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Main forum => Announcements => Topic started by: Qube on 2011-Oct-23

Title: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-23
Finally, after over a year of hard graft my latest game for the iPad is complete and submitted to Apple =D - I proudly present, Galaxix...

"We explore, fight, mine and trade. It's the only way to survive, Galaxix..."

Welcome, Pilot... To the lawless, dog eat dog solar system of Galaxix! - We hope you'll survive. Most don't.

If you do, maybe you will rise above the privateers, pirates and corporations intent on stealing what's yours and take it from them instead! - Good luck, you're going to need it. 

Trading, ship to ship combat, asteroid mining and a good dose of luck. These are just some of the skills you will need to rise from the ashes of your "rust bucket" of a space ship, and trade your way through the universe, building up a personal fortune, reputation, and defences while battling the corporations, privateers, sharks, and anyone else trying to take them from you.

As you progress, you can upgrade to better, faster and more reliable ships. Bounty hunting, asteroid mining, or trading anything from water to computers, jewellery to weapons. Kit your ship out with, lasers, homing missiles, particle weapons and shields.

Bask in the glory as you become a dominant force in the galaxy. But be careful, each action you take increases the bounty on your head and there are many who will thrive at a chance to take it all away from you.

Galaxix features a fully open play area. Go where ever you want with 1,000,000 sectors to explore. Fight when you have to, trade when you need to, go asteroid mining if you want to. It's your choice, your destiny and ultimately, your fate.


(http://www.galaxix.net/images/promo01-800x600.jpg)

(http://www.galaxix.net/images/promo02-800x600.jpg)

(http://www.galaxix.net/images/promo03-800x600.jpg)

(http://www.galaxix.net/images/promo04-800x600.jpg)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: erico on 2011-Oct-23
looks great,
any videos of it in action?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ruidesco on 2011-Oct-23
Any possibility this comes out for systems other than the iPad? I would so gladly pay for it, I'm a sucker for Elite-type games. :help:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-23
Quote
looks great,
any videos of it in action?
Thanks :) - I'm working on the videos now and will have those online within a few days.

Quote
Any possibility this comes out for systems other than the iPad? I would so gladly pay for it, I'm a sucker for Elite-type games.
It will eventually be available also for iPhone,  Android tablet & phone, Windows and OS X :good:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ruidesco on 2011-Oct-23
:D Yay! I can't wait to throw my money at the monitor.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: bigsofty on 2011-Oct-23
Looks great, one of my favourite games was the old Elite games, this looks bang up to date!  :good:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: matchy on 2011-Oct-23
Looks spectacular.  :coke:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: bigsofty on 2011-Oct-23
Was it written with GLBasic?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: ampos on 2011-Oct-23
I want it for TouchPad! Its also 1024x768!
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: blackway on 2011-Oct-23
Wow, It looks very polished, great work!
+1 for in game videos
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-23
Thanks for the kind comments  =D

Quote from: bigsofty on 2011-Oct-23
Was it written with GLBasic?

Yes, it was finely crafted through many version numbers of GLB :good:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Falstaff on 2011-Oct-23
Hey that looks good, nice polish and presentation :) Makes me wish I had an ipad..! Maybe I'll harass my artist to check it out on his ipad  :whip:  =D
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ian Price on 2011-Oct-23
Looks fantastic. =D

I echo ampos - I'd love to see this on TouchPad too. :)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Mikele on 2011-Oct-23
Woow!

It looks really really amazing. I hope that gameplay is similar to Braben's Frontier - must have for me then :). Is it for iPad 1 gen?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Oct-23
I have to agree with the comments above, it really does look spectacular.  Possibly one of the most impressive projects done using GLB?  I too am a big fan on space trading and combat games, ever since I played the original Elite on my BBC Model B all those years back.  For me the spiritual successor to Elite has been "X" the games, specifically X2: The Threat, but I stopped playing it when they released X3 as although the GFX were superb, it seemed to lose it's atmosphere.

