Really really nice run! I did notice though that even with Frappe you avoided a big chunk of ice covered with leaves? That's his special ability, he can pick up those leaves without getting reversed. But great effort! Shred It! Support
Great way to describe it! Think it's unique in that way - a runner that can be quite frantic at times, but zen and relaxing at others. If we can sort out what's causing the feeling of unfairness with certain objects it'll help that even more
Thanks for the tip. I knew that about Frappe, and in fact being able to grab leaves from the ice is part of what helped me get the record. I haven't played with him that much though, so I still avoid the ice sometimes out of habit. Speaking of special abilities, I don't understand what Rufus's ability does. It says his bark scares away critters, but when I play with him, I can't see any difference in the way critters behave. Every now and then he'll bark and a horn icon will appear, but the squirrels and badgers still run in front of me just like usual.
From my experience the horn button appears when you're getting relatively close to a critter. Once you spot the critter, press the button and it will turn back. Be careful though because you can still hit it when it runs back
Ah, we thought that would be obvious. Sorry! Just had a quick chat here and on the next update, we are thinking of adding a 'how to' screen that pops up the first time you use a character with a special ability. Hopefully that would do the trick? Shred It! Support
I think the reason it wasn't obvious is because when I play Cosmo or Frappe, it also displays an icon whenever their special ability is used, but in those cases it's just an informational icon. So when I saw the horn icon for Rufus I just thought it was also just an informational icon. That said, I just tried it again, and it seems like pushing the horn button is very finicky. In fact I'd say only maybe one in three times that I tapped it did he bark. I don't know if this because it has some kind of cooldown timer, or it only works at certain points, or if it's something like the hit box for the button being too small. That would definitely help. Or even if the existing text for the character gave some hint that this was an active ability as opposed to a passive one like with Frappe, that would have helped. I thought he was supposed to just bark automatically when animals were nearby.
Ok... I've played this a little more because I still love the look of it and that it is snowboarding. Here are my impressions: First the good stuff, 1. I love that you are updating the app and trying to fix things. It shows you care. 2. I love the new Halloween themed outfits...very nice additions. Great art team. Now the things I would like to see improved: 1. The leader boards don't make any sense, don't show up on Gamecenter for me and I have no idea what the symbols or different stages are for (ie - to get a high score for stage one, do you try to get as many leaves as possible and commit suicide before you get to stage 2 to get on that leaderboard?). I know it is not working because I posted an Everplay video of my run with 332 leaves with Parker and for the leaderboard I am still on 145 leaves in stage 2. Leaderboards need to be simplified and automatic, not where you. Have to post them every time. 2. I also just posted another run now of 180 leaves with Jesse that shows a lot of technical problems I have with the game. Namely, A. The game lags...a lot. I have every app closed and this still happens at least 3-4 times a run. You can see it lag in the video about 2/3 through as I approach an owl. B. The up/down swipe is very unresponsive. Many deaths in my runs are due to the game not recognising an up swipe or down swipe. For an obstacle runner, this is not acceptable. C. Object placement in runs is pretty poor. You can see in the video that the first two acorns are actually impossible to get (too far off the margins) and the crash happen in this particular run because the stone comes up quite quickly from the distance...where it is not clear at a distance that you can't go around it on the right side. This happens a lot as well in runs. 3. The gameplay is getting repetitive. Without anything to do other than dodge things (jumps, tricks, grinds, please...please) and the fact that most runs end in the first two stages...it is starting to get unsatisfactory. This needs tweaking. 4. Finally, the clips again. I am glad you are putting in an IAP to remove ads but the accumulation rate for clips I still don't get. The first basic character is 6,000 clips. I think most people average only 10 clips a run...but let's be generous and say 20. That means to get a new character, you have to do 300 runs just to get the next character. Outfits as well are 6,000. I like this game but that is ridiculous. Ok, I get you need to monetise the game. I see that you added some very good deals in the shop (20,000 clips for approx. $4) but I think you are being a bit greedy. Let me explain. I spent $7 on Infinity Blade 3 (and could have picked it up much cheaper several times since it came out). That is a AAA game I think we would all agree. I will never have to pay for anything again for this game as it is premium and everything can be unlocked in the game with skill and dedication. With this game, you are not rewarding skill. The amount of runs to unlock anything is prohibitive. You are only rewarding $$. The fun of these games is being able to unlock stuff and progress. I can't see myself doing thousands of runs just for one new suit...certainly not with the limited gameplay that is currently on offer. My suggestion would be to make an IAP that turns this into a 'premium' game (similar to what Skyforce 2014 did) for say...$3-6 where ads are removed and all shop items are reduced to 1/10 their current price. If you want more money after that, offer add-on environments or costume packs. Your current model will not work. Just my two cents because I like your game...
