Novastrike Update Brings Trophies…Right Now

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Hey folks –

I’ll keep this one short – the NOVASTRIKE update is finally out. Again, highlights of the update include trophies, tamed difficulty modes, customizable controls, XMB playlist support, and more.

Trophy_List

You can also read about the NOVASTRIKE trophy requirements on PS3 Fanboy’s trophy page.

Ground_Sweeper_Trophy

I’d definitely like to thank QA, developer support, and my account manager – they were very responsive in helping us get the update out this week. As always I’ll be reading and responding to comments here.

New_Weapon_Info

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57 Comments

175 Author Replies

  • @97
    demo’s suck and are a tease. just buy the game, it’s only 10 bucks!!!

  • thanks 4 ur replay ;} no i patched it , i think there is something wrong with my ps3 coz there is some games freezes like uncharted after i downloaded the patch and gta and strengelhold demo , but this game not freezes only black screen but only in game xmb works , thinking of selling my ps3 and buy a new one so every game works fine

  • hi kevin congrats on getting the patch out been playing for awhile and as one of the few who beat solder mode pre patch the game is much more enjoyable. After playing through solder mode again i can say that the shredder is now so much better. The new targeting system for it really works well (almost to good)but the difficulty of solder mode i thought was a little on the easy side specially with the shredder fully upgraded but that’s better than before. Playing through solder+ right now than going on to veteran. Have you done any changes to veteran difficulty? If so what? and is hardcore mode basically veteran pre patch

    • Hi again, ky181. VETERAN is actually still pretty challenging, but you now have two extra lives per stage (whereas in the original you didn\’t). But again, it\’s still challenging.

      HARDCORE is a bit tougher than VETERAN in what comes at you, and on top of that you only have one life per stage (like the original VETERAN). Still, if someone can make it through VETERAN, then beating HARDCORE is quite possible. It\’s just HARDCORE is very unforgiving (you really need to make use of all your weapon systems, keep track of more dangerous enemies, and so forth).

      Hope this helps.

  • oh, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

    It’s still too hard, i can’t pass level 3 and i have tried like 5 times, plus my finger hurts from holding down the shooting button.

    • Hi JJ555666 – any particular objective in stage 3 giving you the most trouble? Where are you losing most of your lives? I\’ll try to provide some help if you can let me know.

  • Wow i am now going to buy this game just because of how much feedback kevin has said to all the fans, way to stand behind a product!!! Cant wait to play it!

  • Mr. McCann…

    Loving It!!

    Why cant all developers/presidents ;) be more like you, how hard is it to make us feel welcome… you have shown the world that its not hard at all.

    The gaming community respects you Kevin, build the games.. and we will come!

    Thanks again Mr. McCann, hope to talk to you soon..

    • Hi again, DankandSticky. In some respects it\’s actually easier for me to do this than some publishers – I don\’t post something then have someone above me say \”You shouldn\’t have said that!\” or such. If you\’re doing community relations for a larger publisher you generally need to be careful about what you say and so forth.

      In my case Tiki Games is my company, so I can post what I feel are to be appropriate responses. And I don\’t mind saying \”Yeah, could\’ve done a better job with that\” or admitting mistakes.

      And I\’m glad you guys are enjoying the support.

  • Kevin McCann, I give your company a lot of respect because of all the replies to the comments here on the blog. It shows a lot about the company and what they stand for. It makes me want to support the company because they took the time to read, listen, and respond to what people have said.

    In fact, I might just buy NOVASTRIKE based off the companies dedication that I have seen here on the blog.

    Keep up the good work. Best of luck to you.

    • Hi PyroJack. I appreciate the post – as I\’ve touched on in some other responses, I feel it\’s really important to read and respond to customers (and potential customers). NOVASTRIKE admittedly got off to a rough start for a lot of players, and I don\’t want to remotely give the image that I walk away from that. Yeah, it\’s just a $10 game, but it\’s still something players chose to buy (or will be choosing to buy).

