Readers Game – GravSpace
Another great game has been released by a regular to this blog. The game is called GravSpace and was heavily influenced by the classic “Thrust” for the BBC Micro and Commodore 64.
GravSpace is an exciting and fun new take on the classic cave-flyer gravity game taking advantage of the iPhone accelerometer and multi-touch control + the advanced graphics and sound offered by OpenGL ES and OpenAL.
This is a fun game to play and being a real fan of classic games, I’m having fun playing it myself. Check it out and give some feedback, I’m sure Paul the creator would love to hear from you.
Mike
8 Comments
Simon on March 29th, 2010
Hi Paul,
Would it also be possible have a variation on how to complete the level. i.e drop the orb type thing off at another location. Just to add a little depth to the game. In addition it might be a nice way to evolve a level into another. i.e. once you’ve completed the first level you could perhaps do it again, with a different ending scenario, rather than just flying skyward : )
I see you mentioned the controls i.e. the accelerometer. One way to improve feedback on this area, could be perhaps to start the game with nothing more than a flat landscape and you have to land the ship slowly to complete it. i.e. rather than a tutorial you learn as you play the game. It’d give people the opportunity to get used to the controls : ). It’d also make it a little like a classic game I remember from when I was a child “Lunar Lander”.
I look forward to playing v1.2
Simon
Simon on March 29th, 2010
One more thing, if Thrust is the game I remember it used to have a two player option – if you could add that – it would be like going back in time.
Many a night was spent wizzing off one side of the screen to sneak up and shoot a friend.
HKPaul on March 30th, 2010
I like the idea about implementing a different way to complete the levels, you’ve given me a good idea for the ‘retro’ levels (after level 14) – so thanks.
I’m not sure about the Lunar lander approach, but I have included a ‘no-crashing’ difficulty setting – already the first level doesn’t really consist of anything more than picking up the pod.
About the 2 player game, I think that is a great idea, but I guess it’s going to require bluetooth or some internet game server code of some kind which is beyond my skills at the moment – possibly something for GravSpace2, or a different kind of game altogether (but based on my current game engine). I don’t remember a 2 player option in Thrust – that sounds more like ‘TurboRaketti’.
FYI:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/turboraketti-ii
http://www.mobygames.com/game/thrust
HKPaul on April 7th, 2010
FYI: V1.2 of GravSpace was approved by Apple yesterday:
V1.2 now allows control of the game without accelerometer, using a rotary touch input.
There are also more control button layout options for convenience.
The release features 4 difficulty levels from ‘Novice’ (no crashing, auto-aiming) to ‘Thrust Master’ (high gravity).
A number of improvements have been made to the game dynamics (reduced shield bounce) and the scoring system now features bonuses based on difficulty level.
Some optimisations have also been made to make the game run more smoothly.
Finally, the game will now auto-flip the display based on the device orientation when in the menus.
Simon on April 13th, 2010
TurboRaketti – I don’t think it was that. The game I’m thinking of was similar in look and feel to yours ie thrust based but no landing was involved you shot at asteroids or at another player :)
Back to your game- I’ve downloaded the update, good work on the joystick type controls. Disapointed with the auto aim on the gun. Not sure why I need that and the other weapon seeing as I no longer need to aim either of them!
Overall it’s nice and I’d recommend it to others
HKPaul on April 14th, 2010
Hi Simon,
if you need more of a challenge, play at the ‘commander’ or ‘thrust master’ levels.. no auto-aim then :)
BTW, I’ve released an update to Apple last night in order to fix a really horrible display flickering issue that only showed up on iPhone 3GS – in the end I had to go and buy a 3GS to debug it (so now I’m definitely into -ve profits on the game). (I posted about the update on my blog.)
I was really surprised at how jerky the game was running on 3GS compared to my iPod touch 2G… so had scaled back a number of things, especially particle counts. Will need to optimise my particle systems later… will share some details about that in my blog too.
Simon on April 15th, 2010
Much better lol
HKPaul on March 29th, 2010
Mike, really appreciate you mentioning my game, as have said to you before.
Just want to mention that so far there have been 2 proper reviews (apart from some very nice and also some very questionable ratings in iTunes):
http://toucharcade.com/2010/03.....app-store/
http://chat.freeola.com/Review.....19763.html
I’m working on V1.2 which has some updates for easier game-play (several difficulty levels) and a non-accelerometer control input option.