Universal Get 'Em (by Behdad Sami Interactive)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by TouchArcade Bot, Jun 15, 2016.

  1. anthony78

    anthony78 Well-Known Member

    Nov 13, 2015
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    Why am I not surprised?
     
  2. Leegames

    Leegames Well-Known Member

    Jul 1, 2010
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    Ex. game journalist and EiC now PR
    Denmark
    Gonna buy it then.
    Especially since the dev actually says he would reimburse if people brought it at full price.
    Seems interesting enough to support, even if this comment section was of to a rocky start. :)
     
  3. ramzarules

    ramzarules Well-Known Member

    Sep 13, 2014
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    Greece
    to me it's not so much a matter of price. It was an interesting concept even at the 3.99.

    But having to grind side missions over and over is something i dont agree to. I remember i bought SpiderMan 2 from Gameloft and between the story missions you had to grind sidemission overr and overrr to replenish your health and progress, unless you waited or paid for potions. I got so bored midway chapter 3, i never finished it. And this was freaking SpiderMan which i love!
     
  4. the canopy

    the canopy Member

    Jun 16, 2016
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    don't believe the negativity

    i just dropped by this thread to see what was going on with it. last time i was here, it was a mad house to say the least. glad the moderators cleaned it up!

    @ramz you won't actually need to do side missions over and over. i'm currently on the 7th mission, which i have been stuck at because it's pretty hard, and I only did side missions a few times. They are also not boring. I'm sure kids will think they are really fun because as the missions get tougher, some kids might not be able to beat the main missions, so the side missions are good for them. i think u should try the game, and see how you like it, don't take other people's negative word for it. it's only $1 now so i think it's worth the try

    @leegames, you won't be disappointed! the main missions are awesome. the side missions are ok, i can see why some might get bored, but hey, no game is perfect. don't buy into the negative feedback a few wrote, especially because most of the feedback was from people that didn't buy the game themselves

    @wici, what do u mean it gets stuck? i have the game on 2 devices and it works perfectly fine. and no need to make the price change a laughing matter. i think its cool that the dev came here, saw people were upset, and changed the price, plus is offering reimbursements to people who paid more. at least he cares.

    @derpro, revolution is freaking awesome! i just bought that game too, a couple days ago. haven't gotten far just because of my schedule, but it is superb!
     
  5. leviathon

    leviathon New Member

    Jan 6, 2016
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    Tried it out

    I tried it out at the dollar price point

    1) visuals are good, I like the style and animation of the dogs. Seems to be motion captured? Looks realistic anyway.
    2) I liked the intros with the comic book. Although on the iPad they get a bit pixely when fully zoomed in.
    3) adding voice acting is a nice touch however the acting isn't that great. But, a minor point.

    However I must say that the experience of the first few missions etc could be improved

    1) the tutorial is fine but I could not seem to catch a hot dog no matter how hard a tried. Also there didn't seem to be a reward for digging? I tried a bunch of times to dig but nothing came up. Should I have tried longer? Changing spots means circling around due to the large turn circle so tried little changes in position is a pain? Was I supposed to to find something? Perhaps to make the game seem more natural couldn't the tutorial have been simple missions?
    2) first mission. Chase the van. It told me to cut corners so I thought that you could skip roads if you guessed the van was going to turn. So I skipped one road thinking I could cut them off only to have an invisible wall stop be going past. Anyway I figured I had to keep the van in line of sight but I used up all my sprints (3 or 4 max) then that was over. Didn't seem to be any way of recovering them during the chase and I couldn't see a visual sign that I was out of sprints. Usually sprinting would be fatigue related and if you wait it recovers. That would be most usual.
    3) open world seems cool but I think I'm going to get bored walking everywhere. I assume things speed up as you upgrade your dog. It would be nice to know how far away missions are. The red dot just gives direction, not distance.
    4) i tried a repeatable mission. Chase the graffiti artist. Seems a bit unnatural to start the mission with a glowing circle. Couldn't you growl at them and then they start running, to start the mission? Anyway. Was fun chasing them and I can see how these missions get easier as you upgrade the dog. Although as someone mentioned before, seeing your hard work instantly reset if a bit of a downer.
    5) tried second mission. Couldn't get a single bad guy. Rocks being thrown, didn't seem to be any take down option no matter where I positioned myself. All the dog did was jump. Died. Now I have to wait to do the mission again as health needs to regenerate,

    I will give it another go however first impressions are that the learning curve is way too steep and the barrier before you have to either grind, wait or buy some stuff too quickly. I have no idea if I'm going to get into this game or not, but putting a stop on my fun this quickly is not a good idea. No one wants to grind but we accept that as payment for being able to do new things later on in the game. But I think most games I've played do not force you out of the main missions this early. I would be a better experience if the missions were easier and continued for longer without breaking out into grinding or waiting or buying. You didn't need to use main missions for that. Perhaps there is a limited number of them. Side missions could have been elevated into main missions and brought into the story. Perhaps in order to find the group of rock throwing guys on mission 2, you have to shake down some guy and chase him to get information. This would allow you to practice the skills needed and still feel part of a story flow that engages the player in a story.

