Glint - Candy Crush meets Fruit Ninja

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by Ensomniac, Feb 11, 2014.

  1. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
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    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    [​IMG]

    Hey Guys - Long time listener, first time poster. I'm the developer of a new mobile game, Glint, that will be coming out later this month. I've been passionately developing it for the last six months and it's finally ready to get the word out.

    Given that this is one of the best sites for mobile games on the web, I thought I'd tell you guys a little bit about the game. I was a Technical Director at LucasFilm's Industrial Light & Magic for about seven years before deciding that what I really wanted to do was design beautiful, addicting games. Using my skills as a visual effects engineer, I set out to design the most beautiful I could.

    Glint is my first game (I've tried to keep things simple for now) and it's a physics-based casual touch game that requires quick and accurate swipes to score points and power-ups. I tell people it's like if Candy Crush had a pretty baby with Fruit Ninja. Not quite, but...



    I'm putting together a proper trailer now that will be more exciting than the video above. Although the game may look simple, it's actually pretty complex. I've spent a lot of time making it look and feel great. I've been writing a lot about the maddening experience of creating my first game here: http://www.facebook.com/glintgame if there are any interested devs out there.

    The first build has been submitted to Apple but I'll be pushing several updates before actually releasing it at the end of the month.

    If you're interested in beta testing the game, shoot me an e-mail at
    [email protected]

    The game will be available on both iOS & Android

    There is a lot more information here: http://www.facebook.com/glintgame
    You can follow the game on Twitter as well if you're interested: http://www.twitter.com/glintgame

    I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.
     
  2. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    The visuals have a nice flair, you definitely nailed them and I love the sci-fi style.

    The gameplay looks fast paced and fun, and it looks like there's some cool orbs and powerups that come into play.

    2 questions:

    Couldn't you just wait for the screen to fill then swipe and get the biggest combo? So there's no reason that you would ever need to swipe when there's only 3?

    And I noticed that you had to buy swipes in the shop, so you can run out of them?
     
  3. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
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    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    Hey John - thanks for the comments!

    In regards to letting the screen fill up with dots
    Each game has a timer that counts down. You will die if the counter reaches zero. You can increase your time by getting the small white time dots to fall down the funnel. So while you can wait to fill up the screen, you risk running out of time. There are many similar trade-offs in the game to keep you on your toes.

    Power-ups
    There are many power-ups you can acquire in the store, but none of them are required. All of them are degenerative, which means that as you use them, they will run out. After playing for a bit, you'll definitely want to use power-ups!
     
  4. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Ahh ok, thanks for the explanation, it makes more sense now. Sounds like an interesting mechanic, I can't wait to try it out.
     
  5. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
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    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    Glint - Release date March 6th

    Hey Guys,
    I wanted to post the new trailer for Glint, some screenshots and announce the release date: March 6th, next Thursday.

    We're desperately looking for a Touch Arcade writer to review the game. Any interest? Shoot me an e-mail at [email protected]

    Lots more info about the game: http://www.ensomniac.com/glint



    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  6. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    You've got a really quality game here guys, I hope it does well. It's a fun one! ;)
     
  7. copaeci

    copaeci Well-Known Member

    Nov 2, 2012
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    I saw this game on the app store yesterday but looks like it got pulled. I've tried to download it but it said if the item was no longer available. May I ask to you dev, what kind of IAP inside?
     
  8. MikeNintendo

    MikeNintendo Well-Known Member

    Aug 6, 2013
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    Wow, i like both the idea and the visual executuion. Will try it out for sure.
     
  9. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
    60
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    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    Thanks for the feedback, everyone. If you want to play the game now, shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]) and I can send you a promo code.

    JCho133 - Your feedback was awesome!
    MikeNintendo - Much appreciated!

    Copaeci - That's really interesting that you saw Glint in the app store! Can I ask, where was it listed? We were originally going to release it yesterday but changed the release date to the 6th last minute. I hope we didn't miss an opportunity to get featured!

    In terms of in app purchasing, there are two stores. One where you can spend your in game currency (rings) in exchange for power-ups. A second store lets you acquire more rings either by posting to Facebook or Twitter, watching an AD, or spending actual money.

    Here are some screenshots of the IAP:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
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    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    Glint - Ethics & IAP

    Hey guys,
    We've gotten some feedback from members of the community about IAP in our app (probably from the previous post) and some confusion over whether or not there are paywalls. I wanted to reach out to you guys and ask how you think we should address this to our users.

    Firstly, Glint is 100% free and requires no IAP to complete the game.

    During the development process, we were very passionate about not having ads and not requiring players to pay for anything. Still, the fact that the game is free, and also includes in app purchasing seems to indicate to our beta community that they will eventually reach a point where they are required to pay for something, understandably.

    What are some techniques you've seen used that indicate to new players that Glint is absolutely free?
     
  11. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    #11 psj3809, Mar 3, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2014
    To me it's not free it's freemium. A free game to me doesn't have any IAPS. Seeing the amount of IAPS you have above would make nervous.

    You can complete every freemium game out there by buying no IAPS (that's what they all seem to say) but often this involves tons of practice or grinding.

    Perhaps your game doesn't push the user to buy any IAPS but to me there's a difference between a totally free game (no IAPS) and a game like this which is freemium. You're a business's. You need to make money and get a return on your investment. Perhaps I'm being cynical but I bet you get 'x' amount of coins so people have to eventually buy IAPS etc
     
  12. Ensomniac

    Ensomniac Well-Known Member

    Feb 11, 2014
    60
    0
    0
    Indie Game Developer
    San Francisco
    Thanks for the feedback, that's really awesome.

    Since this is our first release, we're still learning. The original thought behind the IAP was to let users pay if they want, but not require that they do.

    One of the most difficult aspects of this process has been trying to make a game that works for a variety of players.

    Some players like to pay up-front and never see IAPs. From a publishing standpoint, that introduces a bit of friction for people who don't want to take the risk to spend money on a game that they might not like.

    Some people like to have a game be free and don't mind having optional IAP. I suppose I am personally in that camp.

    It seems universally disliked to have a game be free, and then require a player to pay to continue.

    Would you recommend eliminating the ability to acquire more in game currency via IAPs to eliminate confusion that this is a freemium game?
     
  13. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    If you wanted to remove the notion that this game was freemium, then yes. But that probably wouldn't be the brightest idea because you would only be getting revenue from add videos watched by someone here and there.

    Personally, this game feels free. Power up prices never go up, and rings are earned really fast.
     

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