Haha... oh dear. On the one hand it's kind of funny because it's such a hack job, but on the other... I guess it makes me angry mainly because of the way crappy clones pollute the app store and tarnish mobile gaming in general. It's also kind of interesting (or depressing?) to find that you don't even need to have a runaway smash-hit game to attract the attention of parasitic cloners... just some decent exposure in a few territories are enough it seems. Anyway, moving on.. I submitted an update a couple of days ago. It's just an interim update with a few fixes and small features, namely: - Game music no longer overrides music/podcasts. - Fixed a rare bug with the previous high score line. - iOS 8 compatibility tweaks. - Twitter/Facebook/Sina Weibo score sharing (this feature only available on iOS 6 and above). - New 'Moonbusters' leaderboard for players who beat the moon. - Added hints for beginner players. I was in two minds about adding the hints -- as a player, I usually prefer to find things out for myself. But most of the hints only show if you're scoring < 70 pts, and are pretty basic things like: "The moon gets angrier when hit. Make every shot count!" ...mainly directed at players who keep doing 1 and 2 pt shots and end up being swamped by red things before they even earn their extra life. Working on the next update now, which should a bigger one with some more interesting stuff if all goes to plan.
Shoot The Moon: New update! Hi all, Well, it's been six months since Shoot The Moon's release (can you believe it?), and I'm celebrating with a new update!* *Actually, it took me this long to finish it. Shhhh... So, what's new? - New game mode: 60 Second Challenge! - Costumes! Six costumes for the moon to unlock! - The "YOU WON" sequence if you beat the moon is now skippable. - Support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus resolutions. - Fixed issue with off-screen banner ad potentially causing sudden framerate drops on older devices. The 60 Second Challenge mode works like this: - The game doesn't end until the timer is up. - Every time you reach a goal, you get an extra 10 seconds. - No penalty for missing the moon or hitting a red thing (just valuable time lost from what could have been a point scoring hit). - No x2 fever mode, but you do get the x4 points bonus when you reach a goal (as well as the 10 second time extension). If you beat the moon in this mode, you're awarded a final points bonus equal to any time remaining x 5, in addition to your average hit score. So basically, whereas the normal mode (now called 'Classic Mode') places a focus on careful timing and getting long shots, 60 Second Challenge is more about getting in the hits as quickly as you can, with the odd carefully placed long shot when appropriate. This mode should be less frustrating for beginners (and for kids!), while still offering seasoned moon shooters a solid leaderboard challenge due to the points bonus for beating the moon with extra time remaining. It also requires less patience, as there's less emphasis on waiting for a good shot. Ok, enough blahblah from me. Here are some screenshots showing 3 of the costumes: So the update should now be available worldwide. I had a lot of fun with the new game mode and the costumes, and I really hope people enjoy them. Look out for more costumes later! Cheers, Shaun
I don't quite know how I missed out on this the first time 'round (okay, let's not kid ourselves...it's 'coz of my bloody Android phase), but I literally downloaded the game, played 3 games, visited this thread, read the whole thing from top to bottom and then headed back into the game and was disappointed to find that the IAP was only a single dollar. Bought it in a heartbeat and I'm hoping at least half of the million players on the leaderboards did the same. Brilliant game. Love it to bits. You Mr. Shaun are one hell of an adorable moon. :3
Hahaa... thanks so much metalcasket. You just made my night! I must admit that ad removals have been a bit of an eye opener in terms of how scarce they are. I think IAP that only removes ads doesn't cut it these days, even at 99c. In fact I reckon the only people who removed ads did it out of the goodness of their hearts to show support like you did, which quite frankly makes me even more grateful. Hopefully there'll be more ad removals now that I've added costumes to sweeten the deal. On the bright side, however, the ads are a little more effective than I expected, and getting featured by Apple shortly after release was a bolt from the blue that I don't think I'll ever get over, so there'll be no complaints from me. I'm just delighted to have so many people play my game and hear my wonderful wonderful singing.
I'm enjoying the new mode, I just need to get better at it! The costumes are fun. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
You know...I had a long talk with Mike G. from BeaverTap Games about ad-removal IAPs, prior to the release of their latest game, Radical. Apart from begging him to include one, I was suggesting that IF one was included, it should be no less than $5, because it's exactly as you said...ads are a little more effective than one expects. With Shoot the Moon in particular, I honestly think $1 for something that eliminates such an annoying "feature" is criminally cheap, considering how much more money you could be making from people like me who absolutely love the game and can't stop playing it. That said, I'm glad to have supported you and putting aside the amazing quality of the app itself (and you being the class act that you are in this thread), you including the IAP has only made me a supporter for life.
Well you've certainly hit the ground running! Thanks again for making that vid. That last shot with 3s on the clock... BAM! @ metalcasket Aw man, thanks! I must admit, I do need to sit down and think about exactly what to do with my IAP. Short-term, probably the first thing I'll do is raise the price to $1.99. Hopefully with unlocking the 6 costumes included, people will still be fairly happy with this. One problem I'm aware of though is that anyone who likes the challenge of unlocking stuff is currently being denied that when they remove ads, so at some point I'd like to address this issue in some way too. I do want to add more costumes in future, so there should be something I can work out that keeps everyone happy. (Or hopefully close to everyone. I doubt I'm ever going to be able to please the guy who left a 1-star review solely on the basis of there being ads )
I entered this thread by accident but I don't regret :-D I have just downloaded the game and I'm getting addicted to it. Congratulations for the graphic, details and the great gameplay. I even managed to hit the angry red thing By the way I still hear the sound in my head "BOMBOMBOMBOM ".
I noticed a tweet today from Shaun, the developer of this game, and I ended up downloading and playing for the first time in ages. Yep, still one of the best arcade high scorers on the App Store. If youve never played this, youre in for a treat.
