Just dropping in with an FYI. We got the first update of Blokshot out this weekend. It's a stop gap to plug a couple of stability holes mainly - the rare crash with the ad handling should be fixed. I'd really appreciate a report from anyone who experiences it following updating. Other stuff: Your combo burndown freezes when you pause the game (durrrrr....), two brand new music tracks and a couple of other minor fixes. Coming soon: Game Centre achievements Hard mode (had several people (including Mr Musgrave in his (awesome) review) ask for this). More visual grooviness and general spiffing up
Yeah, I think seperate leaderboards are necessary. GC achievement count - dunno yet, still designing. Anyone got any suggestions for cool achievements?
Thoroughly enjoying this. Not too dissimilar from Orbital in many ways, but still has a unique feel with the 'slingshot/catapult' mechanic. Having to shoot behind the line to hit blocks that pass by adds diversity and tension. Excellent presentation and perfect controls. I also like the ease at which the triple shot can be achieved. Perfect for the iPhone, especially in short bursts while out and about. I'd like to see a different mode where you get bonuses for swinging faster and hitting the target. Different types of weapons would also be welcome. Free to download with ad removal and no other IAP is a beautiful thing.
And I forgot to mention lefty flip. It's actually in the current update but I hid the button. I know that sounds weird but we tested it on the pause menu in game and found the temptation to pause and switch rotation in a tight spot too distracting. So, the option needs to go on the game over screen and for that we really need to add a proper settings menu. So, in short, it's coming lefties, sorry for delay. Some people have asked why not allow players to spin right or left depending on where you touch the screen and here's my reasoning: You'd have to divide the screen input vertically and some people play with their thumb roughly in the middle. This would result in an undesirable randomness to rotation as they somethimes hit the left, sometimes the right of the screen. We could leave a dead zone but then, sometimes, you'd miss the input entirely. Finally, I find it helps me get into the flow of the game to not have to think about it; One problem class, one tool to master. What can I say? I'm a reductionist.
I noticed with the new update that while the combo timer does indeed pause when you hit the pause button, the ball snaps back to the starting position and loses all momentum, resulting in the same missed combo opportunity.
I found myself playing this on and off all day, interrupting my typical daily tasks with pinpoint addiction, wanting to play again a minute after I put it down. Such a perfect game as is, with so much room for expansion. iOS simplicity as its finest. My hat goes off to the developer.
Just left an updated 5 star review on the App Store. I kept forgetting to do that. Still consistently playing Blokshot and loving it. No new high scores, but a coulple of close ones have made it into my top 5 scores log. I have to say, I love Track 8 "Neutral Variation". It's my favorite of the tracks. I start each game with it and really dig the part where the percussion or what sounds like it could be almost distorted vocoded vocals comes in. I'm really looking forward to the update.
Thanks paulkane! The other half of the Blokshot dev team here. Stuka_1919 and I share the music writing duties but Neutral Varation is one of mine so I am naturally chuffed that it's your favourite What's your high score? For what it's worth, I can't seem to get close to beating my best score (114,480)... it's amazing to see what the top players on Game Centre have achieved!
You're welcome. Neutral Variation is great! Congratulations all around (song, high score and BR). Are there vocals in the song or am I just hearing things? 114,480 is super impressive. I am nowhere close to that kind of score. My high score is 17,127. What kind of combo are you getting with those high scores? I can never maintain my combo long enough to get into the meat of the game where the blocks start really coming in. I then struggle to regain a decent combo before being wiped out (usually by one of those fast moving tiny blocks).
Cheers! Believe me, I consider 17,127 a really good score -- most of the time I still score under 5000 (and it's not unknown for me to completely fail and get 0!). I think when I got my high score, my combo was somewhere around x110. We've been talking about adding a "highest combo" section to the high score table because we think it'd be fun. Definitely the trick to getting higher score is to make it to the later stages when the blocks come thick and fast and if you can maintain the Triple Shot, it becomes an almost constant cascade of chains and cannons... It seems to me that I get into the flow and perform best when I'm semi-distracted by something else and almost not paying attention -- it's like an instinctive part of you takes over and if you concentrate too hard you lose it! Oh, and I can confirm that there are no actual vocals in Neutral Variation - just me fiddling with synths and filters! The voice in the game itself is me though (heavily vocoder filtered)!
110X combo is crazy! I took your suggestion, relaxed a little more, put my headphones in and almost immediately got 16K and the subsequent game, I broke my high score with 47,230. Woohoo! That was so much fun. It is crazy how fast the little dots start moving down the screen. I got at least one Blokshot at a crucial moment, which helped pave the way for breaking my high score. I think a combo leaderboard would be awesome. I was somewhere in the 70's. I love how the combo indicator just keeps getting bigger and more red the higher you get. I glanced over at it and it looked like it was going to explode! Ha. Do you also make electronic music apart from gaming? The vocoded voice overs are great too. They really add to the experience. It gives the game a nice retro, but contemporary feel. I'm a huge fan of the vocoder in general, especially when it is done right.
Good work on the score! I've been experimenting with electronic music for many years as a hobby but since the response to our Blokshot soundtrack has been so positive, I might have to think about publishing some tracks properly!
FINALLY..... out on Android. Sorry about the wait https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foxholegamesllp.blokshotProjX
Hello Everyone! We've just released a big new update for Blokshot Revolution. It contains: Game Center Achievements! 10 challenges ranging from easy peasy to insanely difficult. Bouncier walls for more predictable bank shots. A bunch of minor tweaks and bug fixes. With the IAP - which I've reduced to the Tier 1 price level: BRAND NEW HYPER MODE - starts the game at top speed for a quicker, more brutal challenge. A new leaderboard for Hyper Mode. A new music track (which I'm quite proud of). If you already own the game, you should be seeing the update come through any time now. If you don't, try it out. It's better than before and it already had a 5 star review from Touch Arcade
Appreciate the bouncy walls! A couple other comments: (1) At some point there'd been discussion about enabling rotation in either direction (e.g., depending on whether the left or right side of the screen is pressed).... That sounds fun to me, and might add to potential for strategy. (2) Any chance you could get access to Hyper mode (e.g., from pause menu) without having to play through a game...? I often dont have time to play more than once in any given session...and for me, Id always prefer to play Hyper if I could.... Thanks for considering!
Great game guys! One of my favorites. Since the update though (or since I updated to ios9) , sometimes the very bottom of the screen becomes fuzzy and distorted. I'm using an iPhone 6+. I would also love an option to always start the game in hyper mode. Thanks for the great game guys . Really love the soundtrack too!
