KIL.A.TON: Tanks, Nukes, and Hot Plasma Death!

On worlds where life is cheap... death has its price!

And so goes KIL.A.TON, which I'm pleased to present to the F:AT community, now available on the iPhone / iPod Touch. KIL.A.TON is a heavy metal themed strategy/action game, in the vein of artillery-style games like DeathTank. Players take simultaneous turns lining up their shots (via a simple dexterity mechanic) and then all hell breaks loose as the shots resolve, with complete physical simulation, for the round!



Each player fights for survival on unforgiving (and randomly generated) alien terrain, taking out opponents for bounties, and purchasing lethal new goodies in the hopes of achieving some world-class smackdown on the following round. The game currently provides 17 weapons and powers to choose from, covering an array of tactical, offensive, and defensive options.

Some YouTube Videos
Hilights: www.youtube.com/user/DotMatrixDesign#play/uploads/0/md7PGn8H49k
Tutorial Mission: www.youtube.com/user/DotMatrixDesign#play/uploads/2/Kl3wxZnx-K8


The game supports up to 6-players online, and we're already developing new weapons and additions to improve competitive play further. Full stats and online rankings are tracked, and we've already successfully conducted our first tournament, with more to come soon.








The game has been very positively reviewed, and we're happy with the result for v1.0. We'd love to get feedback from a passionate group like the F:AT community. We want to hear from you! Improving our game play and player experience is a priority, and we feel that F:AT has a great deal of experienced, skilled gamers of all stripes, that can participate.

One thing to note here is that as a small independent developer, it's our priority to stay connected to our player base. The result is that you, the player, get to have a direct dialogue with game developers that are happy to take your direct feedback, consider it, and turn around new features in as quickly as a week, in some cases.

This seemed to be as appropriate a place to post as any on the site, although "Other" is a bit of a non-subject. Perhaps F:AT might increasingly embrace AT-style online/video games as part of its core community, unlike some other rather non-inclusive board gaming sites?

Or better, even begin to review AT-style online/video games including KIL.A.TON? The world wonders!

And remember: Revenge is a dish... best served at 10^6 Kelvin!

See you online, and watch your back!

Jim Spoto
Dot Matrix Interactive Design
dot-matrix-interactive.com/
forums.dot-matrix-interactive.com/
BGG User:jspoto
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(Post Script: We are also the developer of Croke!, Crokinole for the iPhone and iPod Touch: www.youtube.com/user/DotMatrixDesign#play/uploads/2/Kl3wxZnx-K8 )

Alright Jim,you're spamming our boards _and_ you're a baghead. Get an avatar, man!

But that's OK because I'll vouch for this game, you guys have done some fine work with it...I downloaded it a couple of weeks ago and I've enjoyed it. It's probably the best of the artillery-style games out there, I like the simultaneous fire aspect a lot, and the style blows away all the other cutesy and/or primitive looking tank games out there.

It could use some more weapons and maybe some more variety in terms of terrain...and weather, gotta have that weather.

The bounty concept is cool, I'm all about "beat up the leader" stuff.

The nuke might be a little bit overpowered...in online play, once somebody starts buying them, it's all over.

Unique tanks with special abilities would be a good idea too, I think.

Online play is pretty fun but I've had trouble getting into larger matches...it's usually one on one.

Crokinole, huh? I didn't realize that was out there...you guys should look at doing some more board game apps.

I love the smell of mass destruction in the morning...on my commute. I'll check this out, but I'm not into online play at all.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Alright Jim,you're spamming our boards _and_ you're a baghead. Get an avatar, man!

But that's OK because I'll vouch for this game, you guys have done some fine work with it...I downloaded it a couple of weeks ago and I've enjoyed it. It's probably the best of the artillery-style games out there, I like the simultaneous fire aspect a lot, and the style blows away all the other cutesy and/or primitive looking tank games out there.

Glad you like it! I'm a long time lurker here Michael, and am familiar with many users antics/postings dating back to pre-F:AT days. Point taken, and avatar fixed, at least for now. I've found the material and discussion on here excellent, and think you all are on the right path, community-wise, with a more progressive and democratic approach to a gaming website, particularly with this audience.

As for the post itself, where to post it was an issue for me. As we all know, AmeriTrash increasingly spans all media to include interactive. I would love to see a specific interactive forum on this site, embracing this. Additionally, a sub-forum where new title announcements can be corralled might also be a nice addition.

I applaud you mentioning this, and frankly, for not getting heavy-handed and moderating or censoring the post. Announcing new titles, when germane WRT AT content and of interest to the audience, is something that has a central place in building player communities. However if this still in some way feels "spammy", I'd like to know how to correct that. We want to engage F:AT in what we're doing, so let me know how I should approach this.

It could use some more weapons and maybe some more variety in terms of terrain...and weather, gotta have that weather.

The bounty concept is cool, I'm all about "beat up the leader" stuff.

The nuke might be a little bit overpowered...in online play, once somebody starts buying them, it's all over.

Unique tanks with special abilities would be a good idea too, I think.

Noted and appreciated, and I think I agree on all points, personally. Some of this is already in development, but I'll wait until we submit to Apple before revealing more. Your feedback underscores several things we've heard from other users.

Online play is pretty fun but I've had trouble getting into larger matches...it's usually one on one.

Crokinole, huh? I didn't realize that was out there...you guys should look at doing some more board game apps.

