Acting Out! - Charades meets Draw Something

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by Rainier, Sep 20, 2012.

  1. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    #1 Rainier, Sep 20, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2012
    Hi all, just wanted to give a heads up that we'll be releasing a word/puzzle game for the iPhone in a little over a month.

    I got the inspiration back in April when I was playing Draw Something, and I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if, instead of drawing the words, you had to physically act them out?" We have the technology now with the cameras on our phones to record and act out words, and then send them back and forth to other friends, so I decided to give it a go.

    Here's the trailer for the app, which we'll be calling 'Acting Out!':



    And some screen shots of the game:

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    Here's what the app logo will look like:

    [​IMG]

    You've got 60 seconds to act out the word, and if the person you're playing guesses it correctly, you'll both get coins (it's cooperative). The coins can be used toward buying sticks of dynamite to a) blow up words you don't like or b) get hints and clear out unused letters when you're guessing the word, and c) it can also be used to create your own custom word, so the number of words is pretty limitless.

    There's IAPs if you want to buy more coins, and there will be over 30 achievements you can get.

    There will be a free version and a paid version. The paid version will start you off with 250 extra coins, hundreds more words (for a total of over 2,000 words), better resolution videos to record with, and my eternal gratitude for supporting an indie developer.

    EDIT:

    We're starting with a soft launch by releasing it only for the iPhone 5, but will have a new version in January that will support earlier devices. It's also going to be WiFi only for now to let users have the full experience of 60 second videos while also helping users avoid those awful data overage charges that come from sending and receiving videos. We'll have an untethered version following that will meet Apple's data limits (5MB per 5 minutes of use), but to meet that hurdle we're expecting to have only 30 seconds of low resolution or 10 seconds of medium resolution videos available.

    Thanks for having a look! Comments and suggestions would be very welcome.

    Rainier
     
  2. fictorial

    fictorial Member

    Aug 20, 2012
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    Freelance iOS developer
    New York
    Awesome... Looks like fun!
     
  3. Bankai44

    Bankai44 Well-Known Member

    Dec 27, 2009
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    Professional Mother Lover
    With your mom
    I might just get it because of the trailer...that's was hilarious!

    :D
     
  4. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    Thanks! The team over at Supercool Creative made that, and we got lucky to have stand-up comedian Dennis Hemphill Jr. and Julie Warnock to do some of the acting.
     
  5. Idiomatic

    Idiomatic Member

    Sep 9, 2012
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    Holy crap! Love the idea!
     
  6. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    Game Designer
    This looks super fun!
     
  7. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    #8 Rainier, Oct 5, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2012
    fictorial, Bankai44, Idiomatic, Butterbrains, and BravadoWaffle - thank you!

    We're aiming for a November 4 release date. In addition to adding some more polish and ironing out some of the last remaining bugs, we've been making adjustments to accommodate the iPhone 5 screen size and the new iOS6.

    In the meantime, we're trying to keep our fans entertained with some funny pictures and video clips on our FB, Twitter, and Tumblr pages.

    Fingers crossed - one month to go!
     
  8. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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  9. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    #10 Rainier, Nov 13, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2012
    Hi BravadoWaffle, thanks for posting the video in HD :)

    We're looking to submit the app sometime this week! Approval times are currently about 8 days, and once it gets approved there will be a brief embargo while we send out promo codes to review sites, so it's looking like a December 1-2 release to the public.

    Fingers crossed.

    And while you guys wait, you can have a sneak peek at a little promo video we put together:

     
  10. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    Bwahahaha :D:D:D You should put this in the body of your first post too. Also, you can post the videos in hd by using {hdyoutub}EJ25fBNIoUA{/hdyoutube} (replace the { with a [ )

     
  11. handintoaster

    handintoaster Well-Known Member

    Dec 2, 2010
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    I dont know if this is online against random people I could see it turning out badly.
     
  12. handintoaster

    handintoaster Well-Known Member

    Dec 2, 2010
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    16
    If you allow people to play against random users you know that some people are going to be inappropriate...
     
  13. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    #14 Rainier, Nov 14, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2012
    I saw the same problem too, so there will be no random opponents. The last thing a family friendly game needs is people sending inappropriate videos to someone.

    The only way games can be played is if you know the person's email or username, and there is a reminder for people to only accept games from people you know.

    @BravadoWaffle, thanks for the tip! I'll make sure going forward I put it in HD format. I always thought the actual video itself should be super high quality before I did something like that though.
     
  14. headcaseGames

    headcaseGames Well-Known Member

    Jun 26, 2009
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    Mobile Game Developer
    Hollywood, CA
    I had the exact same idea to do a "video charades" game when Draw Something hit, thinking it would likewise be potential for a huge success. The obvious technical hurdle kept me from getting anywhere with it. As you can tell I am very interested to see this game and happy that it's finally getting released :) Good luck!
     
  15. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    Nah, don't worry about it, people just like themselves some big videos. :p
     
  16. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    Thank you! There were a lot of technical hurdles, and just as we were wrapping up programming, the iPhone 5 came out, plus iOS6. That messed us up a little and set us back about a month since the simulators didn't correspond to real-life results with the new phone. Add to that the long wait times just to get an i5, and it put development on the slow track. There's that saying about how it takes 10% of the time to develop 90% of the app, and 90% of your time to do the remaining 10%. I couldn't believe it, but that's pretty much how it turned out for us!

    As a fellow video charades fan, if you're interested, I'd be happy to send you a promo code once they're available.

    Rainier
     
  17. MarcJay

    MarcJay Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2012
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    California
    #18 MarcJay, Nov 18, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2012
    Looks cool. In terms of making the charades videos, will the video maker have to either hold his phone while acting, have someone else hold it, or place the phone down and act at the correct distance? To me, that's the only potential issue. Otherwise, I would think the game should be a big hit. Good luck!
     
  18. antony.thai

    antony.thai Well-Known Member

    #19 antony.thai, Nov 18, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2012
    The promote video is cool and awesome! But I honestly think that recording a video each time I need to play a game is really painful, this is an very good idea in paper but not really in real life.

    But I probably will try it, hopefully I'm not right here.

    Antony
     
  19. Allanon

    Allanon Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2011
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    Protecting the Lands from Brona
    Paranor
    Genius!
    I'm going to show this to a bunch of ppl
     

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