Thanks a bunch! I've always loved Missile Command, the Atari, and the 80s in-general. Fond kid-hood memories!
Please, please, PLEASE, provide both portrait AND landscape if at all possible. There are a fair number of us that will hard pass on a game because it lacks one or the other. It's particularly infuriating to see a game brought over from Steam and be portrait only. (I've seen this a few times recently, but can't recall names off the top of my head).
How do you use Nukes? Sorry to be an idiot, but having trouble using Nuke cards at second base. I see them pop-up on conveyor belt, but can't seem to do anything with them? Awesome game, BTW. Turn-based is great. Only problem is that I can't seem to put it down...
The Nuke cards aren't for your use. They're letting you know that an enemy nuke is about to appear on the grid. When the card slides off the right-hand-side, the enemy nuke will appear. Basically, it's an early warning system.
Thanks for the feedback. Just curious, do you (and others here) feel this way about card games in general, or just games that are designed for multiple platforms? I only ask, because it's useful from a design perspective. Here's a card game developer's perspective on that, if it's useful. Typically, card games are very much limited by screen space, card size, and choice of mechanics. For me, one of the biggest challenges of card game design for mobile (or any platform, really) is designing within size and layout constraints. Given the small screen size and pretty limited number of options (AND the need to make card data readable at that tiny size), most card game layouts designed in either landscape OR portrait mode don't easily work or translate to the other orientation. It's certainly feasible, design wise, in some cases to plan for both, but when you're designing a card game, you're pretty restricted by how much you can fit on the screen and not clutter it up and make it unplayable. In fact, card layout often has a HUGE influence on the gameplay itself, and tends to be a core aspect of the design -- so not something that's easily tinkered with once you've locked down how the game flows and get the mechanics all setup. Obviously, it's useful, when a game's design permits, to set it up so it can easily be shifted, but there's no magic button that makes it work that way, and given the vertical/rectangular aspect of most cards, there's only so many card (and other visual elements like HUD/meters) you can fit in a given layout on the screen. So, for example, Card Crawl, and all of Arnold's games, really, are designed very specifically for a portrait device layout -- and for good reason: trying to jam them in a landscape layout would force him to shrink the cards significantly, making it super tough to read them and interact on the half of the screen. This is less of an issue on iPad, but a MAJOR design concern for iPhone and smaller screens. Anyhoo, one of the next card games I'm working on is luckily something that could feasibly work as both, with some tweaks, so I'll definitely consider adding a toggle option if that's something players want. But, again, seemingly simple decisions like that often involve a LOT of coding and additional legwork, so as devs, it's really a matter of weighing out what works, what's doable, and what the majority of players want/need. I'd definitely be interested in hearing more thoughts on this, if anyone has opinions/preferences in terms of portrait/landscape or the need to have both as an option with mobile card games As a dev, it's great to hear this stuff, because I can't really assume anything when it comes to what actual players want/need/prefer without this sort of helpful feedback. Then it helps me do what I can and see what's feasible earlier on in the design, where big changes/features like that are far easier to implement. I try to build most of my card game prototypes around modular design (i.e. everything is tied to location based "slots" that are movable in the design layout). But Missile Cards is a little more unique, a little less flexible layout-wise, given the fact it contains both the card play section AND the action grid with the base and hazards. That made it trickier to try find room to put elements in more places. Anyhow, thanks again! Cheers! -Nathan
Thanks a bunch! And absolutely, yeah. I've got a half dozen prototypes for future mobile card games, a few that are far along and probably "on deck" after Missile Cards, and an ever-growing notebook of weird ideas I'm keen to test out for future card designs. Basically, if Missile Cards does well enough to help sustain future development, I'll be sticking around here and creating a lot more in this niche/genre in the near future. Well, honestly, either way, I'm pretty obsessed with solo card game design, so I'm sure no matter what you'll see more form me on this front beyond MC. Cheers!
To be honest, I think you can ignore misguided's request for both portrait and landscape support. (No offense to him/her) Asking a dev to support both is an incredibly big thing to ask of them. Many devs have to redo art assets or change the UI to accommodate both perspectives. And telling the dev that it would be infuriating if they didn't as if it's something the dev can just change on the fly is pretty rude. It's like telling a PC dev that their game NEEDS to support a GameCube controller.
Thanks for the input! It just occurred to me that I might have misunderstood the original comment, possibly, too. Now that I think of it, it seems like maybe it was geared towards suggesting a preference for portrait orientation vs both? I may be wrong (apologies in any case). Either way, this is still all useful to hear! Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on the game so far!
Hi Nathan, In regards to the portrait vs landscape discussion, it seems that you can never satisfy both camps unless you offer both, which does seem difficult but doable. Those debates in some of these game threads are like democratic vs republican debates lol. In my opinion, all card games should be portrait. I can't understand why someone would want to play a one-handed card game by tilting their phone sideways ever, but that's just me. And I can't imagine the frustrations of phone vs tablet UI on top of that... I'm very excited about your mention of more card games in the works...I think we share the same passion, and mobile is perfect for card games. Glad to see this game getting the attention and reviews it deserves! I hope you see the success you need to release more games! Awesome work sir #
No, my preference is actually for landscape. It's quite rare for me to play a game in portrait mode, but I have made exceptions at times. Solitairica is an example. I have also avoided purchasing games on many occasions that were portrait only. There are other TA folks who avoid games that are landscape only. Different people want different things. There are certainly games that couldn't work well in both orientations, but many times there are titles that you could easily imagine the other orientation, but it was neglected. As I originally said, if it is feasible, please do both. I should mention I play on iPad. I would imagine one-handed play is more popular on phones. At any rate, congrats on the launch and thanks for posting here. @JackDerp your reading comprehension needs some work. I said I found it infuriating when a game was brought from Steam, (aka on PC where pretty much everything is landscape) and wound up as portrait only on iOS. That clearly wasn't directed at Nathan (or any other developer for that matter, it is simply my experience when something I would very much like to play is not in my preferred format. Still, as noted below, "exasperating" would have been a better word choice) and has nothing to do with adding something extra to a game or changing the UI when it was already in that format.
Gotta be honest, I'm never going to get 'infuriated' about a chosen layout. As long as it's designed to play smoothly in whatever layout the dev chooses, I'm golden. Love quirky solo card game design. Lookong forward to what else you have in mind.
I just noticed the multipliers on the left side of the screen. That certainly adds another layer of strategy. It's going to be a lot easier to hit those high scores now.
Looks like Missile Cards didn't make the App Store feature cut today...bummer! Hoping there's still a chance it might get slotted in over the next few days, but who knows! That would have been a huge boost, but, well....I'll keep on trucking along. Thanks everyone for buying the game! Don't forget to leave a review if you're having fun and have a free sec! Cheers!
That's a shame; it certainly deserves it. For anyone on the fence, I don't think this is a game that presents especially well in let's play videos. It's one of those games you have to try for yourself. Fans of card crawl or other puzzly solitaire card games should be all over this. I even find the pixel graphics rather charming and suited to the theme (and I'm really tired of seeing pixel graphics in games constantly). Great music. Tight design. Good when you only have a few minutes to spare.
Thisis a really great game.... Been playing like an hour straight on a flight This will never leave my device along with card crawl.... hope this game is successful enough so the dev can churn out another great card game....
