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The iOS Gaming Thread December 2012: Santa touched me somewhere weird.

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P

Pachimari

Member
Games out in New Zealand now
  • Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (currently only Japan)
  • Nitro Chimp
  • Hollywood Monsters
  • Man in a Maze (Chillingo)
  • Minigore 2: Zombies
  • Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour
  • Into the Dead
  • Mutant Mudds
 
S

Shaneus

Member
SmokyDave said:
Agreed. DotEmu fucking rock.

Can't wait to get home and check it out on iPad + iCade.
Click to expand...
Ugh, the 8-Bitty fucking sucks for it, though. But it pretty much sucks for everything... the fire buttons for all the games I've tried are mapped to the "select" button on it, and AFAIK there's no way to reassign it outside of the games to something more sensible :/

But from what I did play with it, it was AWESOME. All the controls disappear so the whole full screen experience is there without any crappy overlays :)


(guess I'm buying an iCade then!)
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
SeanR1221 said:
Ay word if Vice City is a little more tablet friendly when compared to GTA III?
Click to expand...

They're saying they did something new to the targetting which was the biggest problem with GTA3. I completed GTA3 though, it was fine if a bit weird. I hope my memories of VC's damage model being a bit more lenient are correct, I hated how easy you'd die or your car would blow up in 3.
 
O

Oxx

Member
Now that I have the 'Played 1,000 games' objective in Temple Run I might be done. All the other goals look too far off.
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
Anastacio said:
Games out in New Zealand now
  • Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (currently only Japan)
  • Nitro Chimp
  • Hollywood Monsters
  • Man in a Maze (Chillingo)
  • Minigore 2: Zombies
  • Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour
  • Into the Dead
  • Mutant Mudds
Click to expand...

I have a genuine curiosity if any dev lurking around could answer.
Why in the world almost (but not all) devs release the games the same day of the week and why in the world with that stupid timeline thing (meaning first NZ, then the rest of the world one hour at time).

I really can't see any advantage.
All game doing so share the same media exposure, always hidden among other 10 other games.
Why not the day before, and have the usually slow media exposure all for themselves?

Also...why this lame timeline thing? Is Apple enforcing it?
Because I really do not see any andvantage whatsoever...I'm now stuck waiting till tomorrow for a game that could already be out...but is waiting in the Apple server till tonight at 1 a.m.

Some devs release their games worldwide and on a selected day, and I do not see any disvantage in this...so I wonder why the vast majority of devs do both things.

Thanks!
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Shaneus said:
Ugh, the 8-Bitty fucking sucks for it, though. But it pretty much sucks for everything... the fire buttons for all the games I've tried are mapped to the "select" button on it, and AFAIK there's no way to reassign it outside of the games to something more sensible :/

But from what I did play with it, it was AWESOME. All the controls disappear so the whole full screen experience is there without any crappy overlays :)


(guess I'm buying an iCade then!)
Click to expand...

8-bitty is one of those bigger could be cool but is not things of the year, all because of that stupid select button.
 
T

tranciful

Member
PittaGAF said:
I have a genuine curiosity if any dev lurking around could answer.
Why in the world almost (but not all) devs release the games the same day of the week and why in the world with that stupid timeline thing (meaning first NZ, then the rest of the world one hour at time).

I really can't see any advantage.
All game doing so share the same media exposure, always hidden among other 10 other games.
Why not the day before, and have the usually slow media exposure all for themselves?

Also...why this lame timeline thing? Is Apple enforcing it?
Because I really do not see any andvantage whatsoever...I'm now stuck waiting till tomorrow for a game that could already be out...but is waiting in the Apple server till tonight at 1 a.m.

Some devs release their games worldwide and on a selected day, and I do not see any disvantage in this...so I wonder why the vast majority of devs do both things.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

NZ is a good place to roll out a game early to make sure there's no showstopping bugs (demographically similar to US and speak english) -- it's simply to mitigate risk. This is almost certainly what the devs are doing if it hits NZ a week or more before the US.