I think your comments about the controls and obstacles are fair. I do have to say though that while I had some of the same criticisms initially, as I've gotten better at the game most of the problems have melted away, because it turned out that it really was possible through skill to get past most sets of obstacles that I initially thought were unfair. On most runs now I earn between 50 and 100 clips, so I'd say your estimate of 10 to 20 clips per run is pretty low. I do occasionally experience the pauses you're talking about, and completely agree those are a problem. I have to completely disagree with your comments about the monetization though. First of all, for about $6 you can buy enough clips to get all the characters right off the bat. (I've already bought all the characters so I can't check exactly how many clips you need.) Combined with the coming remove-ads IAP in the next update this would completely unlock everything for you except for outfits. The characters are really the only thing in the game which are expensive enough to put any pressure on the player to spend any money. If the devs made the characters a lot easier to get, there would be pretty much no incentive for players to ever buy anything. This isn't some game like Clash of Clans or Real Racing 3 where no matter how much money you spend, you never get rid of the timers and other stuff which keeps you from enjoying the game. In this game you can spend a small finite amount to permanently unlock everything in the game. So in that regard I don't think it's any different than Sky Force. Speaking as someone who has been a professional software developer for almost 20 years, and who has worked as an independent contractor and in start ups for a lot of that, I can make a pretty good guess about how much work and financial risk and commitment went into making a game like this. It seems bizarre to me that in the iOS world, people would call a developer greedy for making a game completely available for free with no timers and everything unlockable just by playing, but building in some incentive for players to spend a few bucks. You say you get the need to monetize the game, but the rest of your comment doesn't seem to back that up, as it seems you feel entitled to have everything in the game easily accessible for free. I also completely disagree with your comment about this game not rewarding skill. You seem to be under the impression that the different characters will make a huge difference in how high you can score, but owning them all, I can assure they don't make a huge difference. Each character just makes one thing easier. There's no way to combine the advantages of multiple characters to get some huge advantage. I've found Frappe the snowman to be the most helpful, because it lets you go through ice patches without getting reversed, but that's the only difference between Frappe and one of the free characters. For $2 you can buy enough clips to get Frappe and then you'll have the exact same advantage as me if you want to try to beat my high score. The rest is just down to skill. I also disagree with your comment that the whole point of a game like this is to unlock stuff and progress. Obviously that's subjective and maybe that is what mainly motivates you, but for me this is a skill game, and the main motivation when playing a game like this is to see my skill improve, and be able to make it farther and score higher. Getting different characters just gives some variety to the gameplay, and the outfits are just little bonuses that I don't even think about most of the time. Anyway, sorry if I came off a little harsh. It's just that as a developer myself, it just bugs me to see someone being called greedy just for wanting to get paid a small amount for their work. And just to be clear, I have no connection whatsoever with ShredIt other than being a player, so if you're mad at my comments, direct that at me and not the ShredIt devs.
Hi Bilboa, Thanks for the response (although it was a bit harsh). Obviously we are both passionate about this game, which is a good thing. I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on a few things. As you said, if this is a skill game to get farther than before...I am frustrated that I seem to fight the bugs and mechanics of the game more than actual challenge presented. Plus, as I have mentioned, to me there is not enough gameplay elements to sustain the repetitive play. IMO. To make it clear, I think you have taken my comment about the price personally. I am an avid opponent against FTP practises but the market is what it is at the moment. Hopefully it will gradually change. Saying that, I am educated about the marketing necessities for FTP and exposure. I believe FTP can be done right but this is not it. When I buy a game, I want reasonable access to all of it. Your calculation of how much real money is necessary is way off...it would be much more than $6. I like to unlock things and this is the fun part for me...a reward for effort in. In this case, I would have to play for months to unlock all current items. Unfortunately, as stated before, I don 't think the mechanics are robust enough to sustain this, or at least my interest. Don't think I am cheap. I am not trying to get something free here. I bought The Banner Saga, TWEWY, Monster Hunter, IB 1-3, etc. without any question and felt my money well spent. I am trying to help improve this game, make it more enjoyable (and hopefully more marketable and successful). I want to support the Devs and have backed many KS campaigns as well. I hope this clarifies my post. I have seen your vid on Everplay. I will beat you.
