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[Gaspode_T]

Was thanking Cave for their fix of Bug Princess, and got this Tweet back this morning:

Of course, it could be just another 360 port, but hey, a guy can hope...

Only thing I have heard confirmed is DDP Maximum, because it was leaked or announced for WP7

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Windows+Phone/DoDonPachi+Maximum/news.asp?c=36855

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/dodonpachi-maximum/achievements/

 

[Ranger X]

This new platformer Niko looks good. I'll download it later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXR1rxQqNq8

I hate those "fake free games" though. That might be just a psychological effect but it should be mandatory for devs/publishers to indicate it's a demo in wich you can buy the full game.

Anyhow,with this little discomfort out of my chest, I will now try that demo!

 

[Tunesmith]

I hate those "fake free games" though. That might be just a psychological effect but it should be mandatory for devs/publishers to indicate it's a demo in wich you can buy the full game.

Anyhow,with this little discomfort out of my chest, I will now try that demo!

They tell you in the description it's only the first 6 levels for free.

I much prefer this avenue rather than separate Lite versions.

 

[Clott]

4X space MMO Empire of the Eclipse should hit fairly soon, plays really well with a nice UI (been in the beta). I got reminded of it when reading the previous posts about SO/Ascendancy.

In case you're unfamiliar with the game here's the announcement of it from little over a year ago (game's been delayed a few times):

http://www.spacesector.com/blog/201...time-strategy-for-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad/

Looking forward to this, its interesting to have an mmo in your pocket.

 

[Ranger X]

They tell you in the description it's only the first 6 levels for free.

I much prefer this avenue rather than separate Lite versions.

I like the seperate versions because I can see if it's a demo or full game or what not, from in the menus and I don't need to always read the description / enter the game's page.
It's also useful for wishlisting I find.

 

[smuttlegiaco]

ah, finally! Time of Heroes is available worldwide!

Give our baby a try if you like turn-based strategy. The game is designed for newcomers and pro's alike. The first three days only 0,99$, after that 2,99$.

8-10 hours playtime and a second campaign already in the making.

ah ja, it's universal and the iAP are PURELY OPTIONAL!

 

[Alex Connolly]

4X space MMO Empire of the Eclipse should hit fairly soon, plays really well with a nice UI (been in the beta). I got reminded of it when reading the previous posts about SO/Ascendancy.

In case you're unfamiliar with the game here's the announcement of it from little over a year ago (game's been delayed a few times):

http://www.spacesector.com/blog/201...time-strategy-for-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad/

Yeah, pretty keen. Is there an embargo on talking about it? I'd like to know if it lends itself well to the kind of "log in once a day, see how things are doing" kind of experience...and how complex is it? I imagine the diplomacy aspect trumps all!

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

ah, finally! Time of Heroes is available worldwide!

Give our baby a try if you like turn-based strategy. The game is designed for newcomers and pro's alike. The first three days only 0,99$, after that 2,99$.

8-10 hours playtime and a second campaign already in the making.

ah ja, it's universal and the iAP are PURELY OPTIONAL!

99 cents sounds like a bargain. Ill get it tomorrow - im going to bed now

 

[GeekyDad]

Only thing I have heard confirmed is DDP Maximum, because it was leaked or announced for WP7

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Windows+Phone/DoDonPachi+Maximum/news.asp?c=36855

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/dodonpachi-maximum/achievements/

Yeah, that's probably what he's talking about. Either way, I was excited to get the Tweet after the recent news they were refocusing some resources into social gaming. At least it's a sign they're not totally shelving their work on shooters. Honestly, I can't imagine it would cost them that much to port their games to iOS. I would think they would want to mine that content as much as possible.

 

[heringer]

Bought Street Fighter IV Volt. Ehhh. I hate when I buy something I knew I would regret but bought on an impulse anyway, haha.

King of Fighters is much better.

SFIV Volt does have online multiplayer, but the match I had was super laggy. I'll try again later.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I never played Order Up before but it seems like the full game is playable for free...it does show ads in between loading screens but that's what you get for free, unless you pay for that IAP to disable. And you download restaurants as you unlock them (for free), I guess that's how they got around the 20 MB limit

Also, the game is fun!

