On-rails space shooter with MFi controller support
Update:
Star Horizon is available now!
Developer Tabasco Interactive revealed a new trailer for their upcoming space shooter Star Horizon today, demonstrating gameplay using the Moga Ace Power controller.
According to Touch Arcade, Star Horizon is scheduled to hit the App Store on March 20th at a price of $3.99, with no in-app purchases or premium currencies.
Jared Nelson at Touch Arcade says:
“If you remember earlier this month I posted a trailer for a new game called Star Horizon, a visually-stunning on-rails space shooter from Tabasco Interactive. If you missed that trailer, go check it out now. Seriously, I’ll wait. All done? Ok good, because Star Horizon is set to launch later this week, and today the developers have released another new trailer, this time a hands-on video of how the game is actually played using both the normal touchscreen controls and an iOS 7 controller.”
Side-scrolling platformer / strategy game Stickman Base Jumper has just been updated for MFi controller support. Developer Robert Szeleney is responsible for several otherMFi controller compatibleStickman games, though they play very differently from one another – Stickman Base Jumper is its own game.
Parachuting from a building is less scary with a stick figure
As a game, Stickman Base Jumper packs a surprisingly strategic gameplay mechanic behind its simple graphics. Your goal is to jump from the roof of a building to a goal somewhere else on the map. To do this, you can control 2 things: the position from which your character jumps and the point at which your character deploys the parachute, both slowing their fall and stopping forward momentum. Finishing a level must be done within a certain timer, meaning that if you deploy the parachute too early, you’ll still be in the air when the clock runs out. Deploy it too late, and you’ll miss the goal or crash into something.
Landing at the flag can be more difficult than it looks
Stickman Base Jumper is an entertaining game, with a simple and effective presentation, at a fair price. It’s completely free to play with ads, and a $1.99 in app purchase to remove the ads. No nonsense – controls are well implemented, levels are plentiful, there is no social network spam, timers, or premium currencies. If this game looks interesting to you, give it a download and enjoy yourself – it’s a lot of fun.
The long awaited “no more random crashes” update is now available
iOS 7.1 was released this morning for all iPhones and iPads capable of running iOS 7.
I can’t really think of a good reason for everyone out there NOT to install this update. Major performance improvements, important security fixes, a few new features, and no more random crashes on A7 powered devices!
I’m not sure yet whether this update provides any changes to MFi game controller compatibility, but I’ll be testing it to find out.
The Flappy Bird craze lives on! Newly released Zombie Jetpack brings polish, slightly more nuanced gameplay, and controller support to the established “tap the button to fly high, but not too high or you’re dead” formula.
No flapping here – this zombie’s got a jetpack!
While not the first Flappy Bird inspired game to include controller support – that honor goes to the recently released Die in a Fire – developer Ezone (Crazy Snowboard, Snow Spin, Diversion) has managed to make a fun, well designed, well balanced game, with very unobtrusive ads, for free. Nothing to complain about.
Some people take every Flappy Bird style game to hit the App Store as a personal offense. For those who are tired of everything to do with this flapping, birds, zombies, or jetpacks, this game is unlikely to change your mind. For the rest of us, who are just looking for some quick fun without needing to spend a dime, give Zombie Jetpack a download.
Platforming games are very, very common on iOS. A quick glance through the MFi Game List shows more than a few even support game controllers. With that backdrop, any new entrant has to work hard to stand out. Miss Claire Garden does in a number of ways.
While there is a lot to like about this game, the graphics are probably the strongest aspect. The entire world is presented in a colorful, smooth, blocky-yet-hand-drawn aesthetic. This has the effect of feeling almost like a classic SNES game in some ways, but without any of the obviously “retro” look other games of this sort go for.
Outstanding presentation and a beautiful art style are Miss Claire’s strongest aspects
The gameplay of Miss Claire Garden is a little less of a slam dunk. It doesn’t stray too far from the classic Super Mario Bros formula – you control a colorful character along a 2D plane, jumping over enemies, breaking boxes (in this case fruit), collecting power ups, and generally platform-hopping your way to the finish line. Miss Claire tweaks the formula somewhat by allowing you to pick up both enemies and objects to throw them. While fans of the classic Klonoa series will recognize that mechanic, it’s not a common one, and it is used to good effect in this game.
The problem comes from the platforming itself. Miss Claire just controls slowly. Character movement, jumping – everything feels like it’s happening sluggishly compared to how it should. Collision detection is inconsistent as well – there will be times you’ll fall off the edge of a platform, even though the visuals dictate there should still be room to stand.
