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iOS Gaming March 2015 | Beware the IAPs of March

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K

killercow

Member
Tak3n said:
Ok, Ok, Ok

GOTY all sewn up coming in 3 weeks (unless you have a New Zealand account)

Adventures of Poco Eco

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nA_ji5gLkWc[/URL]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxK3g3Tk88&feature=player_embedded[/URL]

A relaxing exploratory game in a mind-blowing audio-visual world. Get involved in this special tale, choose quick adventures if you want to rush through, or take your time and explore a world of sound & design.

Discover a new world where there’s a lot to see and even more to hear. Help Poco Eco, the curious explorer complete his mission. Your goal is to help Poco and his tribe find their Sounds that they’ve lost by solving the mini puzzles and completing all twelve 3D animated levels. By downloading the game you also get free access to Iamyank’s new LP.
Click to expand...

Looks amazing but a soft launch for this kind of game is weird. Will check it out when it's released.

EDIT: Dead effect 2 had been announced, will launch on iOS, android and shield console. Q3 2015. Teaser at deadeffect2.com
 
chris121580

chris121580

Member
Tak3n said:
Ok, Ok, Ok

GOTY all sewn up coming in 3 weeks (unless you have a New Zealand account)

Adventures of Poco Eco

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nA_ji5gLkWc[/URL]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxK3g3Tk88&feature=player_embedded[/URL]

A relaxing exploratory game in a mind-blowing audio-visual world. Get involved in this special tale, choose quick adventures if you want to rush through, or take your time and explore a world of sound & design.

Discover a new world where there’s a lot to see and even more to hear. Help Poco Eco, the curious explorer complete his mission. Your goal is to help Poco and his tribe find their Sounds that they’ve lost by solving the mini puzzles and completing all twelve 3D animated levels. By downloading the game you also get free access to Iamyank’s new LP.
Click to expand...

This looks incredible. Day 1
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Cyan said:
Sheesh. This is why I originally said "felt like blackmail." I probably shouldn't have stuck with the term when responding to the guy who thought preferring premium games to ads was gross, but oh well.

Why did it feel like that? Presentation, really. Every few levels a little box pops up with two options. One is "Pay $1.99" and one is "Watch ad." I'm sure there's some more accurate term I could use to describe this, but since everyone got mad at my last attempt I'll just say that this feels pretty icky and makes me want to not play your game and certainly not pay you any money.
Click to expand...
I just don't get how it's icky. I mean, would it be different if you had paid $2 for an ad-free game from the get-go? Because that's essentially what that is. Get the game for free and enjoy it with ads. Pay $2 and enjoy the game ad-free. It's a premium unlock/ad remover/etc. A one-time thing.

That's the unfortunate thing about the prevalence of F2P. A dev should be able to sell a game for $2 and not after worry about people thinking the game is expensive and would rather wait for a sale. Launching free cuts out that risk.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Cyan said:
Yes. That was the whole point of what I was saying. I would rather pay up front than be given something "free" and then pushed into paying to get rid of a nuisance.
Click to expand...
Is that different from how Smash Hit, which has a premium unlock that offers checkpoints and more difficulty modes, or Jet Car Stunts and Stayin Together, which lock the rest of their content behind an IAP unlock, do their things?

IDK, I just don't see how it can be seen as a bad thing to launch free with an ad remover.
 
F

Freedom = $1.05

Banned
Do the Dargon Quest games ever go on sale and how often? I'm looking at getting DQIV on ios since the DS version is missing the part chat and $15 is a bit steep given that I just got DQIX for $8 on the DS.
 
A

awp69

Member
Cyan said:
Yes. That was the whole point of what I was saying. I would rather pay up front than be given something "free" and then pushed into paying to get rid of a nuisance.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, those ads are likely more profitable in the long run over even the IAPs so devs certainly would rather have downloads for "free" where they at least know they'll get money from a much larger audience.

Ad removal or a full game unlock are two freemium IAPs that I have no issue with at all.
 
H

heringer

Member
Cyan said:
I'm sure you're right, and I'm just raging against the dying of the light. But hey, so it goes. :p


I typically don't either. It was really just the implementation that bothered me. Or maybe this implementation has become the standard one and I'm just not aware of that? These days I mostly play premium games that are recommended in here.
Click to expand...
I wish it was the standard. Being able to try the game before committing OR play the game entirely for free if you can tolerate ads is objectively the most consumer friendly format.