I played it on Wii and thought it was pretty great. Assuming they ported the game straight there are 5 restaurants and then an

Spoiler

Iron Chef style final competition

, so fairly significant for iOS standards.

 

[Tunesmith]

Yeah, pretty keen. Is there an embargo on talking about it? I'd like to know if it lends itself well to the kind of "log in once a day, see how things are doing" kind of experience...and how complex is it? I imagine the diplomacy aspect trumps all!

I honestly can't remember if there's a NDA or similar, I don't believe so though.
The game is akin to one of those web-based 4X games, old Planetarium springs to mind with a touch of Eve Online. Rather than turns things are in real time with researching and movement sometimes taking hours. Researching most initial techs takes days actually..

The beta is limited to 100 players but I've found that to be plenty. Full game will have 1500 IIRC as the maximum per "galaxy" with everyone having their own way to victory based on what research specialty is chosen.

It's being released in Canada, Australia and NZ upon initial release with the rest of the world following suit soon after.

Here's a bunch of quick tutorial videos the devs have posted on youtube, they're part of the game's newbie tutorials:

Map Navigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9RryJtilI
Moving Ships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-wSNX2Aw98
Local Planet Menu and Ship Building
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAOwR9ASm0w
Resource Collection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUr3gC5Jgb0
Global Planet Menu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N_FssyWVw4
Global Fleet Menu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SuAtOJM2KI
Research and Specialties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F3yi6Tsezo

 

[Alex Connolly]

Thanks for all the info, Tune. I did have a strange addiction to Astro Empires for a while, so I kinda thought that this would be similar.

Speaking of which, up for a Starbase Orion match? Anyone else?

 

[Dynoro]

ah, finally! Time of Heroes is available worldwide!

Give our baby a try if you like turn-based strategy. The game is designed for newcomers and pro's alike. The first three days only 0,99$, after that 2,99$.

8-10 hours playtime and a second campaign already in the making.

ah ja, it's universal and the iAP are PURELY OPTIONAL!

Will grab this when I get home from work (thanks for making it universal; I barely touch games that are split nowadays)

 

[GeekyDad]

I played it on Wii and thought it was pretty great. Assuming they ported the game straight there are 5 restaurants and then an

Spoiler

Iron Chef style final competition

, so fairly significant for iOS standards.

Yeah, same here. I felt like it was an overlooked gem. It worked surprisingly well on Wii. The motion controls were smartly done, and the gameplay had a great ebb and flow to it. I mainly bought it for my wife, but my whole family ended up enjoying it. Not sure if it'll be quite as fun on iPhone, as part of its charm, to me, was shaking or turning the Wii Remote.

 

[Wrekt]

yeah sports games need to be as bland as possible

I'm with him. I'll take "bland" over anime any day of the week.

 

[number1jagsfan]

Stuff

Why can't I find the Scribblenauts DLC?!

Others seem to be having the same problem

 

[Blablurn]

warios highscore in temple run... i said wow.

 

[wolfmat]

I'll be having the same problem when I try to market my book later this year. I've been reading up on marketing strategies for Kindle books. Some of those might actually help you as well. You definitely are going to need to start with word of mouth. Friends, family. I think GAF has been pretty welcoming to folks putting info out there about a new book or game they've completed. Create a FB account just for the game. Those types of things. It will definitely take some work on your part, but the good news about some of these is that they're free.

How effective they are really depends on how well you can get those who like your game to pass on their views of it and get others excited about it.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tips. I'll certainly do what you're saying, I've got that in my strategy. And GAF will of course get info and keys because I love when other people do that.

In my opinion, there is a baseline strategy, but it does require resources.

See, that's already problematic. I'm basically one dude with no money.

Assuming an appropriately priced quality product, in rough order of importance, the following things seem to influence sales the most

1. Apple feature promotion
2. New and Noteworthy promotion
3. Cross promotion from within other apps
4. Everything else

If you can then get past a critical mass of sales, word of mouth starts kicking in tp push sales further.

Most developers spend most of their time in 4, where the return on effort is low. And if they are doing cross promotion for 3, they are mainly doing it in other peoples apps where the cost makes it prohibitive.

