Danger Alliance: Battles - (by TOME Studios) - Universal App

[TOMEStudios]

Hey everyone!

Well, we've done it again - another content update for Danger Alliance: Battles.

This time we introduce you to Jansson - the fearless rifleman with loads of enthusiasm. You'll recognize him from the icon, and he's ready to take on the enemy.

So now you can go back through the mini-campaign and try out new tactics on those wraiths to try and get that illusive 5 stars on hard.. Or maybe just build that long range firing squad team and pit them against your friends..

We've also made loads of 'under the hood' and visual adjustments in preparation for Multi Player so stay tuned!

And best of all, it's available.. Now!

[Maniacfive]

Enjoying the update to DA:battles, after the disappointment in controls that was Wasted Lands on the iPhone.

I remain psyched for the async multiplayer.

[TOMEStudios]

Originally Posted by Maniacfive

Enjoying the update to DA:battles, after the disappointment in controls that was Wasted Lands on the iPhone.

I remain psyched for the async multiplayer.

Thanks! We're really glad you're liking the controls - there have been many iterations of different control options during development and I think we've found the best one for the game mechanics. I've never played Wasted Lands, but it's a shame when controls are just slapped on without care and attention.

The same care and attention is going into multiplayer too, so thanks for your patience - it's going to be awesome.

And just as an informal feedback survey, what's everyones order of importance for the following upgrades?

* Online Async Multiplayer
* New Soldiers/Weapons
* New Battlefields
* New Scenarios (Game modes)

We've been getting a range of responses in the iTunes reviews so it'd be great to get TA community feedback too!

Thanks!

[the9quad]

+1 asynch

[Ayjona]

Originally Posted by TOMEStudios

And just as an informal feedback survey, what's everyones order of importance for the following upgrades?

* Online Async Multiplayer
* New Soldiers/Weapons
* New Battlefields
* New Scenarios (Game modes)

Async before anything else. Then, game modes and units are probably tied for me, with battlefields as the least important (but still very welcome) addition.

Oh, by the way, here is a little list I usually post to devs working on an async implementation. Hope it can be of service :

For a polished and appealing implementation of asynchronous gaming, these features or options will all contribute greatly:

• A well-developed chat system. Ensure that new chat messages:
  • Show up across the screen once we enter the game in question, but also send their own push notifications.
  • Furthermore, in addition to displaying new chat messages on top of the actual gaming area, also provide a chat log (accessed via a chat bubble icon or similar) were we can read the chat history. This is also probably where we will be sending new chat messages.
  For a very successful chat implementation, see Carcassonne.
• Informative push notifications. Preferably, the name of opponents should be included in the push notification, plus other information that will aid us in separating different on-going games from each other. (“It is your turn in the game with TOMEStudios” will do, but “It is your turn n in the fast-paced game on a large map with TOMEStudios, the9quad and Hodapp” is much more informative.) For async games that result in really long and complex matches (Starbase Orion, the most sophisticated async game for iOS, is currently the only such game), custom naming of matches might be preferable.
• In-game notifications of new turns in other Danger Alliance matches, plus a quick way to jump to these matches. UniWar does this best, with a button that sends the player to the next match with an available turn, and a badge that displays the number of available turns on top of the next match button.
• Allow the players to remain in-game and play the game as a real-time multiplayer game. Luckily, most async games do this by default, but some very few forces the player out of the game upon submitting the turn. Even sending the player to the next active async match in the same game can be annoying, and is better accomplished with the feature mentioned in the point above.
• Upon entering or RE-entering an unsubmitted turn, display a replay of the events of the last turn. It is practical, but also important for immersion and flow. As SharpCarlos wrote, "without it, each turn is like a dry little puzzle, cut off from the flow of the match".
• Allow us to enter the adventure/match directly from the push notification. Most async games do this, but Starbase Orion did not, in the beginning, and it became tiresome to go through the login and retrieve active games process each time.
• A custom and characteristic notification sound. (Not possible at the moment if you rely on Apple’s own async APIs)
• Options for turn timer expiration, to prevent players from withholding their turns for weeks, together with warnings of impending turn expiration sent via push notifications.
• Don't use Apple's new async APIs. Seriously, don't They are EXTREMELY basic, with limitations such as no custom notification sound, you can only submit chat messages as you end the turn (GC just piggy-backs a chat message on the end of the game's turn data), and no easy way to use informative text strings for push notifications. A durned shame, I was hoping Apple's new GC additions would do much good for async gaming.