I get where you are coming from, but I guess it's just a preconceived notion that you should probably let go.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Wasn't planning on getting anything tonight, but the trailer for Blockwick 2 sold me. The polish is evident from the trailer
http://youtu.be/qVruJ8_lMaI

I realized later that it's from the dev of Aqueduct, which was another puzzle game I enjoyed

Blockwick 2 - $2.99
It's a block-dragging puzzler with a slick colorful presentation and introduces challenging new block types such as linked and caterpillar blocks.
HKBP4TI.jpg
GtYaFza.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I

INTERNET

SERIOUS BUSINESS
Cyan said:
I'm sure you're right, and I'm just raging against the dying of the light. But hey, so it goes. :p


I typically don't either. It was really just the implementation that bothered me. Or maybe this implementation has become the standard one and I'm just not aware of that? These days I mostly play premium games that are recommended in here.
Click to expand...
It's just that you can lay out a series of options and rank them, and then see if your gut feeling about how they are ranked makes any sense. Here are three options:
- buy game, hope it lives up to whatever made you buy it for 1.99
- demo first world of game, and either pay 1.99 for the rest of the game, or decide it's not for you
- demo first world of game, and either pay 1.99 for the rest of the game, or watch an ad and play the second world, after which you can pay 1.99 or watch an ad, after which...
 
A

awp69

Member
As I mentioned before, IAPs for full-game unlock or ad removal (ie., two things that would allow you to get the "full" experience of a game with a one time purchase) are my two preferred methods in F2P games.

Another option that also can work is the good old coin doubler, assuming that buying it would also remove any ads, allow you to contribute to the devs and eliminate some of the grinding on F2P games.

Well, Noodlecake, a developer I had respected, just took a big piss on that tonight with what I think may be a first: the CONSUMABLE coin doubler in RAD Boarding.

Seriously? Sad to see the game be F2P to begin with, but, wow, I had to check my screen twice just to be dismayed that the coin doubler was just for 5 runs a pop. Yuck.

Thought maybe it was the pain killers making me dillusional. Unfortunately, not.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
IGF Winners are up.
To recap, your 2015 IGF Award winners are as follows:

Excellence in Visual Art ($3,000)
Metamorphabet (Patrick Smith of Vectorpark)

Nuovo Award ($5,000)
Tetrageddon Games (Nathalie Lawhead)

Excellence in Audio ($3,000)
Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure (SuperChop Games)

Excellence in Narrative ($3,000)
80 Days (inkle)

Best Student Game ($3,000)
Close Your (Goodbye World Games - University of Southern California)

Audience Award ($3,000)
This War of Mine (11 bit studios)

Excellence in Design ($3,000)
Outer Wilds (Team Outer Wilds)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000)
Outer Wilds (Team Outer Wilds)
Click to expand...

Nice to see 80 Days and Ephemerid awarded
 
A

awp69

Member
Bit on Alto's Adventure. Love the art style and all the surprises that come along, but are there any other tricks besides backflips?

Going back to play Rad Boarding, I honestly think there's a little more substance in that game. And despite the gross judgement call on the coin doublers, I may give in and get a coin pack to remove ads in it.
 
J

JCho133

Member
Wow, Olliolli is fantastic on 3DS and Wii U.

Kinda cool that it was originally planned for iOS.

I feel like games like Ski safari and Alto's Adventure are the closest we can get to something like Olliolli
 
A

awp69

Member
Think I mentioned .Decluster before, but thought I'd give it another hardy recommend -- it's that good. Playing on easy and it's still hard. Best shmup I've played in ages.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
I can't believe I'm still playing Tap Titans. Anyone else playing this? Fairly shallow game, but as far as mindless tap games go, it's my favorite of the bunch. The prestige mechanic and thrill of getting new artifacts is just enough to keep me going.

I'm at the toughest wall now, though...going for the last hero, Jaqulin. I've probably got another 20 prestiges left to go before I get her. That's about 40 more hours. Thankfully, I have an infinite Shadow Clone, which means playing it involves me hitting a button every 5 minutes and just upgrading my heroes now and then, so it's mostly just idle time. The iOS version should be getting patched next week so that tournaments work, so that's what's motivating me to push further at this point.

