World of Dr. Pickaxe for Windows 8 update adds Xbox controller support and more

Considering indie games usually come up from very small teams, their developers tend to take personal responsibleness for their games' shortcomings and actively work to improve them. Such is the instance with Tainicom, the Greek developer responsible for The Globe of Dr. Pickaxe (a pinball game) on Windows 8 and Windows Phone.

Only 2 months after the Windows 8 and RT version of Dr. Pickaxe debuted, this week's update fixes practically every complaint from our previous article. It adds a bunch of new features like Xbox 360 controller support besides. Come across all the improvements in our video after the break!

User Interface and Graphics

At launch, the game's menus were tough to navigate due to the lack of an onscreen back button. I somewhen figured out that the Backspace key on the keyboard could dorsum out of menus. Now the game displays a clear back button at the pinnacle of the screen during all menus, making it easy to get back to the title screen after adjusting the settings.

Speaking of settings, Tainicom has added some graphical furnishings that can be toggled in the new Graphics carte. Users can at present choose betwixt three levels of anti-aliasing (smoothing of crude edges). Lens flare and reflection effects can be toggled on or off. These options basically let you cut the graphics downward a bit in gild to keep the game running smoothly on less graphically capable devices. Don't feel bad, Surface RT. You're nevertheless a human!

Leaderboards

The update also introduces an online leaderboard. Swipe left or right to switch between your current score stats, the all-time highest scores, and the calendar month's all-time scores. You tin coil through the acme scores only an option to bound directly to your position and see the surrounding players would brand the leaderboard browsing even better.

Controls

When playing with a keyboard, gamers tin now use either the Ctrl or arrow keys to move the flippers. But you probably won't play with keyboard anyway because the mouse controls are at present great. Click and drag down and so release in order to launch the ball, just as you lot'd do with your finger if using a touch on screen. The left and right mouse buttons each move the corresponding flipper.

Speaking of control options, the game at present supports Xbox 360 controllers as well. The A button launches the ball and the bumper buttons control the flippers. Controller support works well, but information technology yet needs a couple of improvements. The B push button should back out of menus, non just the Back button. And the game over message only reflects affect or keyboard controls (every bit shown above), non the Xbox 360 controller.

Pinball time

Dr. Pickaxe launched as a pretty good pinball simulator that needed a little development love in order to be bully. Thanks to this week's update, Dr. Pickaxe actually has become a much better pinball game. And the store clarification actually mentions pinball now, which surely can't hurt sales!

• The Globe of Dr. Pickaxe – Windows 8 and RT – 58 MB – $2.49  – Store link
• The Earth of Dr. Pickaxe – Windows Telephone 7 or viii – 28 MB $1.99 – Store link - QR code beneath

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/dr-pickaxe-updated-windows-8-controller-support

Posted by: bourgaultadind1951.blogspot.com

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