I will. If you know people who might be interested, please do share. Still working on building up our Social following!
RogueRocket was awesome enough to ask me if I'd like to beta test the iPhone version of Gunpowder and I've been playing around with the game for the last few hours. Other than the game being a complete blast (pun intended), it's clear by the time that you reach halfway through the first set of levels that while the game certainly would feel more comfortable to play on iPad, it still works fantastically on iPhone. I absolutely hate that the TouchArcade review brought up the iPad vs. iPhone issue, because the points mentioned are pretty much a non-issue. The remaining gunpowder, barrels at your disposal, etc. never feel like they're in the way. Sure, everything's a tad bit small and I don't know if it's worth messing with the GUI to make it more iPhone friendly, but it's fine the way it is. Of course I'm still at the beginning of the game, but so far it's been completely far from being unplayable. What if there's legitimately too much on screen at some point? Then again, when you're used to playing Infinite Warrior: Battle Mage on iPhone, anything's possible. All that said, I'm on an iPhone 6. I'm sure a 6 Plus would be even more comfortable to play on...but anything smaller than a 6 would definitely, definitely be unplayable. I don't know how Rogue Rocket could handle a situation like this if they go through with turning this universal. If you can't limit access to just 6 and 6 Plus devices, this could be a nightmare when it comes to App Store reviews and players complaining that everything's too small on their iPhone 5s and shit. Is it worth it? Ultimately, that's up to RR, but as far as I'm concerned, I dig the game a lot on my 6. I don't think the smaller screen comes in the way of how fun the game is, or my ability to play it.
thanks for the positive feedback. Please try playing a bit further in, the game takes a pretty gentle introduction in difficulty as we found people (particularly non-regular gamers) had trouble understanding the mechanics so we let it go pretty soft. We want to make sure some of the more complex levels are still fun and playable.
Definitely. I'm trying to get as much as I can done between my bloody hectic work schedule, but I just want to say one thing: This game is ****ing incredible. It's SO satisfying seeing barrel after barrel blow up, culminating with a few of them flying right at your screen. Brilliant work.
Alright, so I'm testing out this game on the iPhone 5 and so far, I'm really impressed with the game itself. The visuals are beautiful. I love Wild West themed games, so I may be a little biased, but the visuals ARE very nice. It's got very high production values. I love the old school "good guy vs villan" cartoons that are in it. It reminds me almost of like older Loony Tune cartoons maybe? As far as gameplay, MC has pretty much explained everything well. I guess the big question is, will it work on an iPhone 5? The answer is yes and no. I'm about 3/4 the way through the first chapter and the first half of the game I had no issues, but when more obsticals come into play, your thumb covers a lot. Expeciay when your trying to see like the blast radius of barrels. It's still playable, but can get a little frustrating with you fat thumb in the way. This game would be completely playable on the smaller screen if a zoom button can be implemented. Kind of like it Terraria. That would be perfect. That's my impressions so far. I was going to test it out on the iPhone 4S, but I don't think there would be any value in that after playing on the 5. I'll get back to it and see what Chapter 2 is like.
I checked out Terraria to see what you were referring to, I hadn't tried it on a phone previously. I see what you're after there. Not 100% sure it would work as well in this context. If I can find the time i'll try out a quick experiment and see what it's like. But yes, this is exactly the kind of thing we'd be concerned about on iPhone 5 and smaller. even iphone 6 in some cases.
I've been a naughty little boy. I have to admit that me extensively playing the game with the intention of completing it 100% was starting to take up too much time and would ultimately ruin the actual, actual (not beta) version of the game for me (which is why I normally don't beta test), so I snooped around and tried to unlock the future levels to try them out. It worked and I had a go at a bunch of levels from chapters 3, 4 and 5. Okay, you're definitely reaching the boundaries of "there's too much on an iPhone screen". It's still playable, but now there are tons of barrels to place, things all over the screen and...I don't want to say this...it's becoming a tad bit hard to draw gunpowder lines. *eek!!!* The game is still fully playable, but I kinda wanna check this out on iPad for the best experience. I hate myself for admitting all this! Would I say "screw iPhone support" at this point? I think everyone with a capable and large enough iDevice should have access to such an awesome game...still. However, if the game is updated to universal, I would strongly stress in the app description that the optimal experience is on iPads. There...I said it!!!!!!!
haha! oh my. what did you do, you industrious fellow? nevermind don't tell me. =) Well there's only a handful of people trying out the universal beta so data is limited but sounds like iphone 5 and smaller is getting pretty difficult to deal with, and iPhone 6 and larger is playable but gets pretty difficult later. I'm going to chat w/ Apple about some opinions as well soon. stay tuned, keep the feedback coming in the meantime! Greatly appreciated!