There are good reasons for why many developers are stuck in 4. The bedroom coders don't have any kind of meaningful relationship with Apple, can't realistically cross-promote with their debut and no budget, and are generally overwhelmed by all other aspects of game development besides PR as it is. I sure know I am.

The most powerful assets you can have are a great product, strong relationship with Apple, and a large number of your own users that you can promote your new games too. Unfortunately, it can be challenging for independent developers to obtain all of these even over time.

I am concentrating on making it a strong product right now. The strong relationship with Apple seems to be a dice roll. And the large number of users doesn't exist for me since it's my debut title. So realistically speaking, it's not looking like I can even make assumptions about sales at this point.

For reference, I read this article recently. It makes things look even more grim. So I'm really scared of completion because it'll be weeks of trying to get someone to notice the title, and I'm not the kind of person that likes to aggressively push a title.

PikPok is publishing a title from a smaller developer in February. Its a great relationship because they get to leverage our visibility with Apple, userbase, expertise, and marketing capability, and we get to expand our portfolio with another great quality product. I'm expecting these kind of collaborations more and more where smaller studios pool resources and talent together to create an opportunity greater than the sum of the parts.

That's a great strategy! Makes perfect sense to me. I'd love to do something like that with a title eventually.

 

[Zeth]

Broke 400 in Super Crate Box. I've been playing on iPad with thumbs though, I need to give Wario's method a try on the phone.

 

[Diablohead]

Since this is a new iOS thread this is how my game is looking right now, it's slowly getting there

 

[Ranger X]

Well, I can't wait to see it in movement. Right now I really love the pixel work.

 

[bubnbob]

Since this is a new iOS thread this is how my game is looking right now, it's slowly getting there

mmm pixel work. already better than 80% of iOS

 

[Glass Rebel]

Oh god, Order Up would be awesome if it wasn't for the shitty deep fryer...

Also finally made it into the top 50 in Run Roo Run!

 

[wolfmat]

Diablohead, that looks really cool. Keep it up.

 

[heringer]

Heh, really enjoying Order Up. Always wanted to try on the Wii. Will probably pay to remove the ads.

Is it the same game?

 

[Lyte Edge]

Bought Street Fighter IV Volt. Ehhh. I hate when I buy something I knew I would regret but bought on an impulse anyway, haha.

King of Fighters is much better.

SFIV Volt does have online multiplayer, but the match I had was super laggy. I'll try again later.

If only KOF had online play. :/

 

[Fox Mulder]

Also finally made it into the top 50 in Run Roo Run!

it's so damn addicting shaving off time before I move on to new levels. I'm top 5 in almost everything I've done so far. My brother plays this too, but on the iphone. Sucks that I can't compete with him because of the split leaderboards.

 

[LuchaShaq]

I am concentrating on making it a strong product right now. The strong relationship with Apple seems to be a dice roll. And the large number of users doesn't exist for me since it's my debut title. So realistically speaking, it's not looking like I can even make assumptions about sales at this point.
.

Honestly the most important thing besides the game being good is how easily you could port it to other platforms. As someone with a hand in xbox indie games, android games, ios game, steam indie games etc, it is fairly common for me to glance over a game on one platform and then end up buying/loving it on another.

Feep is a great example with sequence. Saw it on XBIG and didn't even bother to try a demo. He gave out free steam codes here on gaf and it was so cool and well made that I went out, bought the 360 version, and bought a few steam copies for friends as gifts.

Also as someone who had an Evo and a transformer (no ios device at the time) I was willing to give any even half well regarded ios port a try especially if it was free+ads with iap to remove.

That said I'm no programmer have zero idea how hard/easy it is to port projects around.

@diablo Reminds me of an anime girl shadow complex (in a good way).

 

[neojubei]

Since this is a new iOS thread this is how my game is looking right now, it's slowly getting there

Wow, its looking pretty good. I'm getting some shadow complex vibes from it.

 

[wolfmat]

That said I'm no programmer have zero idea how hard/easy it is to port projects around.

It depends. If you're using something like Unity, it's almost trivial. If you're writing an Objective C engine from scratch like I have, you have to rewrite everything though. So that's a lot of work.
Thought I'd render an asset while we're in the mood (sorry, SpiderGAF):

(Animating spiders is a lot of work, by the way)

 

[BlackBanditSho]

ah, finally! Time of Heroes is available worldwide!

