Thanks for playing the game and for your feedback! The controls, orientation and overall tempo of the game are a really tightly knit whole. Each come from, and go towards, specific design goals. We set out to make Xenoraid a distinct, even different vertically scrolling shoot'em up. There are already a lot of great games within the genre, and we didn't want to recreate any of those and try to compete against any of them with "their weapons". It's also worth noting Xenoraid is also meant to work well on PC and consoles, which are all landscape widescreen platforms. In most similar games, the controls are 1:1 direct, flat, and purposefully have no "feel". That's all fine and good, but we wanted there to be "feel". We wanted to make a shmup where piloting is a central skill, where you'd feel like you're dogfighting with the enemies. And, to lesser extent, differentiate the various player fighters regarding performance and manouverability. We saw this would work well with how the nose of the fighters turns as you move left and right, and with the relatively severe limitations on shooting. With each of these features, you're piloting and dogfighting, you're lining up your shots (and not just vertically) ie. concentrating much more on your shooting than in most similar games. Shooting in angles also helps you manage the landscape orientation; you don't need to go all the way to the edge to shoot an enemy at the edge. The game also depicts a low-tech, near future reality where humans barely have the tech to put together rudimentary starfighters (the directional thruster effects are meant to emphasize this) as opposed to the ultra powerful mega advanced super starfighter prototype in most similar games. It's basically the aerial warfare of World War I in space. Against a superior enemy. So, a certain amount of sluggishness in the controls is by design. Landscape aspect ratio is to enable and require a certain amount of skillful angled shooting. Some players really hate that you can't shoot 360 degrees with all fighters, but this is very much by design as well; it's a differentiating factor for the fighters/weapons that allow you to do that, and to a larger extent to facilitate the piloting/dogfighting aspect. The player is in a position of power when all enemies are where they can be fired upon, and when things get tough, the player must constantly make judgement calls on when and to which enemies this tactical advantage can be given up to. And how to regain it. As a pilot in a dogfight! Oh, and a big factor in this emphasis of piloting and realtime reacting to stuff happening is the procedural progression of the missions. I personally really dislike canned levels where the gameplay is dominated by memorizing the enemy spawns and movement patterns. It's a fine mechanic for those who enjoy it, but I just don't. To me memorizing is a complete antithesis to what a pilot does and what makes a good combat guy or girl. To me combat (in games, no experience in the actual stuff!) is all about observing what is going on and making judgement calls on what are the priorities, what are the threats, what are the opportunities. I also like to rant! We'll make notes about the controls UI feedback and see what we can do.
I liked the controls to begin with. By the time I reached the second planet, Mars, I'd gotten so used to the controls that they felt perfectly natural and I personally wouldn't want any change at all. Different horses of courses...
Can you make the shoot and missile buttons a bit bigger? I tend to touch near them, but not on them, so I miss the touch and therefore get killed... I like the controls too, and wouldn't make any changes either.
We can look into adding controls UI customizing options (like scaling the fire buttons). We've heard a couple of reports of the tutorial not working, but we just aren't able to reproduce the issue. We'll investigate it further, and probably fiddle with the tutorial a bit anyway. The game got a big banner and fourth slot in "New Games We Love" in the UK App Store and other European locations. That's amazing, the first big banner for a 10tons game! We've got our fingers crossed for a nod in the US store next week.
The "feel" that devs added/wanted to add to the controls are only achievable through a virtual stick imo. With the virtual stick I can have the ship barely move, but move. With a touch to move input, that "barely move" would be impossible, since the game wouldn't be able to know if you want the ship to move slowly or fast. I think each 10tons game has a different feel to the controls, but it's because they want them to be like this. Neon Chrome is spot on movement because you're controlling a person, so it moves like a person. Xenoraid has the feel as if you were moving a big heavy spaceship that has thrusters all around to be able to turn 360 degrees in the same spot. Once you get used to that, they feel great.