I'll definitely look out for that when it's released.  Thanks for the post.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: mentalthink on 2011-Oct-23
Very Very nice, and very cool graphics.

When we can buy in AppStore, I like show the 3D....

Congratulations and thanks for Sharing.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Dabz on 2011-Oct-24
Cor!!! :D

Just so people know, Qubey has wrote a post mortem on the game here:-

http://www.indiecodez.com/forum/index.php/topic,209.msg5430.html

Top stuff! :)

Dabz
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Wampus on 2011-Oct-24
What a great achievement. Wow.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Yodaman Jer on 2011-Oct-24
That looks amazing!

I really wish I had an iPad...
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Oct-24
Quote from: Dabz on 2011-Oct-24
http://www.indiecodez.com/forum/index.php/topic,209.msg5430.html
Dabz
That's a good read, and developed within a year, fantastic stuff.  Just out of interest, how long on average did you spend per week working on this game?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-24
Outstanding!
Please make a port to WebOS as well - it's really going to sell on the TouchPad, because it will totally outstand from the store.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-24
Quote
Please make a port to WebOS as well.
If I can grab a phone and tablet at a reasonable enough price then I'll do that after the the iOS and Android phone and tablet version are done :)

Are there any GOOD webOS tablets / phones that are available to buy brand new? - Mind you, I guess the HP TouchPad may be quite easy to grab on eBore these days, I will have a quick look (around £150 to £200 on eBore and Gumtree).



Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Yodaman Jer on 2011-Oct-24
Quote from: Qube on 2011-Oct-23
It will eventually be available also for iPhone,  Android tablet & phone, Windows and OS X :good:

The minute this is available for Windows/Mac OS X, I'm buying it.  :good: How much are you going to charge for it, d'ya think?

I'm figuratively drooling over the screen shots...
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-24
Quote
How much are you going to charge for it, d'ya think?

The iPad version is (when Apple approve) £1.99 / $2.99 - The iPhone version will be the same as it will become a universal binary supporting both devices.

I've not decided on a PC / MAC price point yet but I doubt I'll stray much from the above, if any. I want to increase the texture and model resolution on the PC / MAC versions of course, but providing it doesn't require a lot of extra time / work then that price point for the PC / MAC looks about right.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-24
The MacStore might be worth a try. Also the Inten AppUp.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Oct-27
Just noticed the game has been released in App Store thread.  Congratulations!!  :booze:
I'll definitely be buying the game after work tonight.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Gary on 2011-Oct-27
 :nw: :nw: :nw:

Time to hang up my keyboard I think, there is no way I could beat that as an app. You have created the GLBasic killer app there I think. Gernot needs to get a video of that running on the front page to show what can be done with GLB. I would buy that the day it hits the Android Market (as long as the Tegra 2 problems are sorted in GLB :) ).

I hope you get a good return on your years work on the project, it should be a top seller
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: bigsofty on 2011-Oct-27
Purchased, can't get it to run on my iPad 1 32 gig, seems stuck on initializing?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: mentalthink on 2011-Oct-27
HI I downloaded on my iPad 1, and don´t runs, appears the logo whit the spaceshipt turns to a black screen and jump back to the S.O. :'( :'(
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-27
What?!?! I tested on iPad 1 before submitting and it worked flawlessly. Purchased on iPad 2 from the store and that works.

Now purchasing from store on iPad 1. Testing... Crap, I know why it's doing this on the iPad 1.

Sorry to iPad 1 owners, issuing update 1.01 to Apple today.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: mentalthink on 2011-Oct-27
don´t Care cube, I know it´s difficult the game works in all platform, but if someelse put somthing bat about the game... bad news!!!

I hope play the game nearly, I want show your game, it´s awesome!!!.

Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-27
immediately update the description texts to warn iPad1 users and write about the bugfix - you will get bad reviews otherwise.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ian Price on 2011-Oct-27
make sure you put an announcement in the metadata to say that you are aware of the problem and a fix has been sent, otherwise you'll get loads of negative feedback that won't be retracted once users have the update.