    No one likes to feel "what was i suppose to do there" and I've felt that several times now.

    Anyway, I'll give it another shot and see how it goes.
     
  6. BSI

    BSI Member

    Jun 17, 2016
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    #46 BSI, Jun 19, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2016
    Leviathon,

    First, thank you for your purchase and your feedback. Everything you said will be noted, so that I can tweak and make things better for the following update! To answer some of your questions/comments:

    Tutorial: digging will not give you a reward in the tutorial. Catching a hot dog requires you to be close but not too close to the lady. When she throws it, lock on and tap the catch button when the target turns green. You could also keep tapping it while it locks on to guarantee you catch it. The tutorial-mission 2 is supposed to get you familiar with all the controls. Mission 3, and on is where things will start getting a lot harder. The blue bar on the right side of your screen is the turbo visual which shows many you have left, and the green on the left is your health. It mentions it in the tutorial, but I know most people will skip dialogue, or maybe just missed it.

    Van chase: following the van without cutting is your best bet. There are certain cuts you can make which will save your use of turbo, but if you don't know where, then it can work against you.

    Rock throwers clue: in this, you want to avoid the rock throwers and dodge them. You cannot hit them or knock them over. You'll want to work your way towards where all of them are coming from until you make it to a flashing black dot on a building. This will launch the second clue.

    I agree the open world needs something that will get you to areas quicker. If you upgrade your dogs speed and other stats, it definitely makes it a lot faster to get around, but having some sort of "teleporting" to levels or skipping to them is in the works.

    The quick sub-missions do get easier if yo upgrade your dog, but after every 2 wins, they also have their speed increased so if your dog isn't upgraded, it's very difficult to catch them unless you know their path. I know others have said they don't like the short missions, but I also have to keep kids in mind and a lot of kids might only be able to play the sub-missions if they don't know how to beat main missions. It's hard to balance this game because in one end, I could make it extremely difficult and challenging, but then kids wouldn't like it, then on the other end, if things are too easy, adults won't like it. I tried to balance them out by having the first 3 missions be somewhat simple, and have the sub-missions pretty simple, but get harder as you win.

    I'm sorry your first experience isn't as fun as you hoped! I assure you, with true feedback like yours, it will really help evolve this game into something special. This is my first game and everyone has to start somewhere, so your notes are definitely useful. I can assure you that once you get past the mission 2 clues, from there on it will starts getting really fun/different, and challenging (I hope).

    Another thing I can recommend to anyone who doesn't like the joystick, is to switch to tilt mode which you can do in the pause menu by pressing on "joystick".

    Also, all the characters are at base value when starting so if the turning radius isn't too great, bumping up the agility stat will help. For longer turbos, stamina will help, and so on.

    Regardless, thank you for giving the game a try and I really do hope you like it and can try the rest of the levels. To me, the bus station mission is the absolute hardest which is the 7th mission.
     
  7. fabell

    fabell Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2016
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    I've heard of this mysterious negative feedback but it appears to have been ghosted off the thread. While I'm a little disappointed at the use of the Banhammer (users don't appreciate it when their feelings are disregarded, especially if they are customers who purchased the game; they tend to leave forums where their opinions (even negative) aren't held to the same degree of importance as others (namely, positive). If TA is dying (as has been said many times), that's probably the key factor (not negative reviews, as has been postulated).

    I will say that I have not had the same experience as others. For me, the game is a joy. It's an open world game where you play as a dog who can jump, run, and interact with the world, and it's done by a small indie group who really deserves your support. It has that feeling of grand theft auto (3, to be exact) but without the guilt complex, and the pay model is extremely generous as compared to most other games on the market (you can run around the world and earn money for as long as you want), then use that money to build up your skills so that you don't lose so much health when your main story unlocks again.

    I really want to see a sequel with a bigger world (especially with hills/interiors), more dogs to unlock, more customizable pieces for dogs, and a more complex skill system. But that sequel isn't going to happen unless you support these guys. So support them!

