16
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: List Of Apple Featured Mobile Games
« on: December 29, 2017, 02:43:31 am »
Spotted a typo in the listings: Corporate Salmon, not Corporate Salman!
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17
Ask a Question / Re: Issue with android export: Can't find Symbol Error
« on: December 01, 2017, 02:51:18 am »
That did the trick! Thanks!
18
Ask a Question / Re: Issue with android export: Can't find Symbol Error
« on: December 01, 2017, 01:51:26 am »It's a problem with screencapture of byrobinCode: [Select]2017-11-30 17:40:28,258 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] Compiling 4 source files to C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\bin\classes
2017-11-30 17:40:28,271 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] warning: [options] source value 1.5 is obsolete and will be removed in a future release
2017-11-30 17:40:28,272 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] warning: [options] target value 1.5 is obsolete and will be removed in a future release
2017-11-30 17:40:28,272 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] warning: [options] To suppress warnings about obsolete options, use -Xlint:-options.
2017-11-30 17:40:28,315 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:15: error: package android.hardware.display does not exist
2017-11-30 17:40:28,316 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] import android.hardware.display.DisplayManager;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,316 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,316 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:16: error: package android.hardware.display does not exist
2017-11-30 17:40:28,317 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] import android.hardware.display.VirtualDisplay;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,317 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,322 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:18: error: package android.media.projection does not exist
2017-11-30 17:40:28,322 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] import android.media.projection.MediaProjection;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,323 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,323 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:19: error: package android.media.projection does not exist
2017-11-30 17:40:28,323 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] import android.media.projection.MediaProjectionManager;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,324 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,366 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:61: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,366 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] private MediaProjection mMediaProjection;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,367 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,368 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: class MediaProjection
2017-11-30 17:40:28,368 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: class ScreenCaptureEX
2017-11-30 17:40:28,368 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:62: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,369 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] private VirtualDisplay mVirtualDisplay;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,369 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,370 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: class VirtualDisplay
2017-11-30 17:40:28,370 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: class ScreenCaptureEX
2017-11-30 17:40:28,370 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:63: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,371 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] private MediaProjectionManager mMediaProjectionManager;
2017-11-30 17:40:28,371 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,371 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: class MediaProjectionManager
2017-11-30 17:40:28,372 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: class ScreenCaptureEX
2017-11-30 17:40:28,413 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:112: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,414 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] _self.mMediaProjectionManager = (MediaProjectionManager)
2017-11-30 17:40:28,414 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,415 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: class MediaProjectionManager
2017-11-30 17:40:28,415 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:113: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,416 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] Extension.mainActivity.getSystemService(Extension.mainContext.MEDIA_PROJECTION_SERVICE);
2017-11-30 17:40:28,416 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,416 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: variable MEDIA_PROJECTION_SERVICE
2017-11-30 17:40:28,417 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: variable mainContext of type Context
2017-11-30 17:40:28,423 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:209: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,424 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] DisplayManager.VIRTUAL_DISPLAY_FLAG_AUTO_MIRROR,
2017-11-30 17:40:28,424 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,425 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: variable DisplayManager
2017-11-30 17:40:28,425 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: class ScreenCaptureEX
2017-11-30 17:40:28,425 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:210: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,426 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] mMediaRecorder.getSurface(), null /*Callbacks*/, null
2017-11-30 17:40:28,426 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,426 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: method getSurface()
2017-11-30 17:40:28,427 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: variable mMediaRecorder of type MediaRecorder
2017-11-30 17:40:28,434 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] C:\Users\Katy\stencylworks\games-generated\Corporate Salmon Finale 18\Export\android\bin\deps\screencapture\src\com\byrobin\screencapture\ScreenCaptureEX.java:278: error: cannot find symbol
2017-11-30 17:40:28,435 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] mMediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.SURFACE);
2017-11-30 17:40:28,435 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] ^
2017-11-30 17:40:28,435 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] symbol: variable SURFACE
2017-11-30 17:40:28,436 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] location: class MediaRecorder.VideoSource
2017-11-30 17:40:28,480 INFO [Thread-48] stencyl.sw.util.StreamGobbler: [haxelib.exe] [javac] 12 errors
Would screen capture be in reference to ReplayKit? I'll try gutting the code for it and let you know.
