Apple just approved the Mouse House 1.1 update. It should be showing up in itunes shortly. Along with that I am putting it on sale for $.99 Here is what is new... Mostly based off of user feed back in these forums - thanks New in version 1.1 User Requested Features: New control systems: 1. Screen relative tap control. 2. Swipe based control. 3. Tuned mouse relative control to screen out non accurate taps. Sound FX. Sound FX can play over user music. Company Splash Screen stays up for the whole loading time. RPG text box can be filled in with a tap. Engine Improvements: Switch to threading vs timers. Engine is now around 10 fps faster. User Input is now responsive even under low frame rate. Added 2 Metric tracking libs for better tuning Game tracks User Location Device Type Time played Time spent per level Top levels reached Preferred Control modes etc Bug Fixes: Garbage Collection leak in level and Particle System fixed. Particle hearts for Slime turned back on. Faster FPS allowed for more advanced particle effects like the Mac/PC version. Particles now GLOW properly. All Particles are brighter. Slimes now poll A* less. Bees now shoot sooner. Max Volume for sound FX works. Cracked floors crack a bit better. Tuned mouse control Fixed engine time bugs.
Very nice! I'll take a look at the game again. I'd say the control system was my major hang up with the original version. arn
Wow, can't wait to test this one. This will definitely be my fave game if you can solve all the problems with the first version, eg: slow framerate, awkward control, unresponsive game, etc. One more suggestion: we should be able to re-read the conversation message as sometimes I accidentally tap it before reading anything. Maybe the other character stays on the screen so we can talk to them again? or there's a chat history? Man, imagine the multiplayer version of this game.. It'd murder Maple Story.
Interestingly no one has reported a low frame rate or the game being unresponsive as issues. The original version ran at a good 30 to 45 FPS. The current version is in the 30 to 60 FPS range usually around 45. I did add a feature for the story that might help you. It now takes 2 taps to dismiss a chat message early. 1 tap will complete the message quickly the second will dismiss it. If the message is already completed on screen then then 1 tap will dismiss it. This should prevent a lot of of accidental missing of chat messages.
Do tell me if you think it needs any more tuning etc. I do think I got a pretty good version of the mouse about control scheme implemented and I actually enjoy using it myself. Just turn on the swipe mode in the prefs.
controls are dramatically better. I actually just made it through the 50 levels. I'll keep an eye out for the sale. arn
Same here. Downloading the update now. I only went through a few levels, knowing that there was an update coming. Can't wait to carry on with it now. One small thing - in iTunes, your game version number is listed as being 1.1 - but your game description says "New in version 1.01" under the "What's New In This Version" section.
Hurray! Sale price was set .. itunes servers seem to be propagating slow. Right now I see the price as 4.99 on one page and .99 on the comments sections... meh. Anyhow on a positive note we have another 50 levels we plan on releasing in stages. Along with doing a remix of the entire level package for better variety.
Thanks I double checked and I fixed it like 5 hours ago Apple's servers are taking a long time to propagate changes. I would say even a 6 hour lag at this point.
Had a quick test of the new controls, and have to say, I MUCH prefer them! Thanks a million for implementing them. Just one slight niggle though - when I went to adjust the controls I initially ended up with "Relative" set to on and "Swipe" set to off, even though I wanted the opposite of that. The reason being I feel that the button's on position actually looks like it's set to off as it is darker and duller, whereas the off position is much brighter and vivid. Maybe that's just me, I dunno? But I thought I'd point it out... For the record, the screenshot below shows "Player Relative" is off and "Swipe" is on.
How about implementing a customised version of the standard on/off slider toggle widget thingy that's part of the iPhone OS? So it could look something like this (excuse the uber-quick mock-up)...
Brett I agree with you the original toggle buttons just LOOK WRONG. I feel they are technically correct at least in the sense that the selected state is the down state for the normal buttons... But still they feel wrong. I think your idea about emulating the iphone style toggle buttons is a good one and I will look into doing that down the road.
So do you all now highly recommend Mouse House with the updates? I am tempted to get this game on cuteness alone. If the controls are easy, it will be one I buy for our very long Christmas drive.
I really really did add in some new easy control systems. At least 1 of them has to fit your play style Any how since people wondered how press would effect sales etc.. --- 12/16/2008 - Units 153 - Price $.99 - Gross $151.47 - Profit $108.0 With the Update + Price Drop + Press on toucharcade.com this gets us up to #61 on the puzzle chart and #7 on rpgs Number #61 on puzzles is almost far enough up to actually matter. Maybe that will generate some more sales. Stay tuned for more exciting Mouse House sales action! ---
