RAVENMARK: Scourge of Estellion (by Witching Hour Studios) Universal

[Uberskooper]

Originally Posted by Tebius

Heya Uberskooper, thank you so much for the support!

•••Spoiler:  I guess there were many nuances with the Calius/Livia story that I would've liked but there just wasn't an opportunity to explore it in between the missions. Perhaps I'll explore it in another medium.

Hehe.. yes, I took that direction with elves since I was tired of how they were always depicted as 'betters' of all the other races. The Sotran dwarfs are meant to be depicted differently as well, but it was much harder to put across. Instead of the beer guzzle, rowdy dwarves we're used to, they are more akin to the posh British - prim, proper and airy.

That's interesting. I sort of noticed that the dwarves all had mustaches instead of beards, but it didn't really click.

Do you have any info about the coming campaign? What will it be about? Will there be any big battles? Is there an ETA for it?

[Tebius]

Originally Posted by devensega

Oh it's not your fault chap, it's my lack of time and ability really. I'm going to play the rest of the campaign on easy till I get to the suneaters......being as I noticed those frogs are back.

That's the last mission before Suneaters! Have you tried the new campaign?

Originally Posted by Uberskooper

That's interesting. I sort of noticed that the dwarves all had mustaches instead of beards, but it didn't really click.

Do you have any info about the coming campaign? What will it be about? Will there be any big battles? Is there an ETA for it?

Deepwood Dragoons
•••Spoiler:  The new campaign follows Thaddeus as he strikes out into the Lyri Barrens looking for teleport phylacteries (there are Sotran camps in the Barrens) back to Esotre. There'll be some epic battles towards the end of the campaign!

We're hoping to have it done in two months, although I'd say that's a pretty optimistic goal. Heh.

[PrayForDeath]

I'm torn between getting this or starbase orion. Why dont you add retina support and make it easier for me to decide! If you're worried about file size cant you just add a seperate 'HD' app like galaxy on fire?

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by PrayForDeath

I'm torn between getting this or starbase orion. Why dont you add retina support and make it easier for me to decide! If you're worried about file size cant you just add a seperate 'HD' app like galaxy on fire?

That sort of sucks for people who paid up front for the existing app.

[Tebius]

Originally Posted by PrayForDeath

I'm torn between getting this or starbase orion. Why dont you add retina support and make it easier for me to decide! If you're worried about file size cant you just add a seperate 'HD' app like galaxy on fire?

Get both, they're completely different experiences. =)

[soldat7]

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

That sort of sucks for people who paid up front for the existing app.

Sucks even worse not having an HD option!

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by soldat7

Sucks even worse not having an HD option!

Maybe, but if the developers could invest the same amount in producing upgraded graphics for a HD version that would only benefit new purchasers, or in new content for the existing game that both drives new purchases and rewards existing owners, I'd prefer the latter.

[PrayForDeath]

Originally Posted by Tebius

Get both, they're completely different experiences. =)

Yea but they're not cheap. I only want to buy one expensive game for now.

Couldnt the developer add the retina update as an IAP so old customers arent left out?

[Uberskooper]

Originally Posted by PrayForDeath

I'm torn between getting this or starbase orion. Why dont you add retina support and make it easier for me to decide! If you're worried about file size cant you just add a seperate 'HD' app like galaxy on fire?

It depends on what you like. I just picked up Master of Orion after I saw you mention it because I really enjoy 4x empire games. I didn't play it enough to give it a fair review. My first impressions though were that it was difficult to understand what was going on and the icons were too small to hit with my finger (first game where I have had this problem).

By contrast I have played Ravenmark a great deal and have really enjoyed it. It's not a 4x game, but rather a story driven turn based tactics game. When I first picked it up I found that I enjoyed it instantly. Maybe that's just because I like medieval warfare with big formations of troops.

I guess if you had to pick one, watch gameplay videos on Youtube and see which one you like more.

Originally Posted by PrayForDeath

Yea but they're not cheap. I only want to buy one expensive game for now.

Couldnt the developer add the retina update as an IAP so old customers arent left out?

I don't understand people who own a $300+ electronic toy who believe that $5-$7 is expensive. Ravenmark has given me hours of entertainment for the price of a meal at Applebee's.

[witchinghourSG]

Hey folks, been a while. We took some time to investigate the issue of new iPad Retina display support.

Why can't we do a universal build with new iPad Retina support, you ask? Here's why: Ravenmark as it stands (with 3 campaigns) is already just over 500MB. To support the new iPad Retina, all current assets need to be resized - and we've estimated this would add 1.2GB to the package size. (Just for reference, the Kingdom Rush Retina iPad update made the app balloon from 64.2MB to 219MB.)

So, a universal Ravenmark build that's nearly 1.8GB - that's how it'll stand WITHOUT the assets from the future campaigns we'll be adding. Apple's app size limit is 2GB - which pretty much puts a halt to this idea.

Next idea: Can we stream in content? Like a HD graphics IAP in the universal build? It *might* be possible, but one main problem is that because the assets for additional campaigns are not complete yet, we wouldn't be able to provide them in the "HD graphics IAP" download. So you'd be left with a game that is half HD and half non-HD on your new iPad. Not very sensible, wouldn't you agree? It could make sense if we use this option after ALL the story campaigns and their assets have been completed. But it's very likely that we'd have missed the boat by then.

Oh, yes: it would be an additional cost on our end to maintain servers to allow for streaming-in of external data, cos Apple sure ain't gonna host that stuff for us.

From a technical standpoint, the most feasible option would be for us to release a separate HD app that only works on the new iPad. However... as DaviddesJ pointed out, this pretty much excludes everyone who's already purchased the original universal build. It's not a terribly great idea from a marketing standpoint when every other app is doing free Retina updates - we'd be hung out to dry as money-grubbing villains.

We'll explore work on optimizations that'll make UI and text sharper on new iPads, but for true Retina iPad support, it seems like all our options are pretty lousy. What do you guys think?