Hi Tonk, I was incorrect to say you're cheap and don't want to pay for games, and I apologize for that. In the case of this game though, my $6 estimate was correct. I should clarify though that I was responding to your comments about this being pay-to-win, and so I was only talking about items which affect gameplay, not cosmetic items. As far as I know only the characters affect gameplay. I realized since I haven't played the game on my iPhone, I can check there to see the character prices. All 4 extra characters can be unlocked for 33,600 clips. For $6 you can buy 40,000 clips, enough to unlock all 4 extra characters plus some cosmetic items. As far as I'm concerned that turns it into a completely premium game. Besides, having multiple extra characters doesn't give you any sort of cumulative advantage, since you can only use one at a time. So if you're just looking for an advantage to beat high scores, you only need to pick one of the characters. I'd recommend Frappe, but really each character makes one kind of obstacle easier, so I guess you could base your choice on whichever kind of obstacle gives you the most trouble. If ducking under things is where you mess up, get the penguins, if you find yourself wishing you could jump farther, get Cosmo, if the animals trip you up, get Rufus, and if the ice patches mess you up, get Frappe. I won't argue with your other comments, though I'm not as bothered by the things you mention. Prior to the 1.1 update the swipe controls were a problem for me, and I think probably every third or fourth run ended because of a swipe not registering. I have no problem with the controls since the 1.1 update though, and they seem just as good as any swipe controlled game I've tried. However I'm aware that especially with virtual controls, different people do better with different control schemes. As for the game being repetitive, I completely agree, but I guess I expect that when I play an endless "survive as long as possible" type of game. It's just like playing Tetris or Temple Run or Unpossible or Super Hexagaon or tons of other games like that. Maybe one reason we feel differently is because we're looking at the game differently. It seems like maybe you're looking at it more as an item collection and character progression game, sort of like an RPG, in which case I agree it falls woefully short. I'm looking at it as a skill based "how long can you last" game like Tetris, where the reward for playing is just seeing my skill increase, and the extra characters and outfits are just sprinkles on top to add some variety. Not that I wouldn't enjoy some different environments, but what's here works for me.
1.2 Out Now Hi all, Apologies for not having the time to answer the latest queries, will get to those later today hopefully. Been working on new updates, and really happy to let you know that 1.2 is ready for download now. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/shred-it!/id884964321?mt=8 It does have the Remove Ads feature for those that want it, but the biggest update is a new game mode - Checkpoint Challenge. Hope you like it! Shred It! Support
After seeing the trailer (loved the 'Frozen' style snowman) I was really excited to play the game. Got to admit that the comments about the control issue had me worried, but I think I'll give it a chance anyway.
It's free to play Veronica, what do you have to lose And thanks to some of the feedback from here we implemented multi-touch control which helps cut down on unexpected actions happening. Hope you like it! Shred It! Support
I find the controls to be fine since the 1.1 update. And as ShredIt! says, it's free and a small download, so no reason not to try it if it looks like something you might like.
I tried the new update. Thanks for the ad-remover. I tried the new Checkpoint Challenge mode. It seems very cool, but I saw some behavior which I'm not sure was intentional. When I crashed, it automatically continued. This kept happening until I ran out of time. It never gave me an option to choose whether to continue or not until I ran out of time, so it seemed like I could have crashed unlimited times as long as my time didn't run out. Then my score on the leaderboard shows an empty star as if I used 3+ continues, which is true, though I never got a choice in the matter. Is this the intended behavior in Checkpoint mode? I would think my run should end if I crash, and I would be given a choice to use a continue just like in endless mode.
Hi Bilboa, Well, looks like we have not got the way that game mode works at all . The idea is that you keep on going until time runs out. You can fall as many times as you like - with the only penalty being that you lose some time, and any leaves you've gathered are lost. Every time you get to 10 leaves on the top right counter you get a time bonus based on how close you are to running out, so crashing resetting that to zero is a penalty too. Continues are more expensive in this mode - essentially they give you another 15 seconds - and we've found that a good player could probably make it to the end of stage 5 with only 2-3 continues. The leaderboard should store Endless Slope and Checkpoint Challenge scores separately. Is it not doing that for you? Shred It! Support
Hi Istako, This will be in the 1.3 update which we hope will be out by the end of the month. In the meantime, if you need to restore that purchase, if you buy it again the App Store will give you it for free. Hope that helps. Shred It! Support
