Up until weeks before release, it used to be so that you had to play consecutive days in order to unlock the power-ups. Which meant that IF you wanted all 10, you where going to have to play the game for 10 days straight at least once. We figured that if you stopped playing for a few days, you'd need time to get back into the groove, so piling on new Power-Ups would mean too much options, leading to a less fun experience. But while fixing the last few bugs, we took a close look at that rule, and realised that it'll only lead to more people not experiencing all the game offers. It is true that part of the power-ups have have their own tricks and you learn those faster when there's fewer power-ups to take into account, but putting gamers back at square 1 if they don't play for a day, reminds me of F2P tricks. And I want to stay as far away from those as possible. Now, while on the topic of "what bothers people", a Question to all who read this: If we added a new gameplay mode (asynchronous VS, where you each play the exact same board, to see who can get the highest score), but you would only unlock it if you tweeted about the game, or posted some message about it on your FB wall. How would you perceive this? The thing is, we've not added any of that stuff to BlastBall MAX. But are now thinking: hey people really like our game, maybe they're ok with spreading the word, in return for a cool new gameplay mode? Or maybe we could limit the amount of a-sync games that can be played simultaneously to 1, and allow 20 if you help our cause.
There's no harm in asking people to spread the word. You can see a lot of similar requests in Promo Codes section, that's one way to promote the game. It's advantageous for both sides. You get your game recognized and the players get something else in return. The only issue might be that some people have a problem with social networking sites and they refuse to use them for some reason. But I guess it's a minor group to take into consideration even though still worthy to be mentioned. I read what you wrote earlier about the future updates and new games and the first thing that came to my mind was "why not to add those new modes into existing game?". Honestly, I can't imagine I've got three games installed with e.g. the same icons next to each other and the only difference is the MAX, PUZZLE or BLITZ in their titles. What would really work for me is the one game with multiple game modes to choose from. Let's take a look at e.g. Bejeweled. There's main screen with different modes like Classic, Blitz, Zen etc. And it works for a lot of other games as well. There might be just two problems to go this way. 1: A lot of content - adding new features overtime is fine and for players who are enjoying the game from the beginning this would be highly appreciated and welcomed. For newcomers it's the exact opposite. Your game has a significant learning curve so it requires some time to get used to it. Some people are just impatient so it's definitely not the right approach towards casual players. And 2: Pricing. Well, it's almost the same situation as in previous case. If you add a new game mode as an IAP, I'd be more than happy to pay for it. The problem might appear from the perspective on new player. You pay premium price for a game but there are still IAPs for more content. Some might stay repulsive. It might work, it might not. It's hard to say. You know the Monument Valley? It was 3,99€ (which was pretty much nothing to pay considering what you got in return) and than came the update which doubled the content for additional 1,99€. A lot of us payed the price gladly because the developer simply deserved it but there was a huge group of disappointed players expecting additional content for free and they just started to ruin the game's reputation by negative reviews all over the App Store. Which is kinda sick. On the other side let's take a look at Space Marshalls from Pixelbite. It's 5,99€ for the first chapter released a few months ago and the other two chapters are coming for free. The second one probably this week already. Not to mention the game's already on sale for 3,99€. Or at least was which I find a little bit strange for amount of fun it offers including the promise of future updates. It's like you wrote earlier that the early supporters might feel betrayed. I agree and I always did with opinion to start with launch sale and increase the price than. It works for Wayward Souls. It works for other games.. Anyway, back to topic. My point is it might need some thinking before making the decision. I love the game so I'm in no matter what you decide. Well, unless it's three different games with almost the same name. That being said, I'll spread the word about the game anyway. It deserves to be recognized. So much from me, just a thought
I personally would be very disappointed .. I really hate using social media ( and therefore have no twitter, Facebook, instagram bla bla ) games that force me to use social media to advance in a game are instantly deleted. I do understand why you would want to implement such an option , because it is by far the cheapest way to get peoples attention and build a user base .. But for me personally it is a big no. I would gladly pay extra for added features but being forced to use social media to have all the features is an instant delete reason for me.
There are plenty of popular strategy games that do not use this tactic and people replayed the game because they wanted to, not because they were reminded to. Oh so you never lose the power ups if you skip a day? This was not clear at all and the notification made it seem otherwise. I suggest making the power ups part of the mission system and possibly making another mode with everything already unlocked. Speaking of the mission system, I didn't like it that you had to finish the current game to be able to accomplish the next three missions. I just ended the game after I did three missions then would start another because the missions moved too slowly for me. The puzzle mode sounds fun. I do hope it provides challenging puzzles and would not be a glorified tutorial. I agree with macplash that game modes should be within the main game instead of separate apps. That is a terrible business practice and does a disservice to your fans and whoever follows them. People should spread the word because they like the game, not because they are forced to. You could say something like: "looking for people to play with? Tweet or post about it to see if your friends want to play." Since this is a multiplayer feature I think this would help spread the game without having to force it.
Alright, after stalking this sub for three days I'm taking the plunge: imps to come. Would veto the social media unlock: I hate that sort of thing. Stoked to see what this is all about!
