Banzai Dice - little puzzle game $.99

[BanzaiTokyo]

This is our first game and we are very excited and very nervous at the same time to see it go live.

We hope to see some good feedback and comments that will help us improve it in the future versions.

The game is available in AppStore for $.99

[Bondello]

Going to check it out!

[BanzaiTokyo]

Originally Posted by Bondello

Going to check it out!

Thanks! Let me know what you think!

[Tannorexic]

Is it soduku style puzzes?

[Royce]

Saw this pop up in new releases but skipped over it because the only screenshot is of the developer logo. The app description needs gameplay screenshots like the ones in the post above. It actually looks pretty interesting, but I'm waiting on some impressions.

Edit: okay, now I see in the appinfo, the iPhone version has several screenshots. It's only in the iPad AppStore that there is just the logo.

[cableshaft]

Picked it up, left a review on the App Store.

Pretty clever mechanic. Felt like it could use more (any) animation when the player wasn't doing anything, though. Should be pretty subtle, though, so it doesn't distract the eye too much, like maybe a bubble or two goes across the score meter sometimes, or the meter in the lower right could move back and forth slightly.

Also, the choice of Steam Punk is unusual for this title. Personally I'd think a cleaner, more abstract look would be better to target a more casual audience. If I decided to go with a steam punk theme though, I'd try to add a few things to the game itself that fits the steam punk theme, also, and not just have it for visuals. Like maybe a die that shifts numbers each move (due to inner gear work), or a die that folds out and expands into the play field with each of its faces, guaranteeing a combo, or ... something.

[cableshaft]

Originally Posted by Tannorexic

Is it soduku style puzzes?

No, you get one die at a time, like in Pipe Dream, and have to choose which of the 5 columns to push the die up into the playing field. By doing so, you try to make strings or combos of 4-of-a-kind or 4-in-a-sequence (1-2-3-4,2-3-4-5,3-4-5-6, or 1-1-1-1,2-2-2-2,3-3-3-3, etc.)

It doesn't have to be in a line, it can be grouped as a square shape or the S-block shape in Tetris. Also, you can't push a die into a column whose bottom die's number matches it.

Not very hard to pick up, but it can be hard to spot the best way to make combos, which is where the replayability comes in.

There's a puzzle mode, which let's you take as much time as you want to make a movie, and an action mode that's basically a time attack mode and gives you a certain amount of time to make as high a score as you can.

[BanzaiTokyo]

Originally Posted by cableshaft

Picked it up, left a review on the App Store.

Pretty clever mechanic. Felt like it could use more (any) animation when the player wasn't doing anything, though. Should be pretty subtle, though, so it doesn't distract the eye too much, like maybe a bubble or two goes across the score meter sometimes, or the meter in the lower right could move back and forth slightly.

Also, the choice of Steam Punk is unusual for this title. Personally I'd think a cleaner, more abstract look would be better to target a more casual audience. If I decided to go with a steam punk theme though, I'd try to add a few things to the game itself that fits the steam punk theme, also, and not just have it for visuals. Like maybe a die that shifts numbers each move (due to inner gear work), or a die that folds out and expands into the play field with each of its faces, guaranteeing a combo, or ... something.

Thanks for your comments! This is exactly the feedback we were looking for.
There is no other explanation for the choice of style then just "we love steampunk" But we have to agree that some subtle animation would help create the right feel for the game and we will work on this in the next updates.

[BanzaiTokyo]

I have received reports that people get the following error message when trying to download the game: "the item you tried to buy is no longer available"

Did anybody here experience this?

Does anybody know what this message mean? Because I know for a fact that some people are able to purchase the game successfully.

[Royce]

Usually the item no longer available message comes when a game is on the cusp of release, viewable but not yet downloadable. I'm planning to pick this up when I get home a bit later so I'll let you know how it goes.