Never-ending Defending

[JeDi]

Hi all,

We (myself, my brother and a close friend) are developing our first iPhone game in our spare time, and are almost in the beta phase. The game is under beta at iBetaTest.com, but of the 50 people registered for the test, less than 10 have reported something. And only maybe 5 of them actually give useful feedback. I can manually add about 20 more testers. So if someone is interested in testing an upcoming towerdefense game, you can go to iBetaTest.com, register, and send me an email that you want to join the test (or reply here, it's all good).
Here (http://ibetatest.com/iphone/controllers/apps/?appId=97) is a link to the game at iBetaTest.

http://outoftheboxproductions.be/images/NeD-ep1.png

Never-ending Defending is a tower defense type of game for iPhone and iPod Touch with some unique features. For example, we are using clay-modeled characters and stop-motion pictures for all our animations and scenery, in stead of 2D and 3D models. We also feature a special system, with attacks that make good use of the features of the iPhone's hardware capabilities (fire ball, lightning, earthquake). We provide both "fixed path" levels and "free mode", where you have to build your own maze for the creeps, with your defense towers.

The game will also feature a trophy system with online rankings and real prices for maximum replay value.

We are going to develop this game using an episode system where each episode represents an era in History. The first episode is set in the Stone Age.

Greetz,
JeDi

Edit: Sorry for posting in the wrong category :o

[AlvinoTheChipmunk]

Ooh, sounds good, I would love to beta test your game, and I promise I will actually give feedback =P

[Ajg3]

I would lyk to beta test your game. I already have an account at ibetatest.com

[yournothere]

i can beta test for you too. i like the title.

[JeDi]

Alright!

Just let me know your iBetaTest usernames, and I'll add you to the testers

[Conjure]

I would love to beta test this.. My iBetaTest username is Conjure

[Combzzz]

i have sent you a pm JeDi

[x9twm]

I would really like to beta test my user name is x9twm

[JeDi]

Allright,

so far I added thevagrant, Ajg3, Conjure, DevilishlyGood and x9twm. Once you confirm, I can add your devices to the list of testers and upload a new beta.

The rest should send me their usernames, than I can add them too.

[Devilishly Good]

Allright,

so far I added thevagrant, Ajg3, Conjure, DevilishlyGood and x9twm. Once you confirm, I can add your devices to the list of testers and upload a new beta.

The rest should send me their usernames, than I can add them too.

confirmed, thanks!

[JeDi]

confirmed, thanks!
I uploaded a new beta with your device added. You should be good to go.

If anyone needs instructions on how to put the game on your device, you can find them here (http://ibetatest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=222). Make sure you look at the bottom of the thread for the latest versions of the tools.

[AlvinoTheChipmunk]

Oh my username is AlvinoTheChipmunk haha sorry. =P

*Edit, wow the registration email is taking forever to come -.-

[JeDi]

All users that accepted the invitation so far are now added in the latest release.

[psionic]

i'd like to participate, ibetatest name of sleekgames

[coconutbowling]

I'd love to beta test another Tower Defense game. My username is NBCrescendo.

[JeDi]

Everyone who has accepted the invite should be able to download the game now.

Here are some instructions on how to play the game. Only short, because I really need to get some sleep first.

This is a tower defense game, so creeps come from the left and try to get to your base at the right.

- you can place defenses by dragging them onto the field. A green color indicates you can build the defense there.
- you can upgrade and sell defenses by tapping on them
- you can pick up the caveman creep and throw him away to kill him, or drop him in the volcano. By dropping creeps in the volcano you can use the special attack system (open the menu by pressing the volcano icon on the lower right)

In free mode, creeps will follow the shortest path to your base, dictated by the placement of your defenses. Tower defenses block the enemies path (except that of flying creeps, beware). The crack-in-the-ice thingy (which isn't finished yet) can be placed on the path of the creeps, and will slow them down while they cross it. This defense can be very powerful when placed at strategic places.

In fixed path, creeps will follow the indicated path, so you can place defenses on strategic places. Note that the graphics of the fixed paths are not done yet, only the first level is somewhat decent. Fixed path in general is no not nearly as polished as free mode.

Note that this game is not yet finished:
- nearly all menu and icon graphics still have to be done
- half of the creep and tower clay models and animations still have to be made
- profiles don't work decently yet (there will be trophies, global highscores, ...)
- sound still has to be implemented
- ...

Greetz, and thanks for testing,
JeDi

[astrosaurus]

I'd like to beta test as well, good luck on your development :)

[Aurora]

I would like to register for betatesting.
My registered username on iBetaTest is Aurora (same as this forum).

[Petrus]

I would like to test, name is Petrus on ibetatest, I have tested before and i have a 3GS

[dominator246]

Are you still accepting beta testers?

[JeDi]

Yes, I will add you to the distribution list if you give me your iBetaTest username.
edit: Nevermind, it is the same as your forum username I guess? You should receive an invite in your mail.