19
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: November 30, 2017, 09:53:51 am »
Hey Folks, I've just posted up an issue I'm having with testing Corporate Salmon on Android - Let me know if you can help in any way!
http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,55122.0.html
http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,55122.0.html
20
Ask a Question / Issue with android export: Can't find Symbol Error (SOLVED)
« on: November 30, 2017, 09:51:18 am »
Hey Folks,
Currently in the process of porting Corporate Salmon to Android. I managed to successfully get another game working on my Android device, but upon trying the same with Corporate Salmon, it's throwing a bunch of errors.
I've attached the logs, I'm honestly drawing a blank on this one, only thing I could find on the forums was the suggestion of cleaning the project.
Let me know if you can help or you need any extra information!
Thanks!
Currently in the process of porting Corporate Salmon to Android. I managed to successfully get another game working on my Android device, but upon trying the same with Corporate Salmon, it's throwing a bunch of errors.
I've attached the logs, I'm honestly drawing a blank on this one, only thing I could find on the forums was the suggestion of cleaning the project.
Let me know if you can help or you need any extra information!
Thanks!
21
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: November 30, 2017, 06:59:16 am »
Thanks everyone for the support! I can confirm those numbers are incorrect regarding Think Gaming's algorithms on revenue, the installs might be an average because they don't match what I have. Whilst I'm not willing to disclose the amount the game has made, it's had 250k installations and has made enough for me to continue working in app development.
Regarding an Android release, I'm currently working on setting up Android exporting today (My Mac is basically dead so this is a good excuse to get the android build done on my windows machine), so expect some announcements about that in the near future!
For anyone on here who hasn't found it yet, here's a link to the game:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/corporate-salmon/id1235847306?mt=8
Regarding an Android release, I'm currently working on setting up Android exporting today (My Mac is basically dead so this is a good excuse to get the android build done on my windows machine), so expect some announcements about that in the near future!
For anyone on here who hasn't found it yet, here's a link to the game:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/corporate-salmon/id1235847306?mt=8
22
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: List Of Apple Featured Mobile Games
« on: November 22, 2017, 01:54:12 pm »
Corporate Salmon has had a US and Chinese feature for the last week! The game got an art promo request but as of yet hasn't had the graphics used for banners as far as I know yet. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/corporate-salmon/id1235847306?mt=8
23
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: October 03, 2017, 11:16:33 am »
Hey Folks!
I can deliver the good news that Corporate Salmon has been submitted to Apple, just waiting now on the all-clear from them and I can announce the release date!
The main stuff I've done over the last two days has been as I listed before, sorting out the promotional material for both sets of platforms (Tablet and Phone). Here's what I settled for with the screenshots:
From here, it's doing the rounds with the press, addressing any issues with the build and maybe building an arcade cabinet/costume! We will see.
I'll keep you in the loop with how things go here, once again I'll be doing a post-mortem of development at some point soon, so stay tuned for that!
I can deliver the good news that Corporate Salmon has been submitted to Apple, just waiting now on the all-clear from them and I can announce the release date!
The main stuff I've done over the last two days has been as I listed before, sorting out the promotional material for both sets of platforms (Tablet and Phone). Here's what I settled for with the screenshots:
From here, it's doing the rounds with the press, addressing any issues with the build and maybe building an arcade cabinet/costume! We will see.
I'll keep you in the loop with how things go here, once again I'll be doing a post-mortem of development at some point soon, so stay tuned for that!
24
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: October 01, 2017, 11:32:51 am »
Hey Folks!
So, great news! The game build of Corporate Salmon is done and uploaded to Apple's services, leaving just a handful of things left to do!
1. Produce trailers/app previews
2. Preview screenshots (With accompanying captions)
3. Remaining paperwork (Keywords, rating, promotional text etc)
4. Submit final game to Apple!
5. Prepare promotional material for Apple/Press
This should all be submitted with any luck tomorrow, already done half of it today and have the groundwork down for the core trailer for Corporate Salmon.
Main thing will be whether there's any issues with the build I submit, but at that point it's out of my hands!
For anyone interested, here's some of the last minute improvements/refinements I made to the game:
1. Reward ads - Fully integrated ad system with a dynamic reward, meaning I can change it outside of the app if people don't seem to be going for it!