Metadata changes are instant - a new update may take upto a week.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-27
Thanks guys. Updated meta data and issued iPad 1 fix. Stupid stupid stupid  :rant:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-27
What was the problem?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-27
Quote from: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-27
What was the problem?

I had tested many times on the iPad 1 but as a very last thing I added some improve higher res graphics. Stupidly I should of made a final test on the iPad 1 instead of my iPad 2. I've now recoded the initializeSector() routine to dynamically load only the graphics needed and clear out what's not needed.

I must literally just be over the limit of the iPad 1 memory, grr. Dynamic routines help as I can add more into the game in the future now, so in a way, this has saved time in the future  :S
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Crivens on 2011-Oct-27
Out of interest what is the memory of iPad1 and iPad2 devices?

Cheers
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ruidesco on 2011-Oct-27
256MB and 512MB respectively.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-27
Anyone who's purchased and has an iPad 1 - I'm happy to do refunds via paypal if you want? Just forward your receipt and provide a paypal address :) - In effect you'll get the game for free when the 1.01 version is approved by Apple (currently in the waiting for review stage).



Gernot... Would it be possible to improve upon the platforminfo$ command so I can tell what device the app is on, e.g. "IPAD 1", "IPAD 2" or anything whereby I can distinguish between different iPad and iPhone models?. This is I can optimise for different platforms, e.g. load higher res textures on the iPad 2 etc.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: mentalthink on 2011-Oct-27
HI Cube, I have an iPad1, but don´t care... I will be equal poor, whit a 1 E more in my Paypal  =D, I wait for the new update... :nw: :nw:

Thanks for the offer  ;)

Kinds Regards,
Iván J.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Crivens on 2011-Oct-27
QuoteWould it be possible to improve upon the platforminfo$ command so I can tell what device the app is on, e.g. "IPAD 1", "IPAD 2" or anything whereby I can distinguish between different iPad and iPhone models?. This is I can optimise for different platforms, e.g. load higher res textures on the iPad 2 etc
Possibly would be better to be able to obtain how much RAM you have access to and then perhaps a good idea to run a benchmark check. You could then base which textures to use based on a combination of these checks.

Either that or give the option to the user. Which might be better if you release to more devices. Get an IPAD3 and you have to reprogram for it maybe, whereas a RAM/Benchmark check can decide which textures to use by default, and then a user option to allow this to be manually changed if required. It may be buttery smooth and then an iOS update makes it sluggish. Then switch it down manually to lower quality mode.

Cheers 
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Slydog on 2011-Oct-27
Quote from: Qube on 2011-Oct-27
Gernot... Would it be possible to improve upon the platforminfo$ command so I can tell what device the app is on, e.g. "IPAD 1", "IPAD 2" or anything whereby I can distinguish between different iPad and iPhone models?. This is I can optimise for different platforms, e.g. load higher res textures on the iPad 2 etc.

Here's a post by Millerszone that shows you how (calls iOS directly):
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=6109 (http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=6109)

Or this thread too:
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=5607 (http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=5607)

This StackOverflow topic discusses this, plus has an iPad 2 update:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/448162/determine-device-iphone-ipod-touch-with-iphone-sdk (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/448162/determine-device-iphone-ipod-touch-with-iphone-sdk)

Of course this only works on iOS devices, and I'm not sure how up-to-date this is, and if it works for the different iPads, Retina, etc.

[Edit] Forgot to add . . . freekin amazing game!  Will for sure buy!!   :nw:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-28
Thanks for the links, Slydog  :good:

Galaxix version 1.01 which DOES work on the iPad 1 (may need to reboot to maximise free memory) has speedily been approved by Apple and is now just waiting for it to appear in their database, so anywhere between now and an hour or two  =D

Big relief they approved the update so quick, phew!!!
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ian Price on 2011-Oct-28
Excellent news :)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: blackway on 2011-Oct-28
Quote from: Qube on 2011-Oct-28
Thanks for the links, Slydog  :good:

Galaxix version 1.01 which DOES work on the iPad 1 (may need to reboot to maximise free memory) has speedily been approved by Apple and is now just waiting for it to appear in their database, so anywhere between now and an hour or two  =D

Big relief they approved the update so quick, phew!!!
Wow, that's really fast!
You're a lucky man !  :good:

You have a great game there, congrats!
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: mentalthink on 2011-Oct-28
For me it´s the batter game seen to this date, graphically Spoken. About playing I have to take whit more calm, I´m not too much pattient if I don´t kill somthing in the screen.

Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Oct-28
Yay, glad the update worked for you :)

If you want more action, play on "hard" and jump to the red pirate locations where the enemies appear more frequently (both in terms of location and difficulty setting). Or for instant fighting, buy a laser and shoot at any space station  :good:

I'm also just putting the finishing touches to version 1.02 which has a lower memory footprint which should fully eradicate any low memory situations on the iPad 1 and I've also improved most of the textures so it now looks a little better.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Kitty Hello on 2011-Oct-28
Awesome!!!! Can I "buy" a "made with GLBasic" badge on the title screen, when you reached 1000 downloads? (That's tomorrow, I guess)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Oct-28
I brought the game yesterday and it's superb, I'm really very impressed.  Admittedly I was a bit tired after work so I didn't try out as much of it as I would have liked to have done.   

But I dunno if you're interested, the game froze while I was playing it, this is what I did: I jumped to the sector immediately to the "right" of the starting point, where two spaceships started attacking me, not being a very good pilot, I lost, my spaceship exploded and it's at this point screen froze.  I only tried this once though as it was past my bed time. :S

This is on an iPad2 16Gig.

Apologies for that I hate to be bearer of bad news when someone as worked so hard on something.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: ampos on 2011-Oct-28
Currently your best bet is to buy a "cheap" HP TouchPad, as you will get a WebOS pad device (well, in fact, the only one available) and a GREAT Android Pad.

I want it for WebOS, or Android!!!
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Hatonastick on 2011-Oct-28
How did I miss this?!?  This looks _AWESOME_.  I'm a huge Elite fan.  Unfortunately I don't have an iPad so might be waiting for the Android version. :)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Oct-31
I dunno if  this is sort of a weird question, but is the player "restricted" to a 2D plane?  For example, I was in a battle and I wanted to turn around, to do this I pushed the "stick" all the way forward, but my craft seemed to point down for a bit and then stop?  I was hoping to do a full 180 turn, am I doing something wrong?  Should you only turn around using "left" and "right"?

Also, when I got killed (again), the explosion was rendered and then the game froze.  The only way of fixing this was to use the task killer.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Nov-01
Hi, Nathan,

Version 1.02 which I hope to submit to Apple this evening gives the ship 360 degrees freedom of flight (not as easy as I thought it would be to allow) so you can do loop the loops while in combat. Also the issue with freezing sometimes when the explosion passes through the camera is also fixed.

The v1.02 log is :

Code (glbasic) Select
// VERSION 1.02 - 2011/11/01 - Better Memory Management For iPad 1 Users And Low Memory Environments
// - Improved Textures
// - Improved Laser Accuracy
// - Control Sensitivity Options (see in-game "comm" menu)
// - Control Inverse Option (see in-game "comm" menu)
// - Ships ability to do loop-the-loop while flying and in combat
// - Improved ship to ship combat A.I
// - Minor bug fixes during explosions close to camera


That's it  :good:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: bigsofty on 2011-Nov-01
Ah, very good, now I can to a 360 loop-de-loop!  :good:
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Nathan on 2011-Nov-02
Yep, excellent quick turn around there!  I'll give it a try tonight after work. :good:
Had many downloads?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Nov-05
Finally got the vids sorted  :good: - http://www.youtube.com/galaxixthegame (http://www.youtube.com/galaxixthegame)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ruidesco on 2011-Nov-05
December can't come soon enough. =D
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Hatonastick on 2011-Nov-05
A friend of mine is an Elite fan and owns an iPhone as well as an iPad.  Passed on info about the game to him, hopefully he will end up as one of your customers. :)  I'll be waiting for a PC version myself. :)

Speaking of PCs, wonder if it would run on Netbooks or whether they'd be too slow?  Also is it worth supporting Netbooks?  I mean isn't everyone switching to a tablet these days anyway?