For added persistence, illusion of achievement, sense of progress, longevity (what nearly all async games currently lack, the biggest, glaring flaw in the async catalogue):

• Further progression and persistence. This is the aspect that the VAST majority of async games overlook. In the long run, async games tend to become a long blur of endless strings of matches, and this often leads to a sense of exhaustion, and a lack of purpose. Here is how to sex us up with purpose and context :
  • Ideally, all async games would include some sort of semi-MMO/MMO-inspired campaign mode, where all matches won led either to some sort of progression (unit/army/character development, whatever is suitable for that particular game), territorial gain (for war and conquer games. Something as simple as a world map that displays ownership of territories based on matches won, a visual representation of player stats, plus some nice titles and achievements, would be enough to offer incentive for many players. An extended meta-game where matches won and territorial gain led to further in-game advantages would be something wholly unique, and really appealing), or at least, for those games that seek to retain a balanced multiplayer experience with no persistent advantages, visual upgrades (new unit appearances, colors, badges, titles, medals, etc, whatever is suitable for that particular game). The perfect fusion would probably be one online multiplayer campaign mode with persistence and context, and one competitive, balanced, no persistent advantages mode, for the best of both worlds.
  • If not, ELO/other suitable ratings, extended stats and a complete adventure history at least offer players a way to track their progress, and look back upon their accomplishments. UniWar does this partially well, with ELO ratings and detailed player stats, which tie in to the game’s community features (being able to send messages, view player profiles, etc), and while Danger Alliance is a bit different in nature, most of these mechanics could be used here as well.

Together, all the added progression mentioned in the last bullet points adds up to longevity and an active community, which in turn leads to far greater chances for monetization (= more dough for devs ).

[undeadcow]

More of a single player person here so I'd love new scenarios followed by new battlefields then units and last asych. Thanks for the continued attention to content!

[Nekcik]

Originally Posted by Ayjona

.

That is an incredible well written idea of how danger alliance's multiplayer should work. I too vote for the multiplayer update over the other stuff.

In order it would be

*Online Async Multiplayer
* New Soldiers/Weapons
* New Battlefields
* New Scenarios (Game modes)

Well pretty much the order it was already put in to begin with.
Looking forward to this multiplayer update over Infinity Blades to be honest.
Thanks for your continued hard work and future updates!

[Marcus70]

I prefer to only play this only offline, so my order of preference:

* New Battlefields (especially larger battlefields)
* New Scenarios (Game modes)
* New Soldiers/Weapons
* Online Async Multiplayer

[syntheticvoid]

Originally Posted by TOMEStudios

Thanks! We're really glad you're liking the controls - there have been many iterations of different control options during development and I think we've found the best one for the game mechanics. I've never played Wasted Lands, but it's a shame when controls are just slapped on without care and attention.

The same care and attention is going into multiplayer too, so thanks for your patience - it's going to be awesome.

And just as an informal feedback survey, what's everyones order of importance for the following upgrades?

* Online Async Multiplayer
* New Soldiers/Weapons
* New Battlefields
* New Scenarios (Game modes)

We've been getting a range of responses in the iTunes reviews so it'd be great to get TA community feedback too!

Thanks!

I'm also one of the players that's more OFFLINE when it comes to gaming... there's a few multiplayer games I've got... but even those, I spend more time offline in the practice or story modes...

soooooo....

1 - New Scenarios (Game Modes)
2 - New Soldiers/Weapons
3 - New Battlefields
4 - Online Async Multiplayer


Though I know it's going to take quite a bit of work no matter what you guys decide to add... I will also say that I'd be very willing to pay for a sort of expansion pack full of levels + new soldiers - yes... an IAP (gasp!) - but judging from the recent release of the new Where's My Water levels, and how people reacted to it in the AppStore - that might not really be a good idea...

I also think that there's loads of multiplayer fans on the iOS, and though I would personally prefer new game modes, it would probably be in the best interest of the game, and the company, to add Multiplayer to it... and then if you wanted to do more, add more modes/soldiers after adding that - which would probably also not cause so much of an uproar within the AppStore reviews if you charged for the extra modes with an IAP - just my opinion though...

DA: Battles is one of my favorite TBS titles for the iOS.... so no matter what you add, I'll consider it a great thing - thank you for sticking with it, and for all the hard work you guys have already and are going to put into this one. =oD

Best of luck to ya!

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by syntheticvoid

- but judging from the recent release of the new Where's My Water levels, and how people reacted to it in the AppStore - that might not really be a good idea...

You mean how it's back as the number one paid app and number 5 for grossing?

Here's the take away from the app store: If your game is soundly designed and the IAP is implemented well, consumable or not, you may safely ignore the whiners, because those people aren't affecting your bottom line. After all, they already paid a whole $X (where X is usually 1) and want everything else provided for free even though they spent more on just their internet connection the day they were posting negative crap. They obviously didn't love your game enough to consider it worth any more money (usually a whole other dollar, ohnoes!), so they vindictively give you bad reviews and whine on forums hoping to hurt your bottom line to force you to give them stuff for free, but all one has to do is look at the charts to realize the strategy is made of fail.

It's only when you have a genuinely badly designed IAP system that it hurts your game, but that's because it was a badly designed system, not that it involved IAP to begin with.

------

As for this title, my personal ranking would be:

* New Scenarios (Game modes)
* New Battlefields
* Online Async Multiplayer
* New Soldiers/Weapons

I finally started playing this recently and it is a pretty snappy little TBS, but the current scenario and battlefield designs leave things things more restrictive than I prefer in titles like this. Has a "shoveling sand against the tide" feel. With some changes to the battlefields and scenario designs, I think the character design and game engine could be better highlighted.