Tried Tap Heroes. It's basically a similar game, but no prestiging, and most of the damage and grinding is done idling (you can just leave it on at night and go to sleep). Unfortunately, it's not very well tuned, and there's no addictive mechanic like artifact rolling that keeps me interested. I'll still leave it on at night for a little while and stop once I start hitting a wall.

Besides Tap Titans, are there any other enjoyable grinds out there? Maybe something a little less shallow, but still something that doesn't require too much input? I like having something to idle by the working day or while I watch TV.

I tried Hero Emblems, but it's not quite doing it for me. I find it incredibly tedious and progress is very slow. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
Amazon Game Studios is bringing some games to iOS:

The two older titles arriving on iOS include Tales From Deep Space and To-Fu Fury, while the new games include survival horror Lost Within and action-adventure game Til Morning’s Light. All four titles will be available on both iPhone and iPad, but Amazon Game Studios didn’t provide specifics on release dates or pricing.
Click to expand...

http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/06/amazon-games-studio-ios/

Some trailers at the link.
 
A

awp69

Member
infiniteloop said:
Amazon Game Studios is bringing some games to iOS:



http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/06/amazon-games-studio-ios/

Some trailers at the link.
Click to expand...

What's ironic about this is that those games aren't even playable on non-Amazon Android devices (even though I am sure they would work, just have a fake compatibility barrier preventing them from being downloaded or purchased for their site.) I guess I could see where they look at iOS as not being a direct competitor vs. the Android space, but still quite odd.
 
T

Tak3n

Banned
TheExodu5 said:
I can't believe I'm still playing Tap Titans. Anyone else playing this? Fairly shallow game, but as far as mindless tap games go, it's my favorite of the bunch. The prestige mechanic and thrill of getting new artifacts is just enough to keep me going.

I'm at the toughest wall now, though...going for the last hero, Jaqulin. I've probably got another 20 prestiges left to go before I get her. That's about 40 more hours. Thankfully, I have an infinite Shadow Clone, which means playing it involves me hitting a button every 5 minutes and just upgrading my heroes now and then, so it's mostly just idle time. The iOS version should be getting patched next week so that tournaments work, so that's what's motivating me to push further at this point.

Tried Tap Heroes. It's basically a similar game, but no prestiging, and most of the damage and grinding is done idling (you can just leave it on at night and go to sleep). Unfortunately, it's not very well tuned, and there's no addictive mechanic like artifact rolling that keeps me interested. I'll still leave it on at night for a little while and stop once I start hitting a wall.

Besides Tap Titans, are there any other enjoyable grinds out there? Maybe something a little less shallow, but still something that doesn't require too much input? I like having something to idle by the working day or while I watch TV.

I tried Hero Emblems, but it's not quite doing it for me. I find it incredibly tedious and progress is very slow. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

yep I am still playing it :)

and my 6 year old DS loves it, he is constantly playing it
 
F

FerranMG

Member
TheExodu5 said:
I can't believe I'm still playing Tap Titans. Anyone else playing this? Fairly shallow game, but as far as mindless tap games go, it's my favorite of the bunch. The prestige mechanic and thrill of getting new artifacts is just enough to keep me going.

I'm at the toughest wall now, though...going for the last hero, Jaqulin. I've probably got another 20 prestiges left to go before I get her. That's about 40 more hours. Thankfully, I have an infinite Shadow Clone, which means playing it involves me hitting a button every 5 minutes and just upgrading my heroes now and then, so it's mostly just idle time. The iOS version should be getting patched next week so that tournaments work, so that's what's motivating me to push further at this point.

Tried Tap Heroes. It's basically a similar game, but no prestiging, and most of the damage and grinding is done idling (you can just leave it on at night and go to sleep). Unfortunately, it's not very well tuned, and there's no addictive mechanic like artifact rolling that keeps me interested. I'll still leave it on at night for a little while and stop once I start hitting a wall.

Besides Tap Titans, are there any other enjoyable grinds out there? Maybe something a little less shallow, but still something that doesn't require too much input? I like having something to idle by the working day or while I watch TV.