2. Replaced the leaderboards with credits window - I'll be adding the leaderboards back in later, but for now they're replaced with a diddy credits window that lists the developers. Might in a later patch include links to respective social networks but unsure yet.
3. Altered speed of shop scroll, replaced padlock on button with how many more coins you need and a red tint to price (To indicate not enough money currently).
4. Edited the ending so the player has to see the salmon move on screen before skipping (Players complained about the ending being anticlimactic but what was happening was they were skipping).
5. Refined the enemy spawn to make more salmon spawn from the top than from the back
6. Fixed issues with the tutorial that caused the salmon to drift off the screen in zero G
7. Fully implemented new ad systems with backups in place in case one fails
8. Altered gameplay looping to reduce risk of music cutting out
9. Upon beating the game, have naked salmon unlocked and level select toggled (So the player understands what they've unlocked)
10. General nit picking and tweaks - Plenty of those!
Stay tuned for more tomorrow, once I've finished the project up I'll be doing a postmortem of the project up till this point. My intention with the project will be to continue supporting the game once it's released (Unless it absolutely tanks for one reason or another) with plans for extra game modes. Now that I'll have time, I might even look at doing a live action trailer before the game launches, but we'll see!
So, great news! The game build of Corporate Salmon is done and uploaded to Apple's services, leaving just a handful of things left to do!
1. Produce trailers/app previews
2. Preview screenshots (With accompanying captions)
3. Remaining paperwork (Keywords, rating, promotional text etc)
4. Submit final game to Apple!
5. Prepare promotional material for Apple/Press
This should all be submitted with any luck tomorrow, already done half of it today and have the groundwork down for the core trailer for Corporate Salmon.
Main thing will be whether there's any issues with the build I submit, but at that point it's out of my hands!
For anyone interested, here's some of the last minute improvements/refinements I made to the game:
1. Reward ads - Fully integrated ad system with a dynamic reward, meaning I can change it outside of the app if people don't seem to be going for it!
2. Replaced the leaderboards with credits window - I'll be adding the leaderboards back in later, but for now they're replaced with a diddy credits window that lists the developers. Might in a later patch include links to respective social networks but unsure yet.
3. Altered speed of shop scroll, replaced padlock on button with how many more coins you need and a red tint to price (To indicate not enough money currently).
4. Edited the ending so the player has to see the salmon move on screen before skipping (Players complained about the ending being anticlimactic but what was happening was they were skipping).
5. Refined the enemy spawn to make more salmon spawn from the top than from the back
6. Fixed issues with the tutorial that caused the salmon to drift off the screen in zero G
7. Fully implemented new ad systems with backups in place in case one fails
8. Altered gameplay looping to reduce risk of music cutting out
9. Upon beating the game, have naked salmon unlocked and level select toggled (So the player understands what they've unlocked)
10. General nit picking and tweaks - Plenty of those!
Stay tuned for more tomorrow, once I've finished the project up I'll be doing a postmortem of the project up till this point. My intention with the project will be to continue supporting the game once it's released (Unless it absolutely tanks for one reason or another) with plans for extra game modes. Now that I'll have time, I might even look at doing a live action trailer before the game launches, but we'll see!
25
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: September 21, 2017, 02:11:00 am »
Hey folks,
Here's an update of where I'm at:
1. Music fully integrated: At this point, all of the music/audio for the game has been fully implemented, making for a much more immersive fish sim *Cough*
2. Adjusted profit/loss line to cover more off screen space - Initially if you fell off the left side of the screen, you wouldn't be able to jump on the green lines (Even if you were the same Y position), so I've extended them to accommodate. This in turn broke some systems fixing, so was fun to troubleshoot/amend.
3. Transitional overworld map: One of the big pieces of feedback from folks playing the game was a feeling of a lack of progress, so in-between promotions I've created a short cutscene which shows the view of the skyscraper the business is hosted in, showing the pink icon of the player progressing upwards. Here's what that looks like:
This should hopefully create more of a sense of progress throughout the game and also link in nicely to the ending.
4. Implemented flow mechanics: To add some more challenge to the game, I've implemented flow that adjusts the difficulty to the player skill. This one is a bit of a gamble as it's very close to the deadline with little testing time, so may scale back it's effects.