But also, when you set a game to release on a certain day, it goes live in different countries at different times. I noticed my games first appearing in Japan, for example. Devs don't have any control. Blame Apple and timezones.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
PittaGAF said:
I have a genuine curiosity if any dev lurking around could answer.
Why in the world almost (but not all) devs release the games the same day of the week and why in the world with that stupid timeline thing (meaning first NZ, then the rest of the world one hour at time).

I really can't see any advantage.
All game doing so share the same media exposure, always hidden among other 10 other games.
Why not the day before, and have the usually slow media exposure all for themselves?

Also...why this lame timeline thing? Is Apple enforcing it?
Because I really do not see any andvantage whatsoever...I'm now stuck waiting till tomorrow for a game that could already be out...but is waiting in the Apple server till tonight at 1 a.m.

Some devs release their games worldwide and on a selected day, and I do not see any disvantage in this...so I wonder why the vast majority of devs do both things.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah it is kinda odd really. I guess it's just because they submit and when it's approved it's out on the next store update. You'd think more devs would pick their release dates though so they can really synchronise marketing efforts. Build the hype then release.

But your point about waiting till midnight - it's the old christmas argument innit? You have to wait till an arbitrary time because if you didn't, another time would be the arbitrary time instead. If all games were released simulaniously across all regions that would be cool, but you'd still get folks asking why it couldn't release a day earlier.
 
M

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
PittaGAF said:
Why in the world almost (but not all) devs release the games the same day of the week and why in the world with that stupid timeline thing (meaning first NZ, then the rest of the world one hour at time).
Click to expand...

There are two different issues at work

Why release on a Thursday?
If you set your release date on a Thursday, you actually align yourself more or less with when the App Store features tick over, making it useful to be "new" when people know new content is being showcased. Because of this, releasing on a Thursday is also the preference of the Apple feature team, so by doing so you increase your chance of being featured.

Why release at midnight in NZ first?
The rollout of apps to the App Store relates to how non immediate releases are handled. You effectively set a date, and then when it hits 12am on that date in each successive timezone the app will become available in that country.

NZ is the first country in the world to "see the sun", so releases happen there (here!) first. App availability then proceeds timezone by timezone until it gets to the East Coast of the US. Once that timezone is hit, the app is then made available in all remaining timezones (given the span of multiple timezones in the US and Canada it might otherwise be confusing to have a staggered rollout within the country).

While there is probably no technical reason why they can't release in all territories at the same moment, they are likely covering of the possibility of licensing, legal, or embargo issues restricting apps from being released in a specific territory before the local date ticks over there.
 
F

FGMPR

Banned
How's Raiden without icade?

I love the DoDonPachi ios releases, so if it works as well as them, then I'll buy it for sure, along with Vice City and hopefully Baldurs Gate soon.
 
Z

Zeth

Member
FGMPR said:
How's Raiden without icade?

I love the DoDonPachi ios releases, so if it works as well as them, then I'll buy it for sure, along with Vice City and hopefully Baldurs Gate soon.
Click to expand...

It's pretty good. But the touch controls might throw you off coming from Cave games. Different ships have different speeds, so the maximum movement speed is capped on some ships. Like Blazing Star pre-update if you played that. Maybe they'll add that option for Raiden (and remove leaderboard).
 
E

Ettie

Member
Is there some where on the interweb where you can set price alerts for apps? The missus wants PvZ-ipad version for her Mini, but doesn't want to buy it at 7.99. (Mostly because we're triple-dipping.)
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Ettie said:
Is there some where on the interweb where you can set price alerts for apps? The missus wants PvZ-ipad version for her Mini, but doesn't want to buy it at 7.99. (Mostly because we're triple-dipping.)
Click to expand...

touch arcade app can do it, love or hate TA their app is rather good.

There was something called pandoras box back at the beginning of the app store but I stopped using it a long time ago, no idea if it still works.
 
Z

Zeth

Member
Ettie said:
Is there some where on the interweb where you can set price alerts for apps? The missus wants PvZ-ipad version for her Mini, but doesn't want to buy it at 7.99. (Mostly because we're triple-dipping.)
Click to expand...
App Shopper would work for that.
 
