quantumsheep presents... Attack of the Kraken / 'Project K' sneak peek video! :D

AfterBurnett

I've had the same issue... game runs like the proverbial on my Touch 2G. I decidedNOT to limit the game but instead make it for 3GS and above only. Older hardware is fading out anyway and I want the games to be as good as they can be... plus, no doubt GS will be much faster and optimised in the not too distant future so I'll hopefully be able to get the games running on the older stuff in a later update.

reddotinc

I'm not too worried about sales. The question is, do I want to compromise the game to get more sales, or do I want to make the best game I can?

Number two always wins for me!

Thank you for saying that, after testing my game today (that i've spent a great deal of time working on) on a 3G and seeing that the performance was OK, but crap compared to my 4 i was getting really down and thinking why bother until reading that

POLYGAMe said:
Older hardware is fading out anyway and I want the games to be as good as they can be...

Since updating my gfx for iPhone 4, I think EVERYONE should upgrade.. quality like that is something everyone needs to experience

quantumsheep said:
Thanks - that's very kind!

I'm starting to hate my friend Jake - he keeps suggesting things... which means more work for me!

You're welcome .. haha I know what you mean.. whenever I make games I always have people telling me great features that I want to add and always just hope that I have the ability to do so

// Red Dot Inc

quantumsheep

reddotinc said:
Since updating my gfx for iPhone 4, I think EVERYONE should upgrade.. quality like that is something everyone needs to experience

I do agree with you here, and if the game sells some, I may ask Ian to redo some of the graphics at a higher resolution so I can make an update.
This would take time and money, of course!

The game after Kraken will certainly have hi-res graphics in it for iPhone 4. The thing is, I remember CodeMonkey telling me the reason that I was getting slowdown and crashes on an early game I was working on was due to the graphics being huge in relation to the actor.

This was almost a year ago, though, so maybe when they get the resolution stuff fixed it won't be such an issue. Synthesis has done some excellent tests on this.

Cheers!

QS

reddotinc

I've re-done all my graphics for my game and have to say that the quality increase is simply amazing.. I luckily don't have the same issue as him I don't think.

It's hard to decide on how to design graphics now, with the iPad / iPhone 4 and wanting to be able to support all without redesigning images.

Photics

quantumsheep said:
The thing is, I remember CodeMonkey telling me the reason that I was getting slowdown and crashes on an early game I was working on was due to the graphics being huge in relation to the actor.

From my findings, one of the biggest killers of performance is graphics. If you have lots of images, or large graphics files, your game slows down dramatically. If I was to redo Photics: Revisions - Course Correction, the first thing I'd probably do is change the background scrolling. My 1024x1024 x 4 graphic absolutely kills performance. The rough numbers are from FPS numbers in the high 40's with the background, to mid 50's without the background. That difference is a bit insane. That's just one game element.

I'm working on solutions for this in my book. It's planned for the "Optimization" chapter.

reddotinc

Photics said:
I'm working on solutions for this in my book. It's planned for the "Optimization" chapter.

I look forward to reading it

quantumsheep

Well, as is often the case in game development, there have been some delays.

It is out there, though... with the testers... *gulp*

So, we're looking at end of July at the earliest

In the meantime, here are some screenshots! Hope you like them!

QS

butterbean

Oh QS, you are such a tease!

Damn I want it now!

quantumsheep

oo-er! :O

reddotinc

looking GREAT!

you got many iPhone 4 testers?

// Red Dot Inc

beefy_clyro

looks great dude, end of july!!! you're certainly building the hype
get off the forums and get completing. haha

quantumsheep

I'm looking at submitting this week, with a release in for the first friday of August I think.

Will give me time to promote it a little!

And here are more screenies, by request:









All still WIP of course

Cheers,

QS

AfterBurnett

You suck. It's WAY too good. Damn it... I'm giving up. LOL

scorelessmusic

ARGH!! I can't believe I completely missed this thread until now... great job!

quantumsheep

scorelessmusic said:
ARGH!! I can't believe I completely missed this thread until now... great job!

Thanks! You'll have less time to wait for it than everyone else! Well played, sir!

QS

divzerotrainer

Love it!!! Good job!

dmilinovichiii

WOW! Way better than what I could do.

chosenonestudios

Ahhhhhh! Release it already damn it!!!!!

