Last night I doubled my old high score..... it's very addictive. My old old highest score is now my lowest score on the personal leaderboard. For those of you who haven't heard the music change a couple of times.. that is definitely one of the awesome things about this game. The action really ratchets up along with the soundtrack. I find myself playing "just a few more times" so I can feel the rush of the music again and see where it ends. Right now I'm not sure!!! The important lesson, yes. This lesson is the key.
Agreed, a Halloween icon would probably help a lot. Even if it's just a color overlay of the normal icon. Since apps are so often judged by their icon.
A free reskinned version with ads and an IAP to remove them, titled Jack O. Lantern, could be a hit. It just frustrate me when I see a game this good not in the top charts.
It's great you're so enthusiastic about it, but some of us are tiring of the old retro look :/ I played a million games like this on the actual gameboy as a kid! Not sure they appeal to me so much now.
iOS 8 hasn't even been out for a month yet, so iOS 7.1.2 can hardly be called old. iOS 8 is still buggy. Especially relevant to gamers is the fact that MFi controllers still aren't working properly, so I'm sure lots of people with controllers are holding off on upgrading. I'm not going to upgrade my iPad until controller support is fixed. It also runs slowly on older devices, which is why I haven't upgraded my iPhone 4S. So yeah, I think making a game iOS 8-only this soon would be a mistake, unless there's some new OS feature you really think will benefit you enough to offset the loss of customers.
Totally agree with this. Besides many times, a lot of the complexity in other runners and similar games exists mainly to camouflage pay-to-win aspects behind complex game mechanics. For skill games like this, I much prefer it when there is a very clear connection between how well I'm playing and how well I do, and having lots of upgrades and weapons and stuff just obscures that connection.
Yeah, judging off of what I've watched I would say Panic Springs is better than JBN. That's not to say JBN is a bad game but without leaderboards and some basic variety in the environments and stuff it makes it hard for me to throw money down to ultimately compete with myself. Competition is a huge part of what I enjoy in a runner. Without that then I need something else to do besides play against my own scores. Notice none of my suggestions were about changing gameplay to include power ups or other stuff... just about adding variety to the backgrounds through maybe allowing a progressive run through each set of new scenery and considering an alternate control scheme if it didn't break the game. Boson X and Cannabalt both have GC features. Boson X has multiple levels. Canabalt has multiple game modes including 2 player modes and leaderboards for it all along with achievements. That's actually a little more content and stuff than even Panic Springs offers. The point wasn't that Panic Springs is infinitely complex with a bajillion unlockables... rather it's a similar kind of simplistic one touch runner but it has GC, some background changes that happen at certain distances and other little things that make it one of the most fun runners I've played. I was going to reference Air Supply 1bit Run but that's a two touch runner so I figured I'd aim for something with more simplistic controls. Still, not going to let any of this sour me on the game. I'm watching it, when it updates then I'll re-evaluate and if it appears to have working GC leaderboards and stuff to make the game have some variety then I'd be down with supporting this with my money. I'm already imagining based on what the dev has posted it will have exactly the kind of stuff I am wanting anyway so it's days as a single level non-gc runner are numbered.
New High Score, I'm coming for you Garbul! I agree with your comment about the change in music, the first time I experienced it was pretty intense! Panic Springs is a charming little game but personally I find the gameplay a little lacking in fun compared to JBN (I don't know why jumping and whipping candles is more fun, it just is). I'm afraid that's a trait I've felt in all of Gamesmould's releases thus far. Oh and congrats on the 7/10 by pocket gamer http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Jack+B+Nimble/review.asp?c=61880 and 4/5 by Touch Arcade http://toucharcade.com/2014/10/14/jack-b-nimble-review/ I'm enjoying the update suggestions and looking forward to seeing this gem grow.
I wanted to Congratulate you on the two awesome reviews as well. Unfortunately neither TA or PG will update their reviews after the new update(s). You received two very positive reviews, but if the game was released with the levels and GC I'm confident those numbers would have been 8 or 9/10, and 4.5/5.
I understand exactly what you're saying, and respect your opinion. I think my main point is that you haven't actually played Jack B. Nimble yet, so saying it isn't as good as a game you have played (and love) isn't exactly fair to Jack B. Nimble or the potential customers who are scanning this thread. If I were to judge how good a game is based merely on videos that I watch, then I would say that "Blood Roofs" (which is one of Gamesmold's other games), is MUCH BETTER than Cannabalt and Boson X. That assumption would be a huge mistake on my part. Blood Roofs looks better than Cannabalt and Boson x in gameplay videos. I will admit that. I think most everyone who has actually played all three games, however, will say that out of those three games there is one that is a distant 3rd place. There is one that is not nearly as fun as the other two. It is the one that looks the best in video.
Oh crap... I thought I was relatively safe for a while!! Here's hoping our scores don't get wiped once GC gets here.
Sean - I know you are a level designer for Ubisoft, can you tell us what projects for Ubi you've worked on?
I was a designer on Watch_Dogs and the upcoming Far Cry 4. Potential new icon: Warning - it's looking extremely likely that pre iOS8 support will be available if I add Game Center. I will work harder, but at this rate I'm not going to make the Halloween deadline...
Sean this new icon/artwork is outstanding. Color palette, style and ability to convey the game are really solid! It also has more of a "pull" I believe. I like the current icon, but this one grabs attention better. Good luck with the deadline, we are rooting for you!
I think you should make your first priority getting the Halloween content in before Halloween. I, for one, would rather wait an extra few weeks for Gamecenter than see your work be fruitless by missing the Halloween deadline with the Halloween content. Love the new artwork
It's away. Hopefully Apple approve it a bit quicker than they did last time... Game Center MIGHT work... it worked in testing but I couldn't get it working during submission. I'm going to look into this when I'm back in Canada (on holiday for the rest of the month).