I agree the controls are great as they are, 10tons design for them does give a feel when playing and took just a few moments for me to get a accustomed using them. A terrific well thought-out game 10tons, great job!
And this post is exactly why I support 10tons and love this game! And it's ok to rant. I usually rant on as well lol. Billy
I respect LordShad0wz input immensely as with other TA members, but right now I'm in the fence. I personally don't like that my thumb hides the ship or if I'm going to get hit, but understand the controls are pretty spot on, guess it's those cheap hits. Another issue is having to watch an ad before going into the next level. I respect 10tons and have many of their games, but could there be a way to have the first 3 levels free without ads, to get a better feel of the game? Game looks great as always, on par with Neon Chrome, which I purchased immediately after beta testing. Plays fantastic other than the feel of cheap hits, but those ads, really hard to develop a feel of the game. All this of course are my own opinion.
I have the full version, which I bought after playing about 10 free ad-supported levels. After playing one hour and beating the first block of levels and being destroyed in the first stage of the second block of levels, what I can say for you to decide is: - Each level has more or less the same feeling, but with more enemies which are harder and more varied. For example there's a big ship in the second block of levels which has two shields. After destroying one side of the shields, or you continue shooting to destroy the shield generator, or it will regenerate and you'll be back to square one. - Thumb in the middle: yes, it's in the middle, and it's a problem. I play on an SE and it's very noticeable, because the screen is small. You get used to it though, and I don't see a good solution for this. It would quite probably be better on an iPad, but mine is very old, and it's playing on the SE or nothing. Nonetheless, when you get to know how and when enemies shoot (there's a pattern, but I think it's better you find it out by playing rather than posting it here), you can predict many shots which enemies make under your thumb. I hope this helps. I really find it a very interesting game, because as LordShad0wz said, there's a lot of strategy involved, it's not just shoot as crazy and avoid enemy bullets.
Thanks VirtualBoyFreak! That's the one aspect I love, not just blindly shooting, but strategize the level. Hmm, I'll play more to see if this game grabs me. Thanks again for your input! I really appreciate the time you took to assist!
Here's some excellent gameplay and commentary, maybe it'll help you guys out whether to buy it or not: https://youtu.be/6ujHoG55XI4 It'd be really cool if you could post some requests for more videos about Xenoraid on his channel, I'd personally love to see him keep at it.
Please check out my Xbox One gameplay as well, if you want to see some ganeplay. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIYCpM5AVql7Bhto6JObb4vjHMbXhZGeg 10tons Love me!
Just came to say that the more I play, the more I love this game. It's difficult as hell, but it's a great feeling when you finish the level with all the ships 95% damaged but still there. Btw, I just killed the boss of 02.Mars level and it was amazing, but the slowdown when the ship was destroyed was terrible. It was like 5FPS or something like that until the ship finished exploding. Gameplay wise it doesn't affect because the ship is already destroyed, but I guess the effects of the explosion are just too much for my iPhone SE. I'll have to lower the detail to high instead of full
I've just unlocked level 5.Earth. The more you advance, the more a good strategy is involved, both in choosing the correct ships and weapons, as in using them correctly according to the enemy on screen in each moment. The issue of the fingers on screen is unavoidable, unless 10tons implement portrait gaming with the horizontal gaming screen at the top and all the buttons under it (similar to Binding of Isaac in portrait mode). @10tons: Is it possible to do this I suggest on the previous paragraph? I think gameplay would benefit a lot, even having a mini gameplay screen on the SE.
Will I have to pay a second time when downloading to the Touch? Small window states it will be $4.99 to download or will that be cancelled out once I press the buy button? I've been playing the paid version on the iPad. Terrific game btw! Oh, and for those loving the game why not give a favorable review at the store? 10tons doesn't deserve only 3 reviews with a couple being two star reviews.
I think it's a one time purchase, so if you download with the same iTunes account you should be fine.