      I unfortunately won\’t ever be able to make the game to everyone\’s liking, but by reading and responding I can at least try to continue to improve the game (and make sure we don\’t repeat some of the mistakes on future products).

  • Hey. Okay so I’ve never heard of this game, nor have I play it (yep EU guy here). Is there a demo on the US store to try out? Now that the US store is basically just a cheaper version of the EU one, I might just as well check it out.

    Oh and it’s so awesome that you have the to reply to your fans/haters.

    • Hi decon – there\’s not a demo yet. That said, we will be working on one soon (and we\’re still working with SCEE in getting it out there). I can certainly understand if you want to check it out with a demo first, though.

  • Awaiting for the EU release…:)

    Seeing as you are bringing traditional shooters to the PS3 (the kind I like). Here is hoping the next project will be a side-scroller platform-shooter. Bionic Commando: REARMED is the best fix in a long time for me…:P

  • Just wanted to say thank you for your trophy support. I heard that Tiki is only a two-man group? That makes the game even more impressive to me. I’m really enjoying this purchase, and wanted to let you know that all your time that you’ve spent responding to these posts does not go unnoticed. It shows that you guys really care about the products you put out there.

    Look forward to picking up whatever you guys put out next!

    • Hi UNCyrus. NOVASTRIKE was mostly the work of three of us, but yeah, we\’ve been a two-man group for a time now. The last five months leading up to the first release was me and my main programmer cranking away through a pretty nasty crunch (not that crunches are ever really fun). Although the art director was still responsible for the trophy art.

  • Europe… when? I can download the US version, but dunno how much the EU version will cost and when its going to be released.

    • Hi Onna76_NL – wish I could give you a date for Europe, but I don\’t know. We\’re trying our best to get it out there as soon as possible. We haven\’t determined the European cost yet, but we also want to make sure it\’s reasonable.

  • Appreciate the trophy support, wish other devs would read this and take it as an example. Games which are about to release in 2 months don’t get trophies while a PSN title released like what.. when… few months ago, is getting them. Respect to Naughty Dog and Criterion for adding them in their main games is also good at its place to notice it here :-)

    • Hi again, Onna76_NL. Trophy support made sense since we were already working on an update based on customer feedback to the game\’s difficulty (as well as requesting things like customizable controls). So to come out with an update after trophy support had been implemented by Sony and not have trophies – well, we weren\’t going to do that. :)

  • Thanks very much for this!

  • Thanks for the post and the comments Kevin.

    I think I will check this out…so many games, so little time lately.

    And people were complaining a while back there weren’t enough games for PS3 huh ? Sure has changed now.

    • Hiya GGCAN. If you pick it up I certainly hope you enjoy it. And yeah, the PS3 is definitely building its game library pretty well now.

  • Great update. Trophies are fun, but the new difficulty levels and in game music are what I look forward to most. I know most didnt care for this game, but I am a big fan. Thanks for the support!

    • Hi u_nick. Yeah, I never expected NOVASTRIKE to be so divisive in its overall reception. But I\’m definitely glad you\’re enjoying it.

  • Kevin, can I just say it is so refreshing to see a developer get this personal with the gaming public on one of these forums/boards.

    I’m a European gamer and love the Trophies idea (I’m an Xbox360 gamer also and Achievements, leading on to PS3 Trophies, was probably the best innovation in gaming for years!) and will be supporting and purchasing this game once it is released here (soon I hope!)

    Anyway, I would urge you to support all future game releases with trophies from the day of release especially if they are to be multi-platform. The reason I say this is if a game is released on both 360 and PS3 I will buy the 360 version SOLELY because it has achievements!

    Some food for thought I hope.

    Keep up the good work.

    • Hi BullyofSmeg. Thanks for the feedback. Trophy support wasn\’t active when we first came out (at the start of June) or we most certainly would\’ve included them at launch, and certainly any future product will have them at launch (as well as XMB music playback, and we\’ll even be checking things like the YouTube functionality).

      As far as the European release – we\’re trying to get it out there. Sorry for the wait – we never remotely intended to have it this long after the U.S. release.