5. Fish power levels: This has been implemented on a subtle level, but I will be looking at adding some more overt indicators of progress (A bar to show the power level of certain fish). The increased power basically consists of a higher jumping.
6. Removed coat hangers from shop and in the level select added a scroll function to make it clear what function you need to do to move the camera (compared to the arrows that were there before that didn't work!)
TO DO LIST:
Primary to do:
1. Back up game
2. Adjust music to correct starting point (boss/gameplay)
3. Implement robin’s toolkit ext
4. Implement reward ad functionality
5. Adjust interstitial ad rate/mix in ad providers
6. Final optimisations
7. Final tests
8. Submit
Secondary to do:
- Implement more ads (Testers reported only seeing 2 ads having completed the entire game)
- If a player cleanly beats a level without any deaths, set the ad tally to show an ad next time they die
- Padlocks on suits and buttons mean different things - find better symbols. Adjust the font to indicate it's unaffordable (Red)
- Gameplay music needs to start from the top when you transition over into play
- Boss music comes too early
- Have a “3 more levels till the top” notification
- Naked salmon is unlocked by default - Make sure this issue is fixed
- Look into upper/lower limit restrictions (Camera should come back down upon going to crazy high altitude)
- Disable review notification once you've written a review.
- Tweak bear mouth to roar when sound effect plays.
Stay tuned for more soon, I'm aiming to have the Apple build submitted by latest Friday but preferably today. That would make the development time for this project approximately 6 months, a significantly quicker turnaround than the 5 years it took to complete Narcissus.
One of the neat things about developing the game is a lot of complex systems have been designed, such as shop functionality, upgrade levels, notifications, interface design that I'll likely be filleting (Ha) out for my next project. This could technically make the turnaround of projects even faster if I don't have to create these systems repeatedly.
I'll likely do a full breakdown summary of the project in comparison, what I've learnt and how I'll change my workflow for the next project I do, but for now I've got a game to finish!
Here's an update of where I'm at:
1. Music fully integrated: At this point, all of the music/audio for the game has been fully implemented, making for a much more immersive fish sim *Cough*
2. Adjusted profit/loss line to cover more off screen space - Initially if you fell off the left side of the screen, you wouldn't be able to jump on the green lines (Even if you were the same Y position), so I've extended them to accommodate. This in turn broke some systems fixing, so was fun to troubleshoot/amend.
3. Transitional overworld map: One of the big pieces of feedback from folks playing the game was a feeling of a lack of progress, so in-between promotions I've created a short cutscene which shows the view of the skyscraper the business is hosted in, showing the pink icon of the player progressing upwards. Here's what that looks like:
This should hopefully create more of a sense of progress throughout the game and also link in nicely to the ending.
4. Implemented flow mechanics: To add some more challenge to the game, I've implemented flow that adjusts the difficulty to the player skill. This one is a bit of a gamble as it's very close to the deadline with little testing time, so may scale back it's effects.
5. Fish power levels: This has been implemented on a subtle level, but I will be looking at adding some more overt indicators of progress (A bar to show the power level of certain fish). The increased power basically consists of a higher jumping.
6. Removed coat hangers from shop and in the level select added a scroll function to make it clear what function you need to do to move the camera (compared to the arrows that were there before that didn't work!)
TO DO LIST:
Primary to do:
1. Back up game
2. Adjust music to correct starting point (boss/gameplay)
3. Implement robin’s toolkit ext
4. Implement reward ad functionality
5. Adjust interstitial ad rate/mix in ad providers
6. Final optimisations
7. Final tests
8. Submit
Secondary to do:
- Implement more ads (Testers reported only seeing 2 ads having completed the entire game)
- If a player cleanly beats a level without any deaths, set the ad tally to show an ad next time they die
- Padlocks on suits and buttons mean different things - find better symbols. Adjust the font to indicate it's unaffordable (Red)
- Gameplay music needs to start from the top when you transition over into play
- Boss music comes too early
- Have a “3 more levels till the top” notification
- Naked salmon is unlocked by default - Make sure this issue is fixed
- Look into upper/lower limit restrictions (Camera should come back down upon going to crazy high altitude)
- Disable review notification once you've written a review.
- Tweak bear mouth to roar when sound effect plays.