AfterBurnett

I've played it. IT ROCKS!!!!!!

chosenonestudios

POLYGAMe said:
I've played it. IT ROCKS!!!!!!

LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!

AfterBurnett

I know ;-) Also, if you haven't done so, check out BugZone... also a QS creation, it's a super fun arcade shooter with some very cool graphical effects... IT'S I BIT TOO SHORT, THOUGH, QS!!! lol.

Seriously, BugZone is a heap of fun and it's actually inspired me to do a Jeff Minter-esque shooter too! Man, if I could pull off the magic of Tempest 2000, I'd be VERY rich. LOL.

One thing I have noticed about QS, he utilises the touch interface beautifully... he doesn't try to recreate a home console play experience... the controls are brilliantly simple yet incredibly well thought out and implemented.

AfterBurnett

Then again, I can't be too jealous of QS... his "day job" is as a videogame designer so he has an unfair advantage. HAHAHA.

quantumsheep

POLYGAMe said:
I know ;-) Also, if you haven't done so, check out BugZone... also a QS creation, it's a super fun arcade shooter with some very cool graphical effects... IT'S I BIT TOO SHORT, THOUGH, QS!!! lol.

Seriously, BugZone is a heap of fun and it's actually inspired me to do a Jeff Minter-esque shooter too! Man, if I could pull off the magic of Tempest 2000, I'd be VERY rich. LOL.

One thing I have noticed about QS, he utilises the touch interface beautifully... he doesn't try to recreate a home console play experience... the controls are brilliantly simple yet incredibly well thought out and implemented.

Firstly, that's very kind, but I'd avoid Bugzone like the plague! Like I keep saying, it's got an interesting idea (which I'll probably explore further at *some* point) but fails woefully in the presentation and longevity. It was made before GS could save high scores, and it hasn't been updated since then! DO NOT TOUCH!!!

Thanks for the other kind words though - the cheque's in the post

I'm quite excited as I've just got round to implementing the 'jammer' UFO in Kraken, which was on my 'to do' list. It essentially jams your radar till you damage it. Except that it's almost invisible, being a stealth ship etc...

It's quite fun hunting it down

While I'm here, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a competition to make an icon for the game? Something like a $30 itunes voucher to the winner or something? Good idea?

Thanks to everyone for their interest and kind words - I hope you like it when I (inevitably) try to expedite its release just to appease chosenonestudios!

Cheers,

QS

gyroscope

Looking blinkin' good, QS! Love the styling; this'll be one of the first games I'll play when there's an iPhone in the home (soon). Look forward to it with much anticipation! :-)

DimensionGames

...And I JIZZED in my pants

How much you going to sell it for? 2.99?

quantumsheep

PossesiveGaming said:
...And I JIZZED in my pants

How much you going to sell it for? 2.99?

We're going to need a clean up, in aisle three...

I think I'll do an introductory price of $.99 - mainly because you only get 50 promo codes, and there have been a few hundred that have seen the video on youtube. After sending out promos to websites etc it means there won't be nearly enough promos for everyone who might want one - so I'll make the price dirt cheap to start with.

After a few days, I may go up to $1.99 - we'll see.

For those interested but not wanting to spend $.99, there will be a lite version about a week or so after release.

I will be spending the rest of this week optimising and polishing with any luck. Had some good feedback from testers, but it could be oh so much more

And I need to speak to Ian! My sheep need parachutes!

QS

StormyStudio

I put a grape in mouth and I.....

.....

.....

.....

(looking forward to this game lots and lots....and off topic...I've been playing Chopper 2 a lot today tis very good....)

DimensionGames

JIZZED IN MY PANTS.....

Fair enough I will certainly be buying it! Looks amazing!! Once my game is finished Im going to get Ian to do some graphics for me!

quantumsheep

So, I started a thread over on Touch Arcade, here:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=62499

I have to say, the amount of interest from 2Gers has taken me by surprise a bit :O

I think I'll have to go back to Kraken when I put in some updates and when GS gets updated and see if I can't get those damn memory problems down a bit!

You live and you learn I guess!

QS

AfterBurnett

Yeah, I found the same... ironic... retro games don't run on older systems. LOL.