Universal Fiz: The Brewery Management Game by Bit by Bit Studios

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by PeteOzzy, Dec 12, 2013.

  1. nailoso

    nailoso Member

    May 26, 2013
    15
    0
    0
    Baltimore, MD
    #61 nailoso, Dec 17, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2013
    I purchased this on a whim, before checking TA (which I always do before every purchase) because it looked like my kind of Sim game. I'm glad I purchased it, it certainly my kind of game. Thank you devs! I've been looking for something kind of like what Kairosoft makes just with actual support! This game is awesome, I'm new to the beer world though lol but I love that you used beer (an adult product and no I'm not saying games aren't an adult product) instead of another kind of product and there is none of that I-already-paid-but-need-to-pay-more-to-fully-enjoy crap. My hubby is gonna love this too! #### I would LOVE to see this get reviewed by TA!!!

    Edit: works awesome on even my iPhone 3GS (that's not my main device, my iPhone 5 is but I always test apps on my 3GS)
     
  2. Benholio

    Benholio Well-Known Member

    Jul 13, 2012
    170
    35
    28
    Anyone have any tips for starting a new game? I like the game, but I guess I somehow made some poor choices at the beginning with the initial influx of cash. I spent the last several hours losing and rehiring my employees (grr!) and I've now managed to somehow go completely broke and not have any options (no free batch of Grubb's Lite being offered).

    With my current game completely dead, I thought I might give it one more try. The only change I can think of is to avoid hiring any new employees that cost a salary at first, so that I don't have the frustration of having to rehire them if I dip too low.

    Anyone else have start-up tips? Where to invest your money? How much profit I should be making on batches?
     
  3. bigrand1

    bigrand1 Well-Known Member

    Apr 23, 2010
    4,968
    6
    38
    Geriatric Party Animal
    California, USA
    I dunno. I've brewed beer for 20 years in real life so I don't see any reason to get this app. Guess that's because of the 'been there done that' feeling I have when it comes to this! Maybe kids might think it's cool, though. But I'm an adult. Can't be bothered by some little app when it comes to this. Beer is a serious thing to me, and I drink a lot of it. When you've actually made at least 20 different ales yourself, you don't need toys. Just sayin'!
     
  4. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    That shouldn't be possible, as far as design is concerned. If your game is actually stuck like that, it's a bug. Are you sure you don't already have the ingredients for Grubb's lite? Double check by going into the Brew Menu, and trying to fill the recipe.

    If that doesn't work, how many coins (exactly) do you have? If you have enough to buy a single ingredient (any ingredient), do that, and it should trigger the game's check for whether or not you're low on funds.

    Finally, if all else fails, you can always go to Menu > Extras > Promo Code, and use promo code OMGCOINS (I'm going to retire that code in a few days though so get it while you can).

    Please let me know if any of those suggestions fixes the problem, I'm really curious to know if your game is truly stuck or not -- that would be a high priority bug for me.
     
  5. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    You may be misjudging the content. Beer is pretty serious to us too. We've beta tested over 6 months with pro brewers and homebrewers included and they loved the authenticity of the game. If you're interested, here's a review from a brewer who played.
     
  6. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    We haven't had any reports of this nature, yet. Can you give me some details as to how the game crashes? Where are you in the game when it happens? When you reload, does the same crash happen again?
     
  7. BlueTrin

    BlueTrin Well-Known Member

    Jun 21, 2012
    374
    51
    28
    What a the solution to the lumber jack event ? I am stuck
     
  8. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    He wants a beer with an outdoorsy flavor. To see any flavors a recipe might have, view it in the Brew Menu and examine the list of effects in the bottom left area.

    If you want the answer: he wants
    Red Keep IRA
    .
     
  9. Benholio

    Benholio Well-Known Member

    Jul 13, 2012
    170
    35
    28
    #69 Benholio, Dec 17, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2013
    Thanks for the reply. I suspected it wasn't supposed to be possible to go completely broke, but it seems like I managed it somehow. :)

    I had around 400 gold at first, and I confirmed that I had none of the ingredients for GL. I tried buying a water and that didn't trigger it either. I'm currently down to 29 gold and I've confirmed the following:
    No batches brewing, queueing, stored or held. No recipes that I have all of the ingredients for.

    Edit: for what it's worth, after using the coin code I immediately spent myself down on ingredients and the free GL batch triggered as expected.
     
  10. Flysher

    Flysher Well-Known Member

    Oct 18, 2012
    138
    2
    18

    I'm a pilot in real life with over 7000 hours in over a dozen different types of aircraft. I enjoyed the hell out of pocket planes ( and still do)

    Don't quite see your point in posting that then.
     
  11. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    Okay, sorry about that. I'll write that up as a bug and investigate.
     