Stay tuned for more soon, I'm aiming to have the Apple build submitted by latest Friday but preferably today. That would make the development time for this project approximately 6 months, a significantly quicker turnaround than the 5 years it took to complete Narcissus.
One of the neat things about developing the game is a lot of complex systems have been designed, such as shop functionality, upgrade levels, notifications, interface design that I'll likely be filleting (Ha) out for my next project. This could technically make the turnaround of projects even faster if I don't have to create these systems repeatedly.
I'll likely do a full breakdown summary of the project in comparison, what I've learnt and how I'll change my workflow for the next project I do, but for now I've got a game to finish!
26
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: September 14, 2017, 03:13:51 am »
Hey Folks!
Here comes a big update!
Work on Corporate Salmon is coming to a head this week, aiming to have the majority of the work for the app functionality done in the next 48 hours! I'm going to try and keep this reasonably concise since I've got limited time on my hands at this point!
Here's some of the stuff I've been up to since I last posted:
- New music implemented: Corporate Salmon now has some snazzy new audio, including for the finale of the project now! I also rebuilt the volume systems for the tracks, so as you enter a level, an ID will check what audio should be playing and will alter the channel levels accordingly.
Check out this Twitter video of the tutorial to hear the current gameplay music!
- Tutorial remastered: After doing some testing with users, I found that a lot of people were struggling to get to grips with several elements of the game via the tutorial. Here are some of the things I did to improve the tutorial:
1. Removed the on screen text only for instructions and made a windowed panel to display instructions, accompanied by images of the various objects and enemies.
2. Reduced the thickness of the tutorial arrow lines and softened the colour to something still noticeable but less garish than before.
3. Moved the tutorial window to the bottom of the screen instead of the top to avoid blocking the descending objects and the player.
4. Spaced the stages out further to compensate for my own skill bias.
- Power up interface overhauled: This has been bugging me for a while, but upon seeing players interacting with the game, very few noticed the power up or on that note used the swipe function to activate the powerup. From this, I made the following changes:
1. Ditched the swipe function and returned to a button push: From the few people I saw using it, many ended up immediately dying after from taking their focus away from tapping to jump. The easiest way to rectify this was have a button instead that appears when available then disappears shortly after.
2. Moved the power up UI to the bottom left hand corner of the screen to be more visible to the player and easier to reach mid game.
3. Added a circular back layer to make it a physical button rather than just a UI.
4. Created some really tasty particle sequences to indicate that the power up is available - Most of this involved inputting angles that slowly change their properties over time, creating a variety of tasty displays! Check out the collection of tests below:
- Daily reward function: This was a fun bit of the project to build! Like with many games and apps, I've built a wheel of fortune to welcome returning players who open the game on a daily basis. The player receives various amounts of money or a power up as a prize. Originally I was planning to add grander power ups such as gold coins replacing regular ones for 24 hours but I decided against that as it could have unbalanced the game or led to exploits. Check out the final set up below:
- Remastered introduction graphics: This was done for a couple of reasons, one being having all these delicious graphics by Katy that were only getting used in the banners/promotional stuff (And my own artwork having wobbly ass lines/edges). Instead of using the escalator which isn't overly stimulating as an introduction for the game, I opted for the Salmon falling back onto a bed of money, similar to the layout on the loading screen. This still needs a tweak or two, but in general, I'm very happy with the outcome, particularly the distortion of the money as the salmon lands on it.
Here's what I've got to do from here on out:
1. Hide part 1 of the tutorial that overlaps with the first tutorial panel
2. Implement remaining music
3. Fade/shrink wheel whilst the game is transitioning out (As it currently glitches during the transition)
4. Look into having a mininum distance the player has to go before you lose a power up upon dying (E.g. If you immediately mess up on the first step and die after getting the daily reward that's going to upset the player).
5. Update coin collection noises as I recently noticed the bulk of them are identical and it gets a bit grating with the number you collect in later levels.
6. Fix bug at end of game where you can click go to next level before it realises you're meant to go to the CEO office instead.
7. Settings menu had some weird alignment issues with the shop specifically, not sure what the cause of the bug is yet.
8. Music needs to stop during adverts (Stopped working because of the amendments listed at the top of the update!)
9. Finalise the credits, which includes updating the text colour to make it more legible and add all the names who have contributed to the project.
