The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Ash: the iOS RPG. (No Pokemans here, sorry :( )
spectheintro
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey everyone:
I'm Aujang Abadi, one of the founders of SRRN Games: the guys who developed Ash, which has alternately been described as "a love letter to the SNES" and "OMG WTF hwo cud u uz RPGMKAER ARTS?! WHYYYYYYY!!!" (Both are actual, direct quotes.)
Gabe was awesome enough to give some promo codes for Ash away on his Twitter, and the response looked fairly positive. (Except for that one guy who tried to poop on us.) However, it's really hard to get good feedback from teh Twitterz, and if there's anything an indie developer needs, it's cash monies. But good feedback is a close second!
So, I asked a mod (Patrick) if I could start this thread here to get some feedback/flames/more poop from the PA community, and he graciously agreed. I'm a die-hard fan of the comic and I designed the game, in part, for PA fans. I have *no idea* if I succeeded. I'm hoping you all can let me know.
If you've got any thoughts on the game, please leave them here. We'd genuinely like to know what you think.
Thanks in advance, guys/gals.
EDIT: By request, I am uploading screenshots, our videos that are on the youtubes, and the body of critical reception thus far.
Screenshots:
Youtube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_6y75iKkY0
Critical Reception:
RPGFan
GamePro
148apps
PlatformNation
TouchArcade
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
There's also a pretty active TouchArcade thread with plenty of user feedback, if you want to see how other gamers have felt about it thus far.
In general, people dig the 16-bit vibe, enjoy the writing, and love the music. (Our composer, Nathan Winder, is really awesome.) The lack of a D-pad is a plus for some and a minus for others--GamePro and SlideToPlay (who hasn't posted a review yet), along with some of our fans, have found the controls frustrating at times.
ADDITIONAL EDIT (gameplay description):
We're hosting the soundtrack on the site free of charge, and we're also putting up a strategy guide piece by piece, as the world is pretty big and a few of our players have gotten lost.
If you have any questions/need anything else, please feel free to ask!
I'm Aujang Abadi, one of the founders of SRRN Games: the guys who developed Ash, which has alternately been described as "a love letter to the SNES" and "OMG WTF hwo cud u uz RPGMKAER ARTS?! WHYYYYYYY!!!" (Both are actual, direct quotes.)
Gabe was awesome enough to give some promo codes for Ash away on his Twitter, and the response looked fairly positive. (Except for that one guy who tried to poop on us.) However, it's really hard to get good feedback from teh Twitterz, and if there's anything an indie developer needs, it's cash monies. But good feedback is a close second!
So, I asked a mod (Patrick) if I could start this thread here to get some feedback/flames/more poop from the PA community, and he graciously agreed. I'm a die-hard fan of the comic and I designed the game, in part, for PA fans. I have *no idea* if I succeeded. I'm hoping you all can let me know.
If you've got any thoughts on the game, please leave them here. We'd genuinely like to know what you think.
Thanks in advance, guys/gals.
EDIT: By request, I am uploading screenshots, our videos that are on the youtubes, and the body of critical reception thus far.
Screenshots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_6y75iKkY0
Critical Reception:
RPGFan
GamePro
148apps
PlatformNation
TouchArcade
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
There's also a pretty active TouchArcade thread with plenty of user feedback, if you want to see how other gamers have felt about it thus far.
In general, people dig the 16-bit vibe, enjoy the writing, and love the music. (Our composer, Nathan Winder, is really awesome.) The lack of a D-pad is a plus for some and a minus for others--GamePro and SlideToPlay (who hasn't posted a review yet), along with some of our fans, have found the controls frustrating at times.
ADDITIONAL EDIT (gameplay description):
First, the game is a turn-based RPG that's very linear--think Final Fantasy IV or Dragon Quest V. The characters have pre-set growth patterns, and we chose this deliberately because we really wanted to recreate the feel of the classic SNES RPGs.
I think the most in-depth discussion of how the game is played probably occurs in RPGFan's latest podcast, which you can find here. Minutes 25-31 are spent talking about Ash. Their general impression was really favorable (which was very gratifying)--I believe a quote was "it fixes all of the issues Crimson Gem Saga couldn't," which (I won't lie) had me beaming for two full hours. They also mention some of the game's flaws, like I listed above--occasionally frustrating controls, necessity to grind a little, and the fact that we licensed our art. (I wish we'd been able to find a talented artist who'd return our calls.)
We're hosting the soundtrack on the site free of charge, and we're also putting up a strategy guide piece by piece, as the world is pretty big and a few of our players have gotten lost.
If you have any questions/need anything else, please feel free to ask!
spectheintro on
0
Posts
That, and hopefully someone can try it on an iPad and let me know how it looks, as that would be the other factor holding me back.
