Share My Creation Space Defender - Ultimate (iSpriteKit)

hi

I have just finished my latest b4i Game [Space Defender - Ultimate]

I have learned a lot new stuff using iSpritekit with this project like using SKEmitters (Particle View)
I am also using for the first time iTiled. I am loading different levels with it and get all objects from it and create them in my game. So far it works great, so i am very happy that i can use now Tiled with b4i!!

This is the first version so i am planning to add lots of cool stuff to it in future updates (if it will get some attention in the store )

TO DO:

- Boss Fights
- add Story with characters
- different background
- different music
- etc.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/space-defender-ultimate/id1232145880?mt=8

Spoiler: Description

Space Defender - Ultimate

A fun and very addictive Space Defender game with amazing pixel art animations.

- Endless gameplay
- Challenging and fun Game
- Pixelart
- 24 different Waves

Try to beat the hi-score and save the Space!

Have fun

Video:


Tell me what ya think?

 

[wonder]

Very very nice!!!! The graphics are so cute!!!!
I have an iPhone 4, so I'll give it a try!!!

 

[ilan]

i am very happy with iSpritekit. i create a lot nodes in this game. every shot, every particle is a node (when an explosion happens) and it runs at 60 FPS like telling me: "THATS ALL YOU GOT?? HA HA HA"

Really, i am surprised how powerful iSpritekit is!!
lots of animations, lots of nodes, music, lots of loops and 60 FPS like a charm

EDIT: i forgot, BIG BIG BIG THANKS to @JanPRO for iSpriteKit Wrap!!!

 

[wonder]

Congratulations, this project looks and feels way better than anything you've done before! Great job!

 

[ilan]

Congratulations, this project looks and feels way better than anything you've done before! Great job!

Thank you. Although i think pixel knight is a much complex project i did and in my opinion is my best game i have ever done.

Anyway, i really like those kinds of games (Space defenders) because they are not too heavy and start quick and fun to kill some time.
Those game can get very popular, but i don't believe it will happen in my case. Just to much Space game out there.

 

[wonder]

I really want to see you succeed! I can't wait to give it a test-drive!

 

[ilan]

btw just to show everyone what b4i can do. this game took me 4 - 5 days of coding starting with a blank project. But i need to mention that i worked very hard about 12 hours/day! anyway b4i is really awesome and all libs it has makes it much better and powerful than any other platform i know

 

[ilan]

I really want to see you succeed! I can't wait to give it a test-drive!

even if it wont happen i am doing something i like so for me every new project i do i learn new stuff and have fun. i have more fun making games then play them

 

[wonder]

i have more fun making games then play them

Play the new Zelda and you will see...

 

[ilan]

Play the new Zelda and you will see...

looks awesome. this is not for PC right?

 

[wonder]

this is not for PC right?

Well... CEMU does the job pretty well... at least on my PC!

 

[Erel]

Looks really great!!! Well done Ilan.

 

[ilan]

Hi again, the game has been approved so please download, try and let me know what u think. (Link has been added in post nr. 1)

 

[Erel]

Works great on iPhone 6 plus. 5 stars.

 

[ilan]

Works great on iPhone 6 plus. 5 stars.

Thank you for testing

 

[andymc]

Hi Ilan,

nice work, I see you love space games too!!! It's a good area to write games, my space invaders clones have done very well for me. Although now I am working on a game similar to yours as I posted a few weeks ago.




I've put my observations below for you to review:

Tested on iPhone 6

Bonuses work well, but it did give me a double shot powerup when I already had double shots

Would like to be able to drag anywhere on screen to move ship, not just on ship
Asteroids section feels too slow

Twitter icon on game over screen is strange, I only found out it was twitter when I pressed it.

Not sure I like the back arrow at the bottom left of the screen, it's not clear what it does.

I got "page not found" when I pressed the heart on the title screen

Maybe scroll the stars on the title screen and make the ship fire bullets at random?

Please change the colour of the enemy bullets, they're too close to the players bullet colour.

Add links to your other games on the title screen!!!! This makes a big difference in getting downloads, I've found this on my own games.

Could you display the highscore during gameplay too, so I know how close I am to beating it.

Does it tell you when you get a new highscore?

Particle effects are really nice.

 

[ilan]

Thanx for testing andy.

I will upload a new build tomorrow and i will try to improove all points you wrote above.

I want to release another space ship game with other graphics with same mechanics. Sometimes the graphics are the factor for lots of downloads. So maybe the other graphics will do better. Lets see...

(While writing this post a awesome idea came to my mind that is related to space ship games. I will keep it for now secret and see how i can make it real with b4i)

 

[wonder]

Already downloaded. I'll post a review tomorrow.

Quick remark (iPhone 4):
I have two vertical black bars, it looks kinda weird....
Would it be possible to auto-extend to full-screen?

 

[ilan]

but it did give me a double shot powerup when I already had double shots

fixed, i have added a smart powerup collector

Would like to be able to drag anywhere on screen to move ship, not just on ship

i like it as it is now. you dont need to press exactly the spaceship. if you touch near to it it will start to follow your finger. you can also see that it will lift a little bit up so your finger won't cover the spaceship.

Asteroids section feels too slow

i made it a little bit faster and added 3 new asteroids waves.

Twitter icon on game over screen is strange, I only found out it was twitter when I pressed it.

is this better?

I got "page not found" when I pressed the heart on the title screen

fixed. i have updated the link to my app. for the sharing button and for the like button.

Maybe scroll the stars on the title screen and make the ship fire bullets at random?

done!

Please change the colour of the enemy bullets, they're too close to the players bullet colour.

there are 3 different colors for the player bullets and several different colors and shapes for the enemies bullets but i have changed the default (single + double shots) bullet of the player to green/white. i hope its better now. i find it very nice.

Add links to your other games on the title screen!!!! This makes a big difference in getting downloads, I've found this on my own games.

the like button will open the app store and show the app and also a link to all related apps of me

Could you display the highscore during gameplay too, so I know how close I am to beating it.

Does it tell you when you get a new highscore?

now it will inform you as soon as you have crossed your hi-score.

Particle effects are really nice.

thanx.

i have added also some other improvements and minor bug fixed and have uploaded the build.

i really like this game. its fun and addictive. i believe with a leaderboard it will be much more fun to compete against others hi-score

 

[ilan]

I have two vertical black bars, it looks kinda weird....
Would it be possible to auto-extend to full-screen?

yes it is possible but it will lead to other issues.

i will explain how spritekit works.
you can scale your game in 4 different scalemode:

- SKSceneScaleModeFill
- SKSceneScaleModeAspectFill
- SKSceneScaleModeAspectFit
- SKSceneScaleModeResizeFill

http://blog.infinitecortex.com/2014/01/spritekit-understanding-skscene-scalemode/

now i am using SKSceneScaleModeAspectFit

the reason i use this scale mode is that with this scale mode i will get exactly the same PHYSICS i get with my test phone. if i use a different scale mode the applying a force or impulse with (0,200) will give me a different result with 2 different screen sizes. so whole my physics will fill completely different in 2 different devices and i really dont want that!

i have not found a simple way to solve that problem so i use for all my spritekit games that scale mode and it works fine.

i am using an iphone 5 so iphone 6/7/8 have almost the same ratio so you will get a nice full screen on all those iphones (and those are the main iphones that are used in the market)

ipads will have 2 bars UP and DOWN witch gives it a nice 16:9 widscreen look that kind of looks ok in my opinion. the only player that will have black bars on the sides is the Iphone 4. and WHO use today an iphone 4 except of you @wonder ?!