    Negative feedback is necessary for better games in the future, but so is your money. Developers aren't doing this kind of thing on the App Store, so unless you want more Flappy Clones, match-3 spin-offs, or yet again another painted puzzle with extractable icons, get off your grumpy horse already.

    If running around a world as a tiny dog tackling thieves who snatch purses, or just racing other dogs around a open-world city perks any interest in you, you ought to take a closer look at this offering.
     
  8. fabell

    fabell Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2016
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    Some suggestions for future releases or games:

    1. More people to interact with in the free roam.

    2. Hidden things to find around the city.

    3. Award exploration of different parts of the city.

    4. Implement different levels in your city (not just one level) within the city itself. Put in secret passageways between alleys, tunnels, and secret side missions to find that are out of the way.

    5. Put an IAP that allows turbo to automatically recharge (like stamina in many open-world games) quickly, as this would be useful in many story missions as well. Or just rename turbo as stamina and automatically allow it to recharge slowly and you can upgrade it so it recharges faster.

    6. Put more visual customizations in the game and use that to finance future projects (instead of the health bar).

    7. Implement a multiplayer racing system where you can async race other dogs from other players in different parts of the city.

    8. If a mission won't allow you to go in a specific direction put a glowing barrier on that street to signify.

    9. Put in secret dogs you can unlock by doing special secret missions, or just dogs you unlock by doing the story, and then award players for upgrading those dogs to max skill by giving special storybits for different dogs.

    10. Put in unlockable tricks/moves different dogs can do and give players incentive to experience the world differently (treat different dogs like classes in an RPG).

    --some stuff off the top of my head

    Good luck and thanks for the game!
     
  9. Jenohart

    Jenohart Well-Known Member

    Oct 29, 2010
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    #49 Jenohart, Jun 19, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2016
    Alright, so after all that drama has passed and the price drop I decided to give the game a try.

    Right off the bat, that joystick is just awful. It's small, too close to the corner and any touches outside the radius don't count. It also makes trying to rotate or turn harder than it needs to be. Tilt mode is not the solution, motion controls are better for running but awkward for any finer movement given you have auto-run. I'd expect it to be like a forward/backward slider instead of this weird auto-walk/run/tap to stop system. You really should let the player customize the controls, let us re-position them on screen and re-size them. The best option would be to have a floating joystick, one that's not visible but appears wherever the player touches on the left side of the screen.

    The first story mission seems challenging, but easier than it looks as you just need to follow the van to the bridge. The second mission isn't too bad, but is poor at communicating what it wants from the player. The tutorial gave us two methods of taking out humans, either dropkicking them out of the way or attacking them from behind. So why then, would the first human enemies you meet be immune to both of these? It also wasn't immediately clear you have to run past them to find the objective. I'm not saying there needed to be an icon on the minimap or anything, but you put the player in an arena full of enemies that the tutorial implied you could beat and that kinda sends the wrong message. Perhaps a persistent objective onscreen or in the pause menu during missions where it would clearly say "Avoid the thugs and search for clues!"

    The use of the "boost" meter is also odd. In any other game it would be a regenerating resource you would strategically use frequently, but here it's a more limited thing that either regenerates extremely slowly or not at all, and I guess you have to visit an in-game shop to recharge it. It just strikes me as odd, making it such a limited mechanic really discourages players from using it and I hope it's not used as a way to push players into wait timers by having missions require boosting. Maybe consider an expensive "premium" IAP that makes health and turbo regenerate at a constant but slow rate, though I know some might balk at the idea of putting that in an already premium game.

    So aside from the controls, everything else seemed okay. Not the most polished game in the world but it's fine at the current price point. Kinda feels like one of those simulator games but actually focused on being a structured game, and that sounds great to me. Third story mission though, that's where I give up.

    All it is is two guys with brooms in an alley and you need to get behind them. You can't go around, invisible walls.

    So first I try crouching and going behind or under the dumpsters, no luck.

    Then I try jumping over the boxes, can't do that.

    See if there's anything I can pick up in first person, doesn't seem so.

    So then I try to get past the humans. They hit you when you get too close, and it plays a canned animation and fails the mission. It looks especially goofy if you jumped over them, as I was fast and agile enough to jump right past the two of them only to be locked into the knockdown animation mid air and fail a few feet away from the map piece.

