I am completely enamored with this game. Simple, clever, charming and challenging, I wouldn't hesitate to describe this as the height of what indie gaming is all about for me - raw creativity that produces marvelous results. Not to mention... It's free? That's CRAZY! Having co-developed three free, ad-supported games, my one complaint is that there aren't enough ads. Creative and wonderful ideas need to be supported and it feels like this post is the best I can do. Well done, Brian. You've made something special that I haven't been able to put down. Thank you!
Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me. I guess ASM is also a nominee for Game of the Week? Looks like it's pretty far behind in votes, but it's awesome to be nominated! I just checked this thread on a whim thinking it had tapered off and here it is blowing up. Anyway, I wrote up this article on how the game's been doing during its launch week. It's mostly geared to developers, but maybe some of you will find it interesting.
Just a small announcement: the game is currently being featured in the "Best New Games" section and the "Aliens Attack" promo. Which... I think is pretty dope, and I'm a little giddy about. It's climbing various charts pretty fast now!
My first thought when seeing the app icon was that this was for the game Bitless. Very similar icon but I'm glad I opened up the thread and saw that it was something different. Can't wait to give it a shot.
Oh man, the icons are eerily similar (despite the icon for ASM being much higher res). But yea, two wildly different games.
I'm investigating doing an update, and wondered if you guys had any input about what you'd like to see? Here's my short list so far: * New levels - around 5 or so. Don't want to get too crazy. * Skirmish mode - randomly generated levels of varying difficulty * IAP to remove ads - conflicted about this one; a *lot* of people have supported the complete lack of IAP * An "Undo" button * Localization - this one is doubtful, as it's expensive * And of course, bug fixes Here's my "these would be cool but they're probably too much work" list: * Level editor * Asynchronous multiplayer * Unit upgrades - would require a lot more levels to be valuable
Yes please Yes please Can't hurt to have it in there, can it? If you're conflicted, why not consider a "tip" iAP. I'd be curious to see how well it might do. I have mixed feelings about an undo. Undoubtedly (intended) there have been moments where I threw away 3 stars, or even a victory because I mis-clicked, but the emergent strategy from that leads to some intense and down-to-the-wire moments. My current squad came about as the result of an accidental movement instead of a kill. For me at least, it broke up the trap of the routine squad I fell into. I wish I could help with the localization. I could localize it into English, but that's kinda redundant. How would unit upgrades work? I feel like the current units already fill certain niches and it feels like variation comes from the squads you choose. If you introduce upgrades and all they do is add more power, that might feel... underwhelming. I would rather see a "prestige" stat - where each unit "levels up" a rating based on how many enemies they killed. You could have a star indicator under their portrait in the squad select. Maybe even a palette swap for 3 stars. Here's a thought: a $.99 iAP for an undo button!
Players are fickle. There are more than a few reviews from people who downloaded specifically because the game had *NO* IAP. It's probably better to throw it in, but I have an irrational fear of alienating the current playerbase. ^^ I think you might be in the minority there. But all the same, there's been very, very little demand for an undo feature. And it's actually technically challenging. So I may... skip it. It sounded good in my head. I actually think I conflated my idea for unit upgrades with the next game idea I have shaping up. You're right, in this game it doesn't make a great deal of sense. Prestige is an interesting idea! Do you think it'd have any gameplay ramifications, or just be a badge of honor? I could see achievements built around getting certain units their highest prestige... but... I accidentally used up all my achievements in version 1. :-/ Only if I want every player to hate me forever. I did some research, and localization is actually alarmingly expensive given how text-heavy this game is. So it probably won't happen anytime soon.
Thanks Andre! Another idea for an update: Hard Mode - pretty simple, just bumps up the attack of all enemies (and makes a 4th gem possible). Purposefully doesn't bump up their health to keep the battles short. Too many players walked through the game, gotta punish them somehow.
