Well the idea is that we use Apple's AirDrop feature to do something interesting/funny. We weren't looking to build something along these lines from scratch. (We'd rather put that time and effort in, say, new ships and content )
Yeah, cool. Probably not a feature that would be used too much anyway globally. Looking forward to the apple joystick support though, hopefully the sticks will be coming out soon.
New update rolling out Like I mentioned earlier, localisation, small bug fixes and improved connectivity for people playing in China. (gotta love the great Chinese firewall -_-)
We fixed a (very technical) issue that would cause extra (unneeded) cpu calls. This problem is specific to the iPad 4. So, nothing you can see, just a more solid framerate during super busy events and even then the problem wasn't always noticeable. We also tuned the resolution slightly down, but you also won't be able to see this due to the crazy retina resolution of the iPad 4
Hehe. El I think you probably thought that I was referring to the example I brought up before with the Phantom, where the two side-by-side blue projectiles don't originate exactly from the actual cannons they're being fired from. I wasn't referring to that here, but since it is part of the idea in general, I'll mention that first. The 'problem' with me is that I am too literal. If there is a weapon drawn, then in my mind the projectile should emit from that exact point. A good example of how I like to see this done is with the Trinity. The yellow laser projectiles are fired directly from the actual ends of each cannon. But anyway, the reason I asked that exact question was specifically in reference to how a projectile can come 'off center' from the weapon it's being fired from because the weapon it is being fired from is attached to a moving ship. Take a look at the enemy ships in Phoenix HD. There are examples of projectiles being fired that follow their point of origin no matter what the ships movement is, and there are examples of projectiles being fired that become displaced because the enemy ship moves. If you look at the 'mini gun' turret that is attached to the little scout ships, you will notice that the line of four or five shots moves off center from the turrets end because the turret AND the ship are moving. However, if you look at the projectiles that are shot from the circular turrets on some of the larger ships, the bullets FOLLOW their point of origin AS THE SHIP MOVES. The latter example is what looks best, since it is most accurate. I think my question is, if it is possible to make the bullets originate from one exact point regardless of a ships motion, they why are there examples of both scenarios?
Oh, and did you know you can't access the Control Center while the game is paused? It has to be accessed while the game is running and then the game becomes paused by doing so.
Another way of looking at the mini gun turret on the scout ships... If you look at a scout ship moving from the right of the screen to the left, that stream of 4 bullets is being fired in ONE line. Because of this, that one line stays fixated, but the ship's turret keeps moving with the ship. Therefore, it looks displaced, almost as if the bullets are appearing out of thin air. If the turret is firing SINGLE shots, like many of them do, it doesn't have this same 'displaced' appearance. Hope that makes more sense.
Thanks for the ipad 4 answers. Since the ipad 3 and 4 are very similar minus the faster cpu, is programming mostly the same, or are there differences?
I have a small idea that I think could reward good play, although it doesn't bring much to the table; whenever you absorb green particles when at full health, can you make them make points? (Like the gold bullet point particles?) Also, how are points from the bullet particles calculated? At lower waves I can see how much they are but in more concentrated zones I'm having trouble picking out the points they each reward. Ta!
Ok with regards to the 'bullet originating from the barrel'. In general we want to do this is as accurate as possible, especially with regards to enemies. As a player you expect the enemy projectiles to come from the barrel of the turret, so it should. There are a couple of situations where this doesn't happen completely as expected. Player ship bullets are laid out in such a manor that every stream of bullets is recognisable and does not overlay with another. The bullets are much bigger than the barrels they come from so they do not align accurately. If this would be done 'realistically', the bullets would either be tiny, or all on top of each other creating a white blob of special effects Enemy patterns Now this is what @Sumosplash was talking about. During development we noticed that bullet patterns are really cool. They looks great and it is cool to navigate through them. We also wanted moving enemies and noticed that these really didn't go together. When a ship moves (or the turret changes orientation due to aiming), the pattern gets disrupted, creating a messy pattern. It's easily so messy that no pattern can be recognised and it just comes across as a cheap 'mass' of bullets. So in the end we decided that the patterns that require a 'fixed' origin, would be treated a bit differently. They start shooting from the barrel location and orientation as you would expect, but this remains fixed, even if the ship moves to the other side of the screen. So yes, you can see bullets originating from 'thin air'. But it's the price we needed to pay to have moving ships and large / long / slow patterns at the same time. It can look a bit strange if you really look at it (and are not focused on 'playing'), but the gameplay is much more fun this way for us, as we think it's cool that the enemies are 'free to move around' and able to start shooting from any location. I think most other games either freeze their ships in place during shooting or always have the ship return to the same location before it starts shooting (or it simply doesn't move at all). I hope this answered your questions Sumo, let me know if it didn't edit: @necrocrat: Yes the 'overflow' of health particles into score has been requested several times, we'll see The points from bullet particles are the same value throughout an entire run. Like the ships and turrets they have a base value that is modified by your difficulty level. They do not become more valuable at a higher score if that's what you were wondering. There tend to be more bullets from high level turrets so that balances itself out like that The 'danger bullets' (dark red) that appear at high level have the same value wen converted to score, just like the mirvs.
Oh, by whom? Necrocat, there's also been other suggestions from a certain Phoenix HD obsessed forum member who has gone so far as to suggest even OTHER ideas for the particle overflow besides just adding to the score. Can you believe the nerve of that guy? Hmmm... Yeah, I guess I am just a literalist in the sense that I'd prefer to see the bullets exit from their point of origin at all times. I think it looks the best and delivers the best presentation. There are plenty of examples of it in Phoenix too, where the bullets follow the moving ship and the turret. Typically the larger ships that display the least lateral movement have the best 'bullet-turret-exit point' relationship. And yeah, this is only an issue that someone like myself would bring up, because I am just that psycho. I'm sure no one else even notices, and it isn't something one would focus on while playing a serious game. Then again, it's always been one of my pet peeves with every game I've ever played. Phoenix calls this issue into question a lot for me since there are so many actual turrets in the game, which forces one's eye to be drawn to them.
El have you ever considered mixing in the scouts more with the larger ships, instead of just having groups of them? As the game progresses, it's usually a pattern of larger ship followed by larger ship then a grouping of scouts followed by another grouping of scouts, then back to a large ship. It might be cool to see more randomness with those little guys here and there.
Yeah, the 'fanned-out spiral' pattern is one such that stays with the turret as the ship is moving. That one in particular is done very nicely.
I think the main thing with me is that I can see some of these patterns as following the turrets more so than what they do now. For example, there is a pattern a little later in the game where the circular-orb projectiles (that come out tight and slowly and then spread wider and wider across the screen) are fired in a grouping of three, one right after the other. So if you're looking at it, it would be circle, circle, circle, all three fired in a straight line going forward. However, since it's fixed, the ship keeps moving and the two that are fired behind the first have that 'appear out of thin air' look. I'm just confused as to why, in this example in particular, these projectiles couldn't just appear side by side as they're being fired and instead follow the turret. Of course the pattern would be slightly different, but would it matter?
well the 3 mirv balls follow each other in a straight line so they eventually create a nice 3 row thick circular pattern. If they would not spawn in a straight line the result would be a giant mass of bullets without pattern. It would be a 'cheap' way to create difficulty and not fun at all. The mirv balls can also be launched side by side, that's why we also have a turret that does exactly that. Yay for diversity no?