  • I know I’m not adding much to the conversation, but I just wanted to let you know that while my feelings on the game are a bit mixed, you guys have a lot of talent and I cannot wait to see what you guys do next. Awesome work!

    • Hi chubigans. Fair enough regarding your mixed feelings toward the game – by now I\’m pretty well seeing it won\’t be liked by all shooter fans. :) But thanks for the kind words and support.

  • Kevin,

    I played and Im entering now into stage 5. The game is now really better. The new easy mode helps so much. Another thing that I liked was the bigger ship size. I like the controls scheme option too but Im yet missing an sensibility turn option for the ship in the L stick. Sometimes I think that turn slower can help me better that the actual speed.

    Another thing that I think must be fixed its how works some weapons ( the bombs ) for targeted enemies and ground objects. I find it very hard to hit them using this piece of my arsenal.

    There are another things to discuss, but I think what I type is the more important in the moment. Very good Update IMHO.

    • Hi JBRuno. Thanks for the feedback. When using bombs, do you generally fly off a bit to make sure you have time to line-up on your bombing run? It can help to fly a bit off then turn around so you can do minor turning compensations to be more accurate. Or is the turning itself too sensitive even when you try to do that (where you try to make a minor adjustment but overcompensate)? Sorry that you\’re being frustrated there.

      Glad you\’re enjoying the update overall, though (and actually I think you got through Stage 5? – I think I saw that on the leaderboards when I was reviewing them this morning).

  • First of all, thanks for the update! I’m now recommending this game again to my friends :D

  • Sweet! More trophies!

  • im not only going to buy it for the trophies, im also going to buy it to support and say thanks to the person that has been answering almost everyone in here, GOOD JOB answering questions and being behind your product

    • Thanks, HanSolo. We definitely appreciate the support. And as I\’ve stated quite a bit in here – I also hope you enjoy it.

  • i think trophy make the game more exciting.. this good addition to a good game.. keep up the good work guys, i know its hard work that your doing for us.. i wanted to personaly say thanks for it.

  • its an ok game trophies make it a bit better.. hope the next game ya make will be different..

    • Hiya harlemzkid – fair enough. I\’ve said this a few times in this thread already, but we didn\’t really expect NOVASTRIKE to be so mixed in its reception (well, then again – I was kind of \”off\” when it came to the original release\’s difficulty too – heh). Anyhow, sorry you\’re not enjoying it that much, but thank you for the support.

      When we move onto another project it will be a different genre, though. As far as top-down shooters go I\’m not really interested in making another right now, and even if we do I actually want to build on NOVASTRIKE\’s formula. But again, our next product will definitely move to a different genre.

  • Kevin… thanks to you and your team for your work.

    I’ve been working on a new site and had a question for you. Would it be ok if I email you.

    If I send an email to the address on your site’s About Us page will you get it?

    Thanks!!

  • I never really considering buying this game but now with the trophies and xmb playlist i will be sure to buy it first thing. Good work

  • Thanks for the suggestions Kevin, I’ll give then a try when I get home this evening. I’ll be looking forward to the guide if and when it is posted.

    Thanks again for patching this game, the fact that I’ve made it to stage two says alot. Was beginning to wonder if I wasted my money, but it’s actually enjoyable now. The Addition of Trophies and IGX-Music was also a nice addition thank you for adding them. ^^

    • Sure thing, Kaze. I\’m glad you\’re enjoying the game more now, too. I\’ll still be active in this thread until it dies off, so feel free to posts more questions in here.

  • Well lol in a non-game play related question, I am getting a crackling noise over my speakers when ever I play this game. I have a similar problem with SSHD and the opening sequence of Heavenly Sword. Not with anything else. I know this is a little outside the scope of this thread, but I’m having a hell of time figuring out what it is that could be causing it.

    Using a set of old creative Inspire Speakers and a Soundblaster X-fi via Optical to drive my audio from the PS3.

    Anyway I’ll come back if I have more questions about the game, but any input on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

  • Kevin thanks for the much needed custom In-game Music support and Trophies, this really helps your gemae make my $10 worth.

