I have just submitted my new game Gumdrops to Apple for review. I was working with warpser from the forums on this game - he is responsible for the incredible graphics. GumDrops is what you get if you turn the game play of Tetris on its head. Gum drop pieces fall from the top of the screen 2 at a time, and it is up to you to guide them into groups of 4 or more to explode them off the screen. The game includes 4 different game modes, wrapped in a beautiful candy coated graphics shell. Fast Twenty is furious arcade action, as you race to complete 20 lines of GumDrops before the relentless procession overwhelms you. Twisty Twenty slows the pace down, giving you plenty of time to plan your strategy for a massive high score. The Trial challenges you to last for as long as you can against an ever increasing minimum line length. You will be blowing up lines of 10, 15 or even 20 GumDrops at a time. Finally, Long Play mode gives you exactly what it promises - a no nonsense challenge to test your skill, stamina and endurance. There is also a lite version, which includes the Twisty Twenty game mode - just enough to get you hooked and hungry for more. Of course, there are also a host of features designed to make the most of the iPhone, like automatic save and resume and the ability to play all you favorite iTunes music tracks.
Hmmm...looks interesting enough. Graphics are great and the screenshots provide some taste of what the gameplay looks like. Congrats on this game devs, looks beautiful
Thanks, we put a lot of work and love into the game. Additionally, 3 of the 4 game modes are designed to finish in under 10 minutes, so it is a great game for on the go.
I have your two other games, and this one looks amazing. upsi runner looks great, but maybe upsi looper will get a shiny makeover? I will definitely be buying this when it comes out. Also you need a new sound for popping. After watching this video, it was annoying. Maybe try a high pitched marimba sound or a bell. Thanks for the great apps. It really looks like a shiny cross between rolando, tetris, and topple.
arkanigon - Yeah, here is the initial video for anyone who is interested. You can see that warpser did an incredible job on the graphics. indy: thanks for the feedback. We haven't had too much trouble with the sounds, although I did make the popping sound quieter, I'm not sure if that was before or after I made the video. If it is still a problem when you are playing the game, please let me know in the thread I will start for the game when it is released. Hopefully when you have your music playing in the background, and your concentration is focused on playing the game, it wont be as much of an issue. Shen
I have to say I'm impressed with the level of magnitude that your games improve with each outing, Shen. I'm really looking forward to playing this one. Now if we can just figure out how to get you some music (for those that are iTunes challenged like myself)
Wow those are some great graphic improvements from the demo video to now! I like what has been done. Obviously this would completely change the game up, but what if the pieces fell when pieces underneath them were popped. Could create chains, and no gaps. Also if instead of only coming out in pairs, they came out in other shapes too, like tetris does.
PointOfLight: I'm glad you like the look of the game. As the iPod and iPhone touch typically come packed with the owners favourite songs, I made the decision to allow the player to use those, instead of putting in some music that would only please a portion of my audience. This allows me to spend me time + energy on the things that the user can't supply for themselves, like game play and music. So really there is an infinite amount of music for GumDrops, you just need to start up iTunes before you start playing, or double click on the home button while you are playing to access the iTunes quick start music window. You can check out http://www.publicdomain4u.com/ for a bunch of free early 1900's Jazz and Blues tracks, if you need some free music for your device.
I get your point, and I know we'll never see eye to eye on this (hence the smiley face in my last post), but I made the conscious decision to get my iPod for the purpose of playing games. As such, I shouldn't be required to add music to my device just to compensate for games that don't include it. As I've said in many a review, allowing the user the ability to play iTunes music is a nice option, but should not be an "instead of". As games continue to get larger (Return To Mysterious Island is going to weigh in at 300 MB, Syberia even more, and I remember recently reading that another game was a whopping 444 MB), I don't want to have to worry about juggling a full load of games plus several CDs on an 8 GB iPod. I realize I'm in a very small minority (I might be the only one), but that's the way it is. And if you do ever include music in your games, you can always have an "off" switch
I have a 1st gen ipod touch so I usually have headphones and listen to my music while playing, but some in game music never hurt. Some games have even centered their in game music and have done very well (edge and zen bound). Maybe this is something to add to the list for the future if one of your games takes off. I value the graphics over music, and these graphics are great! Now just get the same person to make over the menus if upsi runner, and the game graphics of upsi looper, and we are all happy! BTW In the last cnet podcast (the apple byte) they asked to send in your favorite apps and I mentioned you and your games! Fingers crossed about it going in the episode!
2 tracks would be great (one for the menus, one for in game). Make it simple and bright. Try to imitate the boy least likely to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7KieUW6HR8 http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=129268872&s=143441
I agree with the two tracks and "simple and bright" thoughts. Can't say anything in regards to the links provided because I can't take a look at those at work. What I'm thinking in regards to type of music (at least during game play) is almost something like you'd expect from a circus or from a kid's cartoon. I don't know why, it's just that this game has a lighthearted feel to it (I suppose the name Gum Drops could have something to do with it as well )
Okay, I listened to "be gentle with me", and I have to say that indyraider4 is quite correct: the style of the instrumentals would fit quite nicely with your game.
I really think there should be an iPhone game review site for just indie games. (I keep hoping if I say this often enough it will "just happen".)
PointOfLight + Indy: That YouTube video is awesome, but I hate to get your hopes up that any music that I can find on the internet will be as good as stuff made by a professional band. I am looking at some mp3s made from midi files of classical music, which is in the public domain. Songs like Fur Elise, The Entertainer and Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel. Grid: Yeah, a site that points out cool games that aren't published by big names would be cool. Tenfingersclub.com looked like it was going to be like that, but now they have started putting out reviews of the big games.