Give our baby a try if you like turn-based strategy. The game is designed for newcomers and pro's alike. The first three days only 0,99$, after that 2,99$.

8-10 hours playtime and a second campaign already in the making.

ah ja, it's universal and the iAP are PURELY OPTIONAL!

Are you guys working on any iPhone RPGs? I had an iPad enjoyed Companions, but since that's not a universal game, I had to let it go.

 

[Gamecocks625]

Has anyone had a chance to play Puzzlejuice? I want to read some impressions before taking the $3 plunge.

 

[blahness]

Caverns of Minos will be getting an update soon

We'll be releasing a point update to Caverns of Minos, addressing the following issues:

- Some people don't like the controls split top/bottom on iPhone. So now three control modes are selectable on any device - side-by-side right- or left-handed, and top/bottom.

- People using the iCade can't tilt the device and so lose the benefit of steering bullets. Buttons have been allocated to simulate tilt left/right.

Testing it now, will release tomorrow. Should be out in a few days .

 

[Foob]

just beat your hi-score jedeye

 

[chris-013]

Since this is a new iOS thread this is how my game is looking right now, it's slowly getting there

Really nice art here ! You are making the game alone or you work with a team ?

 

[infiniteloop]

warios highscore in temple run... i said wow.

phew, you worried me for a minute, thought he'd beaten my score.

 

[BobJustBob]

Caverns of Minos will be getting an update soon

Wait... you can curve bullets? Damn myself for setting my iPad on the desk before playing.

 

[Shaneus]

Broke 400 in Super Crate Box. I've been playing on iPad with thumbs though, I need to give Wario's method a try on the phone.

What method? I need a method!

 

[blahness]

Wait... you can curve bullets? Damn myself for setting my iPad on the desk before playing.

not only do your bullets curve but any enemy bullets on the field will curve as well. It makes it easy to avoid bomb explosions in the later levels.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

just beat your hi-score jedeye

Oh crap, you smashed it! I just played an hour long session and I'm just behind you on the leaderboard. Time to use the resume best feature and build up a perfect run. i'm coming for you!

 

[BobJustBob]

not only do your bullets curve but any enemy bullets on the field will curve as well. It makes it easy to avoid bomb explosions in the later levels.

If you can curve those ghost things that instakill you then I may have to punch myself in the face.

 

[smuttlegiaco]

Are you guys working on any iPhone RPGs? I had an iPad enjoyed Companions, but since that's not a universal game, I had to let it go.

currently not. ToH has some strong RPG elements, but in its core it's a strategy game.

we do work on an endless runner, a small casual side project.

 

[Dog Problems]

DJ Pauly D - Beat That Boardwalk:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/dj-pauly-d-beat-that-boardwalk/id439809640?mt=8

I can't help but think of Mega Man when I see the sprites.

 

[blahness]

If you can curve those ghost things that instakill you then I may have to punch myself in the face.

you cannot, but curving your bullets allow you to easily dispatch them while being safely off to the side

 

[Summary Man]

I downloaded a game off the iTunes Store, but something went wrong. It's as if the app installed twice. There are two icons for the app, one of which works fine, the other which is still stuck on "installing." Is there a way to delete this directly from my iPad? Holding the app doesn't give me the option of deleting it, only moving it. I tried deleting the app that works, but the "installing" version is still there.

Thanks for the help.

 

[flashburn2012]

DJ Pauly D - Beat That Boardwalk:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/dj-pauly-d-beat-that-boardwalk/id439809640?mt=8

I can't help but think of Mega Man when I see the sprites.

lol I'm horrible, just downloaded it.

 

[smuttlegiaco]

I downloaded a game off the iTunes Store, but something went wrong. It's as if the app installed twice. There are two icons for the app, one of which works fine, the other which is still stuck on "installing." Is there a way to delete this directly from my iPad? Holding the app doesn't give me the option of deleting it, only moving it. I tried deleting the app that works, but the "installing" version is still there.

Thanks for the help.

try powering the device off. restart and all should be good again. (hopefully!)

 

[Dog Problems]

lol I'm horrible, just downloaded it.

Any good?

 

[Wario64]

Someone on Run Roo Run beat my time by 16 seconds on chapter 20....how the hell?