The prestige thought occurred to me a couple of times while playing - mostly as a reason to use the different characters more often. In my head it's the equivalent of achievements like "Lady's Night", Tally Ho, etc. - something fun, but optional, to extend the longevity of the game. That would be interesting, although I found that my current squad set up works best by pulling a few enemies and positioning so that they have no chance to attack, then running into their face and blasting it. Kite-and-blitz, if I had to name it. With good positioning and squad order, I often don't take any damage at all. The blue one-shot ghosts and the ranged AoE spitter are the worst though.
Hmm, so it sounds like you're saying to actually replace the enemies or add additional ones (or make the current enemies more powerful in different ways, like increasing range & splash damage). I can probably do that.
I understand this. I'd love to have an ad-removal IAP though, and I would definitely pay for it. Maybe you could put a comment in the description that the IAP is only for ad-removal. I understand though that the appearance of IAP anywhere is an irrational turn off for some players . . . Maybe you could make a "Pro" version for like $1.99 or something that doesn't have ads. That way you could have the best of both worlds, and you'd never have to have an IAP mark on either app!
That's an option. It fractures the player base in a way I don't love (current version has 300+ ratings... starting from scratch is worrisome) and it's also a management headache. I've done it for previous games. It seems to be falling out of favor these days - I don't see many games doing it. I don't think there's any "right" answer here. Some people are going to be turned off no matter which direction I go. It's just picking a direction and living with it.
OK, I'm ready to announce a definite update. Here's what's for sure going on: * Hard Mode - you can bump up the difficulty and earn new gems in every battle. Its brutal, and I make no promises that its even *possible* to 3-star every level. * Skirmish - randomly generated battles * Rogue Mode - take a squad into a never-ending series of randomly generated battles. Clear as many battles as you can without your group being wiped out. A dead squad member remains dead between battles. I'm most excited about this one - it seems like such a natural extension to the skirmish system. * IAP to remove ads. (and ONLY to remove ads - the whole game is free forever) * Bug fixes. New units & new levels are on the 'wishlist', but it all depends on timing. New units taking higher priority than new levels (I want to reward players for doing well in Rogue Mode). Question for you guys - what do you think is an acceptable price point for the IAP? ETA is about 2 weeks.
OH MY. Rogue Mode. *fans self* Hard mode sounds reeeaaally interesting too. Would be good to see how my squad does under pressure. Are Skirmish and Rogue modes going to have leaderboards? The iAP question is interesting. I would pay $.99 in a heartbeat. $1.99 for ads that I don't really see feels a touch high. $2.99 I probably wouldn't swing for, outside the fact that . In all honesty, I've said it before - there aren't enough ads to begin with. It's harder to justify paying "more" because they're so infrequent.
Hadn't planned on it, but it's not a bad idea! Leaderboards aren't terribly hard to add, but that will depend on time. I'm shooting for having the entire update finished & submitted to Apple by Saturday or Sunday - want to try to get it to some of the players that started playing when the game was featured if at all possible. I turned the ads up a *touch* (down from 5 battles to 4), but I didn't want to flood the game with 'em. A Unity rep suggested going every 1 or 2 battles, but I just couldn't rationalize that. But yea, $.99 sounds like the way to go. Theoretically I'm placing value on the game, but more pragmatically I'm just placing value on removing the ads, and anything above a dollar for that feels... high.
It's intereting that you say you're placing a value on the game, I was approaching it from the "how bad are the ads and how badly do I want to get rid of them" angle. As a case study, Terra Monsters 2 is so chock-full of ads that if I didn't have someone else playing, I would've deleted the game instead of paying. In your case, I think you could get away with an ad every three or two games, quite safely. Looking forward to the update, and to the "tip" iAP.
Just a heads up: the update is finished. It's already available on Android devices but will take about a week to clear review on iOS. Only difference is that Android doesn't have IAP to remove ads.
Now I'm sure that I will shortly be made to feel very stupid by any response to this as no one else has mentioned the issue I have but.... What are the controls? I'm on the very first level and I can't even move the guy I'm supposed to move. I've tapped, swiped, dragged; nothing. Any help greatly appreciated.