Jumping, collecting, and avoiding death – classic platforming tropes
Controller support in Miss Claire Garden is well implemented, with both Standard and Extended layouts. Control over the menu is supported, including exiting a level via the pause button – it’s surprising how many developers neglect menu control. With that said, the game fails to prevent your iPhone from falling asleep – for long sessions, periodically tapping the screen will be required.
Ultimately, Miss Claire Garden takes an average platforming game and brings a wonderful visual style and great level design. Hardcore platforming game fans may find the pace a little slow, but ultimately, playing through the game is still a fun and beautiful experience.
iPhone gamers have no shortage of dual-stick shooters to play through; as a genre, it lends itself well to touch-screen play. But Vertex Blaster shows just how far further a great game can be improved through the use of great hardware controls.
Vertex Blaster plays similarly to Geometry Wars, but transposes that gameplay and visual style into a 3D plane. Use the left analog control to move a ship across the surface of a 3D globe, and use the right analog control to aim and fire weapons at a series of enemies and obstacles.
Travel the globe destroying enemies and dodging bullets
The gameplay is superficially simple, but extremely fun. While each round starts off slow, the globe will fill with obstacles and enemies, growing progressively more difficult and intense, with bullets flying everywhere, meteors to dodge, enemies coming from all directions.
Vertex Blaster plays great with both the SteelSeries Stratus and Moga Ace Power controllers, but is NOT compatible with the Standard layout used by the Logitech controller. Owners of the Extended layout controllers will find a lot here to love, though – this game is one of the best arguments in favor of analog sticks to date.
When you think of the type of iOS game you want to be updated for MFi controller support, the tower defense genre probably ranks pretty low on your wish list. Arguably, TD games play better on touch screens than they ever have on any other medium in the past. With that on the table up-front, Asterix: Total Retaliation does a very good job at implementing physical gamepad support.
As a game, Asterix doesn’t stray far from the Plants vs Zombies mold. In fact, it’s probably pretty safe to call this one a PvZ clone. Enemies march from the right side of a multi-lane grid to the left side, and your goal is to drop defensive units down to the field in order to fight off the attackers. Along the way, you’ll collect resources, earn new defensive units, and unlock different stage patterns.
To fans of tower defense games, this will look very familiar
Asterix tweaks up the formula a bit by having some of it’s defensive unites be single-use – you can only have one of each on the field at a time. These units can be moved for a small price, but that means the lane they were covering is less guarded. That makes for a slightly tweaked strategy from PvZ – not every lane can be covered at one time by the best units, so careful management of your strongest defenders is important.
The other notable change is the emphasis on single-use “hero” abilities. These abilities are powerful single-use spells. These spells can be extremely powerful, but they don’t place a unit on the field – they can save you at the moment, but they don’t increase your defenses for the next wave.
Ultimately, these changes don’t do much to differentiate Asterix from its obvious inspiration. This game isn’t going to win any prizes for originality, but for people who want to play a version of Plants vs Zombies using a hardware controller, this will suffice. It may not be original, but it’s fun, polished, and includes great controller support.
The game has officially been released! Check out the review here or download the game!
iOS gamers looking for a high quality 3D action game might not have much longer to wait. Although there are no shortage of dual-stick shooters and top down 2D brawlers available for the iPhone and iPad, real console-class action games are hard to find. That’s where Zombie Goddess enters the picture.
Prepare for a fight
The goal of Zombie Goddess is to survive as long as possible against waves of the undead, killing as many as possible, and collecting as much gold as you can find. Completing various objectives – for example, decapitating 20 zombies in one game – increases the amount of gold dropped. This gold is used to unlock additional weapons and characters, leveling up the weapons you have, or unlocking perks for the next level.
Use powerful weapons to fight off endless waves of zombies
The real meat of the gameplay lies in chaining together attack combos. When you collect enough gold to unlock an additional weapon, that weapon will periodically spawn throughout the map. Collecting that weapon can significantly alter the feel of the game â the daggers are fast-striking weapons, allowing for rapid fire attacks; the bow is a ranged weapon controlled through the right analog stick, turning the game temporarily into a dual-stick shooter; the axe is a heavy, powerful weapon requiring careful timing to avoid taking damage while wielding it.
Aim the bow with the right analog stick, dodge enemy attacks with the left
All 5 of the unlockable weapons have one thing in common â they enable a “special” gauge. Each time you get a hit in on an enemy, you fill your special gauge a bit. Fill it all the way, and you can unleash a powerful special move. The nature of the special move differs depending on the weapon, but they’re all extremely powerful. However, using the special move removes the weapon, forcing you to collect another one and start the process over. It’s a simple mechanic, but it’s satisfying in practice.
