Hippieman: I gather no word from u or the NZ folks means the game hadn't been approved and not getting released tomorrow?
I think you are right. I just checked on iTunes Connect, and it says "In Review" still. Then again, it could get approved tonight. Fingers crossed.
I imagine that despite the fact that there are far, far more iPhone users, Apple is choosing to focus on the iPad to make people think 'I wish I had an iPad'. Hopefully the game comes out tonight anyway, but I wouldn't be surprised if the list of iPhone games in review is getting less attention than the list of ipad games.
Yeah, based on their track record they seem to just blatantly focus right where the money is at times like this, without even a modicum of attempt at faking to be fair to their other products.
Dammit Hippieman, your not supposed to make the game sound that badass. Just tell me we can command a Nimitz Class Galactic Cruiser. And I may just have to run out and buy an iPad to see the death of my enemies in HD glory. And on a more serious note, in the new game play trailer whenever it shows combat their are green icons on the screen. I assume those are to fire your ships weapons? And is piloting handled buy tapping a location on the screen? And once again thanks for the info.
No. CastleCraft is going to be Universal (to manage the Subscription In App Purchase). Most of the iPhone is completely ready to go. Right now the big thing holding it back is Plus+. The version of Plus+ that runs on iPhone is different than iPad. Regarding combat. Piloting is taken over by the AI during combat. And you the player focuses on firing weapons and choosing targets or fleeing combat. Think of it more like Final Fantasy. You can't move your guy anymore, but you can choose an attack and your target. We drew most of our inspiration from the Battlestar Galactica show. Where the Galactica would face off with a Basestar. Each ship would just send as many nukes at the other one as possible. You can buy every ship in the game except for 2. One of them is a broken ship adrift in space you can find. (You wouldn't want it). And the other ship is a cinematic element. Neither of these ships are included in the Marketing text for ship count, but they are valid entries in the game's XML.
So then it is possible to get those Star Cruisers? And are the controls the same for the touch and the iPad? Aside from the fact that the iPad has a bigger screen. Or can you take actual control on the iPad version?
Yes it is possible. You buy ships on planets. The only thing preventing you from owning the biggest ship in the game is cash. You can earn money by: 1. Trading Commodities 2. Trading Weapons (harder to do but works) 3. Completing Story Missions 4. Completing Procedurally Generated Missions 5. Just killing everything in your path and selling the looted cargo. Controls on iPhone and iPad are exactly the same. They work quite well. You pretty much just touch on whatever you want. Want to fly to a planet? Touch it. All the buttons are contextual. When you are over a planet, the Land and Scan items come up.
Again thanks for the info Hippieman, my question on the controls though referred to the combat section of the game. In the overworld you can control your ships movement, but you were saying during combat the AI takes over. And you only control the weapon systems. You compared it too Final Fantasy. My question was during combat can you change the heading of your ship? Or plot different vectors or maneuvers around the enemy ship or ships?
No, the AI is in complete control at that point. But battles go very fast. The weapons and shields are adjusted so you are not in battle long. Exploration and Trading are the real major points of the game. Combat is a means to an end. You'll see what I mean when you play the game. It's very carefully balanced. We spent a long time working it out to make sure it was the most fun. We also had to recognize that most players play for 5 mins or less at a time. So the game is designed to work in small chunks.
I've just totally been flipped over: this is not an action space shooter a la space miner, but a more strategic rpg (getting better guns and stuff etc.) spacecraft game?
Are the battles completely automated like you press battle and you watch a vid? Or do you actually control the firing of the weapons, just not the movement of your ship? Sorry if this was explained, I'm just a little confused.
I hope that's how it is, I want the satisfaction of knowing that my finger press blew away my enemies. Not some automated video rolling dice in the background determining if I win or lose.
It's past midnight and I don't see Warpgate on the UK store. Sad. I'm actually not sure what to think of the fact that we can't control movement in combat. I was expecting something akin to Starfleet Command. I'm just not seeing how the battle mechanics work out in the game. Sounds to me that it's either mashing buttons to fire weapons, or trying to flee! Oh well I'm sure I'll have a better idea when the game does get released!
I've been following this thread and thinking about this game for some time, and now you've just told me that one of my three favorite shows of all time inspired elements of it. I think you just got me, hook, line and sinker. But now it has to friggin' be released for my device!