I tried Hero Emblems, but it's not quite doing it for me. I find it incredibly tedious and progress is very slow. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been playing it daily since before Christmas.
Also stuck now at the last wall, grinding for Jaqulin. Don't know if I'll have the patience to get it, but so far I keep playing. :D
I've some decent artifacts, but I'm missing Tincturer of the maker and Drunken Hammer before even considering a serious grinding for the last hero.

It's a shame that the tournaments in the iOS version are bugged at the moment. There's an update waiting at Apple for approval.
 
A

awp69

Member
More_Badass said:
IGF Winners are up.


Nice to see 80 Days and Ephemerid awarded
Click to expand...

Saw that Ephemerid is on sale for $.99, down from $3.99, presumably to celebrate the award. I got it a while back and it's one of those apps that's more of an experience than a game. But the music and artwork alone make it well worth while to pick up. Lovely game.
 
W

WiiRevolution1

Member
Hello, recently moved into a place where I can be a little loud without disturbng anyone. (Long story.) and I've had an iPod Touch 4th Gen with iOS6 that I haven't played in afew years due to not being able to plug headphones into the headphones jack due to it being broken somehow, so now that I'm in a place where I can play at max volume without headphones I wanted to get back into iOS games a little.

Currently went back to an old favorite, Hook Champ, and have Mage Gauntlet,Minigore 2, Kami Retro, Sway, and League of Evil that already own from the past that I might go back and try to beat them since I'm playing a variety of games for the 52 Game Challenge. And have my favorite game that I didn't play but watched, Five Nights at Freddie's to buy next along with a few others I think I want.

I'm not askng for recommendations or anything since I can just read about the newest games and see what I'd like, but rather I'd like to ask: Is this a good idea? My iPod Touch can crash over the littlelest things, tho not playing Hook Champ thankfully. I guess what I'm asking is there still a good variety of games that would even be compatible with my iOS device? It is pretty outdated. Would maybe upgrade within a year from now or so but it seems like they barely update the iPod Touch's and can't really afford a iPad and most certainly not getting an iPhone. But for now,is there a good amount of games tha would work ok with a 4th gen touch on iOS 6? I've seen a few but dunno how much there really is nowadays.

PS: Wow I made a simple question three paragraphs long. I am not good at this. :p
 
M

More_Badass

Member
WiiRevolution1 said:
Hello, recently moved into a place where I can be a little loud without disturbng anyone. (Long story.) and I've had an iPod Touch 4th Gen with iOS6 that I haven't played in afew years due to not being able to plug headphones into the headphones jack due to it being broken somehow, so now that I'm in a place where I can play at max volume without headphones I wanted to get back into iOS games a little.

Currently went back to an old favorite, Hook Champ, and have Mage Gauntlet,Minigore 2, Kami Retro, Sway, and League of Evil that already own from the past that I might go back and try to beat them since I'm playing a variety of games for the 52 Game Challenge. And have my favorite game that I didn't play but watched, Five Nights at Freddie's to buy next along with a few others I think I want.

I'm not askng for recommendations or anything since I can just read about the newest games and see what I'd like, but rather I'd like to ask: Is this a good idea? My iPod Touch can crash over the littlelest things, tho not playing Hook Champ thankfully. I guess what I'm asking is there still a good variety of games that would even be compatible with my iOS device? It is pretty outdated. Would maybe upgrade within a year from now or so but it seems like they barely update the iPod Touch's and can't really afford a iPad and most certainly not getting an iPhone. But for now,is there a good amount of games tha would work ok with a 4th gen touch on iOS 6? I've seen a few but dunno how much there really is nowadays.

PS: Wow I made a simple question three paragraphs long. I am not good at this. :p
Click to expand...
Wayward Souls. If you like Mage Gauntlet, you got to check that out. Played well on my iPhone 4, so you should be good

I imagine puzzles games should be okay. Recent ones I'd recommend: Blockwick 2, Dwelp, Zengrams, Under The Sun
I started this thread last year, might come in handy:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=921676
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Good news, everyone! :p

If you've been in anguish over the inability to play Helsing's Fire on IOS 8, I asked Pope about that and he said
Yeah I'm gonna package it up and send to the publisher when I get back from this GDC trip. Prob a few weeks at best still
Click to expand...
And btw, fun fact: Lucas Pope also made Papers Please
 
B

bigpumbaa

Member
Just started Alto's adventure.

How beautiful.