Each weapon has it’s own special attack
Zombie Goddess won’t disappoint in the graphics department, either. Fluid animations, detailed textures, and realtime shadows all occur at a solid 60 frames per second, making for a game that both looks and feels beautiful. It isn’t merely beautiful in the aggregate, though – little touches belie advanced technology behind the scenes. Enemies react differently depending on how you attack them â a powerful full-on attack can decapitate an enemy, while a more distant attack will merely injure them. Throwing an enemy up into the air allows you to selectively dismember them by slicing your finger across the screen – not just a cool effect, but a nice break from the intensity of the action.
Throw your enemy into the air, then slice them into pieces with your finger
I was invited by the developers to help test the controller support in Zombie Goddess, and I’m happy to say that it plays quite well with the Moga Ace Power, SteelSeries Stratus, and Logitech PowerShell. Many of the tweaks I’ve suggested have already been implemented. With that said, the game is still not quite finished yet, and there are still a few things missing. I’ll get into a more detailed discussion about controller support when the final build is available, but suffice it to say, the game is still a lot of fun with a controller in its current form â far better than using touch controls, and reminiscent of the type of gameplay experience you could expect from playing a true console action game.
Zombie Goddess is in the home stretch of development right now; if everything goes as planned, it should be hitting the App Store within the next few weeks. It will be available as an ad supported free trial download, with a one time in-app purchase to remove the ads and unlock the full game. There will be no timers or premium currencies.
A closer look at what the iFrogz controller lineup could be
iFrogz (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Zagg) has been teasing the world with their MFi controller designs for months now. Between the silhouette filled webpage and the vague references to unnamed controllers in 3 different form factors, iFrogz has done an excellent job at piquing everyone’s curiosity.
Today, I’m happy to be able to report a little bit more about the form these controllers could take. I want to be clear right now, the following information is by no means final. It is based on concept renderings from Zagg, pre-release product models, and early designs. It should be taken as that, and nothing more. These designs will change before release, assuming they ever are released. With that said, here is what we know about the ideas that iFrogz is at least considering:
1) The Caliber Edge
The Caliber Edge
The Caliber Edge has been hinted at a few times in the past. An early prototype was on display at CES this year, which provided the first publicized look at this new controller:
It is nice to see that this controller is a physical device that exists in some capacity, even if it’s only a prototype. With that said, I’m happy to share a much more clear, detailed concept video that clarifies a bit more about what this controller might be:
There is a lot of information about this new controller to cover both in this video, and from the picture of the existing prototype; here’s what we know:
The Caliber Edge connects via Lightning, at least in its current form. The Lightning port isn’t visible in the concept video.
This is a full, extended layout controller, reminiscent of the Moga Ace Power design – my personal favorite layout for iPhone users.
The iPhone is adapted to fit into the controller through a selection of cases, which are form-fitting to each device. That’s all we know about how this works – with any luck, the cases will be optional.
Audio is output from a sharp-right-angle headphone jack adapter. That should lead to better audio quality than the Moga Ace Power, and with less hassle than the Logitech Powershell.
The Caliber Edge features an integrated battery, like the 1500mHa PowerShell battery and the 1800mHa Ace Power battery. The battery capacity of the Caliber Edge is currently unknown.
The Analog input appears to be through nubs or circles, reminiscent of the PSP or 3DS, the Moga Ace Power. This is in contrast to the analog sticks of the upcoming Moga Rebel and Mad Catz C.T.R.L.i controllers
No button for controlling the iPhone’s power appears visible in either this video or pictures of the prototype. This is curious – the MFi controller program has historically required such a button to be present.
One more image of the Edge
Of the three controllers listed here, the Caliber Edge seems the most likely to launch in the near future, if at all. Although we have more information about this controller design than the others, there is still much we don’t know. Are the cases necessary? How do you control the phone’s power switch? When will it be available, and how much will it cost? With any luck, this controller will end up launching soon, and these questions won’t remain unanswered for too long.
2) The Caliber Phantom
We may know very little about the Caliber Edge , but we know next to nothing about the Caliber Phantom – including whether or not that is its real name. Aside from the shady silhouette on the iFrogz website, the following rendering is all we have to go on:
The Phantom, revealed
Phantom is an appropriate name for this controller – it’s a ghost. It is important to reiterate again that this is a concept – companies create concept renderings about potential products all the time, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it will ever translate into a product. With that said, if we go off this rendering, this is what we can imagine:
This is an apparently full-sized controller in the same vein as the Moga Rebel and Mad Catz C.T.R.L.i controllers.
Those appear to be true triggers in the back.
Previous guesses had pegged the Caliber Series as potentially being multi-platform, but only Apple uses this face button color scheme – this definitely appears to be an iOS controller.
The analog inputs appear to be true analog sticks, not nubs.
This controller would almost certainly connect over bluetooth, though no indication is visible.