F

FGMPR

Banned
Zeth said:
It's pretty good. But the touch controls might throw you off coming from Cave games. Different ships have different speeds, so the maximum movement speed is capped on some ships. Like Blazing Star pre-update if you played that. Maybe they'll add that option for Raiden (and remove leaderboard).
Click to expand...

Hmm ok. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but I'll give it a go anyway.
 
O

One Foul Note

Member
Synless said:
That does look nice, reminds me of Castle Crashers.
Click to expand...

It doesn't just remind me of CC, the basic shape of the sprites look like they have been lifted (slightly shamelessly) right out of Castle Crashers. That said, looks like it might be a laugh and I won't let an innocent bit of copyright infringement stop me from hopefully enjoying it tomorrow.
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
One Foul Note said:
It doesn't just remind me of CC, the basic shape of the sprites look like they have been lifted (slightly shamelessly) right out of Castle Crashers. That said, looks like it might be a laugh and I won't let an innocent bit of copyright infringement stop me from hopefully enjoying it tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was gonna post "Castle Crunchers" but you beat me to it.
 
O

okno

Member
Raiden! YES! Now give me Raptor 3 and I'll be set :3

Anyone still playing Dream of Pixels? I can't stop. It's my go-to commuting game now, and when I go to sleep I see the shapes and blahblah-Tetris effect. It's such an awesome, awesome, awesome game! Just got a score of ~560,000 on Pro the other day, was so proud of it, and then saw I was only 126th on the leaderboard. I don't know how these people are getting 1,000,000+ scores @_@
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
Mario said:
There are two different issues at work

Why release on a Thursday?
If you set your release date on a Thursday, you actually align yourself more or less with when the App Store features tick over, making it useful to be "new" when people know new content is being showcased. Because of this, releasing on a Thursday is also the preference of the Apple feature team, so by doing so you increase your chance of being featured.

Why release at midnight in NZ first?
The rollout of apps to the App Store relates to how non immediate releases are handled. You effectively set a date, and then when it hits 12am on that date in each successive timezone the app will become available in that country.

NZ is the first country in the world to "see the sun", so releases happen there (here!) first. App availability then proceeds timezone by timezone until it gets to the East Coast of the US. Once that timezone is hit, the app is then made available in all remaining timezones (given the span of multiple timezones in the US and Canada it might otherwise be confusing to have a staggered rollout within the country).

While there is probably no technical reason why they can't release in all territories at the same moment, they are likely covering of the possibility of licensing, legal, or embargo issues restricting apps from being released in a specific territory before the local date ticks over there.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your answer.

The 'why on a Thursday' answer makes sense...I never thought about the 'new and notheworthy section' timing.
It may be debatable that it could be more profitable to take the chance and be in that section battling with tens of other apps the same day on the media or not...but it still makes sense.

I know for a fact SOME games are released with immediate release worldwide on a set date tough...I just wondered why it's not the default.
I imagined normally a developer set a date so the AppStore publish the game at midnight when it kicks in on every timezone....I really wonder why this is the default.

PERSONALLY, I would wish devs would do immediate release on a set date (like 5 December in NZ, and publish worldwide).

Anyway, thank you very much for the answer.
 
S

StarCreator

Member
Mario said:
Why release at midnight in NZ first?
The rollout of apps to the App Store relates to how non immediate releases are handled. You effectively set a date, and then when it hits 12am on that date in each successive timezone the app will become available in that country.

NZ is the first country in the world to "see the sun", so releases happen there (here!) first. App availability then proceeds timezone by timezone until it gets to the East Coast of the US. Once that timezone is hit, the app is then made available in all remaining timezones (given the span of multiple timezones in the US and Canada it might otherwise be confusing to have a staggered rollout within the country).

While there is probably no technical reason why they can't release in all territories at the same moment, they are likely covering of the possibility of licensing, legal, or embargo issues restricting apps from being released in a specific territory before the local date ticks over there.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is, though, that I live on the US East Coast and scheduled app launches are always before midnight - no later than 11 PM even. Is it going by Puerto Rico time instead of Eastern time or something?
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
tranciful said:
NZ is a good place to roll out a game early to make sure there's no showstopping bugs (demographically similar to US and speak english) -- it's simply to mitigate risk. This is almost certainly what the devs are doing if it hits NZ a week or more before the US.