10. Reward ad notification - Look into adding a pop up window when you press on the watch ad for 50 coins to make sure people don't accidentally tap it and get annoyed.
11. Issue with the ad removal notification that sends the player back to the menu rather than into the next game upon pressing yes or no.
12. Update graphics for main menu to Katy's visuals
13. Implement reward ad network and the appropriate logic (E.g. If this ad fails to load)
14. Final pass of optimisation
15. Release remaining Testflight build, gather last minute feedback
16. Make any remaining amendments to the game and submit to Apple.
SLEEP
Stay tuned for more soon!
Here comes a big update!
Work on Corporate Salmon is coming to a head this week, aiming to have the majority of the work for the app functionality done in the next 48 hours! I'm going to try and keep this reasonably concise since I've got limited time on my hands at this point!
Here's some of the stuff I've been up to since I last posted:
- New music implemented: Corporate Salmon now has some snazzy new audio, including for the finale of the project now! I also rebuilt the volume systems for the tracks, so as you enter a level, an ID will check what audio should be playing and will alter the channel levels accordingly.
Check out this Twitter video of the tutorial to hear the current gameplay music!
- Tutorial remastered: After doing some testing with users, I found that a lot of people were struggling to get to grips with several elements of the game via the tutorial. Here are some of the things I did to improve the tutorial:
1. Removed the on screen text only for instructions and made a windowed panel to display instructions, accompanied by images of the various objects and enemies.
2. Reduced the thickness of the tutorial arrow lines and softened the colour to something still noticeable but less garish than before.
3. Moved the tutorial window to the bottom of the screen instead of the top to avoid blocking the descending objects and the player.
4. Spaced the stages out further to compensate for my own skill bias.
- Power up interface overhauled: This has been bugging me for a while, but upon seeing players interacting with the game, very few noticed the power up or on that note used the swipe function to activate the powerup. From this, I made the following changes:
1. Ditched the swipe function and returned to a button push: From the few people I saw using it, many ended up immediately dying after from taking their focus away from tapping to jump. The easiest way to rectify this was have a button instead that appears when available then disappears shortly after.
2. Moved the power up UI to the bottom left hand corner of the screen to be more visible to the player and easier to reach mid game.
3. Added a circular back layer to make it a physical button rather than just a UI.
4. Created some really tasty particle sequences to indicate that the power up is available - Most of this involved inputting angles that slowly change their properties over time, creating a variety of tasty displays! Check out the collection of tests below:
- Daily reward function: This was a fun bit of the project to build! Like with many games and apps, I've built a wheel of fortune to welcome returning players who open the game on a daily basis. The player receives various amounts of money or a power up as a prize. Originally I was planning to add grander power ups such as gold coins replacing regular ones for 24 hours but I decided against that as it could have unbalanced the game or led to exploits. Check out the final set up below:
- Remastered introduction graphics: This was done for a couple of reasons, one being having all these delicious graphics by Katy that were only getting used in the banners/promotional stuff (And my own artwork having wobbly ass lines/edges). Instead of using the escalator which isn't overly stimulating as an introduction for the game, I opted for the Salmon falling back onto a bed of money, similar to the layout on the loading screen. This still needs a tweak or two, but in general, I'm very happy with the outcome, particularly the distortion of the money as the salmon lands on it.
Here's what I've got to do from here on out:
1. Hide part 1 of the tutorial that overlaps with the first tutorial panel
2. Implement remaining music
3. Fade/shrink wheel whilst the game is transitioning out (As it currently glitches during the transition)
4. Look into having a mininum distance the player has to go before you lose a power up upon dying (E.g. If you immediately mess up on the first step and die after getting the daily reward that's going to upset the player).
5. Update coin collection noises as I recently noticed the bulk of them are identical and it gets a bit grating with the number you collect in later levels.
6. Fix bug at end of game where you can click go to next level before it realises you're meant to go to the CEO office instead.
7. Settings menu had some weird alignment issues with the shop specifically, not sure what the cause of the bug is yet.
8. Music needs to stop during adverts (Stopped working because of the amendments listed at the top of the update!)
9. Finalise the credits, which includes updating the text colour to make it more legible and add all the names who have contributed to the project.
10. Reward ad notification - Look into adding a pop up window when you press on the watch ad for 50 coins to make sure people don't accidentally tap it and get annoyed.