Well, I think so too. But Monkube has investors who shoot all kind of ideas at me, and I need to bring some evidence that they're wrong. Thanks for the ammo, by the way Do you guys log in with Facebook? (fyi: we went to great lengths to NOT have Facebook share data, or post on your behalf and so on) our FB chart is purely you and your friends. And you see them on your mission tree as well. But there are NO downsides, like in so many other games. The reason I'm asking: We might be able to pull of an option where you get to send out a challenge through FB or Twitter, to get friends to play you in a VS mode match. The only downside is that you've got XP and they don't. So you'll win, and their first experience with the game is unfair. I can understand you want more missions. But not everyone can handle having a lot of goals at once. So we divided it up in 3. In the beginning, someone like you should do them automatically. But once you get further along... it won't be that easy But we know, the groups of 3 choice is not perfect for everyone. Well, it's gonna be easy in the beginning But you make a fair point. Maybe we can make PUZZLE an MAX communicate, so people who know the game, have the option of starting at the point where it gets challenging. Hm... There's more to it than that: The biggest one being: we spent 3 years making this. We've cleared the table like 5 times, because we came across an idea that was better, or the game we where building using the mechanic was not good enough. If we get picked up by Apple and enough websites support us so the game turns a healthy profit... yes, I'd put it all in one app. If however, BlastBall MAX gets overlooked, then each cool gameplay mode we add, will never reach an audience. So at that point, making it into separate games, is kinda necessary. I mean, we've got the balls to go Premium and not sell out, but within the Premium realm, we need to be smart business guys as well. The last thing this industry needs is another failed big budget Premium attempt, right? Next to that, more games within one app would mean a bigger app size. It is always smart to keep that as low as possible, as bigger apps get deleted faster. True. So that means that, If we added it a "Post or Tweet about our app" option, with no strings attached, you would use it?
Same question here: If we added the option to spread the word, no strings attached. Would you use it? Or would you tell a friend who also plays games on iOS, of you meet him?
well since I do not use ( as in I do not have an account) social media , I would not be able to spread the word using social media even if there are no strings attached. I will, as a matter a fact have already, tell my iOS games playing friends that I discovered a great game .. I often even gist the app to them so they can also enjoy it. I also always write an App Store review when I really like a game. I do however realize that I probably am a minority in a minority in a minority . The big money and exposure comes from the FB surfing candy crush playing mass
I have tweeted about apps before, but never a canned message that is supplied by the app. It is more like " Hey this game is a ton of fun and I can't put it down. Here is my username and my high score if you want to try it too" I make my tweets personal but not everyone does this so it is good to have the canned message option too.
FYI: A BlastBall MAX player telling another player: "you should check this", and even gifting it and paying for it twice, just so others would play it, is the pinnacle of fan-base support. This is why I do what I do. More than anything else (not having to wear pants being a close second)
Oh btw I wrote an AppStore review yesterday, and saw it in the AppStore today , so in this case it took about a day before the review was visible. Here's what I wrote ( I am not very good in writing flaming reviews, but it's the intention that counts I always say) Dit is echt een prachtig puzzelspel! Misschien lijkt het een eenvoudig 5 op een rij spel maar dat is het zeker niet. Er komen steeds meer elementen bij en vooruitdenken , tactisch gebruik van power-ups etc wordt steeds belangrijker om een goede score te behalen. Kortom een diep en strategisch puzzelspel, die je alles geeft voor de aanschafprijs, geen in app aankopen, dus ook geen onmogelijke levels die alleen door betaling zijn op te lossen.
I would not use social media to spread the word, no. I don't have many friends who play games but if it does come up I do mention games I love. I also always write reviews about games I love on the Appstore and mention them here on TA in other threads if it is relevant.
Review writers are the best That stuff makes all the difference on the app store. Have you played our game?
Sorry for going a bit off topic, but what happened to my friend spooner, shouldnt it have been released last week?
Haha. You did some research. That game, co-funded by Microsoft Nokia, was a timed exclusive to the Lumia platform. It's available there now, but a bit rough, since we got zero support on test devices, no solution to preventing devices with too little memory from downloading the game (leading to 1 star reviews), and a deadline the game needed to be out. We finished it, but the list of stuff we still wanted to add, that would make it even better, was quite long. The date on our website is the end of the Timed Exclusive embargo. But since BlastBall MAX took an extra 3 months, we haven't completed adding the extra stuff to My Friend Spooner yet. We'd like to keep it out of the eye of the press, until the iOS version is as good as done. Should be sometime this summer. Also, if BlastBall MAX does well, we might release it under a new, spin off brand. As the game's theme (violence, narcotics...) would be a shock to most the average BlastBall MAX player. Gameplay wise, you can compare it to the Blizzard classic Lost Vikings. Style-wise, it's Sin City, although the story leans more towards Fear & Loathing As with all Monkube games: it's done when it's done. We're gonna push it as far as we can, so it's unique, like 6th Planet and BlastBall.
Since I've already got so much great feedback here... I got another thing I want to run by you guys: There's quite a few sites reviewing the game. And once enough of those reviews hit, we're gonna do a second push and see if we can get BlastBall MAX on the radar of sites like Cult of Mac etc... We created a long 1.30 minute commercial that we think tailors to those media (since they're less fond of 'BLEEP BLEEP - PEW PEW' commercials), and also takes more time to convey some info. Then again, it might be overkill and pompous. We've been working on this game for so long, we've lost the ability to have an objective opinion. Below are both commercials. If you want, check them and then give me your honest opinion. The big, 1.30 min. one. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel The shorter one, also used on mobile game sites. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
I like the commercials Sven! Really showcases the game well and it's got some good humor in it with the mom then son locking the other one out of the house so they can play. Music is upbeat but kind of overpowers the narrator and it's a bit distracting. Shows the gameplay mechanics fairly well and hits all the key factors (no timers, no candy etc.). Nice job!
As I wrote on one of the previous pages, the longer ad was the reason I actually bought the game, I saw it on rival site and I just had to have it. Just like that.
Okay. Good to hear. And also, that was the opposite of what I was expecting. I thought this would be to mellow for actual mobile gamers. Then again, it shows that I've been looking at this for too long. Which makes it hard to trust your own opinion.