    But then I notice the odd textures on the ground, they turn out to be dig points! Now I see, and this also raises two problems. First, having the jump button be the context sensitive button wasn't the best choice I feel. This could lead to players being unable to jump at certain times if they're standing too close to something, and it also makes it unclear when you can or can't do something. I spent a while trying to attack the people in mission 2 before I realized the jump button wasn't changing at all when you stand near a person. I recommend having a separate context-sensitive button that is either normally blank or only shows up when a special action can be performed so you can clearly see when an action is available. I know you were trying to do the paw-print control thing but c'mon, there's plenty of space on the right side of the screen. In the same area there's also two other messy ground textures, but these other two aren't dig points so again, sending the wrong messages. Consider having invisible walls and intractable objects have some kind of sparkle or indicator to make them more obvious.

    Second, again, the awful controls. It's actually quite the challenge just to get out of the way before the guy comes to investigate, the joystick is so close to the corner that moving backwards or left is far too difficult. I get the guy to move out of the way and then approach the second guy to trigger dialogue. I then hold down on the joystick to back up and instead my dog jitters a bit and somehow moves forward anyway to get hit. This is actually a serious problem, whatever it is. Why did I move forward when I'm holding down? Either the joystick sensitivity is wrong, it's too close to the bottom of the screen, or both.

    So this mission is just a brick wall at first. And to top it off, after a certain amount of fails it prompts you to skip the mission for a dollar, and that just soured the whole experience. Now I see why some players were put off with the IAP. You have missions this confusing and failure prone, and then also have wait timers and mission skip IAP. I can see that some people might get the impression that the game is forcing players into the wait timers by making the missions like that. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this was unintentional, but you have to understand how this might seem off-putting to your players. IAPs are entirely optional, but it might seem to some people like the game is subtly pushing the player towards them.

    (I did beat it eventually, the second guy gets out of the way when you bark. It's starting to seem like some missions are actually more like trial-and-error puzzles since the tutorial didn't seem to explain all of the buttons, which again makes the IAP and timers seem suss on your first playing)

    Closing points, it's kinda unpolished in ways but I can live with that for a cheap mobile game. I like the idea of a free-roaming dog game, and the voice acting and comic artstyle are commendable. Those controls though, they're awful. Please fix them. Just let me move the joystick out of the corner or something, PLEASE! That, and you might need to work on how you communicate to the player in-game towards where you can and can't go, what you can or can't do when or where, and about the IAPs in general. I don't think you guys did it maliciously, but at times I feel like players might get the wrong impression of what you were trying to do when it comes to the IAPs.
     
  10. BSI

    BSI Member

    Jun 17, 2016
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    Hi Fabell,

    Thank you for all of your notes! I’ll be sure to incorporate as much of them as possible! A lot of the stuff you said are things I already thought of as well, but due to limited budget and timeframe, I couldn’t put everything in there that I wanted. Overall, there is A LOT I have in mind for future updates, so once the game makes decent revnue, that will help keep everything going, and to get better than ever! I’m really glad youre enjoying the game, if you haven’t done so already, please leave a review in the app store for me as well! I would really appreciate it.

    Hi Jenohart,

    Thank you for trying the game out! Overall, from the tutorial-all of the mission 2 clues, it’s supposed to be a more challenging a tutorial for the users to get adjusted to the controls and gameplay. I’m sure you noticed after the broom missions, the rest of the clues were not challenging at all. There is a constant battle I have to fight in keeping the difficulty balanced, which is really tough to do because some people can ease through these and some people really have a hard time. As far everything you mentioned, I would definitely take notes of everything (as I do with all real reviews like yours), and make the right adjustments. Giving the user the options to adjust control is great idea. Maybe for now, as a quick an easy fix, I could move the joystick over a little bit. The intent behind the IAP are 100% not meant to be malicious. I really thought hard about every IAP and wanted to offer something fair for all potential buyers. The game is definitely meant to test your skills and gut instincts. It’s not like other video game. I really tried to go inside the head of a dog with their “live-by-the-moment” attitudes and their natural seeking/figuring stuff out tendencies. I knew it would be annoying when users couldn’t figure out how to get past the broom guys, but if you put yourself in a dog’s mind, they wouldn’t know without trial an error, and that’s the overall concept of the game. As far as the rock throwing clues, I changed one of the dialogue bubbles, which now says to “dodge/avoid” all crooks. Overall, all your notes are great, and it will continue to make this game better, so thank you for writing your honest review! I hope you can continue to keep playing because after mission 3, the levels will start getting cooler and harder! Also, please leave a review in the App Store if you haven't! Thank you again for your support!