But also, when you set a game to release on a certain day, it goes live in different countries at different times. I noticed my games first appearing in Japan, for example. Devs don't have any control. Blame Apple and timezones.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
SmokyDave said:
Huh. Didn't know that.

What are the in-app updates for then?
Click to expand...

Little stuff, like when they add new characters and buildings and shit. This is the big Holiday Update which (presumably) along with new characters and buildings and shit will be adding some kind of holiday themed gameplay, like what they did for Hallowe'en. Also, if the new loading screen they've previewed is to believed: snow.
 
Z

Zeth

Member
okno said:
Raiden! YES! Now give me Raptor 3 and I'll be set :3

Anyone still playing Dream of Pixels? I can't stop. It's my go-to commuting game now, and when I go to sleep I see the shapes and blahblah-Tetris effect. It's such an awesome, awesome, awesome game! Just got a score of ~560,000 on Pro the other day, was so proud of it, and then saw I was only 126th on the leaderboard. I don't know how these people are getting 1,000,000+ scores @_@
Click to expand...

I hope DotEmu continue to do awesome games. Yeah I love Dream of Pixels, play it all the time. Still not very good at it, usually around 100 lines in classic. I'll give Pro a try.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Smash Cops Heat is also out in NZ now. It's free.

I'll get these tonight:

- Smash Cops Heat
- GTA: Vice City
- Into the Dead
- The Room
- Critical Missions

And then The Woods tomorrow and Minecraft later in the week, I just need 5000 coins more on freeappslots.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
Little stuff, like when they add new characters and buildings and shit. This is the big Holiday Update which (presumably) along with new characters and buildings and shit will be adding some kind of holiday themed gameplay, like what they did for Hallowe'en. Also, if the new loading screen they've previewed is to believed: snow.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. I got phased by the fact it updated on my phone and pad last night and then started notifying me of the holiday update.

I eagerly await my update notification. I'm putting way more time into Sim Springfield than I ought to be.
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
SmokyDave said:
Ah, I see. I got phased by the fact it updated on my phone and pad last night and then started notifying me of the holiday update.

I eagerly await my update notification. I'm putting way more time into Sim Springfield than I ought to be.
Click to expand...

It gets its hooks in, that is for sure.
 
P

PFD

Member
Sadly BG:EE won't have retina graphics/UI on the ipad 3/4 due to file size limitations

@TrentOster: @Nymite you are reading it correctly. We're filtering a 1024x768 screen up to 2048x1536 for iPad3. No space for 2048x1536 screens
Click to expand...
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Anastacio said:
Smash Cops Heat is also out in NZ now. It's free.

I'll get these tonight:

- Smash Cops Heat
- GTA: Vice City
- Into the Dead
- The Room
- Modern Combat 4 (maybe)

And then The Woods tomorrow and Minecraft later in the week, I just need 5000 coins more on freeappslots.
Click to expand...

Friendly neighbourhood pro-tip: just buy TWO of those games and then play them to completion, or as close to that as you want to. When you're finished, go buy more.

*This message is payed for by the committee to get people to actually play and complete the games they buy.

Edit: jf you're paying for them with freeapp credits then go hog wild though
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Jedeye Sniv said:
Friendly neighbourhood pro-tip: just buy TWO of those games and then play them to completion, or as close to that as you want to. When you're finished, go buy more.

*This message is payed for by the committee to get people to actually play and complete the games they buy.

Edit: jf you're paying for them with freeapp credits then go hog wild though
Click to expand...
Well, I'll pay for Vice City and The Room on sale. Smash Cops and Into the Dead are free, while I'll spend my freeappslots coins on Minecraft. :)

chubigans said:
Is today the last major game release day or are there still major titles coming up next week?
Click to expand...
There should be more on the 13th and the 20th. Real Racing 3, Phoenix Wright and such haven't come out yet.
 
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