    I’m looking forward to your next project, hopefully its here soon.

    thanks again, im going to go hunt me some trophies.

  • Playing this game. while listening to some Led Zeppelin would be awesome, so that’s the first thing I’ll be trying.

  • I’m not sure, but is this the first ps3 / psn game to fully support playing music from the xmb?

    Looking forward to when this game comes out in the UK, likely day 1 purchase for me :) Glad to see the game being supported, with responses to community feedback :)

    • Hi phluff_, as gat305 replied in post 132 – Warhawk beat us to the XMB playlist support. :) I think we\’re the second, though.

      Thanks for the kind words, and future support.

  • Wow Kevin! I love the fact that you have commented on nearly every post! I wish more of the bloggers from PSN and developers would do that! :)

    As for this game, haven’t tried it yet, now with trophy support it does sound more tempting. Any chance there may be a demo?
    Thanks!

  • @130 no warhawk is…

  • Got 5 trophies so far. I always thought this game was on the 360 also so I went to look for the achievement list but there wasn’t any :P

    Also I can’t beat the 2nd big ship on level 5. Seems like I always get it on fire but then BAM last ship dead, and I’m playing on recruit :/

    • Hi XxBigP123xX. Regarding the Searer, do you take out its missile launchers first? At the front right and front left it has a pair of launchers – if you can take these out then stick to that side of the Searer it\’s a lot easier finishing it off.

      In addition to using the heavy rocket and disperser on the launchers you can also use the electro-mine layer. For example, if you want to strip the lower launchers then fly ahead of the Searer but a bit to the right side of its path, then drop electro-mines so that they lash the launchers as it passes.

      Once the launchers are stripped from one side it\’s a lot safer to do repeated machine gun passes (as well as using whatever else you have at your disposal). Hope this helps.

  • Just finished this but man still was hard took all my lives to beat the last boss felt like my ammo didn’t do nothing to the ship.May give next setting a bash but don’t think i will be able to get the other silver trophies as too frustrating.Even if i had more ships i think i would suffer.

    • Hiya Azmo85. Congrats on beating it – was that on RECRUIT? If so you should be able to beat it on SOLDIER, but I understand taking a breather inbetween. Sorry that you were still frustrated by the difficulty, though.

  • Cool.. I’ve emailed ya.. thanks!!

  • I purchased this game last night and you guys did a very good job! The challenge that this game provides is refreshing. It’s nice to not be able to go through and beat it all in one run. Great job!

  • Kevin, yes, I finished the game in recruit level. The only hard ( and frustrating )part was the Searer ship in Level 5. The final boss its easy near of it.

    The weapon changes needed in this part become the task so hard to me that I failed in accomplish this objective ( and miss two trophies in the end :( )

  • had no interest in this game.. but now since there are trophies im def going to buy.

  • Wow Kevin, you’re the second person out there responding to my messages while I’m posting for a few months now :-D Kuddos to you ;-)

    Grz from Holland!

    PSN Onna76_NL

  • I’m excited about the trophies and I can’t wait to try and get some of the hidden ones as well.

  • This is great!! I wanted some trophies, but the game was so hard i was unable to even push through the first few missions. Thanks for responding to the community with this. PS How hard was it to add in game soundtracks?

    • Hi MrCamo. Adding the XMB Music Playlist support isn\’t hard at all. Sony did most of the work for us – we basically just had to hook it up. The trophies were definitely more time-intensive (although not terribly so, either).

  • I had to post this, I’ve been a fan of NOVASTRIKE ever since I bought it several weeks ago, trophies are nice, XMB playlists are nice (however you guys should let people know it’s possible to play music from XMB because this blog post will be pushed back after time, you should have text pop up from the main menu saying “press PS button for in-game XMB tracks” or something). but enough with all that, I walked to the library from my house (because I have no computer and I couldn’t log into the blog on my PS3) to tell you this, kevin, you are aware of what the word “khara” actually means right?.. If not, you should ask an arabic friend, you are gonna laugh your @$$ off I assure you.

