I've been playing this game quite a lot since I got it. It's really quite awesome, major props for making an RTS that is largely well-done, highly playable. Very good job
Here are some suggestions I wrote down while I was playing, that would make it even better I believe.
Important fixes:
- There's a freeze up issue on my iPhone, it freezes for 5-10 seconds or so. It hasn't crashed though, luckily.
- The sound it makes whenever you're building something is really, REALLY annoying. I would really like you to get rid of that, because it has caused me to have to mute it most of the time (on the bright side, at least the app respects the mute switch!
)
Interface changes & tweaks
- Control grouping "hotkeys" that let you return to a few different user-set groups of units. I envision this as 5 (or more if they fit) buttons up and down along the left side, that you can tap and hold to set your currently selected units to a "hotkey", or just tap to return to the previously-set group.
- Mini-map is not super-functional. A couple ideas I had for improvement: When your finger is over it, it could magnify the area of the mini-map you were hovering over so you could select it more precisely (a-la the iPhone typing when you move your typing cursor). Alternatively, the whole mini-map could get larger when tapped.
- When you are alerted of an event (such as "miner under attack", "unit ready", etc) have a button I can press to go to the position the event originated. In StarCraft this is a press of the spacebar button.
- Waypoint commands... In most RTS games I can hold shift to give a unit multiple commands to be executed in order. It would be nice if there was a small button somewhere (lower left, or on the bottom maybe?) that would allow me to do this -- as long as I had one finger on that button, it would be a "waypoint" command instead of immediate.
- The same button described above could also be used as a way to add more units to your selection.
- I don't really have any ideas as to how this could be implemented, but it would be very nice if there was something in the interface to tell you exactly what you have selected. This may be unfeasible, but it would be nice if you could think of a good way.
A.I Issues
- When they are attacking a building, and I come to fight them, they keep attacking the building usually. It seems to me they should attack the things that are attacking them, instead of the nonviolent building that poses no immediate threat.
Future Release ideas
- I would love to see some cinematic scenes with this
that would be way cool.
- Graphics enhancements would not be unwelcome. What you have is good, and I wouldn't want to sacrifice performance, but I think improvements could be made without filesize increasing. Could be wrong though.
That's all for now. If I come up with more I'll come edit this post. These are just all the ideas I have to make it better, I don't expect you to include them all. It's your game and your decision, I'm just trying to give you some ideas. As someone who works on design for other people, I know how invaluable user feedback can be. I hope this is helpful, and of course I hope to see at least some of it crop up in future versions
But what you have already is fantastic, and I will continue to play it a LOT regardless!
Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: All the things I can think of to make a great game better
