iPhone Cosmic Mechanic

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by gimblll, Apr 3, 2013.

  1. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
    3,738
    10
    38
    I thought as much. I don't want you losing money paying for servers if there aren't enough of us playing the game. That said, I'd take an editor even without the option to share levels.

    I really have no idea how this stuff works, but what's with those games that allow you to share levels just by copying and pasting segments of text? Would that require a lower number of variables or something?
     
  2. gimblll

    gimblll Well-Known Member

    Basically there's at least two ways I've seen that done. One is that the levels are so simple, that you can condense the essential information into a few characters and send that, and second would be that it's just a key that the game uses to download the level from a server. And my levels have pretty complex geometry, so if I would use the first option, I would need to send thousands of characters. So the server is the only viable solution for me.
     
  3. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
    3,738
    10
    38
    Yeah, that makes sense. I've also seen a couple of games that use the iTunes file transfers option to export levels, but it's a bit of a rough solution as you need to go through all the effort of being at a computer and accessing iTunes to get to them.

    Still, I'm looking forward to anything you decide to add to the game. I was wondering if there was some way to add replay value to levels by creating "redux" levels of each one, that give you a different set of building items or something, but I don't think I'm far enough into the game yet to know what other options are available.
     
  4. amdreh

    amdreh Well-Known Member

    Mar 26, 2013
    227
    0
    0
    Brazil
    I'm enjoying this game so much. It's funny to see other people's solutions. I hope more stages to come in the future.
     
  5. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
    6,307
    0
    0
    Forge World
    Oh damn it, slight spoilers for S8 I spent about an hour this morning doing the level
    by slowly cutting a stair like path into the blocks with an arm on my vehicle and then it had two legs each with two moving joints and I slowly stepped up the steps I cut and into the finish
    But doing it that way was really a slow process and took a lot of attempts to get right,
    Then just now i was having my tea when it suddenly hit me that I could have
    just cut either straight across then up or up then across taking away the need to climb lots and only having to climb once
    Doh!

    The replay ability for me will be replaying levels again but trying to do them in totally different ways, even ways that don't look like they should work. (Which I think is how I've dont half of them so far :rolleyes:)

    Love this game.
     
  6. Collin

    Collin Well-Known Member

    Jul 29, 2010
    719
    46
    28
    Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Art Director
    Colorado Springs, CO
    I finally had a bit of time to sit down and play this, and I have to say, I'm loving it so far. It's a really great game.
     
  7. amdreh

    amdreh Well-Known Member

    Mar 26, 2013
    227
    0
    0
    Brazil
  8. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
    3,738
    10
    38
  9. saosijs

    saosijs Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2012
    1,483
    2
    38
    Brazil
    Just sort of stumbled upon this game via the TA app and had a wtf reaction to some of the images posted in this thread and said to myself that I have to try! So I just did and am loving it so far. Maybe you should add some "personality" to the game by having the astronaut animated and adding some silly cartoonesque effects. Dunno, for me the game is fine but other people might be attracted into buying with that
     
  10. gimblll

    gimblll Well-Known Member

    Well, there's already quite a lot of stuff in the game. What I add (if I add) kind of depends on if people run out of content to play, so far oooooomonkey is pretty much the only one who's played through most of the content. But I have plenty of ideas and prototypes for new stuff, no worries there. :)

    I on purpose stayed away from making it too comical or cartoony. I don't personally like that kind of style very much, and as the game is probably too difficult for kids anyway, I wouldn't want to take it too much into that direction. But it's true that the graphics could be much improved (I'm a complete amateur in that area), but I hope it doesn't take too much away from the whole experience.
     
  11. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
    6,307
    0
    0
    Forge World
    ^^ so far it looks like I'm the only one to finish all the levels but it looks like there's a few people climbing the leaderboards.
    I'm going back to get some stars I missed.
     
  12. amdreh

    amdreh Well-Known Member

    Mar 26, 2013
    227
    0
    0
    Brazil
    It's one of those games I don't want to end, so I go slooow... :p
     
  13. saosijs

    saosijs Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2012
    1,483
    2
    38
    Brazil
    Yeah, I'm going slow as well. This is a game to savour :) At puzzle 10 now. Still lots of fun ahead. What I learned so far is that keeping it simple (light-weight!) usually goes a long way. And that controlling the motors makes a big difference on the ride. Also, collect1 is a b*tch. I cannot imagine collecting 100 there

    Feature request: save slots for the contraptions. At least three :)
     
  14. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
    6,307
    0
    0
    Forge World
    That's a good idea, even save slots for your machines that you could carry across levels (provided there's the correct pieces available in that level)
    As I'm sure there was a few levels I used the same contraption to finish the level but had to build it again.
    Wasn't a problem but would have been easier and I wouldn't mind being able to keep my best creations.
     
  15. saosijs

    saosijs Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2012
    1,483
    2
    38
    Brazil
    Certainly would be useful!
    I was also thinking about a "record your ride" feature, but that for sure must be complicated. You'd need to record all the input control variables with time, I'm not even sure this is possible or would give an accurate and truthful result. But maybe it is possible to generate a movie clip (low frame rate for performance reasons) and share it on youtube or something like that?

    Oh and now I understand the "collect" level, you can do it in multiple runs and can thus use multiple vehicles!! Duh! :cool: Still a challenge of course :D

    So to be clear, the feature request is to have multiple save slots per level :). And to include oooooomonkey's idea: with the possibility to import/export from/to save slots that exist on a global level, or maybe directly from other levels.

    Enjoying this game immensely! I just got to the "robot" levels. The game continues to have me saying "wtf" followed by a "hmmm let's see" and some construction time later, a LOL :D
     
  16. amdreh

    amdreh Well-Known Member

    Mar 26, 2013
    227
    0
    0
    Brazil
    I loved this game. It needs some improvements, like any 1.0 version, but I think it's already polished enough for a start. In my opinion you should work on making it available on more countries.
     
  17. saosijs

    saosijs Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2012
    1,483
    2
    38
    Brazil
    How can you not love this game! Spoiler ahead for puzzle 18. Row the boat: http://i.imgur.com/rc3AR9d.png only the guy that beats the drum is missing :D

    By the way, when I use a lot of controls, I really have difficulty seeing which control links to which actuator. The colored indicator dots are very small and the colors are very much alike. Some improvement is needed there. Also it would be great if I could place the controls any place where I like. Than I could group them in a for me logical way, depending on the situation and their function to my specific vehicle.
     
  18. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
    6,307
    0
    0
    Forge World
    Nice vehicle :D and customisable control positions would be cool, but I didn't have a problem they way they are.
    I agree that the coloured dots could do with being a little bigger
     
  19. gimblll

    gimblll Well-Known Member

    I hope I can make it available at some point, I'll have to clear a few things up first. Though currently it has only sold a total of 30 copies, so it's not my absolute highest priority right now.

    That's one feature I actually had in the game already at one point, but I removed it to streamline the interface (it was a horrible mess at that point) and keep the control diagram UI manageable. I might re-implement it in an update though.

    About the other feature requests in the thread:

    I'm currently evaluating if it's feasible to include Everyplay support, so you could record videos of your plays. Multiple vehicle save slots shouldn't be too hard, I'll need to evaluate how it fits in.

    It's still quite open what I'm doing for a first update. To be honest, I was kind of wishing there would've been a bit more interest in the game so I could justify keeping spending all my free time on this, but this thread and all the cool vehicles you've posted at least gives me motivation to continue! :)
     
  20. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
    6,307
    0
    0
    Forge World
    Only five more stars to get :D
     

Share This Page