11. Issue with the ad removal notification that sends the player back to the menu rather than into the next game upon pressing yes or no.
12. Update graphics for main menu to Katy's visuals
13. Implement reward ad network and the appropriate logic (E.g. If this ad fails to load)
14. Final pass of optimisation
15. Release remaining Testflight build, gather last minute feedback
16. Make any remaining amendments to the game and submit to Apple.
SLEEP
Stay tuned for more soon!
27
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: September 07, 2017, 10:24:15 am »
Hey Folks!
Got a quick update!
A lot of work at this point is just doing loads of nitty gritty bits. Here's my current to do list:
IMPROVEMENT NOTES:
1. Tap looks like top - Stagger spawns. DONE
2. Make powerup clearer in what it does - UI needs final pass.
3. Title needs revamp - At the least needs cleaner lines. DONEISH?
4. Modify the stats displayed to more relevant stuff.
5. Add highlight arrow before green profit line on screen
6. Try different colour variations/thickness of line.
7. Particle shoot when suit bought?
8. Notification after 4 plays to pay to disable ads.
9. Look at modifying the extremeness of slow-mo for powerup. DONE
10. Have a cap for number of deaths before tutorial advances.
11. Have rate app as a seperate notification?
12. Add bear poking his head over desk sniffing the player.
13. Check out whether suits wants to be equipped/bought before starting game.
14. Pin down what you want to use the leaderboards for.
15. Maybe revise the floor select screen.
16. Paused button text doesn't launch the player properly.
17. Maybe bigger exclamation mark on shop notifications?
18. Update Button font to match padlock? NAH
19. Make BG suits move or get rid of them. DONE
20. Disable the ability to keep swiping and updating the timer/make powerup noise DONE
21. Update icon for game WIP
22. Change display in lift icon DONE
23. Add fade to bottom of flag pole best distance. DONE
24. Experiment with location on UI game over spawn.
25. Build suit reward ad coin bonus
26. Research into bonus for buying suits (Every suit bought gives you a powerup/bonus:
- Power up to start level with
- Coin of type (GOLD/SILVER/BRONZE)
- Some kind of jackpot?
- Ad free for 10 minutes?
- No competition? (Seems like a cop out)
- Trick or treat theme?
- Swipe to spin?
27. Bear given googly eyes? NAH
28. Memory Drops in store - Look into it. DONE
29. Confetti on victory level? HMMM
30. Try and address weird roll of the bear at the start of the boss fight
31. Look into adding gaps in the floor of the boss level for extra challenge?
32. Revamp Portrait of Bear again DONE
33. Make the suit falling to the ocean floor fall in seperate bits (Looks too much like a dead body). DONE
34. Unlocked notification for beating game (Suit unlocked, level select now available)
35. Add a loading screen DONE
36. Background refinement/experimenting with reducing file size DONE
There's a bunch of other stuff I'm currently involved in, for example deciding on the icon for the app. Here's the selection I've got to work from!
Let me know which one is your favourite and comment below!
Some other cool stuff I've added in:
Added a conveyor belt to the boss level to make it a bit harder to complete! Might even add some obstacles. Also re-did the design of the bear to more match the portrait I updated.
Updated the slomotion power up - Before the bullet time went a lot slower, so you had less time to cover ground and have a bit more control of the fish during that time period! Also looks cool as hell with all the objects standing still.
Notifications menu - For various parts of the game, I've designed a menu that pops in with a binary choice to make based on stuff in game, such as exiting the shop without buying/choosing the suit you've got selected, or asking you to review the game. How and where I implement these is yet to be decided.
Stay tuned for more soon, it's going to be a reasonably quiet weekend for work but I'll still post up the odd thing or two!
Got a quick update!
