Universal Bears vs. Art - (by Halfbrick Studios)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Mar 10, 2014.

  1. Halfbrick Woody

    Apr 20, 2015
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    Product Manager & Lead Games Programmer Halfbrick
    Australia
    macplash Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate that not everyone likes the free to play model these days and that is completely fine. I really want to be active on here so I can get everyone's opinions because I really do care about how this game goes and so that we can make it the best game for you guys. The most important thing to me is making a fun game I want to play. So please keep the feedback coming :)
     
  2. Lavender

    Lavender Well-Known Member

    Dec 31, 2013
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    #42 Lavender, Apr 30, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
    Oh.... Please forgive me. I am very sorry that I did not see that. That changes so much! Now hopefully after purchasing the VIP access pass; there won't be continuous reminders/pop-ups to purchase iap's for the costumes and up grades. That would definitely ruin the game.

    Thank you.

    Question:
    I am looking at upgrading the 1st costume. It states 250 coins to upgrade a random color and the upgrade takes an hour.
    The special ability upgrade costs 500 coins with a 60% chance that the upgrade will happen and takes 6 hours to upgrade. If I purchase the VIP pass, will these wait times become more resonable?
     
  3. ROGER-NL

    ROGER-NL Well-Known Member

    May 21, 2012
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    #43 ROGER-NL, Apr 30, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
    Waited for this game a year and I like it, phew, Ha Ha.

    Bought the V.I.P. Think I don't need more IAP than that.

    Played the first island and it's great fun, Game of the Week for me.
     
  4. CRAYTATO

    CRAYTATO Well-Known Member

    Apr 18, 2015
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    Gloriously fun game! I had a blast playing and recording. Also, congratulations on the worldwide release! It's about time, heh. As others stated, the 'entry fee' is a bit steep, but provided you play in small doses, its a charming, well-made game.

     
  5. cowtruck123

    cowtruck123 Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    Good game, was thinking about buying the VIP pack. Does it remove the timers from upgrades? If not then it doesn't exactly make the game premium...
     
  6. macplash

    macplash Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    There's a few of us still wondering and waiting for an answer.. So, how is it?;)
     
  7. wizardhowl

    wizardhowl Active Member

    Mar 6, 2014
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    First off, just gotta say that I'm really loving this game! Jetpack Joyride is one of my all time favourite iOS games and I loved Colossotron as well...so I guess you could say I'm a bit of a Halfbrick fanboy...

    Anyway, I bought the VIP thing and it doesn't remove all the timers but it takes away the 'entry fee' for each level, which makes quite a difference. I don't personally find any of the other F2P aspects too obtrusive, but if you want a truly 'premium' experience, that won't happen.

    Like I said, I personally find the whole thing entirely reasonable as F2P goes and the game is super polished and really fun, and that's what is most important to me.
     
  8. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    That still sounds bad to me. Oh well, i guess i'll just be missing out on one potentially good game.
     
  9. Wicked8146

    Wicked8146 Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Nov 17, 2009
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    I am liking this game a lot. Fun and challenging. I don't mind the timers or the energy. It could be worse. Great little game from Halfbrick!
     
  10. macplash

    macplash Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    Yeah, right. Thanks for clarifying. That's what I thought. Don't get me wrong, I understand there's a target audience for something like that, I'm just not one of them. I'm sorry, but to pay 5,99€ and still have the game tangled with timers just doesn't feel right. I'd be more than happy to pay the price to unlock full game with premium content. But it ain't gonna happen in this case. And it's a pity because I was really looking forward to this game for a while. Well, maybe next time. Despite my disappointment with business model in Bears vs. Art I'm still gonna keep Halfbrick on my list of favorite developers. I just see it as their first strike. It's not the end of the world after all. I've got still high hopes for their future releases. Fingers crossed.
     
  11. wizardhowl

    wizardhowl Active Member

    Mar 6, 2014
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    It really doesn't feel like a F2P even with the timers for upgrades, but until you give it a try it does sound a little much. I loved most of their back catalogue so thought I'd try it anyway. I like the gameplay and the art style, and like I said before, it just feels polished (which we don't always get on iOS, particularly with F2P), but fair enough if timers and other shenanigans put you off - I had to delete MKX for similar reasons!
     
  12. macplash

    macplash Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    wizardhowl, I know your previous post isn't addressed to me. I just wanted to say I gave the game a fair try. I made it through 50+ levels and that's it. I've had enough. But let me tell you, no matter what, every single game with timers for upgrades does and will feel like a F2P, there's no doubt about that. And bringing Mortal Kombat X as a comparison is just off (in case the shortcut MKX means that). It's probably the worst example of freemium model with timers, multiple currencies, countless upgrades and whatnot.

