Rad Skater Apocalypse - (by muzboz)

LOL... Im lovin that backstory. If this is a runner im sold.

Everything about this "muzboz" fellow (the developer) from the app description, that last screenshot and even his Twitter account, screams a passion for video games. Bought this on that basis alone. Hopefully it'll be great.

Well i love anything retro, specially love the 'game n watch' style buttons, not keen on endless runners but i thought i'll give this a go.

First impressions...

Took a while to get to the game menu, had a weird graphic of a woman to begin with and then horizontal old skool C64 lines, presume the games built in HTML5 as it had that whirley symbol in the corner. So was a bit slow to get started, the game itself is good. Decent tune, nice graphics, controls well, bit annoying i missed one 'tape' so had to redo the level just to get that tape again. Level 2 was good as it was different, zombies you can land on and moving tapes to collect.

Nice little old skool game, love the basic game n watch buttons. Worth 69p, i'm not a fan of endless runners at all but because of the retro features to this i'm a fan.

While my impressions of the game pretty much mirror the above, I just can't recommend the game based on one thing: Everything is painfully slow. Whether it's the GameSalad-like loading times when you start the game, loading every time you die, heck...even the gameplay is extremely slow and if it ramps up later on, I just can't be bothered to sit through the load times anymore. My girlfriend even complained about it and asked if we could play something else. :/ If I were to compliment the game on anything, the chiptune soundtrack is infectious as hell.

Even though I still admire Murray's passion for making video games, it saddens me to say I'm incredibly disappointed in this. Sorry.

Metalcasket thanks for toftt...I'll pass now

I dont do well w/slow.

Correction...I decided to give it a go and this is actually not a bad game.The further you advance the faster it speeds up.Its a solid endless runner w/a fresh looking background art (graffiti).Im enjoying it.....IT'S WORTH CHECKING OUT.

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Last edited by Biggavelli; 06-20-2012 at 11:39 PM.

Hi guys,

Muzboz here. Great to hear many of you are enjoying it!

I've submitted an update v1.1, which makes the first level easier, so you get into the action faster, and also speeds up the intro sequence. The load times won't be fixed for a little while, but they become less annoying after you play a few times, and each play-session last longer.


You can checkout my Rad Skater Trailer here, which gives a quick look at the stuff you unlock as you get higher scores.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saVHxfOOQmQ


I wish I could have improved the load times, as they are a pain. I built the game in Game Salad, and I know it gets a bad wrap sometimes, but I tried really hard to optimise everything as well as I could.

Game Salad was the element that let me leave my job as a Game Designer at Firemint, and start (finally!) making my own games.

Game Salad are soon to release an update which vastly improves load times, by removing their intermediate scripting language (LUA), and making it native code instead. Hopefully it comes soon! Alas, it was not yet ready when I released my game. But I will update the game as soon as they do, and I think the load times will disappear.

In the v1.1 update (should be out in a few days), I've also made the start of the game just a little easier to collect the first round of mix-tapes, so that you quickly unlock the Zombies, and after that, the Synth Blast, and the Invaders, etc, and things really speed up and get a cool flow happening.

You get used to the flow of the game, and each session generally lasts a few minutes, and the load times really don't become such an issue. But they are certainly annoying when you're first playing, and die-ing a bit more often.

Please do give it a go, and persevere for a few goes, and you'll soon have unlocked the Synth Blast and the Invaders, and the whole flow of the game is picked up and much more exciting. I promise!

I have lots of other game ideas on the go... a stealth adventure game, a detective word game, a blaxploitation zombie game. So any support is much appreciated, and I hope to bring more fun games to you all soon!

Murray
http://www.muzboz.com

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Last edited by MUZBOZ; 06-19-2012 at 02:50 AM. Reason: typo

Also, you can download the great original chiptunes soundtrack by Guney Ozsan here!
http://muzboz.bandcamp.com/

You can download it for free, or pay what you want.

I made everything in the game myself, except the music, which my new friend Guney from Turkey made. We came together because we got talking on a game dev forum about how awesome the Amiga was! We're splitting any profits from the soundtrack 50/50, and we hope to work together again on future games. He's actually a very talented orchestral composer, and keyboardist in bands as well.

All the best guys.

You can also check out the Studio Diary here:
http://muzboz.blogspot.com.au/

Murray
http://www.muzboz.com

Version 1.1 is now live on the App Store: It smooths out the intro of the game, so you can get your rad on quicker!

Enjoy! I had a blast making the game, and I've learnt a tonne! I'm starting on a new game to expand on everything I've learnt!

Rad Skater Apocalypse has no In App Purchases, no Freemium rubbish, just a fun old school game, bringing back the goodness of the 80's!

Mobile games have a allowed for a return to the golden age of games, where small teams can make inventive games. This is just the first release and I'm excited to explore many genres, and make better and better games with every release.

Thanks for the support guys.

- Muz