I agree with this 100% - I was surprised to not find separate scoreboards for each character when the Gunny update was released. Sounds like a new, faster character is unlikely though. You'll never appeal to everyone whatever route you take with DLC - you have some games launching virtually content-free then expecting the player to happily cough up money for the actual levels; and other games charging $.99 for a glorified reskin of the main character. Personally I think both are pretty offensive, and would much prefer functional DLC for Hook Champ over a reskinned character, be it more levels, better equipment, or enhanced characters.
We did do this already, with Hookbot. Hookbot was functional DLC that cost 99 cents. At the same time, Jake and Gunny got new costumes that only had cosmetic value, which were free. In terms of work on our part, this was 3 new characters. I don't think anyone caught that. What we'll probably end up doing, for future games and updates, is: 1. New cosmetic-only characters (or new costume packs): 99 cents 2. New characters/items that change the gameplay: Free 3. New big features and levels and such: Still Always Free Seems like the safest way to go. If people really fall in love with new levels/functional characters that are free, I don't know why they'd refuse to pay 99 cents for a glorified reskin. Because I don't like cosmetic-only DLC, personally, I'm trying to think of it as donating to the local free museum and getting a duffel bag as a gift. Extra Bonus Thought: If I could do it over, I probably would have made Hookbot free, then charged for the new costumes for the three characters instead. Live and learn, I guess.
Kepa, just a thought but for the map progress thing, what you could do is call the function that is used to calculate the percentage when you die and display thr percentage in thr top left of the main screen. I'm sure there wouldn't be a noticeable performance hit on the game. Just a thought. I'm sure you would rather a minimap like defender or something similiar.anyways, on my phone ATM and it's 2:30am xD
I was perfectly fine with buying the Hookbot DLC, you guys gotta make some money, though what you mentioned Kepa in your previous post I think would be fine too. Kind of on that same note, I don't know what you guys think about the purely cosmetic stuff, whether you would say it is mostly to just make the character look cool for that player or to show off for challenges, etc. but I would not be opposed to being able to buy a number of coins for x amount of money as an in-game purchase. I really want those expensive ropes, but it's going to take me forever to get enough coins for them. Of course, you could also use it to buy hats or whatever else. Totally optional, of course. I guess the only problem with that is some people are pretty adamant against that sort of DLC, like in Eliminate... And if the whole point for some of those items is to be fairly exclusive, I guess that wouldn't work. Just a thought though, I'd be happy to pay a little bit to get a bit closer to those items As long as the amount of coins you get for x amount of money is well proportioned.
The MegaHooks and such are supposed to be fairly exclusive. They have some functional value, but it's not huge. Everyone can work towards them, though. People hate that sort of DLC, and so do I. What we're going to do is just add more levels. The new levelsets give more coins than ever; I believe the HARD levelset gives 1200 coins for the first time through. This is mostly due to us giving the last level a huge first-time-completion bonus. SUPER SECRET BONUS in the upcoming update, by the way.
Personally I'd rather have Hookbot-like, functional DLC than cosmetic only, as I don't care how it looks that much. I just think a more casual style character like Hookbot should be free, while a more advanced one would be DLC. I don't want to come off as angry though, I'm actually really happy with this game. It's totally worth $3 or $4. Then again, I like free stuff, so if you add functional stuff for free anyways, that would be great. I think it makes more sense to do cosmetic stuff for free and make functional stuff DLC, though, as long as the DLC isn't unbalanced.
In the same vain as a progress indicator, I was thinking it would be nice to have a feature that was a split time indicator if you can call it that. Basically, the ghost mode provides that. However, when you are talking about a few 1/100ths of a second, I find that the ghost hinders my play -- I just can't finish a level when I'm running a level on top of my ghost. It screws me up. So I got to thinking that having the running time for the level displayed could be a good thing. But take that to another level and compute split times at whatever interval (quarters of the map), and then those times could be displayed in green (if you are going faster) or red (if you are going slower). I don't know what it is, but when I think I'm running a level at a record time, it is actually slower, and when I think I'm having a bad run, I get a top score. Go figure. So if I could have some indiation, that isn't a ghost, then I think that could be really cool. Anyway, just a thought.
Golden bull I spent 2 hrs trying to play the last bull level any one tell what to do ? I am using hook bot with rope and hokk gold. Umm btw does laser hook the mega hook for hookbot cosmetic or does it help cos i really want to buy it.
Yeah, I'm stuck there too man. Also, does the cursed hook really get rid of the curse that chases you? I'm saving up for it but I don't want it to be a waste..
The Megahooks look unique and also are slightly longer and faster than the level 4 hook/rope combos. They're not quite as long as a level 5 rope or as fast as a level 5 hook would be, if those existed. They're like level 4.5. The last bull level just takes practice. You can also try hooking backwards to retry a swing if you think you're going to miss a swing-jump. If you really get stuck, try taking a break and playing other levels, like the earlier bull levels.
Thanks for the reply Kepa, I appreciate it. So, does Jake's megahook actually stop the curse from chasing you?
Ah, damn! Lol you and all your jokes! I buy the friggin maxed out hot pants thinking I would get a mint or something.. But no mint! Shopkeep tells me a sale on hats, but no sale! I'm a very disappointed customer! LOL just kidding!!! Hook Champ is amazing and I bought the DLC to support you guys and your pizza rolls. The game is awesome, keep up the great work!
Golden skull Finally i got the golden bull now i am at the golden skull level . And i am stuck at it. Can anyone tell me how to finish it cos ireally want the gold skull. Thx
Err... swing to the end without falling in the lava? This isn't really the kind of game you can tell someone how to complete. I think the ghost is pretty distracting too, personally I'd be happy with an opacity slider so you can set how visible (or not) the ghost is. Or maybe a more simple ghost rather than the full character, hats and all, so it's easier to distinguish between the player and the ghost.
Kepa, Keep the bounty hunter cosmetic, or whatever character will be next. BUT. Could you give him optional clothing or an optional power up that can give him a functional difference? COuld do the same for all characters.
Are you serious?! You want them to release a superior character that will serve to set high scores to only those that are willing to pay for it and think no one will complain?! You will get much louder reaction and people will be saying (justly) that some are getting an edge in the open competition by paying money- bring on the CCG comparisons.
And that is why I made the comment that if there is ever a more powerful character to be had (free or not), that there really need to be separate leaderboards for each character. As zoo pointed out, there should have been a separate leaderboard for Gunny when she was released. Otherwise, as you stated (and I did in my previous post), someone could wait for the new character, buy it, and then break as many records as possible without devoting the time that some do into setting their high scores.
True; until this thread I hadn't really thought DLC through. Obviously it's a minefield for developers. I'm really not sure what the best option is for Hook Champ, unfortunately it's looking a lot like superficial additions are the safest choice though. Still, I'd pay for a new character, or an even shinier hook and rope combo. Kepa, if you decide on a new character for the next DLC, will you show us the potential candidates and see what the most popular option is? Not sure what I thought of the winners of that design a character contest.
