John Bowers of EsperssoSoft is the developer behind an upcoming game for the iPhone called StarSmasher. The game is a 3D space shooter that let’s you fly through space shooting up rocks and (seemingly) other space ships.
The game is modeled after Star Fox and uses the accelerometer for controlling flight with tap controls for firing.
This looks like a great game and but it starts to make me wonder whatever happened to that 3D space shooter that Apple was building for the iPhone as sample code? (update below regarding this) (by the way it had almost the exact same control scheme as this game). I’m really excited about this game and even more excited about the price, the game will go for $2.99 when it is released in the App Store.
Update: The developer of StarSmasher contacted me regarding the similarities of this game to Apple’s game (which was called TouchFighter). Here is a section of the email:
“I’m the developer of StarSmasher. I wanted to address the TouchFighter issue since I’ve noticed it crop up several times. I don’t think TouchFighter’s controls are the same as StarSmashers or even that similar (aside from the fact that they both use the accelerometer and are 3rd person). I haven’t played it personally, but from the videos that I’ve seen of TF the gameplay is essentially turret based. You aren’t actually changing the position of the ship on screen just the direction it is aiming. The feeling of moving forward is an illusion produced by the stars moving by.
StarSmasher gives you more control over the position of your ship (hence the dodging asteroids bit). I decided to write it because I really like rails games and I wanted one for my iTouch.
I hope people will like the game. I do. I wrote it for myself first and setting it out in the App Store is just a perk.”
All day I’ve been looking for a iPhone elite / x2 game.