Thanks for following all the forum rules for posting. Maybe you could update the OP with more shiny pictures and links? A video preview, game mechanic explanation and other things are usually helpful.
How long is the game? I have a couple bucks left over on my iTunes card but already have a couple RPGs backlogged on my phone.
The game is around 15 hours long, per our internal estimates and as confirmed by the fans who've completed it thus far.
I was hesitant to post any "marketing-esque" information in the OP because I didn't want to make it seem like I was pimping my own game. But if that's cool--and I'm gathering that it is?--I'd be happy to post pictures, the trailer, and the body of critical reception thus far.
EDIT: I've added them. Just let me know if you need anything else.
Inksplat:
See this post on the TouchArcade forums for an answer to your 2nd question. I should note, though, that someone running the 4.2GM on their iPad had some weird blackout issues with the game. They were quickly resolved by restarting (and we have a really robust auto-save feature so it didn't cause any data loss, to my knowledge) but because Apple hadn't seeded the 4.2 SDK to us when we were testing the game, we didn't catch that particular bug.
In this case it is made specifically for the small screen. Universal means it plays on both the iPad and the iPhone/Touch. HD will tend to refer to iPad only.
Thanks so much for your post. I'm going to edit the OP to include this information, but let me answer your questions here too.
First, the game is a turn-based RPG that's very linear--think Final Fantasy IV or Dragon Quest V. The characters have pre-set growth patterns, and we chose this deliberately because we really wanted to recreate the feel of the classic SNES RPGs.
I think the most in-depth discussion of how the game is played probably occurs in RPGFan's latest podcast, which you can find here. Minutes 25-31 are spent talking about Ash. Their general impression was really favorable (which was very gratifying)--I believe a quote was "it fixes all of the issues Crimson Gem Saga couldn't," which (I won't lie) had me beaming for two full hours. They also mention some of the game's flaws, like I listed above--occasionally frustrating controls, necessity to grind a little, and the fact that we licensed our art. (I wish we'd been able to find a talented artist who'd return our calls.)
If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to get as much feedback about the game as possible.
Are there any plans to release a demo version? I'm interested in this, but I don't buy downloadable titles without playing them first.
Nintendo Friend Code: SW-0689-9921-0006
Yeah, I actually didn't realize this until we released the game for preview. A bunch of people responded asking about the DS RPG/Pokemon alternatively. We had a good chuckle over that.
Re: the demo version, probably not, to be honest. We wrestled with this for a while, but ultimately decided against it, for a variety of reasons. I think if there's a lot of demand for it we may revisit the idea, but I'm not entirely sure.
We would love to make a universal/iPad-only version, but it would require not only significant reworking of the codebase, but also new artwork. One of the downsides of licensed art is that you're kinda stuck with what you've got--and I'm not at all comfortable with the quality and resolution of the art we do have to put out an iPad-native version of Ash. If we put out an "HD" version of Ash, I'd actually want it to do the screen justice, you know?
I updated the critical reception with another review, this time courtesy of Platform Nation.
Check out the post above yours, and the first post.
In short, yes--we followed the licensing guidelines (including payment) as stipulated by two separate lawyers: both agreed that the TOS allowed us to do what we've done. Enterbrain is credited in our press release, in our App Store description, on our website, and at the end of the game--including the supplemental art they added after original release. (We credit the individual artists responsible, in that case.)
I talk about this issue a bit on our website:
If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask.
If you pay them (which we made sure to do) you operate under a difference license. We were very concerned with this--we didn't want to break the law, obviously, but furthermore we didn't want to alienate anyone. We've tried to be as up-front and honest as possible so that no one thinks it's our intention to deceive, and even despite this we have all unanimously agreed that our next game (assuming Ash lets us stay in business) can, under no circumstances, use licensed art. But I don't think that will be a problem next time around: Ash's critical reception should help other artists take us seriously.
I'm thrilled you like it! Thanks so much for your support.
You just need to spam your two abilities and quaff potions I think. The mutated dude?
Well I did just that, though he looked more like a monster to me. The bottom of the mine right?
Yus. If that's not working maybe you need to grind a bit, or equip some other weapons and armour if you've found/bought any.
To the devs - where do you go after the supply depot? One of the problems I'm having is that there's no world map and no way to know what your current "quest" is - so if you leave the game for a bit you can end up wandering for quite a while!
Head southwest of the depot to a castle surrounded by forest. That's Keshvar, and it's your next stop.
Also, we have a world map available on our website--we're looking into making a world map accessible from in-game as well, as this continues to be one of the most oft-requested features.
Version 1.25 just went live (may take a bit to propagate). It fixes a bunch of small bugs. Thanks!