The demo, all shown in first-person viewpoint, showcases a medieval-themed hill-top citadel, complete with soaring towers, buttresses and a town nestling against the castle walls (though devoid of people). Movement is controlled by either tapping a destination on screen, with your viewpoint then 'walking' towards it, or, more directly via two virtual thumbsticks (one for movement, the other for 'looking around').
I'm not normally a big fan of virtual thumbsticks (though I find they work far better on the iPad than the iPhone, due to the size of the screen) but an interesting development here is that they are movable around the screen. Wherever you touch down on the left or right of the screen becomes the thumbstick, thus potentially (in 'proper' games) avoiding the need for these items to block crucial onscreen action - if you found this was the case, you could simply move the stick to an empty area and continue.
Other than wander around, there isn't anything that you can do - it does not pretend to be a game, it is simply a tech demo. Only one building (that I could find) can be entered and there are no objects to interact with but that is not the point - it is simply showing what can be achieved on the platform.
It is absolutely gorgeous to look at, as these screens show. All the photos were taken by my 8-year old daughter - I'd asked her to take photos of 'something pretty' and 10 minutes later she'd taken all of those shown. According to Epic's website, the demo only took the team 8 weeks to create - it will be very interesting what full games can be developed using these tools, in a full development cycle.
I've written before that I thought that the iPad had massive potential as a gaming device and, with tools like this available for developers, I'm hoping that this potential will be fulfilled before too long.
One careful Disney Princess owner
Jousting or circus tents. Hope it's the former
Interior shot, where the virtual thumbsticks can be seen
In medieval world, it's always clothes drying weather
Reminds me a bit of Bowerstone, from Fable
I have mixed feelings about it. It's exciting to see something so complex running on an ipad, but at the same time I don't want the ipad to turn into a platform for the same brand of boring console games. I want the ipad to find its own niche, which it hasn't quite managed yet.
ReplyDeleteWow those are great pix! Ipad does have great gaming potential even though some of the glitches in some games are frustrating. I need to venture out of my puzzle games and try the role playing ones but I can't because I keep wanting to finish Angry Birds and they keep adding levels. I also have to finish COGS which is just as frustrating.
ReplyDelete@Alex I think the iPad's unique qualities will prevent it becoming a home for only those types of games seen on other systems. I think the DS has the broadest range of software available on current systems, which must be due, at least in part, to its fundamental differences from, say, a PSP. I do wonder about the price points for a high-end iPad game, though (and whether the market will bear them).
ReplyDelete@Olivia so far, from what I've seen/played, most native iPad games are puzzlers, so you've not missed out yet! The games I've enjoyed most so far are iPhone games 'X2' 'd to the iPad screen - more fun to play away from the smaller iPhone screen. Civilisation Revolution is great like this.
I tried the demo on my iPhone4 last week. It has a huge "wow" factor, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteAs you stated though, it always comes down to the controls. As hard as I tried I could not get to a stage where I was comfortable with the onscreen "sticks". And if I am not at ease with controlling a game then that game is not going to end up being enjoyable.
I know Apple have some grand ambitions around it's devices in the gaming space but I can't see it conquoring the DS, or even the PSP, whilst it has no other input than a touch screen. Sure, there are games that work well with it; Angry Birds, Tilt to Live, Flick Football would all be inferior on other platforms. But for anything that requires button presses or directional control then these touchscreen only devices are going to struggle.
@Grainger I think the controls are a little skittish but those rough edges can presumably be knocked off. My biggest problem was that I couldn't invert the sticks - many's the time that I would end up looking at the cobbles rather than the sky!
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the iPad (less so the iPhone - that is more a time-killer when you're waiting somewhere) can be a viable gaming platform but it will be up against the 3DS next year, which has its own shiny USP. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.