Features: Wishlist @PipFromSlitherine: I really love your game this far! Good job! But could you please add some features in the next updates? - I'd love to see a time stamp for saves (date and time of the savegame), maybe mission name - where can u view your mission progress? You get a star rating at the end of each mission, but where to view this afterwards? Or in general, which campaign mission are already done? Is there an archievement overview? And a little critic: in the AppStore preview pictures you can see shadows of objects on the floor, on my iPad 3 there ain't any shadows... I felt a little bit cheated, i read this thread, and there was a discussion about ground shadows. Then I saw the pictures and read in th app description something like ground objects can be seen on iPad 3, so I was pretty much sure shadows have been added. Is it possible to add them in the future? Can the iPad 3 handle it?
Yes they can. Each turn they have a chance to rally... Just keep them out of line of sight of enemy units and eventually they will recover morale.
Anyone out there who is following this thread and still is on the fence about buying the game, Touchgen have just posted a review and have given Battle Academy 4.5 out of 5 http://www.touchgen.net/battle-academy-ipad-review
Wow, you're absolutely right about the shadows. I was so enthralled by the Retina graphics and improved camera I didn't even notice they weren't there. Hopefully they'll be added soon.
Gah - it may be that when we put together the iTunes page we grabbed PC screenshots to work on. The games are identical in terms of everything other than the shadows, and so it was probably overlooked. I will speak to the guys about replacing them with correct iPad screens. It's just so hard to get the perfect shot that will satisfy our Creative Director . Cheers Pip
What's the best DLC for the money? Anyway you could package all three together for a special price? Eh? Eh? Would be greatly appreciated. Thx!
Yes it would be greatly appreciated. It would be nice if those who wanted to buy all of the iaps can get at least a little discount.
Loving game so far, but yes it would be great to see shadows. Any indication if this is technically feasible?
I confess I've not looked at it on the iPad. It wouldn't fly on the iPad 1 for sure. And the 2 might have some trouble as well. It's on the list to look at, but I would be loathe to slow down any of the versions . It's trickier than on the desktops because the iPad's gfx tends to be vertex throughput limited on BA, which makes shadows more of a performance killer. Cheers Pip
Awesome! Thanks again for the update and hard work, Pip!! I will say it again...this is such a great strategy game for the iPad and by far the best iPad game on the app store in my humble opinion. I just wish I could hurry up and get better so I don't get my ass kicked in multiplayer...the play by email and cross-platform play is beautiful!!!
Just a quick question for the Slitherine fellas really. I know you guys like ww2, but is there anything on the roadmap set in a more modern setting?
I know that there have been a few murmurings about user mods in a more modern setting, but we don't have any plans in motion for modern settings. I think we would need to upgrade the model for more options with regard to off-map assets and perhaps close air support? I'm not sure what settings would work well either. What kind of period were you imagining a modern expansion would be set in, ideally? Cheers Pip
Well Vietnam isn't very armour-heavy and modern day UAVs would break the mechanic you have. But a cold war east vs west set in the mid 80s / early 90s could fit very well indeed. Small unit tactics and units aren't that different from ww2 and a heavily contested airspace could restrict the amount of air power you could call in. As a lad I play tested Arnhem and Tobruk on the zx spectrum (and sent a bug list to the gollop brothers for laser squad and it's mail order only expansion - but I digress lol) and I couldn't convince them to change to the modern era....so you're my last.best.hope!
Well, the next update should add in the ability to use 2d art, which would make adding new units very much easier without needing 3d art package experience. So if the logic can stay fairly similar, it would only require the various stats for the units of the time. The settings of France and perhaps the snows of northern Europe or Russia are all there! Perhaps I will use a modern setting as template example for the new functionality. Cheers Pip
We are definitely looking at this kind of thing given the overwhelming response to BA. It's not quite as simple a port though, as the codebase is very much older, and it uses a lot of bitmap composition and massive map images IIRC which works pretty poorly on the iPad because it uses a ton more memory. The in-battle UI is also quite complex. But as I say, there is obviously a demand for it. It's more about the amount of work to bring a much older engine up to snuff. Cheers Pip
I'm mostly a lurker but had to post to say that after a bunch of missions and online matches this has become my favorite iPad game, I really like that it has the full deeper strategy options of the PC/Mac game and not just a simple checkers game with tank pieces as most other iOS "strategy" games are. Well worth the full price to me and I hope you guys see enough profit so that you can consider doing other games like Close Combat, Steel Panthers, Panzer Corps.
Really glad you are enjoying it. We are actually somewhat overwhelmed by the very positive feedback we have had about the game in the month since we released it. We will definitely be doing more on the iPad, that's for sure! Cheers Pip