    • Hi Thetruefiziks. Well, I\’m aware of what it means now. Geez, that\’s what I get for making it up and not researching it. Next I\’ll find out Tolak is an insult term used by Eskimos. :) Glad you\’re enjoying the game, though.

  • Kevin, Thanks again for all your hard work and for taking time to respond to many of the comments here on the blog. Novastrike was a day one purchase for me. Although I was stuck on Stage 2 for the longest time (Soldier difficulty, I still enjoyed the game. I stopped playing when you mentioned you were doing a patch. Now that the long wait is over I’m back into this game again. (Although I’m stuck on stage 4 now.) Thanks again, and I’m looking forward to whatever Tiki games will release next.

    • Hiya LCaruana. Good to hear that you got further. Khara2 can be a bit of a challenge, yeah – if it keeps holding you back please post again and I\’ll see if I can offer some advice. Also glad that you\’re enjoying the game, of course.

  • and.. I suggest the game should implement a ship legend containing all the info about draelus ships.. mostly so I can tell you which ones I hate most. I need help with attacking the searer, I attack with the large non-homing missiles and boost outward, away, when the searer fires while avoiding the rear placed mines, the missiles generally miss but those medium sized ships with the auto-fire lasers coupled with the ships that fire the 360 degree “hominhg” beams finish me off (I could explain better if I knew the names of the ships). So is there a way to destroy it besides aggressively changing weapons, or do I just need to build skill with fast-weapon-cycling?

    • Hi again, Thetruefiziks. You\’ll definitely want to switch weapons (the heavy rocket and disperser really help) when attacking the Searer. As I posted earlier, one good tactic is to stay on one side of the Searer, and to shoot the small missile launch platforms near the front of it. For example, if you attack it from underneath, try to target the missile platforms at the front right (where you see the killer missiles emerging). You can also fly in front of it and drop mines in front of it to lash them.

      Once the missile platforms are knocked down you can then attack the Searer without the danger of it firing those devastating missiles. You\’ll still need to deal with other enemies, but at least the Searer threat will be a lot less.

      Also, the beam can really help with \”crowd control\” – if you go ahead and select that as your secondary, you can do your attack runs on the Searer, then when you back away and get jumped by enemy fighers go ahead and activate the beam to chain lash them. I think the beam is probably being underused, but it\’s really effective at damaging and finishing off nearby enemies (especially when upgraded).

      Let me know if any of this helps.

  • I meant, btw, the SEARERS missiles miss, when I can get nearly 100% accuracy with my own missiles, after these are depleted what other munition do you suggest I should use to finish off the searer?

    • If you\’re out of ammo for the heavy weapons then definitely be sure to scoop up any megapacks to get more heavy rockets and disperser ammo. Also, the vulcan is pretty strong at that point so doing machine gun runs on it does help. And finally – while this is a bit more advanced – if you stay under it, then try using the Omni Cannon to steadily deliver fire into it.

  • @144 response-

    ok I’ll try this, thanks

  • what’s the name of that weapon which uses the right stick movement to fire? is that “omni-cannon” or were you referring to the L2 controlled machine gun thing w/infinite ammo?

  • ’cause I can see how using it in conjunction with primary and secondary weapons would help, it’s just difficult to master

    • Hi again, Thetruefiziks. Yeah, the Omni Cannon is the default right stick. And yeah, I was suggesting it against the Searer because the Searer is fairly large (so precision using it isn\’t as important against it). Hope this helps.

  • it’s good to see developers to put trophys in to their games even psn games, at least this update wasn’t delayed like pain, the update came just in time, this will be a big blow to IDOLMINDS . Keep up the good work Kevin

    • Hi tommycronin. Glad you liked the update. Regarding Pain\’s update – to my knowledge that was because they felt some of the trophies were too much of a grind and wanted to make them easier. So while I can understand your frustration at the delay – at least it\’s for a good reason. Keep in mind if they already had the update in submission when they decided to make the tweak then it had to go through the entire submission process again.

  • Hey Onna76_NL I responded to one of your posts!! :-(

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