Also - uh - I'm a Hispanic dude and it's honestly the niftiest/subtlest portrayal of a Hispanic main video character I've ever seen.
 
tearsofash

tearsofash

Member
Hi all. I'm not really sure where else to ask. I've spent 30 minutes trying to google it, but does anyone know of an iOS app that lets you have a bootup message? My girlfriend wants her phone to have a popup message to greet her when it turns on.
 
I

infiniteloop

Member
tearsofash said:
Hi all. I'm not really sure where else to ask. I've spent 30 minutes trying to google it, but does anyone know of an iOS app that lets you have a bootup message? My girlfriend wants her phone to have a popup message to greet her when it turns on.
Click to expand...

Might be a jailbreak, but you won't get an app store app that'll do it.
 
A

Andy C83

Neo Member
Blokshot Revolution is excellent. The controls couldn't be more simple: Touch and hold to spin, release to launch. Launch shots at blocks that fall from the top of the screen. Each block you hit adds to your combo, reach X3 combo to unleash 'Triple Shot'.

The gameplay does become very absorbing, especially when you perform a shot that saves the day at the last moment. The controls will take getting used to but it's a great feeling when you start pulling off chains and canons for more points.

The game is finely presented, from the visual style to the fine tunes. It's free to download so give it a try and let me know what you think. There's no consumable IAP, just $1.99 to disable ads which also unlocks the full soundtrack.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/blokshot-revolution/id962137904?mt=8
 
A

awp69

Member
Blokshot is very cool Andy. I completely suck at it but it's amazingly well polished with excellent physics and is difficult without being frustrating.

Anyone playing Lastronaut? Really fun, completely free (no ads, no IAPs) little side scrolling shooter / runner. Another one of those just one more time games - addictive and easy controls. Cool dynamic lighting and slo-mo effects. Wish it were universal (I'd pay for it), but great game nonetheless. Crime for it to be free.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/lastronaut/id805839157?mt=8&uo=4
 
B

Benedict

Member
This became game 17 in my 52 games in a year challenge.
17. Gems of War (iOS)
Another game I had to stop playing giving it opportunity after opportunity to become better.

17. Gems of War (iOS)
75-100 hrs? stopped playing March 8th.
Reached lvl 101, 563 trophies, 219,227 gold, 16 kingdoms and 92 troops. 840/1000 Game Center points
As a big fan of Puzzle Quest I gave this game a lot of chances and a lot of my time. A lot of my time.
I really wanted to like this game but the longer I played it, hoping to reach some sort of turning point, the more I realised this game is out to cheat.
To many times the opponent have made big winning draws that occur way to often to be random or part of the game system.
I felt all the time the this game awards IAPs and punishes other players, or tries to force them toward IAPs. I played this without buying any IAPs.
Being part of a guild negates this partly but not enough. A lot of hooks to keep you playing, but I am happy to break this up now.
There are way better games on iOS you could play instead, like Candy Crush.

On 30th November 2014 i said this about this game in my first review on App Store:
*****: Great: Fans of previous Puzzle Quest will love this. So far I can't see any irritating restrictions in this freemium app.
Click to expand...
 
K

Khalifa Jayy

Banned
Anyone playing Pirate Legends? I know Tower Defense Games are kind of old news, but this game is actually really good. The graphics are gorgeous. The gameplay is addictive and has some neat innovations.
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
Wow, The Trace looks stunning! I hope I don't need to update my iOS for it.

Any other interesting endless runners out there? Alto's Adventure is a blast!
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Sorcery 3 hands on preview from Pocket Gamer
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/Sorcery!+Part+3/news.asp?c=64273
And it sounds fucking incredible:
But, this one is completely open world. The first two games took you on a relatively fixed path through their environments (The Shamutanti Hills in part one, the city port of Khare in two), but you get to explore this new area - Kakhabad - in whatever way you please.
Click to expand...
Your job is to hunt down the Seven Serpents - messengers of the Archmage who are travelling to Mampang to warn him of your quest - and kill them. They each have different powers, weaknesses, and of course locations, which you'll need to carefully research before taking on these crazy boss fights.
Click to expand...
That open world actually has two states, as you can visit locations in the present day - or 1,000 years in the past. By taking over lighthouses and guiding their beams at part of the map, you can reveal the distant past version of a large section of the map.
Click to expand...
 
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