Just a heads up. We're working on adding various features to GLWG right now. Pass & Play Multiplayer and a reworked front end probably being the most noticeable and should be out soonish. Skirmish and achievements are coming next, and then we'll be considering the implications of writing a server for handling asynchronous multiplayer. If anyone wants to get on a beta test for the pass & play and all the other stuff going into v1.3, please get in touch via the email in my sig. Thanks!
Can't give a definitive list yet as we're still cramming stuff in. What we want testing properly is the new front end and any gameplay issues in the new pass & play. Is it fun? What could be better? etc. Of course for that you need a friend to play it with. We've had many games here and it's great, but we've learned the hard way that we miss stupid things because we've been staring at them too long.
Awesome news. I'd love to beta test this, missed out on the first one but I guess at least I could play the finished game on a clean slate, so to speak. I don't think I'll be playing much pass & play though, but I could test the skirmish update. Will it be in 1.4 instead?
Regarding skirmish update, I just don't know yet tbh. We need to tweak the AI to become more aware of certain things, but the AI programmer is currently working on a long overdue upgrade of all our shader stuff. (the ipad 2 version is going to look nails when that's done, as an apology to early adopters who had problems with the game before the firmware update).
No worries, just pointing out my interest for a skirmish beta. The campaign is fun enough, and I haven't bought the IAP actually, so that'll be more time spent. The screenshot certainly looks promising though!
thanks for all the hard work you're putting into making this game as great as it can be. It's really appreciated.
Well, Rubicon, not sure if I've seen any developer do this, but put in a tip jar in the application. IAP that essentially gives you nothing, but lets me reward you, as a developer, because I love the game so much, or because I appreciate you wading through forums and interacting with your user base. I'd be very interested in seeing how big of a revenue stream you could get from something like that.
Heh, I do like that in theory. I've seen a few pc/mac indie games have a pay what you want sale which is similar. One good point he did make though is not so much about price but about reach. Not cracked that one yet, though we did get a fairly good 3 line review in a national newspaper here.
@Rubicon: QQ - I was googling around, and just wanted to verify with you that iPad 2 crashes that were reported on this earlier are fixed with the 4.3.2 firmware?
Certainly has fixed it for me. I'd not really played it at all on iPad 2 cos of issues but it's seemingly fine now. Wonder how many of the other problematic games this has fixed. Interesting. And in regards to iap. We've paid a fair price for a fair game and for the dev to charge a small token payment for another bunch of content is fair. Too mny ppl getting entitlement issues. The candy bar analogy is hilarious. You already paid for a perfectly complete item. The dev is trying to invest in the continued evolution of a game in return for a small investment from fans.
Good enough for me, I'll pick it up then! While waiting for the inevitable $0.99 sale for Christmas or Groundhog day or whatever could stretch my gaming dollar, I definitely appreciate developers who pay attention to their customers, so here we go! @Rubicon: appreciate your attention to these forums. Put the tip jar into the next version, and you'll definitely get some from me.
At this point all I can do for a response is dribble. This has been driving us mad for weeks. There is clearly a problem with the firmware as iPad 2 is meant to be backwards compatible and the game runs fine on iPad 1. We've had many "thank you" mails confirming this fix works (even though we didn't do it ourselves), so obviously it works for most. However we have also had a couple of complaints that the problem didn't go away after the firmware update. (I'm thinking user error here tbh, but at this point I'd believe in santa claus if this thing would just go away)
Just a little heads up... The majority of americans have entitlement issues or are just plain stupid, or both. The real problem these people have with IAP is that they feel entitled to all of the content because they think they already "paid" for it. On Topic, I have never beta tested anything before, but would be willing to try it if you gave me a walk through of some sort on how its done and what not. I also think you should consider adding a forum of your own to your Great Little Website
Just FYI, started getting pretty consistent graphics freezes on the first "collect 2000 oil" mission. It seems like the game is responding in the background, but the graphics just don't update at all. Going to the home screen and killing the app in the background let's you restart it, and play further, but usually you lose the last turn you might have made (btw, thanks for having an autosave feature!). I'm trying a hard restart on the ipad2, and we'll see if it behaves better if it's the first and only app around. I know I had a problem with AirVideo that got cleared up after a hard restart, so I've used it as a basic troubleshooting technique when I run into problems. Enjoying the mission, still gotta remember exactly what the move+fire range of enemy units are...I keep giving them first shot for no reason UPDATE: FWIW, a hard restart of the iPad2 didn't seem to help much. Game still has all the graphics freeze up every once in a while, but since the autosave exists, I don't lose more than one turn at a time. Annoying, but bearable, for those of you thinking about picking it up.
Thanks guys. Regarding what you do in a Beta test, because this is a public one for volunteers you don't need to do much beyond play the game, keep an eye out for bugs and give feedback on what you think is either good or bad. A flourish of deliberately trying to break it by doing silly things like button mashing and setting a new record for how many times you can spawn the game, quit and restart in a minute etc. can help too. In return you get a sneak peak at the game, a chance to influence features, a mention in the credits and the satisfaction of doing your good deed.
I can understand the anti-IAP argument for a lot of the 'freemium' or inexpensive 99c games. This game does not deserve the sort of hassles that it's been getting for this issue tho. There's a totally full game here, that you can play and beat without needing to buy a single IAP. That said, a "deluxe edition" with all IAPs included from the get-go would probably sell pretty well.
IPad 2 crashes The problem isnt your great game- the game is fun and if it was not fun it would not be that big of deal that it crashes after almost every turn. I have upgraded my ios to 4.3.2 and it still crashes. I have done hard resets on my ipad 2 hoping that might help. The last...and I do mean last thing I will try is deleting my current game and starting over (again). If this doesnt work I wont go back into your app until you "Rubicon" fixes the problem. Are you guys playing this on a Ipad2? I know I am not the only one with this issue. Again- I would give this one 5 stars if it didnt crash. Thanks for reading this...
Hey, I'd love to help as a beta tester, if you still need people? Just let me know about the how and when, and I'll be glad to help out.
I had the same problem as hsthompson. The game would sometimes just freeze, but the audio would continue and it was possible to still control my units (even though i couldn't see them). The bug was most prevalent on the 2000 oil mission. I also think it would be nice to have some sort of indicator for how many spaces you can move ans then still shoot, and to see how far the enemy can move. An option to hide the life bars would be nice. There were times when the battlefield got so crowded i couldn't see the units anymore because of all the bars. Great game, though, i am really enjoying it!