The two semi-vertical lines down the middle of the controller could potentially unfold, to be used as a mount for an iPhone. They could also be simple decoration – we don’t know.
For iPad gamers, bluetooth controllers like this are the best option, by far. Assuming this design ever does become a product, time will tell how this Caliber Phantom compares with the Moga and the Mad Catz offerings; personally, I’m very excited.
3) The Caliber Advantage
The Caliber Advantage has a long and complex history. It was first introduced before WWDC in 2013. iOS7 had yet to be announced, and iFrogz had no idea that it would include official controller support. As such, when iFrogz announced the Advantage, they introduced a complete controller integration SDK along with it.
Unfortunately for iFrogz, Apple announced official (and incompatible) controller support for iOS within weeks. That left iFrogz in the somewhat difficult position of being punished for being first on the scene – they spent a lot of work on R&D for a product and software SDK that would never ship in its current form.
The Caliber Advantage that almost was (Source: Zagg)
The Caliber Advantage is the most unique controller of the lot. It’s sliding design makes it the only TRULY pocketable attached MFi controller revealed so far; the Logitech PowerShell fits, but you really don’t want to walk around with that in your pants. Assuming this design hasn’t been cancelled, we know the following about it:
Despite its small footprint, this controller features the complete Extended layout.
It connects over Bluetooth – a first for attached controllers.
Analog input is handled through nubs or circles, like the PSP or 3DS.
Unlike all other attached controllers, the Advantage does not include a battery for powering the iPhone.
The Landscape / Portrait orientation switch is completely unique, and absolutely amazing.
The button, DPad, and Analog design have probably all changed from the videos and pictures – these are all pre-MFi designs that don’t fit Apple’s requirements.
Nothing else is really known for sure about this controller. It’s strange, because although the internet is full of information about the Caliber Advantage, all of that information was about a device that no longer exists. Whatever the current Advantage is, no final information about it or pictures of it have leaked. The iFrogz website does include pictures of a controller resembling this in various silhouettes – those pictures presumably suggest that something similar to this design exists in some form.
So close to launching, and yet so far away (Source: Zagg)
The Caliber Looked like a great controller in it’s original form, and it didn’t even seem that far away from launch. It’s unclear why the delay has been so substantial – it’s possible that the changes Apple required for MFi compliance pushed the release much further than intended. If so, that’s a shame – we’ve been missing out on one heck of a great looking device.
Conclusion
Zagg / iFrogz were contacted for comment about this article, and reiterated that they were excited about this industry and their products, but that the images and videos included above were proof-of-concept renderings, not final products.
While many companies say that sort of thing all the time, in this case, I absolutely believe them. These controller designs are NOT final products. They are official design renderings from iFrogz, prototypes from a trade show, or very old versions of controllers that probably look different today.
We now know considerably more about these designs than was hinted at by the iFrogz website, but remember: it isn’t that these controllers could look different when they release – there is no “could” about it. They will look different, in many ways. Time will tell how different.
While these designs may not be final controllers, it is very exciting to see iFrogz thinking so much about this market, and spending so much time developing different product designs. I am eagerly awaiting the day when iFrogz does officially unveil their controller strategy. Speaking personally, if iFrogz does release any controllers similar to the ones described here, Moga, Logitech, Mad Catz, and SteelSeries are going to have a serious fight on their hands – these iFrogz designs look really fantastic.
This picture contains almost all of the information we currently know about this controller, although the name of the controller – Moga Rebel – has been confirmed.
In terms of design, the Moga Rebel seems very reminiscent of the Moga Pro Power controller for Android. Flat-topped thumbsticks, a swinging clip for phone storage, and moderately textured hand grips seem like strong possibilities, based on this picture. The nearest Android equivalent to this controller features an integrated battery which connects to the device via a USB port in the back of the controller – it remains to be seen if this iPhone controller includes a similar feature. The apparent lack of the word “Power” in this controller’s title suggests not, but it is too early to say definitively.
A mockup of the full controller based on the teaser and Moga’s existing designs
With that said, there are some interesting comparisons to be made with Moga’s existing Moga Ace Power controller for iPhone. The previous controller communicated over Lightning, whereas this one works over Bluetooth. The face buttons have been changed from black text on a colored background to colored text on a black background, bringing it in line with the Logitech, SteelSeries, and Mad Catz controllers.
The DPad appears unchanged from the Moga Ace Power controller. That is a surprise – the previous controller’s DPad was universally hated, with some reviews referring to it as the worst DPad ever made. Here’s hoping Moga reconsiders the DPad as this controller gets closer to release.
Very little is known about the Moga Rebel – that picture above is basically everything – but as soon as more information is available, it’ll be posted here.
