Assault Android Cactus FAQ and Q&A thread!

[SMishra]

Hi everyone! These are some of the questions we've been getting a lot so I thought it would be good to share. Also, if you have any specific questions about the game, you can ask them here!

Why is it called Assault Android Cactus? Is this a phone game?

The main character is an android called Cactus. The name is intended to be descriptive, memorable and fun, matching the tone of the game.

There is no connection to the Android operating system.

Is Assault Android Cactus meant to be played co-op?

No. Like an arcade game, Assault Android Cactus is designed to be a full featured single player experience, with balanced levels and characters, score attack modes and a competitive leaderboard environment.

Having up to three friends join in is a fun (and hectic) way to play together, and we hope people will give it a try, but there is plenty to the game for a solo player.


Why is there no online multiplayer?

Assault Android Cactus is a frenetic arcade style shoot’em’up. This style of game often doesn't suit online multiplayer, but the main reason is with such a small team (3 people, one one of which handles all of the programming and art) we didn't feel confident we could get the experience to work flawlessly in the time we had available. While we would love to have online co-op it is such a complex feature we want to be clear about its viability, it is not coming to Assault Android Cactus.


Can it be played with mouse and keyboard?

Yes! Keyboard and mouse works great and game has been designed so that every aspect can be controlled by keyboard and mouse or with a gamepad.

For multiplayer, you can mix and match, with one player on keyboard and the others using gamepads.


If you have any questions you would like answer please let us know!

What are the known issues?

XBox One controllers using un-updated firmware may exhibit problems on some Windows 10 configurations, we recommend trying the game demo if you are unsure of your controller compatibility (And let us know on the forum if you'd like us to look in to something!).

We use a solution inside Unity called Rewired which allows us to support an array of Direct Input and XInput devices, a compatibility list can be found here http://guavaman.com/projects/rewired/docs/SupportedControllers.html though we recommend you use the demo to evaluate your controller type.

[TheRealDealReece]

Just played the demo, first off I would like to say that this game is suprisingly fun, you have got the feel of the game spot on and the movement is very fluid and smooth. This is definetely on my radar as one of the next sh'mups for me to get.

My only issue is the balancing of the characters ,Coral seems to be significantly weak compared to the other androids in my opinion, maybe a defence and damage buff would help?

[[= ClayMeow =]]

Was looking forward to this on Vita when I saw your PS Blog post during Gamescom and now it's on Steam? Sweet!

[SMishra]

Originally posted by TheRealDealReece:

Just played the demo, first off I would like to say that this game is suprisingly fun, you have got the feel of the game spot on and the movement is very fluid and smooth. This is definetely on my radar as one of the next sh'mups for me to get.

My only issue is the balancing of the characters ,Coral seems to be significantly weak compared to the other androids in my opinion, maybe a defence and damage buff would help?

Coral is definitely one of our more advanced characters, she can be quite tricky to use due to her short range but the plasma shield is very versatile and can keep you safe while blasting away. Right now she actually has the highest scoring potential due to the shotgun mechanics giving you so many multi-kills, but I am a little bit concerned about how hard she can be to play as.

Thanks for the feedback :)

[Calysto]

While playing Coral I could definitely see the score potential. She seems to benefit the most from the movement speed buff and once she has it she's a machine. But without it I often find myself struggling to beat the battery as I'm spending a lot of time going from one side of the battlefield and then to the other two pick off a few strays. Coral's weakness particularly shines on boss encounters though, with Embryo moving out of range of the plasma shield within the first second or two. I expect she may be a tough cookie to balance. These types of classes can either be underpowered or severely overpowered. My two cents.

[Jack Dandy]

Just wanted to say I've played the demo and fell in love with it, this is the kind of top down shooter I can REALLY get into! Will most probably buy soon, but- when do you suppose the full game will be ready?

[SMishra]

We're hoping to have the full Windows, OS X, and Linux release simultaneously in November, but we'll be adding new features to the Early Access build every few weeks (Starting with Steamworks Leaderboards so you can get competitive!)

[Jack Dandy]

By the way, another question- is the movement supposed to be that bulky? Kind of hard to dodge all these bullets with the little stumble at the beginning of movement.
Especially for the bosses, when some of their bullets are really fast!

[SMishra]

It is intentionally a bit bulky although you have more finesse when using an analogue stick, it may be something we can adjust over time though so we'll be keeping an eye on how people deal with it.

[spitfire]

I like keyboard + mouse, but WASD is useless for those of us not using a qwerty keyboard unless we switch, which is annoying. Customizable key bindings please!

[SMishra]

That's coming in a future update, although I'm curious now what keys do you want to use?

[spitfire]

I'll be happy to use ZQSD, which corresponds with WASD on my keyboard. Thing is, even when I put my keyboard layout to EN - which makes it functionally a qwerty - I still need to use the WASD keys in the game (although everywhere else they get remapped). W being in the bottom row, below the other three, while it's used for up is too unintuitive to work.

[Froh]

Yep AZERTY Keyboard o/

[Voodoo]

Originally posted by SMishra:

Coral is definitely one of our more advanced characters, she can be quite tricky to use due to her short range but the plasma shield is very versatile and can keep you safe while blasting away. Right now she actually has the highest scoring potential due to the shotgun mechanics giving you so many multi-kills, but I am a little bit concerned about how hard she can be to play as.

I think she needs just a leeeeeeeeetle more range or shooting frequency. Other than that, great game! Hats off to the developers for creating this with only three people.

[More_Badass]

Any hints on what other kinds of power-ups you'll be adding? Unless I've missed some, so far there are the firepower drones, mobility, and lockdown.

[Jehuty]

How do you unlock the new character from the latest update? I tried in many ways, but got no result!