So it's been a bit... Any more feedback on iPhone version? so far what feedback I've gotten suggests that it's MOSTLY playable on iPhone 6 though it gets pretty hard a bit later in (which we suspected) and anything smaller is no bueno... We got some advice from some "people in the know" (whose name shall remain unsaid for fear of inciting their wrath) that going iPad only is a path to sadness and we should really really consider addressing the 75million sold iphone 6's out there. =P
I've been fortunate to beta test the universal build of this game, and, I have to say, this is a five-star game that deserves a lot more attention and accolades. The artwork from the very start page and throughout the game is crisp and fantastic. I keep expecting Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner to go speeding by. Now, as far as how it plays on the smaller iPhone, I agree with NOEN 100% about everything from the Looney Tunes to issues with fat thumbs . Testing the game on both an iPhone 4S and an iPhone 6 Plus, handing the game back and forth from me (smaller hands) to handy helper (large man hands), here are my impressions: iPhone 4S Me: On the 4S, it is very difficult to see the keg beneath your fingers, so accurately placing them for an effective blast radius is quite challenging. I was able to play Chapter 1 up until Level 9 without issue, though. Once I reached Level 12, my precision for keg placement began failing. I got very familiar with the refresh button as I kept having to readjust the kegs. BIG MAN HANDS: From the very first level, couldn't play the game without any mistakes because his fingers completely blocked the view of the kegs and/or the line of gunpowder. Still able to play, though not accurately, persisted to Level 4, where he then gave up in frustration. iPhone 6 Plus Me: This game is bee-yoo-tee-ful on the 6 Plus. I'm glad I started with the smaller 4S because I felt spoiled now seeing it on the bigger screen. The kegs are not as difficult to place, even though I cannot see them underneath my finger very well. The accuracy of their placement and of drawing the line of gunpowder does get more challenging in the higher levels, especially when trying to get as close to the edge near the water. I'm stuck at Level 16 and had to force myself to stop playing or else you'd never get my feedback because I'm enjoying this game too much and could play on and on and on ... BIG MAN HANDS: Again, inaccuracies from the very first level but not as frustrating. So far, reached Level 9 but hitting the refresh button several times throughout the levels. In spite of this, enjoying the game immensely. Also, not sure if this is pertinent or not, but on the 4S, ten minutes of gameplay dropped my battery 14% while thirty minutes of gameplay on the 6 Plus only used up 6% of the battery. I completely understand why you would want to keep this as an iPad-only game as I imagine playing it on the bigger screen would be seamless. Selfishly, though, I love the game so much and want a Universal version, even if it means a slightly more frustrating gameplay. Perhaps if someone really wanted to play on the 4S, they might be able to get further in levels with a very skinny stylus of some sort? I don't know if it's possible, but a zoom in/out function on the smaller screens would be helpful in placing the kegs and gunpowder. This high-quality game is thoroughly enjoyable and addictive on the 6 Plus. Even BIG MAN HANDS enjoyed it so much, he asked me to beg for an Android version. I just love this game. It's visually appealing, challenging, and, seriously, who doesn't love blowing stuff up? I'm off to play more Gunpowder! Will let you know if I have any more feedback after playing some more.
Wow! thanks for the amazing write up. The reality of it is that we're probably going to HAVE to make it universal for it to have a chance at getting the attention it deserves, and it will mean we'll have to suffer through people discovering that it's not as awesome on an iphone 4s. I may try to do the magnifying glass thing but honestly I don't think it works that great even on Terraria, but we'll see... stay tuned. Keep the feedback flowing. As for Android.. well.. convince your friend to get people on Google Play to actually BUY anything premium ever and then we'll talk. j/k
I never post...But had to ask why this game isn't more popular!? Maybe because it's iPad only? It's my opinion that this is one fun and polished original action puzzler. Most fun game I've played in a while. I came here for some help on levels and expected a huge thread for this game. This game needs some respect. Keep up the good work, Rogue Rocket.
Hi. Believe me I've been asking the same question. The general breakdown of what we've learned is: 1) Apple didn't feature us so nobody found it. 2) iPad market is relatively stagnant, and we really need to go universal to try to capture momentum on the 76 million iphones sold in the last year or whatever 3) Some people *might* think it's super casual and think the pricing is too high, when really it's a pretty high quality game that offers you some real fun challenges. This is the one we can't verify for sure. We're pretty committed to going universal on next update, just trying to sort out what that means... do we need magnifying feature or no? Trying to investigate.
If it's feasible, try implementing it and I'm sure the lot of us testing the game could spend some time with it. I can only hope Apple decides to feature the game once updated, or at least have you in the Best New Updates (whatever it's called) section. An updated, universal Gunpowder not getting any attention would be the crime of the century. :/
