it's not an easy tasks for some types of games, but it would be great to be able to pick up my iPad and not have to replay everything I previously finished on my iPhone.
Save Game Export File How about the ability to export a save game file through the file sharing feature in iOS4? That would be nice so when I do a system wipe, I don't have to replay back to that point. I don't like wiping and restoring from a backup, so the save game export file would be nice.
To reinforce previous points; Ability to resume game upon exit Ability to listen to ipod/radio app in background Also in menu screens, but not during gameplay, show the status bar so i can keep track of the time and battery life (i know this option may not appeal to everyone so maybe add it as a toggle in the settings)