Online is a tougher area overall, as there are social dynamics in addition to just improving our code & interface. But we're working on that.

As for Croke, it was our first foray into iPhone development, but I'm still proud of the title. It plays very well, and does have online play, albeit via an automatic matchmaking system (players can't create and join games manually yet). At some point, we'd love to provide a bit more in an update here, as well.

jspoto wrote:

As for the post itself, where to post it was an issue for me. As we all know, AmeriTrash increasingly spans all media to include interactive. I would love to see a specific interactive forum on this site, embracing this. Additionally, a sub-forum where new title announcements can be corralled might also be a nice addition.

I applaud you mentioning this, and frankly, for not getting heavy-handed and moderating or censoring the post. Announcing new titles, when germane WRT AT content and of interest to the audience, is something that has a central place in building player communities. However if this still in some way feels "spammy", I'd like to know how to correct that. We want to engage F:AT in what we're doing, so let me know how I should approach this.

Good idea there - probably something the staff will look at, if they haven't already, but forums for these types of announcements is a fair suggestion.

And my 2c worth on how it could be handled by the site - the annoucement of a commercial product (I am assuming it is sold for some value price, I know nothing about 'i' games) - is that since it is basically advertising then some token donation (fee) be made that appropriately reflects the exposure on our small site.

I'm just teasing you Jim...we let Dan Verssen and the War for Edadh guys get away with spamming the boards all the time and apparently I'm a pitchman for FFG. But as long as you post something we actually care about, it's all good. And I think most of his here actually appreciate hearing about new stuff, as long as you don't come on here and be all like "Hi guys, I'm Jeffy, I'm playing this really cool game that I think you should play, blah blah blah". Upfront and honest, that's the F:AT way.

iPhone gaming has been getting a lot of talk here lately, I think it's still an emergent platform and it's starting to hit its stride. So it's definitely relevant, and any game with tanks and bombs is by default welcome here anyway. I've just had my phone for a couple of weeks but it's already packed full of games, and some of them have really surprised me at their quality- and KILATON was one of them.

I'm downloading CROKE right now. So there, your efforts here have at least made you a buck.

is there anyway for me to get KIL.A.TON for my PC? I don't have a Ipod Touch or IPhone-- and don't think I'll be getting either soon.

I really need to give this thing a try.

Dang, CROKE is pretty good! You don't get the physical feeling of playing it, but it's all there, and you can choose between a "spring" shot and a traditional flick shot. Of course, I'm obstinate and I won't settle for the easier spring method...and I'm trying to get the hang of flicking.

Very nicely done...I was skeptical, but this really works.

is there anyway for me to get KIL.A.TON for my PC? I don't have a Ipod Touch or IPhone-- and don't think I'll be getting either soon.

Unfortunately, not at this time. The short explanation is that, in pursuing a "least-resistence" approach to iPod/iPhone development, one sacrifices the ability to easily redeploy the title to another platform.

This kind of thing was bread-and-butter work for us at our "old job", but they were a major 3rd party publisher, and we had resources to do it.

The major issue with PC in general is simply selling the title in some reliable, secure, popular way. Steam may be a solution, but we're just beginning to consider options like this for current and future titles.

We'll certainly announce something if anything changes on this front, in the short term.

When you say 'simultaneous fire', do you mean every tank sets up its attack, all of which are resolved at the same time, or do you mean that you just keep choosing weapons and firing until you're out or the last man standing? In other words, is this turn-based, or real-time?

Is sequential turn-based an option?

Turn based, pretty much as you describe -- in a game with timed shots, everyone has a timer on their reticle, as well as a numeric countdown on the top of the screen.

I prefer 10 seconds per shot, simply because it really forces players to think fast. You have to select your weapon, aim, and power up to the correct charge before the time counts down. All players do this simultaneously.

Then, the firing sequence is resolved and all hell breaks loose. Weapons do in fact have differing, short "cooldown" delays before firing, so if you use a nuke, you need to be able to survive the 1-2 seconds it takes to get the shot off. Smaller weapons shoot quicker, and some are designed to shoot first (minigun comes to mind).

There is an option called "All Shoot" that can be toggled ON, which allows for traditional, round-robin turns. So players are welcome to play this way as well, but IMO it's not where the game shines best. If this option is picked some powers get disabled... for instance, Shields aren't very useful to deflect shots when you're the only one shooting now, are they?

But some players prefer it, and I enjoy this occasionally as well.

To recap: 1) the former, and 2) yes!

The other big motivation for the simultaneous shot mechanic was that online play has very little downtime, unless eliminated from a round early.

jspoto wrote:

is there anyway for me to get KIL.A.TON for my PC? I don't have a Ipod Touch or IPhone-- and don't think I'll be getting either soon.

Unfortunately, not at this time. The short explanation is that, in pursuing a "least-resistence" approach to iPod/iPhone development, one sacrifices the ability to easily redeploy the title to another platform.

This kind of thing was bread-and-butter work for us at our "old job", but they were a major 3rd party publisher, and we had resources to do it.

The major issue with PC in general is simply selling the title in some reliable, secure, popular way. Steam may be a solution, but we're just beginning to consider options like this for current and future titles.

We'll certainly announce something if anything changes on this front, in the short term.

Cool, cool. How about my mac? Can I download the thing on my mac?