Yep ... I actually think the main problem was that I massively underestimated the time it takes to polish this sort of game. I based it around my previous game, which was just a casual twin stick shooter, and that took very little time to polish. An RPG, on the other hand, requires a lot more time to balance and test. Magic items, experience points and character stats have to scale up to the challenge of the levels, for example ... which wasn't something I had experience with. Also, the game itself is a lot more complicated and so when bugs come up ... the code base is much larger and it takes longer to debug. Lastly, real life gets in the way of things ... this project is something I do on the side. I have to prioritize my day job and family and my day job has been brutal lately. On the positive side, I've been doing extensive play testing with the latest build and it is very stable and largely free of bugs now. Gameplay if fun and difficulty seems to scale nicely and is a good level of challenge. Here's a list of stuff that I absolutely have to do before release: 1 - Options menu / Graphics options / Difficulty Options 2 - Polish the available characters (may only do 15 now for launch and leave 5 as updates) with properly scaling abilities / spells and good sound effects 3 - Add sound effects to a lot more of the explosions, magic spells, etc. 4 - Redo lighting across the remaining levels to make things brighter (around 10 out of the 30 or so levels done so far). 5 - Add some cool buffs / debuffs to enemy wizards and heroes now that the AI can actually use them. (make sure this doesn't make the game too hard as well) 6 - Add some more magic items to the loot. 7 - Add a few more collectables like more potions, gold amounts, etc. 8 - Add some tutorial level or something to explain the game rules and finish up the credits page. That's about it. I've added the extra levels I wanted to add and all of the really big bugs have been squashed. If I had a week to sit down full time without distraction to work on the above, I'd have the game submitted to Apple. However, I'm only working on this part time so it'll take me longer than that. All depends on how much time I can put to this project but unless something crazy happens in my life, I think a submission to Apple in February is very likely ... if not, it will be in March. Sorry for setting a very unrealistic launch timeline originally ... I honestly thought I was 90% complete when I started this thread. Live and learn.
Yep ... I'll move the source code back to my mac from my pc and push our a new play test build. That'll be next week when I'm back home.
Sounds great. So updated play test version to be released this Friday. Working on clearing off as much of the small to do's as possible before that release. This should be the last playtest build before submission to Apple.
great news! Beta testers, let us know how the final build turns out, though i have no doubt it will be awesome!
In response to the assumptions made about earlier delays. I'm glad, if any, suggestions were taken by the community from the dev. The dev has been awesome at responding to, and building a community, while building anticipation during the beta stage of this game. If the community has caused some form of delay by his taking our suggestions, oh well... now we're all invested in this. Speaking for myself, I think the dev is / has made the right decision by holding back the launch. I think he was unrealistically hoping to launch the game around the holidays, maybe even if it wasn't ready, in hopes that the timing would generate more income at launch. He definitely made the right decision to hold back and produce the best game he could deliver. I think this is a smart move, and probably not one he took lightly. I played beta during the holidays. It's a fun, huge potential for awesomeness, turn-based game, but it wasn't ready for prime time. Regardless, I'll be buying this at launch (even after playing beta), and I hope this is a huge success!
Thanks guys ... you're right. I really do want to release this game as polished as possible. As such, I'm focusing now on getting it ready for release and pushing off some of the extra characters to update releases. I'd much rather have a polished, well-balanced and enjoyable game with 10 or 15 characters at launch than an unpolished game with the full roster of 20. Quick update, the options menu is done so players can now adjust game difficulty, graphic options and music / sfx levels in the options screen. Game difficulty is adjusted by reducing enemy stats on easy levels and increasing them on harder levels. Working on adjusting the initial release characters now. Fixing up sound effects, adjusting stat lines for balance, correcting ability descriptions, completing character descriptions, and adjusting abilities so that they scale up in power and cost effectively. Pyromancer is done. Also redid lighting on 3 more levels.
Localization will be after launch. Quick update, got the skills, sound effects and special effects for the elf archer finalized as well as several more levels redone for lighting. and other touch ups. I'm going to submit this weekend as I'm going to need several hours to convert from my PC to mac for the Xcode build so that'll be done probably overnight on Friday or Saturday. Apple will likely take a few hours to review it so the updated playstest build will most likely be available Monday.
