We haven't decided that part yet, few days ago IndieGames Blog asked me the same question so I think I would give similar answer, right now we can imagine couple of ways for example - 1) new version will be standalone iPhone app while iPad users will get extra new levels with a free update or 2) app becomes universal in that case we have yet to figure out what to do with old iPad levels that are being replaced in a iPhone version with new different ones 3) some other way we haven't figured out yet.
I recently had a chance to give very elaborate interviews and postmorthem on design and concept behind the game: http://gamesauce.org/news/2014/04/02/shapist-a-seamless-journey-through-a-world-of-puzzles/ http://www.gamesinasia.com/the-story-of-shapist-how-a-digital-game-can-be-as-tangible-as-a-physical-object/ both turned out pretty great and provide lots of insights into development and conceptualization of the game.
Recently I was designing the icon / logo for the new version of the game, currently most of the time I spend on puzzles, doing around 1 level a day, sometimes two but in case of hard and complex ones it is usually a day for a puzzle to be born, tested and adjusted, i often come back to puzzles to reapply colors. I aim for a very nice composition in shapes and colors the moment a player would see a level but also in cases when tiles gets mixed up and the final alignments when the level is solved, all three stages should look great. I should also mention that new version will have much more types of puzzles, there are gread sand box types oen where solution is completely up to the player.. However today the topic is the new icon and how i made it: I felt that for the new universal cross platform version that we are cooking we needed new and more colorful logo. First I looked at the levels we have done, I am still designing more puzzles, and there will be at least 20% more puzzles compared to iPad version. I wanted an iconic level that would highlight Shapsit uniqueness for those who played it (1-2)I picked 4 puzzles, one almost the very first one, and other 3 had each a special type of block in them, be it a spring rotational. (3) Then I turned them into isometric perspective in Photoshop. Fast and dirty first (4) It became obvious that the level with the spring int he middle was exactly what I looked for, so I started to play around with block position within the puzzle. (5) Finally I composition I wanted was achieved, I made a vector out of it. (6) Now it was time to experiment on position, background colors etc, I would Photoshop all icons into iPhone screen and later best ones i would move into real device to see. And the bottom right one won to be the new icon, it will also be on the posters and cards By the way Shapist will be at Singapore's Casual Connect as part of the Indie Prize showcase on May 20th to May 22nd come visit us!
New universal version is out on 28.08 Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel We are so happy and thrilled to finally announce that Shapist is coming out on 28 of August as a universal app, ios, android and hopefully windows8 mobile devices on a same day! We have 65 levels, most of them are new, with less than a half remaining from iPad version! (if you bought our ipad version you will get full new one for free) It will be Free to try - first 17 puzzles are playable for free with no ads or restrictions. We are doing a crowd support campaign via http://epocu.com/campaigns/shapist-sliding-block-puzzle/ please support us there to spread the word on social media. We really need it! We would also appreciate everyone joining our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/playshapist Game web site: http://www.playshapist.com I will keep you posted with new level screen shots, some details of how an illustrator drawn animated trailer came to life and more. Thank you for undying support.
You have clearly put a lot of effort into this which is cool. Do you plan to keep supporting it even if the appeal is limited? It feels kind of sad you have put so much love and attention in this but you aren't really getting the reward for it.
Ipad version was not selling well but we hope for a turn of events once universal version is out, that being said we will continue the support, if any bugs are found after universal release - we will update the game, if we manage to improve performance few months later - we will issue an update. This game deserves the effort we put in it.
I wonder what will happen in terms of the apple boost you get when releasing an app first time since you are converting rather than releasing a new version. I am sure it will do better than iPad, but I thought you did okay on iPad all things considered.
We would not consider it OK, we also never got featured by apple. We did get a lot of boost thanks to touch arcade article, review by Pocket Gamer, and many others, our review score was never lower that 7 /10 and it is something that made us confident that no mater what we need to deliver this game to everyone who would potentially love it. And that is the reason we need support and asking people to join our epocu to donate us posts on twitter and like our facebook we really hope more people will find about our game and a free to try will let us reach every puzzle lover.
takemuraori: So will this be an update to the iPad version or a new and separate app? If it is an update, will owners of the iPad app have to pay to unlock the new levels? Regardless, I love the game and got my money's worth already. I would love to play the new levels without having to replay the old one again. Good luck with the new version.
slewis7: If you are on iPad and bought Shapist before you will get new version as an update and all levels will get unlocked for free, you will have to play the game from level 1 but I promise most of them are new and it is even more fun now! Thank you for support!
2 Destined: I did redesigned a lot of old puzzles, some I threw away, some are still there, I wanted to polish out two things 1 - difficulty curve and most importantly 2 - I didn't want any filler levels, I want each and every puzzle to tell the player something about mechanics, show new ways of thinking new possibilities within same set of rules and surprise in a new way. Only puzzles that did that made it to the final 65.
I promised to share a bit of details about our video trailer Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Here are all the sprites / frames that went into it I did all the frames in Illustrator, Ann Gee Neo drew key 6 frames, things like 3 phones and 3 positions of a hand, and i animated all the movements based on them. I would put illustrator art into Photoshop and do the animation there with each picture lasting either 1/30 of a second or 2/30 of a second. Game-play video was captured from the actual game and located at the bottom of the layers.
And I really really hope that THIS looks great (our official release screenshots) And if does look great to you - please spread the word, repost us, re-tweet and donate a post at http://epocu.com/campaigns/shapist-sliding-block-puzzle/
I just jumped in the thread for the first time now, and those screenshots don't tell me anything about the game and leave me confused. Do you have a simpler one to put in front?
well the whole game is about exploration, understanding puzzle rules via exploration of first very simple puzzles, progression and experiments with new mechanics. there are no tutorials or text in the game - it is a hands on experience. But you can watch the trailer as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEsVCCFjmmQ
Maybe that was your goal. I'm just put off by not understanding what's happening. You would miss my install based on the screenshots
I have said this before and think it is super important that a trailer lets people know what you are asking them to download. It doesn't represent the game well, which when you play it is actually very simple to play. I think this trailer is a good example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKJ4ulHO28 (it is a super hexagon clone)
New awesome levels, more puzzles!!! Shapist puzzle update is coming to ios on 25.06.2015 and Android a bit later!: We added new levels, almost 20% more content, same price, same great puzzle! Support us, spread the word, download and try the game - its free for first 15 levels. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shapist/id816551293?mt=8 Universal iOS. https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...yshapist&hl=en Android. WEB SITE: http://www.playshapist.com support us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/playshapist