    But as I said earlier. Every game has a target audience and there's a lot of people not bothered with F2P model at all. It's their choice. And the same goes for us who don't appreciate the whole F2P. So when we choose not to accept what's thrown at us, it should be tolerated by the others with different opinion too.
     
  13. wizardhowl

    wizardhowl Active Member

    Mar 6, 2014
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    Um, I wasn't trying to tell anybody what opinion they should have...I was just sharing mine about this game in that I felt it wasn't too harsh for a F2P title. At no point did anything I stated mean anything along the lines of 'Your opinion is wrong, mine is right' - I don't understand why you came to that conclusion.

    For the record, I don't really like F2P games in general and Mortal Kombat was just something I referenced. I just wanted to share my opinions.

    Apologies to Exact Pscience if he took offence, it definitely wasn't intended. Maybe I won't try to share my opinions here if people respond so strongly.

    I would suggest if you really hate F2P, then it isn't really worth talking about this game...

    No offence intended.
     
  14. macplash

    macplash Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    Oh, I didn't. It's a misunderstanding. I'm calm and specific while expressing my opinion. I didn't take any offense in yours nor I found anything offensive "in your tone" at all. Everything's fine, if you asks me. There's absolutely nothing wrong with your opinion and I hope it stands the same from your point of view. Written text might be misleading occasionally I think. Hope we're good.

    Well, it might be a problem because I was waiting for this game quite some time and I'd like to express my disappointment with it. Maybe I overlooked it's gonna be F2P if it was even announced. I don't know. It's just not what I expected, that's all. As I wrote earlier, I understand there's a lot of people interested in F2P model and that's ok. I'm not one of them. I just wanted to share my thoughts about the game as I'm doing every week with almost every single game I purchase or try for free. At the end of the day, this is what's this discussion board is about, isn't it?;)
     
  15. ROGER-NL

    ROGER-NL Well-Known Member

    May 21, 2012
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    It's not free to play it's pay to play Ha ha ha.

    This is the only game I liked this week, and I like it very much, think free to play is getting the better games lately and it's the future.

    People make games for a living, so it is with movies and music, not all people, but most people, art is money.
     
  16. macplash

    macplash Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    ROGER-NL: I hope you're not right about the F2P being the future of mobile gaming. The truth is there's a lot more money in the freemium, we know that. But I still hope there are developers out there making games for any other reason than money. But I'm old and probably naive. ZX Spectrum era is not coming back. Anyway, this is a discussion for another thread. Let's stay on topic...
     
  17. cowtruck123

    cowtruck123 Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    #57 cowtruck123, May 2, 2015
    Last edited: May 2, 2015
    Bought the VIP package and I couldn't be happier (mostly). The removal of level energy makes the game much better and after the first two worlds I am having an excellent time. No, the VIP does not remove upgrade timers, HOWEVER you can earn plenty of coins (especially in endless mode) which you can use to speed them up (no premium currency, just coins!). So far, I am loving the game. I do think the private island should be included in the VIP package (since it says you get access to all levels) but other than that it's a solid effort from Halfbrick!
     
  18. Halfbrick Woody

    Apr 20, 2015
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    Product Manager & Lead Games Programmer Halfbrick
    Australia
    Hey guys.

    Everyone's discussions have been really interesting to follow. Thank you for that. What would you like to see more of in the game? More costumes? More levels? More variety of entities in levels? The sky is the limit. Thanks again for talking to us about the game.
     
  19. Wicked8146

    Wicked8146 Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Nov 17, 2009
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    Dinosaur hunter
    Los Angeles
    I don't understand the moving characters from other Halfbrick games. If I land on one nothing happens. What is the point of those?

    I'd like to see some sort of collectable, like a list of which paintings I have slashed already and which ones are left. Maybe a bonus if you get all of one kind?
     
  20. Lavender

    Lavender Well-Known Member

    Dec 31, 2013
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    This question was never answered. Although, looking through the thread I see that the timers for the upgrades are still there.

    Are you planning, with or without the VIP pass, to make the upgrade timers more reasonable? I can imagine how frustrated anyone, including me, would be, using in game earned currency to pay for an upgrade then have to wait 6 HOURS for it to take effect. Even more frustrating if I had to wait that long, to find out the upgrade did not take affect because it is only a 60 % chance.
    Purchasing the VIP pass is contingent on this for me.
    I've played different games that have a wait on upgrades. I grew frustrated and bored with waiting for the goodies I legitimately earned in the game.

    Everything else looks awesome and I stand by my original reviews.
    It is a colorful and creative game.
     

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