Hey guys .. daily update. Half Giant and Storm Seer are finalized. Also went in and cleaned up several enemies (mostly undead). Redid lighting and touched up design for another 3 levels ... I'm at the 70% mark in that regard. Have run into a weird bug where sometimes the AI doesn't finish its move and never gives control back to the player. Seems to happen sometimes when the player plays his first level of the play session. However, a restart of the level fixes it and it doesn't seem to happen again. I'll look into it but probably not a critical issue. Some positive news .... my game enginge (Unity 3D Pro) just released an update that incorporates Metal support. So players on new iOS devices will enjoy better performance and less battery drain. Will download and test that update this weekend.
Hey guys, Update time. Paladin and Dwarf Iron Guard are now finalized. Both have also gotten fancy weapon trail effects so it looks really cool when they attack. The updated stat lines and abilities are really hitting the sweet spot in terms of gameplay. I've played through to Day 4 and the battles are really fun but also challenging. The finalized characters are also really fun to use. I also redid lighting on another couple levels (all the way to end of Day 3 quests. Lastly, I found and squashed the bug I reported earlier. Game is nice and stable. Okay ... will try to port over the build to my iOS devices this weekend and submit a new playtest build Monday. Happy weekend!
Yep ... it was a quick fix. It was due to some code changes I had made to incorporate different difficulty levels in the gameplay. One thing I'm happy about in my difficulty options is that players can freely adjust difficulty during the same play through. If they run into a level that's just too hard, they can lower difficulty to help them finish it and then put the difficulty slider back to where they prefer afterwards.
Ok, so, I registered here just to post in this thread, which I've read all the way through. I've got to say the developer won me in the very first page with his comment about freemium games. This game is looking amazing, and has definitely improved from the player's feedback. It's pretty cool to see a developer being so open with the ongoing stages of the game, being available like that, and actually using the criticism to improve whenever necessary. And NOT rushing the content. This is how a professional acts, and I wish you all the success you deserve. Hopefully enough to quit your day job so you can make us those games you talked about! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, as I'll definitely purchase your game pronto!
Thanks ... that's really nice of you to say. I'm glad this game has got your interest. So some bad news to report. I was hit with some kind of cold / flu over the weekend that's been making it's way through my household this past week so wasn't able to do much over the weekend. So apologies for not having an updated play test build ready. That being said, I think it's actually better if I just keep my head down and plow through to completion. I'm in the home stretch now and I think if I continue to put in 1 to 2 hours a day (as I've been able to), I should be good to submit within 2 weeks or so. Game balance is where I want it, I'm only seeing a few minor bugs that I know how to fix and options menu functionality is done so all that's left is: 1 - Finish redoing the lighting for the remaining levels 2 - Finish touching up player characters 3 - Add appropriate sound effects to all enemies. 4 - Credits / tutorial scene I doubt the above would take more than 10 hours total so 2 week completion time should be a safe target.
Hey, I'm confident you'll release it when it's ready, as it should be. We'll be here when it comes out.
Thanks guys. Not much of an update yesterday but I was able to finalize the Dark Elf Assassin. She now has more appropriate special abilities including: - Stealth mode (higher dodge chance and critical hit chance but reduced movement). This replaces the old ability where she applied poison to her blades. - Deathblow ability now cannot miss and poisons the target ... meaning they suffer damage for 5 rounds after the initial strike. - The "Mark for Death" ability wasn't really working so I replaced with what's called "Combat Potion". This basically has the Assassin drink a potion that causes significant damage to her over 3 rounds but allows her to push her body to extremes. So she gets a ridiculous increase in killing power but at the risk of falling unconscious from the potion. Something the Assassin might do in desperation to fight her way out of a tough situation. - Her "Rain of Daggers" ability now does slightly more damage and has a wider area of effect. Otherwise, her abilities are much the same but with better special effects and adjusted sounds. Still a very fun character to use. Redid lighting on the remaining levels too. I'm still going to go through the remaining levels and make some minor adjustments though so as to add some more cover positions. This will mean re-doing some lighting but nothing major.
