MAGFest - Vector Tanks - Jon St. John

I will be at MAGFest Jan 1-4 2010 (Alexandria VA) to meet Jon St. John(!), who has provided character voices for my upcoming iPhone game "Vector Tanks Extreme".

Anybody wanna hook up there?

Version 2 - Progress Update

Vector Tanks - Version 2 is very close and it is the awesome!! I'm going to start sending out private betas in the next few days! Boom baby!

Vector Tanks 2.0 progress

Hhere's my current plan for the enemy tank spawning logic for Vector Tanks v2.

Drone tanks are basically the tanks that are in version 1.0.
H6 stands for the "Heavy Sixer" tank [atari 2600 reference] and is a turreted tank that is much more dangerous than the Drone tanks and can even drive directly over mines and the playfield obstacles and crush them. Mwahaha.

This will be for single player and 2 player cooperative. 2 player
head-to-head will be a completely different ballgame (v2 will only include single player - multiplayer is still under development.

• practice level (enemies do not fire on you) - 1 drone / 1 H6 tank / 1 jeep / no helicopters
• skill level 1 - 1 drone / 0 H6 tanks / 1 jeep / no helicopters
• skill level 2 - 2 drones / 0 H6 tank / 1 jeep / no helicopters
• skill level 3 - always at least 2 tanks - randomly either a H6 tank or a drone tank / 1 jeep / no helicopters
• skill level 4 - always at least 3 tanks - randomly either a H6 tank or a drone tank / 1 jeep / random helicopters
• skill level 5 - 4 H6 tanks at all times - randomly a drone tank instead (so you can "virus powerup" it) / 1 jeep / random helicopters
• InSaNe mOdE! - 6 or 8 H6 tanks at all times (need to see how the hardware holds up - may need this to be 3GS specific here) / 1 jeep / random helicopters

The helicopters can not destroy you but fire at you with machine guns, reducing your shield level. You can destroy the helicopters only with the Nuke powerup.

Virus powerups will let you take over an enemy Drone tank and he will "fight for the user! [tron reference]" (you) - attacking other enemy tanks until it is destroyed (the other enemy tanks will target it as well as you - so it also diverts fire away from you).

Shields are now based on how many impacts they protect you from, rather than being timer based as it is in v1. Each Shield powerup will charge your shield level 1 unit. Each hit removes one unit. And as mentioned, the helicopters attack your shields.

Rapid Fire is now based on "rounds" (each powerup gives you more), rather than being timer based as it is in v1.

I'll likely end up nipping and tucking to get things balanced out of course.

And there are other aspects going on here too - the tanks speed up as
the game progresses, reload faster, etc.

Your feedback is solicited!

Twitter

I signed up for a Twitter account, for anyone who wants to follow along.

http://twitter.com/peterhirschberg

Vector Tanks / Urbansnake Radio Commercial!

Urbansnake, the band that performed the music for Vector Tanks, is currently running a radio spot on several New York stations. Vector Tanks is mentioned in the ad!



Click here to listen to the commercial!
.

Cast your votes for Vector Tanks!

Vector Tanks has been nominated for 2 categories by appadvice.com in their "First Annual AppAwards" contest - ""Best Arcade Game" and "Best Game for Innovative Game Controls".

Go here and cast your votes for Vector Tanks!
http://appadvice.com/appawards/vote

Progress...

Hey all,

Just a quick note to let everyone know the status of Vector Tanks. I've had a lot of personal challenges over the past few months that have kept me from devoting much time to Vector Tanks, but I have been (slowly and painfully) adding new features. I currently have 2 different types of enemy tanks in the game now - the new tank has a functional rotating turret and can drive over the playfield obstacles, crushing them. Additionally multiple tanks attack at the same time now.

Here's an image of the new (turreted) tank design, called the "Heavy Sixer".



I've also been adding and tweaking the program here and there in various ways. Work has begun on a global leaderboard system that includes chatrooms, but I'm not sure that's going to make the next release.

I'm hoping to be able to wrap up this version soon and get it submitted to the App Store. I realize it's been a long time since the last update and I am sorry.

-Peter

Vector Tanks mentioned in the Washington Post

Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post interviewed me last week for an article about the iPhone gaming culture and mentions me and my iPhone game Vector Tanks.



-

Vector Tanks mentioned

Here's an interview with Chris Byatte of Chillingo - publisher for my game Vector Tanks. My game is mentioned several times in the interview. Thanks Chris!

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Zen+Bound/news.asp?c=11863

Here's an interview with Chris Byatte of Chillingo - publisher for my game Vector Tanks. My game is mentioned several times in the interview. Thanks Chris!

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Zen+Bound/news.asp?c=11863

Vector Tanks review

TouchArcade.com has this very nice review of Vector Tanks.

http://toucharcade.com/2009/02/16/a-look-at-retro-3d-shooter-vector-tanks/

-

Vector Tanks now available on the App Store

My iPhone/iPod touch retro game "Vector Tanks" is now available on the App Store. Go get it!

The official website is here: www.vectortanks.com


-

Vector Tanks website live

The program hasn't shown up on the App Store yet, but I did upload the new website.

www.vectortanks.com


-

Vector Tanks status

Well, here it is almost a week later and still no sign of Vector Tanks on the App Store. People are getting pretty frustrated (as am I!!!) This particularly sucks since the submission to the App Store was timed to get it released on late Friday or Saturday morning, thus taking advantage of the weekend sales trends. Not to mention that this is a 3 day holiday weekend which would probably drive increased sales as well. Thanks Apple!

Just release it already! It's not like it's an extremely sophisticated program. You drive around and blow up tank after tank. That's it.

Vector Tanks submitted to the App Store!

The countdown has begun on my latest iPhone game, Vector Tanks. Everyone hope for a speedy approval!

It should be available on the Apple App Store in around 4-5 days.

There's an early review of the game in this thread:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=4400




Website coming soon to www.vectortanks.com

You can check out a video of the gameplay here!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bv9E-I63bx0&fmt=18



-