Universal Snake Core (by Orange Pixel)

First maintenance update is now live (v1.0.1)
- fixed: text in intro not fitting screen (doh, last minute code changes are never a good thing)
- fixed: possible crash in upgrade screen
- fixed: possible crash tapping old mission

 

I have to echo those reports of a serious swipe control lag. Hitting all the targets in a level only to run into a wall at the very end. Dudes got a great talent and vision but dubious touch response has been a common element in all his games.

 

Try the D-pad controls instead, might make it easier to play.

Also the LAG people describe is something else than LAG .. because touch to code is nanoseconds work, nothing else happens in-between. So it's hard for me to fix an issue that's something else than people describe it as

 

You perform an input, and it takes too long to happen in game. Call that what you want.

 

I would call it a "gameplay/brain disconnect thing" (probably)

but I understand that it's a feeling of lag for some players, however it's not a technical problem or lag, it's how this game works on purpose:

The soldiers will always walk on a "grid" based.. so they can't perform the action at any time, because they only perform them when at edges.. pretty much like Chess pieces move from a square on the board to the next one.

So swiping up, will be an instant command to the soldier, but the responds will be made at the grid edges, so might take a second. That can cause the feeling of lag.. but it simply isn't.

There are two possible fixes I could add to the game for this:

1) make the soldiers move freely, not taking into account the grid
2) make the game turn-based, because then it feels more logical that they only move to their squares

but not a fan of either of those two to be honest!

 

@orangepascal Neither of those two options could work. Turn-based is off the table immediately. Like what am I supposed to do? Tap for each move forward? That would become unbearable halfway through the first mission. And moving freely without a grid might sound fine, but making precise U turns close to a wall or an obstacle would be a nightmare. Tapping a few miliseconds too soon or too late - game over.

@BillyOceansBlues How the game works right now is probably the only acceptable way. Once you realize you moving on a grid, it makes more sense. And it doesn't feel like lag anymore. Sure, there are moments that it could feel like the game lagged or the tap/swipe action hasn't been recognized. But it's caused by the fact the snake is already in the next field of the grid.

Although, the problem might be the speed of the game. In the beginning the snake is obviously moving step by step from one field of the grid to another. It's fairly obvious and recognizable. But with speed increasing this movement is barely noticable anymore and it starts to feel like the snake is moving smoothly in real time. So one of the solutions could be to make the game slower and increase the difficulty some other way than speed. Just so the grid movement is noticable the whole time.

 

I don’t have the game but seen the comments as I’m still thinking about it. But what about an option in the options to show the grid overlaid over the map if it doesn’t already? Probably not necessary but probably not too hard if it’s already in grids anyway just to show it? Then nobody can question it and they can see where the grids are if they want to.

 

don't worry, was more trying to make a point those changes can't be done now, they would have been done when I started/designed the game. It's not like there's a "makeTurnBased=true" option in game code

The grid is visible around the soldiers and this "problem" is simply not fixable with code changes.. it's just hard to read people saying there is lag or the game has bad controls, when that's simply not the exact problem/issue.

anywaysss.. best for me to ignore comments like that, just some days they get to me ! back to work !

 

@orangepascal don't let it get you down I know you already explained even before he asked and he was still rude in how he asked. Basically people are just doing it too late so it’s their own fault if they die because the character doesn’t turn on a pin it’s a zone like chess as you said.

 

Big thank you for adding controller support because what is with that split up d pad? Ridiculous. It is WAY better on an ipad with mfi, but that’s not really an excuse for the poorness of the other options. Other games manage to have tight, precise touch response. That means it’s possible, yo.

 

Orangepascal Has already explained it, and I’m here to second his/her explanation as just a bystanding owner of this game.

those that think it’s a lag, aren’t taking enough notice of how the “snake” of your little soldiers is moving along in the game. They are going from square to square kind of like it’s a super fast semi-turn based movement. It’s not continuous motion. Therefore, though your swipe is instantaneously registered (nanosecond like Orangepixel said), the move won’t happen until your first little soldier jumps out of the square he’s in and goes to the next......taking up a very very minut second to do.

seems people aren’t getting this.

There is no lag. It’s the the mechanics of the snake.

 

Yes, aware of the grid concept. Knowing that, it somehow works much better with a controller. That means? Touch response is off.

 

Or it’s just in your mind as I have no issue with lag for touch using any of the control types

 

@orangepascal Just some suggestions regarding the Map/pathways.

Would it be possible to make the map ladder easier to scroll up to see the different mission types and the eventually final mission.

it seems like it’s meant to be a map kind of like Slay the Spire where you pick your path. But right now, scrolling it is tedious. Seems you hold down on the screen in the bottom portion somewhere to get it to very slowly scroll up.

also, though it’s workable, the map is very dark and the mission types are difficult to tell apart and plan a path for. Maybe brighten it, and perhaps make the mission markers bigger or more distinctive.

 

Was about to say "dark?" but I think I get what you mean: unlocked mission-nodes are 'darkened' compared to the unlocked ones.. and it might indeed work better if I make them slightly more bright. Will do that in the next update !

 

version 1.1.0 is now live, a quick maintenance update:

fixed: rare crash on mission screen (portrait mode)
fixed: better testing on default dpad settings for landscape/portrait (for new installs)
fixed: default input method set to DPad (new installs)
fixed: iOS swipe-up menu now blocked correctly (YAY!)
fixed: couple of notch screen bugs (mission/upgrade screens)

 

Yay indeed! You took your time.

 

haha yeah know! - took me a long time to figure out what it's called in code
another dev pointed me in the right direction! (also adding it to this weeks Space Grunts 2 update)

 

Made a note of the bug, and the swiping seems to be fixed on devices with a home button .. so I'm trying to figure out if I can also disable that on other devices, not sure yet how tho but looking into it!