Joan Mad Run – Bloody indie scroll shooter for pixel lovers.

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Initially it was planned as a platformer where the main char movement is fully controlled - run, jump, climb like in common platformets.

Then we found out that the control scheme for this is not that convenient - so, we had pass through really lots of experiments.

The current prototype uses a new control scheme that allows two fingers (not dual joystick) to control all with gestures only without any buttons. The only thing we changed is that the main character now contantly runs, like in runner games. With gestures you jump up and down between different layers/levels, switch weapons, fire primary and secondary shots.

How it will be further we will be deciding on the feedback we'll receive from you and with you help during beta-test

Yet, even if we are going with the current runner-alike scheme, we are going to make it not just a simple linear runner. There will be hidden levels that go up above and down below the straight line. And, of course, boss fights.

 

Just a friendly reminder about the first beta build going live tomorrow approximatemately next evening/EU or morning/US.

A million thanks to all of you who signed up for the beta. We din't expect such a great support from you, fellow ladies and gentleman. So, we are really excited about how much people have joined

IMPORTANT thing is - there are still some people who signed up, but didn't log into the TestFlight website with their devices, so, they have 0 devices linked to their account. If you are one of them, please do so before we roll out the beta. Otherwise you won't be able to run beta, which won't be digitally signed specifically for your devices.

 

If you are about the game engine, it's is a very heavily modified Cocos 2D. I would even say our own fork of it. The OOB Cocos 2D (and probably all other engines) when you come to doing exactly what you want and how you want starts suffering from major performance issues. So, to sustain required 60 fps you need to go deep into OpenGL, shaders and rendering performance optimization architecture.

 

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I've approved latest beta registrations, so you are in.

We still have somewhat like two hours until registration is closed.

After it we will be creating a certificate to sign the beta and will be uploading it to TF.

 

So, together with launching the beta tonight I’ve added more loveable pixel content into the main post – screenshots of a few of locations and one of Joan posters. Just for you to see that we have much more content than we made available in the first beta build today. Have a look – don’t miss it

Next, after todays content update, we’ll be adding more animated gifs and videos into the main thread post – mostly weapon effects and locations.

Now also a few words about the beta build.

This is the very first beta build of the game, so it doesn’t contain too much, yet should show you how it would look like. It’s built around a few sections of the first location, no dynamic lighting, not all effects are done yet. So, please don’t blame us much for graphics and content yet. It’s a work in progress. We’ll be adding more levels, boss fights, menus, upgrades, power ups and so on after we program all weapons and effects.

It comes with around 25% of weapons that we planned for the initial release – knife, pistol, shotgun, AK-47 with grenade launcher, an extremely cruel laser with primary and secondary shots and freezing cannon, also with freezing grenade.

Some weapons, like AK-47, laser and freeze cannons, have secondary shots – don’t miss the opportunity to use them as well, they are quite fun – especially laser flare.

We didn’t have much time to create a good tutorial yet, so, before diving into the beta, please have a look at the touch control instructions via the button on the main screen or the in game pause button. They should be more or less simple, but you need to know it before "tapping to start".

Basically swiping on the left side of the screen is for jumping and weapon switching. Tapping on the right side is the primary shot. Swiping the right side is the secondary weapon shot.

Send bug reports to [email protected]

Tell us your game impressions, opinions and suggestions here. We’re interested in making the game as much fun as possible. Your opinions will give us hints where we’re moving in the right direction.

Enjoy the beta

P.S. Our apology to all iPad 3/4 owners for only 30FPS – can feel like a lag. Try it also on iPhones or iPods. We’re still working on it

P.P.S. How do you like the new pics from the main post?

 

Score and coins are not counted yet - this is a feature, not a bug

We are now spending most time programming weapons and weapon effects.

And you might have noticed that ammo is inifinite, what is also a beta feature.

P.S. For those, who missed the beta signup, this is how we test it:

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