SketchFighter 4000 Alpha
First, despite the name, this apparently is a regular release. The Get Info string says it’s version 1.0.0 — no alpha there. The name of the game is “SketchFighter 4000 Alpha”, in a misplaced attempt at increasing the whole sci-fi-ness of it.
Second:
Save points must die.
Seriously. Every game that has save points can be massively improved by replacing them with a “Save game” command in the menu.
Third, the save games are next to useless. They save your last location, but not the deaths of all the enemies and objects you’ve blown up. So when you restore, SURPRISE! All your enemies have come back from the dead, and they’re understandably pissed.
And fourth, a note to all game developers: Please ship your games set by default to windowed mode, not full-screen. Nobody has a CRT anymore, and nobody has an LCD with a native resolution of 800×600 anymore. More to the point, maybe I don’t want to start right into your game right away; I’d like to go through the Options first, and as long as I’m doing that, there’s no reason for me to not to have my email and IM windows visible.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:35:48
Also: Why ship ONLY 4:3 resolutions on a platform where all computers that ship with built-in displays ship with 16:10 resolutions? Widescreen, please.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:40:29
Agreed. Better yet, rather than having a fixed list of resolutions, discover them from the capabilities of the main display (presumably using I/O Kit or Quartz Services) and use that.
And have separate resolution settings for windowed and full-screen modes, and default the full-screen resolution to the current resolution at first launch.
December 1st, 2006 at 20:58:56
Oh my, yes. Well, I don’t mind so much the save points, but the fact that dead enemies get resurrected is a major turn-off. I also hate it how I can’t go above 1024×768 resolution. That wastes 977,568 pixels on my display. :(
Still, that doesn’t stop me from saying that I really, really like the game. It’s well-executed except for the above two problems which I can live with for now. I’m very surprised, though, that Ambrosia’s testers didn’t give the creator hell for that, though.