Universal Planar Conquest (by Shortbreak Studios)

From what I've gathered: this is a premium game, with music, but doesn't include sound effects, there's some pretty common crashing bugs, though it's universal it just doesn't play well on iPhone, it's unclear about the state of multiplayer, and you're only given 1/2 the game at $12.99?

While I'm a strong believer in voting with your wallet, I really want to point out that this game is competing with literally every other strategy game on the iOS market. Giving half a game with another $10+ expansion is risky. Even its base price puts it above nearly every other AAA title on the App Store, and with its expansion that's two AAA games at nearly full price. Further if you're patient you could get 3 or 4 if they go on sale. Even if you completely ignore price, it's hard to rationalize buying this instead of many other fantastic premium titles that art truly pay-once and already music/sound/multiplayer complete.

Having said that, quality 4x games on the App Store are rare and I'll definitely track this game, and will revisit it if there's good support through updates. For now though... It doesn't seem like it's in a good state.

 

Played the tutorial (as far as it was possible, which is enough for starters) and started a new game.

Very fine 'new game customizatio' and generally a very nice UI and controls, with stuf working logically and tooltips on almost everything (hold to pop up tooltip). Also often 'first time info screen' that pops up every time you enter a major screen, in the normal game.
-and im on iphone 6+ btw, it works ok on that size screen.

So everything looking very fine and dandy so far.


Only negative thing so far:
Was looking for how to start the game with 'the choosen', but couldn't find him =(
-only veteran MoM players will get this

Edit: NOTE
For the people talking about price - this game is very deep, complex and rich in content.
Like the pc-version of civ - or even more in some way, due to heroes, item crafting, combat etc.
Much more than starbase orion or star traders 4x - in my oppinion.
So the price is totally justified in my book.
And you dont need to buy the additions, the first 20-40 hours you play it, there is plenty of meat in the 'default package'.

 

Thank for dropping in and letting us know.

May I suggest you adjust the description to clear up any confusion about what is and what isn't included in the initial purchase. People are very sensitive about feeling like they have been misled, no matter how unintentionally.

 

Hello doomtrader, very nice to see one of the devs here, greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the update on the bugfixes.
I have a few minor bugs (like spells sometimes not working in combat) on my list, will post them when I have more time.

Overall your game is excellent, didn't find anything big to criticise yet (which is rare, I *always* complain about the UI ).
I have a few suggestions for now, would be great if you can consider them:
1) Roads: they are really hard to see, especially on the lighter sand tiles (desert?). Giving them a more prominent color would help.
2) Engineers: I usually build roads with a team of them. Now, I need to instruct everyone individually, which is a bit cumbersome. An automatic "let them all build" would be better (MoM did it like that, I believe).
3) Spell schools: The indicators to which school(s) a spell belongs are tiny, even on an Air. The PC screenshots in the manual do this much better; there the icons are a lot larger, and I think you can also see immediately how much skill in the school you need.
4) Town main screen. I often go there from the town overview, and then have to go back there to select the next town. Can you add next/previous town buttons on the town screen?
5) Bestiary: Where you can look up all units and their stats. If there is one already, I didn't find it yet.

You did a marvelous job with Planar Conquest. As I wrote earlier in this thread: Finally, after 23 years, a worthy successor to MoM. I tip my hat to you folks.

 

Hi,

The game looks great! A couple questions:

1) is the iPad Pro resolution supported? If not, is there plans to support it?

2) are there plans to expand the game further via expansions or dlc?

Thanks!

 

I don't believe it's what you mean but can't you check the stats of all the units while setting up battles (selecting friends and foes) in the Battle Arena screen?

 

I will write to the publisher to sort this out.
Sorry about any confusion.

1. The GUI has been designed for standard iPad retina, thus the basic background graphics are in the 2048x1536 resolutions, I know that there are some folks already playing the game on Pro, so maybe they could share their experience. I would need to talk with programmers to see how does it scales up.

2. Honestly, this depends on the sales. If there will be demand, there is a plenty room to expand the game.

 

Thanks for the kind words, and of course thanks for the feedback.
We are going to polish the game based on your feedback guys, so the more opinions the better.

 

Really, really happy with this game. It has so many similarities to MoM. I find it workable on my iPhone 6S. Text a little small but honestly small price to pay. So glad they released it universal.

 

Honestly had no interest until I saw it was premium. Looks pretty stuffy.

 

Damn it again. Another epic game. I don't think I dare dive into this yet. It'll have to marinate in my illustrious back log.

 

Thanks for the link to the manual

 

I don't post on TA very often (I'm sad to say I'm a textbook/classic lurker) but have never seen a fantasy 4x before so about the take the plunge....from what everyone here is saying the depth of this game justifies the price...and always happy to support premium iOS games! Also very glad to see the developer engaged on this forum!!

 

Also, will be playing on a 6plus so very interested if others have played on the same device...and if not I'll post impressions myself after playing!

 

We have been thinking for a long time should the game be universal or iPad only.

As you see after the series of test we have decided to release it also on iPhones. I'm sure that playing on iPad is better than on iPhone, but on the other hand why to block the possibility if it is playable.
I don't have problems on my Samsung S6, but for some iPhone 5 is enough.

 

Got another improvement request:
Can the Magic Spirits skip XP chests when auto-scouting? They are pretty much useless for them anyways.
On my current playthrough, I did manual scouting to save those chests for my Heroes. Sure, it works, but it is extremely tedious and slows down the gameflow a lot. The automatic scouting is one of the best ideas I've ever seen in a Strategy game, and a small tweak like this should keep it viable even for high-level play (where a few thousand XP early on can make a big difference).

Oh, one more:
During Race selection, can you quantify boni/mali in the Race descriptions? E.g. for the Insects "+25% on spell research time" instead of the vague "are bad at magic"?

 

Ditto on the thanks for posting the manual link - reading through it now! Wish I had gotten in on the Kickstarter but that's what sequels are for!

 

I Will be happy to buy the game and iap's once the game is polished.

 

I have no problems playing on a iPhone 6. Just completed my first full game. Again, many thanks to the devs for releasing Universal and letting people make their own decisions in terms of playability.

Jusvah, I suspect you will be more than fine on the 6+. The game supports zooming in and out as needed.