Greetz,
JeDi

[dominator246]

Yes, I will add you to the distribution list if you give me your iBetaTest username.
edit: Nevermind, it is the same as your forum username I guess? You should receive an invite in your mail.

Greetz,
JeDi

Yup lol. Thanks for the inv :) well appreciated

[Fletch]

If you're still accepting testers, I would gladly help out. I don't have an account on iBetaTest (though I do have experience beta testing games) so I could just pm you my email and UDID if you need me.

~Fletch

[JeDi]

If you're still accepting testers, I would gladly help out. I don't have an account on iBetaTest (though I do have experience beta testing games) so I could just pm you my email and UDID if you need me.

~Fletch
The thing is, the application is hosted at iBetaTest, so it is a lot easier if you register there, so you can download updates when they are available etc.

Greetz,
JeDi

[JeDi]

I uploaded a new beta to iBetaTest. Too bad the communication on the site seems to fail, so emailing the testers don't work :mad:

I still have a couple of spots free in my provisioning profile, so if someone is interested in testing, please let me know! In a couple of weeks the most important stage of development starts: gameplay. So I could really use some interested testers then...

If you don't want to subscribe to iBetaTest, I can also host the provisioning profile and application on my own webspace.

Here are some interesting links:
- Website: http://www.neverendingdefending.com/
- Forum: http://www.neverendingdefending.com/forum/
- Bug tracker: http://www.neverendingdefending.com/mantis/
- Road map: http://outoftheboxproductions.be/NeD/mantis/roadmap_page.php
- iBetaTest page: http://ibetatest.com/iphone/controllers/apps/?appId=97

And I will post the last two change logs here:


- New puppets: I'm not sure which ones were in the previous version, but there is a hitter and a thrower, and a new flying dinosaur creep. Most puppets are done now: we are finishing up the photos of the cave women, and my brother is finishing the last creep (a sabletooth frog, don't ask).
I still have to finish the projectile system, so the projectiles line up with the graphics and that we can have different graphics for each upgrade level.

- Repair base special: with some money, you can now repair your base if you want to. You can choose between a partial repair and a very expensive full repair.

- I can block cells now. I did that with some of the cells around the volcano so you can't build there anymore and creeps won't go there either.

- Unlock system: levels have to be unlocked, and towers (including the separate upgrade levels) too. The criteria for unlocking them are not fixed yet, those will come when I start tweaking the actual gameplay. Suggestions are more than welcome...

- Better profile system and resume games. I started using OpenFeint for online profiles, but because offline functionality is severely lacking in the current version, I decided to switch to Agon. High scores and achievements are handled, but I still have to implement persistence of settings, game progress and resume games. Once that is implemented, you can resume your game on another iPhone, when you log on with your Agon profile. This also includes support for Facebook and Twitter feeds and friends. Mind that I implemented this so that I can switch back to OpenFeint fairly easily.



- [FIXED #47] Scores weren't properly set to 0 at start
- New popup system that is used to display wave info, unlocks and achievements
- [#49] The defense menu is now positioned close to the selected defense, and the popup animation is changed. I still need to implement some edge cases where the menu needs to be displayed diagonally from the defense
- [#43] Changed the creep throwing to give a more Castle Defense-like feeling. A bit hacked in right now, but already feels better. You throw the creep in the air, which makes it fly in the height (towards the screen). I also made it so a creep gets picked up only when you are actually dragging, so tapping a creep has no effect anymore. It gets damaged when it lands. This makes me think about changing the level entrance to be more at the bottom, because you can only throw a creep upwards now.
- [#50] Changed the default pixel format for images with transparency, to lower the memory usage. We have to check if all graphics are still nice and clear.


Greetz,
JeDi

[jak56]

looks nice

[JeDi]

Hi all,

I uploaded a new version of both the game and the provisioning profile. The previous provisioning profile is expired by now.

Here is what is changed since the previous version:
- Cave woman graphics
- Throwing system is changed, but not finished yet. Any comments on this part are more than welcome
- I was able to save a lot of texture memory, so I reverted back to 32bit textures, which look a lot better. Please let me know about crashes if there are any.

Greetz,
JeDi

[JeDi]

iBetaTest seems to be completely dead. The email system is not working, and that is the only way to contact my 60 beta testers that applied there...

So I am going to accept 20 more testers, but I would appreciate it if those that apply will actually try and give feedback on the game. Now that all gameplay elements are in place, I am going to start tuning all parameters (creep and defense cost, armor, speed, ...) and, more importantly, setting up the actual waves of creeps so that the game is balanced and generally fun to play.

So anyone interested in helping finetune a new tower defense game, please PM me your device ID. I will host the files and changelogs on the game's forum, so you can skip the whole iBetaTest process.

The relevant links are a couple of posts back.

Greetz,
JeDi