    Lastly, because I felt really bad for all users such as TA user Guzzla and other users who felt I cheated them out of being able to play early on and had to wait, in next week’s update (going live Tuesday, waiting on Apple review approval), I’m giving all new/current users 12,500 free bones (points). For new users, it will be the first thing they can uncover when the world loads, for current users, if you run back to the mission 1 (van chase) trigger ring, there will be a glowing ring across the street. When you dig it up, you’ll get 12,500 points. I wanted to make sure that everyone had at least up to 6 full turbo or life recharges upon initial play so that they can keep playing and not wait.
     
  11. Estrica

    Estrica Well-Known Member

    Oct 16, 2012
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    #51 Estrica, Jun 19, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2016
    The first mission was fine, the second I had troubles for a few times, as I barely noticed where I needed to go. That one has no arrows pointing and there is a part, where you don't really see the people to follow on.
    As for the third one, the digging was easy, but I just couldn't figure out the barking. There was no indication about the possibility to scare away people with it. Until I read it here barking is the way, I just tried to jump over the container, as that is possible in the world map, but seems not in the mission.
    The fourth at the moment seems impossoble. Barely see where the next checkpoint is, even with the arrow pointing. I have my speed and agility maxed out and the other dog is still faster and knows where to go.

    I agree that it would be nice to see turbo and health replenish over time. Also would be good to show how many you have by showing it in segments instead of a continuous line perhaps.

    The art is super nice, really like the cartoony style and the movements of the dogs. It's great to finally have a game like this one, where you can roam around with a dog.

    So very clever idea, though it is a bit rough as is right now. Controls needs a bit of fixing and it could use some more instructions to avoid fustration (or maybe give hints after multiple failures). Would be great to have some additional side quests as well.

    Keep up the good work!
     
  12. sweiss

    sweiss Member

    Jun 17, 2012
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    How about some free upgrades for those that paid full price
     
  13. BSI

    BSI Member

    Jun 17, 2016
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    Hi sweiss,

    For the people that paid full price ($3.99 USD) I'm offering a $3 reimbursement. Please email [email protected] with your information and a copy of the receipt Apple sent you.

    Your options for reimbursement are:
    -$3 sent through PayPal
    -$3 sent through iTunes App Store gift
    -$3 check sent to physical address
     
  14. Dankrio

    Dankrio Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Jun 3, 2014
    1,740
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    I'd like to compliment on reimbursement.
     
  15. scifistephen

    scifistephen Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    May 4, 2013
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    #55 scifistephen, Jun 20, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2016
    I'm not one for censorship,they took off a response I put on that wasn't rude,accusing or even attacking the game at all,I just agreed with another responder that said he's spending less money on iOS games because their 90% f2p games and less premium. I love touch arcade and I'm a touch arcade patreon supporter but ive gone back to my game consoles lately
     
  16. matscotty

    matscotty Active Member

    May 14, 2011
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    Graphic Quality Settings?

    Hi All,

    Just purchased the game.

    The graphic quality settings only show "medium" or "low".

    I am running on a brand new iPhone SE A9.

    Is it possible to get high? Not sure why it would limit the ability on a new model phone.
     
  17. BSI

    BSI Member

    Jun 17, 2016
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    Hi matscotty,

    This was due to the game engine we used.

    This will be fixed immediately so that the SE can run very high. The update with the SE quality settings fix should be available soon. There is an update that will release Tuesday, this won't have the SE QS fix, so it will be the one after.
     
  18. Greyskull

    Greyskull Well-Known Member

    Dec 13, 2009
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    Photographer/Social Sciences adjunct/sweet sweet l
    Fort Lauderdale
    I hope the attitude you have chosen to take with paying customers is as clumsy as it is because of your age (judging from the photo).

    I was about to purchase this game. I've changed my mind. Not a wise move for a developer to make.
     
  19. Scottlarsen

    Scottlarsen Well-Known Member

    Nov 25, 2009
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    I'll second this sentiment. That response makes zero economic sense. In a market with SO much competition, I can not understand why a developer would essentially dare their potential customers to NOT purchase their products. I hope other developers take note as this is an important point. This is not how you further the reach of your product in a market that is CLEARLY over supplied.
     
  20. Caldrath

    Caldrath Member

    Aug 19, 2013
    7
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    Germany
    Can someone with a better memory than me please explain the different stats? I rushed a little bit too fast through the tutorial, and forgot half of the explanations for the attributes.

    I would actually prefer it if there was a way to look them up ingame past the tutorial. Or is there one, and I just can't find it? :/
     

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