Edit:  Well...  My friend did buy your game for his iPad but not sure he got to play it much.  A few days later his house was broken into and his iPhone and iPad were stolen.  :(
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: quangdx on 2011-Nov-17
Let's see if we can get my favourite iOS game review site to review Galaxix
Request a review here.
http://www.appspy.com/galaxix-review
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Wampus on 2011-Nov-29
Hey Qube! I found this today: http://www.indiegamemusic.com/viewartist.php?id=323 (http://www.indiegamemusic.com/viewartist.php?id=323)

The guy was asking on Reddit if anyone was interested in using his music for an indie game. When I listened to it I immediately thought of Galaxix. Check it out, especially the track Abduction.

Quote from: quangdx on 2011-Nov-17
Let's see if we can get my favourite iOS game review site to review Galaxix

Done.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Nov-29
Quote
Hey Qube! I found this today: http://www.indiegamemusic.com/viewartist.php?id=323

Phew!! I thought you meant someone had stolen my music and was trying to sell it. lol :P - Tis quite a funky peace that I could slot in somewhere.

While I'm here I can happily announce that version 1.1 will be released (free update) around the 2nd week of December on the AppStore and will feature amongst many other things campaign mode, missions, new weapons, tweaked & improved graphics, control settings, better combat A.I  :good:

So you'll be able to play Galaxix via campaign mode, which makes it more of an arcade / console type experience with a story to follow, things you must do, progress & rewards, etc. Free play which is what it is now, or even quick mission mode for a 10 minute blast. Good stuff on the way  =D
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: ampos on 2011-Nov-29
how are sales going?
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Nov-30
Quote from: ampos on 2011-Nov-29
how are sales going?

Not too bad but could be a lot better. After 1.1 is released I'll be giving it a good push as it'll be a much better game.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Ruidesco on 2011-Nov-30
Any news about that planned PC version? I'm throwing money at my screen but nothing happens. ;)
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2011-Nov-30
Quote from: Ruidesco on 2011-Nov-30
Any news about that planned PC version? I'm throwing money at my screen but nothing happens. ;)

The PC & MAC versions will be coming towards the end of January. They will be the shiny new 1.1 version (to be released in Dec on the AppStore) but with higher resolution textures.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Gary on 2012-Mar-21
Just downloaded the game for my new iPad (aka iPad 3) and although I'm stuck in work so cant really play it the game looks and feels as smooth as silk, the visuals are spot on (no sound yet else my boss will know what I'm up to lol).

Will give this some serious game time tonight I think.

I had forgotten about this gem until I was going back through the app store release thread so thought a deserved bounce for a game that has obviously had a lot of time and effort put into it. Just wish I could code something half as good myself.

Gary
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: ampos on 2012-Mar-21
Or an Android or WebOS version... I want it on my TouchPad!  :'(
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2012-Mar-21
Quote
Just downloaded the game for my new iPad (aka iPad 3)
I was pleased to see it ran without issue on the iPad 3rd gen, let me tell you, lol.

Sorry for the delay in releasing version 1.1 - It's been crazy crazy time. I do hope to have it complete within the next two weeks.

The campaign play is shaping up to be good fun to play for those who prefer a more traditional story line based game :)

Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Gary on 2012-Mar-22
had a play last night and did find one issue. I left the first dock, hit comm by mistake, hit pilots guide as I didnt realise at the time you could press comm again to make the pop up display go and the game displayed the pilots guide screen with the buttons but without displaying the guide. The buttons were inactive so I could not quit out of the screen and had to hit the home button to exit.
Title: Re: Galaxix - Coming to the iPad soon
Post by: Qube on 2012-Mar-22
Oo, sounds like a bug  :whistle: - Will squish that in the next update, thanks :)