This time it's an in-game image and not a mockup. We're completing a few items associated to the shop, looks like we'll soon be ready to move from alpha to the beta!
We just submitted the build that will mark the transition from alpha to beta! Hopefully it should become available tomorrow. Included in this build: - A visual overhaul - The shop, with unlocks and upgrades on power-ups and skill shots (we still have to add the cosmetics section) - 2 new power-ups, multiball and sink block (wall) - A new skill shot mini-game, color blast - Coins and multiplier spawning in blocks for a limited time - Warping ball when it gets stuck - New music track - A new series of level maps - Physics tweaks
Well that was quicker than expected, the first beta build is now available! Recent changes affected the difficulty progression, so we're particularly looking for feedback on that and on the shop prices distribution. We're getting relatively close to release, so we hope that you'll enjoy the current state of the game!
Wow...playing this morning, and getting addicted! Great improvements all around! Only thing so far I didn't 'get', are the flippers available for sale? Just shows gray boxes in my game. Excellent work!
Thanks! And yeah they're coming in the next build! The biggest things we have yet to implement: - Cosmetic upgrades - Achievements and Leaderboards (thought this might go in the release version only) - Monetization layer (and we have yet to determine if the current coins distribution is more balanced toward premium or freemium) - Some more visual polish
I would go freemium (gulp, I can't believe I'm typing this) with an IAP to double the coins earned. Are you going with interstitial ads because if you are then you need and IAP for that too or you can have it all in one IAP. I've been playing and of course I love it. I want more flippers and balls! Give us some really great coin sinks. Oh and do not make Gamecenter mandatory in log in because a ton of people like myself simply cannot use it as its broken. You'll end up with a headache of complaints and have to figure a way around it like other devs right now are having to do. Also will there be more backgrounds in the playing field? Maybe every game it could change or when you get to a certain multiplier. Billy
Yeah, the current plan is to have a 1.99$ premium IAP that removes ads and double coins. I'm just unsure yet if the current coins distribution should correspond to the base distribution (freemium) or the 'double' distribution (premium). There will also be an option to get an extra HP for coins or a rewarded video, but it will only be accessible once per game. GC implementation should be the same as in our other games. Never heard any complaint about it so I'm crossing fingers.
Holy crap. No. Take your idea and expand it. Make the HP upgrades insanely expensive but permanent. It would be an Excellent coin sink and you could still keep your current ad for hp plan for those who haven't maxed it. When I say expensive. I mean expensive. So that purchasing the double coin would actually matter. People love things to work towards. It's almost like adding an rpg element. What do you think? And you'll definitely get my $2 Billy
I don't know...I think that the game already has a lot of things to work for and that it's more fun to have smaller increment goals instead for stalling yourself for a long term in order to go for a super expansive item. Anyway the game is balanced for the current amount of HP, adding a few permanent HP might just make the game boring. Having a consumable is also nice in terms of coins sink, it gives something to do with the extra coins. That's also an incentive for the coins doubler.
We're planning some polish for Backgrounds although we'll probably keep the current idea of 'going deeper into the aliens invasion' as time goes. For sure, there's a lot of extra things that could be done about that though for now I'd prefer to save more time for other cosmetics upgrades, but that's definitely something on which we could expand later on. Or we'll just save our energy for future tables, we'll see how things go.
Can I be honest I hadn't realized it was an alien invasion lol Well later on you could add different city backgrounds. That would be fantastic. I love this game I really do. I really love what you guys do. Billy
I didn't realize it was an alien invasion either...haha... Did the physics change? Or the flippers anyway? They feel different, but maybe its just the aesthetic look that is throwing me.
Yeah I saw the 'space invaders invasion' as being subtly there, something your realize eventually. However my colleague had good ideas about it so we have a few things in mind to establish more firmly that thematic at the beginning of a game, with a few funny sci-fi references. We'll see where this go hehe. The physics has changed a little. I can't remember which build you played last but the gravity was increased a few builds ago. In the last build, speed absorption has been put on the bottom rounded corners in order to took away the attention from the 'velvet' effect on the flippers (which has been decreased slightly). I tried decreasing it more but it caused so much ball draining, it was frustrating.
You guys snuck in an update for don't run with a plasma sword. I'm so happy. I've been playing. I left a nice and detailed 5 star review on the AppStore. It should show up tomorrow if you'd like to read it. I know it's offtopic but I just wanted to say thank you and you guys are just effing awesome. Back to this game. So what's going to be in the next beta update. I'm excited to see what new balls and flippers I can get. I'm saving up coins. Billy
Thanks for the support in the review, that's appreciated! For the next build, we should be including new flippers, balls and bottom covers. If you guys have ideas for those 'skins', please share them. We just changed how the shop works to switch to sliding controls. Not only it helps navigation but getting rid of the arrow also allowed us to make larger windows and increase the text size, which was too small on iPhone.
How long do coins stay on the screen? Inside blocks anyway. 13 seconds? Depending on the map, they disappear way too fast! I might only get one shot off in that general area if I'm lucky. The ball often hangs out in the air longer than the coin timer. Or maybe if the coins disappear and reappear elsewhere simultaneously, that would be cool. (like the purple peg in Peggle) I'd also like a ball or a way to break grey bricks. I ran into one screen that had only three entry points, in little hallways and each required multiple hits. Killed me quick, and I'm pretty decent with my aim. Maybe if they break after 5 hits or if a ball can blow through them, or super flippers or something. As far as skins for the flippers and apron, interlocking gears would be cool. Kind of like the intro to the Game of Thrones tv show. Skeleton bones, flaming flippers, flippers that look like the alien blocks (but wider and flipper shaped). Flippers don't have to be flipper shaped either. A couple real-life pins had rectangular flippers, and a couple had banana flippers (those suck, but it could be cool in this game.) The apron could look like a firing squad of soldiers shooting upwards, or a line of tanks. Even just a grid would be cool, then you'd know exactly where on the flippers to flip to hit a specific shot by looking at the lines. Just throwing out ideas. Really liking the game. Today my bonus was bigger than my score! OH! One kinda complaint... I had 5-6 spinners going at once and it got louder and louder, drowning out the background music. Maybe those effects shouldn't stack? And it might be cool to have little numbers popping off the spinners for each revolution and then disappearing, like many RPG games do with damage. 1...2....3...4... etc so you can see how many spins you're getting. Or put the total next to the score and then when the spinners are done, the spinner score slides over into your score and they add together. Hope that makes sense. Again, just thinking out loud. Thanks!
Oh, also, maybe a one way gate in the shooter lane would be nice. I had a ball go all the way inside the ball trough and it burnt up some valuable time! In other words, once the ball enters the table, it can no longer enter the launching lane.
Yeah that's an annoying bug... About your other comments: - I'll make a pass on coin timers. They currently spawn from 5 to 10 sec and I'll move them somewhere to 8 to 12 sec. The spawn is completely random and the system is not 'smart' so you'll still have coins behind an unreachable wall of blocks but it should help and anyway, coins keep coming in so there's always a new one to aim for. - Hard blocks: I'll probably make a pass on level design to smooth out some of the hard block configurations. Thanks for your other suggestions, that's inspiring and I'll keep them in mind!
