Hi Everyone! I'm starting this thread to ask a few questions and get some advice about my iPhone/iPad game in development. It is an 8bitish brawler with a basic zombie theme, quite a lot of violence, and a gestural interface (where there would normally brawlers would have an overlayed joystick and some buttons). There are some mashups of gameplay as it goes along (mostly using the accelerometer), some boss fight, unlockable special moves, and a ridiculous story (involving dinosaurs). Here's a video of the gameplay (it is in development and is missing some sound effects and such): http://www.vimeo.com/14015233 As well as this : http://www.vimeo.com/13609134 (for the bonus stage) Right now I'm a bit concerned that it may be rejected (for excessive violence), or completely overlooked, because well, it is excessively violent (and silly). I'm also thinking about releasing a free demo on the Appstore to try get some feedback before a proper money-charging release. I don't know how wise an idea this is (I'm new to releasing iPhone games). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Sure isn't gonna be overlooked by me, I think it's awesome. Are all the enemies zombies? They'll probably let your game through since you're only killing the undead and not massacring innocent men, women and children in cold blood. Plus the fact it's intentionally OTT cartoon violence tones it down a lot too. I'm sure there are a bunch of other games with similar violence levels to this that got through without much of a problem.
ahahah dude that looks awesome, i don't see it being rejected, and there are far stranger apps than this and they still get accepted a major thing to consider is controls, many people are picky about them, could you elaborate on how controls work? and will there be different control schemes it seems like a swipe to pick up/smash/punch etc, is it a hold in this area and he'll walk to the spot also what's the characters name
I think the accepted wisdom is that it is better to release a lite version after the actual game is released. That way if people play the lite version and like it, they can actually buy the full game. Otherwise, some people who enjoyed the demo will have moved on to other games by the time your full version is released, and you will lose sales. Releasing the lite version after the full means another shot of publicity for your game as the demo appears on the new releases lists. Also, beware that Apple doesn't like the word demo, and calling the lite version a demo can get it rejected.
Thanks guys for the replies! I'm glad to hear it'll probably pass through the App store, that's quite a big relief. @aznriceboi13 @MrGando : I'm quite concerned about the controls myself. Controls are something I really notice in games, which is in fact originally why I started this game: I wasn't liking having overlayed joysticks on the touch screen so I tried to make a system that worked more like a flick defense game. Since then I've played a bunch of brawlers and have gotten used to overlayed joysticks, though I think there is a certain unique/weird dynamic to these controls that people who have tested it seem to appreciate. I made a video that explains the controls a lot better : http://www.vimeo.com/14260191 ... but please excuse the awful voice over, I'll try record a more awesome one some time after I next sleep. Let me know if you think it could work (the controls, not the voice over (which is obviously fail)). I'm hearing you Shen about making the most profitable use of a free release... unfortunately I have some time constraints. After this month I have another game commitment and so Kicky Fighter cannot be finished until 2 months time. But I want to start marketing now and the only/best tool at my disposal is getting people to have played or heard about KickyFighter through a free release. I really don't want to release KickyFighter into a vacuum, especially because the controls might be unconventional and I'd like to have people accustomed to it before I ask them to pay for it (because otherwise some reviewers may pown it). On the other hand getting that extra spike in sales would be awesome. The game will have zombies, but also meat monsters and dinosaurs with lazers (they've already been built mostly). But if there is a Chapter One free release it'll just be zombies (and ravers) unfortunately. Here's a mockup of a dinosaur : http://www.freelives.net/images/TREX_KF.png
Like others have said - I am almost 100% sure you'll have no issues with approval. We just released our brawler (it has chainsaws too ) and had absolutely no issues with 12+ rating through apple. I'd like to also say that this game looks incredible - I would buy this in a second. The pixel art & #of frames of animation is quite remarkable - gameplay looks like a blast too. Good luck with it!
with the control is it seems like your finger will get in the way of the action. I've never been a fan of virtual joysticks but maybe the solution is to make it optional.
@99c_gamer Yeah, a lot of people have mentioned that they think the fingers will get in the way... though noone who has played the game has come off feeling that their finger did in fact get in the way... I haven't tested it with a particularly large group (only 15 or so people have tried it on the device), but fingers getting in the way don't worry me much (people didn't care that your finger was over the screen during Stick Wars). What does concern me is that people may find it counter-intuitive or difficult to play. However the very fact that people have the perception that their fingers will get in the way is a problem for me. I have been playing around with the idea of making optional overlayed joysticks... but the game would have to be less violent to allow for less powerful controls.
i heard nothing wrong with the voice over controls seem fine, though in the bonus you could add some stuff maybe a tap to jump in the car? ramps? exploding zombies you have to avoid? what i'd like to see, bosses certain zombies being able to eat each other and become stronger flying zombies , fast but weak zombies humans you can save, though it seem they will be nerds? all i can think of now so how is death in this game? sawweeett and awesome pic with the dino nice meat demon and meat factory!
Thanks Epox! @aznriceboi13 : I like those ideas indeed... I've got some weak zombies, but I hadn't considered a really weak (like a one shot and it gibs) zombie, that could be a lot of fun. Zombies eating other zombies would also be a brilliant dynamic, though it'd take some work to implement (mostly graphical)... I could reserve it for a boss or boss-like. If a boss is eating zombies to get stronger the player will have to clear the zombies first to win. I've been wanting to do savable humans (Gamer Nerds, Scientists, Archeologists), kinda like Metal Slug, I think it'd be an awesome/flavourful feature. Right now there is no death, but I'm going to implement a lives system... kinda like Simpsons, but with endless continues. It's going to be pretty forgiving, but it has to be as there will be purchasable moves and so I don't think players will tolerate any kind of permanent death that kills off their progress. Btw aznriceboi13 you've got some seriously impressive beta testing experience! I have question, probably one asked hundreds of times on these forums (sorry), but how important is the iPhone 3G these days... KickyFighter was running fine on the device until iOS4 nerfed its available memory, it still runs mostly at 30fps, but you can see it jitter and shuffle memory around quite often (and there is a good chance it would be unstable).
There was a poll on the forum recently and a significant percentage of users were still on 2nd gen devices (iPod Touch 2nd Gen & iPhone 3G) or lower, significant as in at least 50%. Obviously it's not as accurate as other stats may be, but you've got to remember, the 3GS only came out just over a year ago... it's still quite new in non-Apple terms and most people probably can't afford to upgrade every single year. The majority of games being released are still aiming for the 2nd gen markets as a minimum so optimize your ass off
thx i think the iphone 3g is still important just as the 2nd gen ipods are, many people haven't updated and some buy the old idevices from ppl who did upgrade would make me sad if it wasn't able to run on older devices
The iPhone 3G that I test this on barely runs it's own operating system (there is actually lag while scrolling through the app icons) so I don't really expect to get KickyFighter running smoothly on it. It does definitely run fine on 2nd iPods... it's 3G iPhones with iOS4 that are a problem... like I say, it runs, but not as happily as it does on a 2nd Gen iPod Touches.
You could try offering a few beta slots specifically to people with 3G's running iOS4 and see if they all suffer the same problem and find out if they think it's playable.