  12. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    Hey @nailoso thanks for the kind words! Really happy to hear you're enjoying it. And I'm in Baltimore too! Should've had you down at our release party at Brewer's Art last Friday. :)

     
  13. bobish

    bobish Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2013
    143
    0
    16
    I'm early in the game. I have over 600 coins and I'm buying ingredients and it pops up and says I don't have enough funds to brew the batch. Then it says I've found Grubbs to brew and to sell that. I then try to go to the Brew screen to look for Grubbs (which I don't see in my recipe list) then it crashes out. Hope this helps. iPhone 4S w/7.0.4.
     
  14. KeKhan

    KeKhan Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2012
    1,380
    43
    48
    Is the game an "endless" sim? Can I just keep working on the same brewery, or does it "end" like a kairosoft game and you start over?

    Please answer, as I love the looks of this but that is a deal breaker for me.
    Thanks!
     
  15. profhuggybear

    profhuggybear Member

    Aug 24, 2012
    10
    0
    1
    Well that's your opinion and I guess it's not a game for you.

    BTW I'm 37, brew my own beer and I think it's a fun little game.

    Oh and beer isn't that serious. You sound like someone who needs to drink more of your "beer" and spend less time $***ing on a game that some people worked really hard on.
     
  16. hokiefan85

    hokiefan85 Well-Known Member

    Sep 16, 2010
    102
    0
    0
    Can someone please explain how the markup, budget, and thirst numbers in marketplace research should be interpreted?

    So if a competitors lager is being sold at 2.1 markup, what does this mean?

    And an average "thirst" of 2 and an average budget of "21" means what?
     
  17. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    I'm not sure which is the way you prefer -- but Fiz has a story that ends eventually, and we've got a few things that add replay value for starting a new game once one ends, like New Game + mode, which allows you to start a new game using your previous game's employees, equipment, and inventory, as well as randomly selected Events that occur throughout the game, making each playthrough a little different than the others.

    Let me know if you have any other questions about it!
     
  18. seandanger

    seandanger Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2013
    96
    0
    6
    Male
    Game developer
    Portland Oregon, USA
    I can! :D But this gets a little bit detailed. Stay with me...

    There's a Tip that explains markup, but you likely haven't seen it yet. Markup is the price per unit that you sell your beer at, divided by the cost per unit. So, in this example:

    [​IMG]

    The markup is 10 / 5.48, which equals approximately 1.82.

    When shopping at a Marketplace, customers will judge each beer in the Marketplace based on its Quality, Markup, and whether it matches their preferred Style, and pick the best one for them. To be competitive, if your Quality is lower than a competitor's beer, then you can make up for that by having a lower Markup than them, for instance. Once your Quality is higher than theirs, you can raise your Markup (for more profit). Customers will rate you more negatively than if your Markup was lower, but if you have the Quality advantage to weather that negative rating, then you can afford to do it.

    Imagine customer research as a survey that you poll X people with. The survey asks:

    1) How much money can you spend? (Budget)
    2) How many beers do you want to buy? (Thirst)
    3) What's your favorite Style of beer? (Preferred Style)

    The info displayed in the Customers tab shows the results of that survey. The amount listed under the "Low" heading is the lowest amount any of the respondents said for that question. Conversely, the number listed beneath the "High" heading is the highest amount any of the respondents said for that question. You can use those numbers to establish the range of values a customer might have for Budget or Thirst. Finally, the amount listed under the "Average" heading is just that, the sum value of all the responses of the survey, divided by the number of respondents. It's what you can typically expect a patron there to be like.

    Thirst indicates how many beers the customer is wanting to buy at a time. A customer will buy one unit of beer at a time as long as:

    1) His/her thirst is >= 1
    2) His/her budget is >= price per unit of your Batch.

    So if you see a marketplace where customers have high budgets, that doesn't always mean you should just charge that high amount for your beer (you'll get negatively rated on markup if you do). Instead, you should see if those customers have high thirst as well, and if they do, you can sell multiple units to a single customer instead of just trying to sell 1 unit to each customer.

    Example: Average customer has a budget of 50 coins, and a thirst of 2.

    If you price your beer at 35 coins, most customers can only afford to buy 1. But if you price your beer at 25 coins, most customers can afford to buy 2 at once (and they're willing to, due to their thirst value of 2), and your beer will sell faster (and avoid the negative rating from having a higher markup).

    I hope that explains it all sufficiently! Let me know if you have any other questions.
     
  19. bigrand1

    bigrand1 Well-Known Member

    Apr 23, 2010
    4,968
    6
    38
    Geriatric Party Animal
    California, USA
    Guess what, kid, I could care less what you think, though your first sentence was spot-on. That's my opinion and it's not for me, period! That's the point. Too bad if you don't like it! :rolleyes:
     
  20. Snotty128

    Snotty128 Well-Known Member

    Jul 26, 2013
    654
    0
    0
    The title is mine but the text belongs to bit by bit. It seemed a fitting tipple for our rather serious friend here
     

Share This Page