A lot of work at this point is just doing loads of nitty gritty bits. Here's my current to do list:
IMPROVEMENT NOTES:
1. Tap looks like top - Stagger spawns. DONE
2. Make powerup clearer in what it does - UI needs final pass.
3. Title needs revamp - At the least needs cleaner lines. DONEISH?
4. Modify the stats displayed to more relevant stuff.
5. Add highlight arrow before green profit line on screen
6. Try different colour variations/thickness of line.
7. Particle shoot when suit bought?
8. Notification after 4 plays to pay to disable ads.
9. Look at modifying the extremeness of slow-mo for powerup. DONE
10. Have a cap for number of deaths before tutorial advances.
11. Have rate app as a seperate notification?
12. Add bear poking his head over desk sniffing the player.
13. Check out whether suits wants to be equipped/bought before starting game.
14. Pin down what you want to use the leaderboards for.
15. Maybe revise the floor select screen.
16. Paused button text doesn't launch the player properly.
17. Maybe bigger exclamation mark on shop notifications?
18. Update Button font to match padlock? NAH
19. Make BG suits move or get rid of them. DONE
20. Disable the ability to keep swiping and updating the timer/make powerup noise DONE
21. Update icon for game WIP
22. Change display in lift icon DONE
23. Add fade to bottom of flag pole best distance. DONE
24. Experiment with location on UI game over spawn.
25. Build suit reward ad coin bonus
26. Research into bonus for buying suits (Every suit bought gives you a powerup/bonus:
- Power up to start level with
- Coin of type (GOLD/SILVER/BRONZE)
- Some kind of jackpot?
- Ad free for 10 minutes?
- No competition? (Seems like a cop out)
- Trick or treat theme?
- Swipe to spin?
27. Bear given googly eyes? NAH
28. Memory Drops in store - Look into it. DONE
29. Confetti on victory level? HMMM
30. Try and address weird roll of the bear at the start of the boss fight
31. Look into adding gaps in the floor of the boss level for extra challenge?
32. Revamp Portrait of Bear again DONE
33. Make the suit falling to the ocean floor fall in seperate bits (Looks too much like a dead body). DONE
34. Unlocked notification for beating game (Suit unlocked, level select now available)
35. Add a loading screen DONE
36. Background refinement/experimenting with reducing file size DONE
There's a bunch of other stuff I'm currently involved in, for example deciding on the icon for the app. Here's the selection I've got to work from!
Let me know which one is your favourite and comment below!
Some other cool stuff I've added in:
Stay tuned for more soon, it's going to be a reasonably quiet weekend for work but I'll still post up the odd thing or two!
28
Ask a Question / Re: Spambots flooding the forums.
« on: August 30, 2017, 06:33:53 am »
Great job Justin,
The easiest one would be setting a cap on the number of posts users can do per hour - Nobody is going to break 100 posts in an hour so that would work. Could even set it at something like 25 posts then ask for verification (Once again, the forums are pretty quiet so I doubt people will break even that number).
I also noticed there's a lack of a reporting system in Stencyl Forums, be that ability to report users or threads. Building some kind of infrastructure in for that might be useful.
The easiest one would be setting a cap on the number of posts users can do per hour - Nobody is going to break 100 posts in an hour so that would work. Could even set it at something like 25 posts then ask for verification (Once again, the forums are pretty quiet so I doubt people will break even that number).
I also noticed there's a lack of a reporting system in Stencyl Forums, be that ability to report users or threads. Building some kind of infrastructure in for that might be useful.
29
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: August 25, 2017, 07:20:05 am »Hey Folks!
Another update incoming! Here's what I've been up to over the last week:
1. Nitpicking on the shop controls - On the previous build, it was possible to completely jam the carousel of suits by swiping on either end, and the suits would randomly glitch and rotate. I fixed this by altering the code to have an absolute stop when you move one of either direction (And using the speed of the carousel either direction to dictate what angle the suits swung to. I also altered the menu and start buttons so depending where you accessed the shop from you get different layouts.
2. Adding sound effects - There were a couple of areas such as the power ups that lacked sound effects, so players didn't realise they were active. The shop also received various sound effects based on whether you were buying/choosing or failing to afford certain suits. New buttons added also lacked the bleeps and bloops older ones had.
3. Tightened the tutorial responsiveness (Removed delays to prompts appearing on screen)
4. Doubled the length of the boss battle - Testers mentioned that the boss battle felt quite abrupt in length and wanted to spend more time on the level, so I increased the length of the level. I also tweaked the bear movement as well to make him more present in the level. There was also collision boxes he was getting stuck on that I've now removed.
5. Fixing bugs - It was possible to break the game by jumping out of range of the collision region at the end of the boss level, so instead I check if the player x position to see if they've covered a certain distance.
6. Level select screen - The interface given a tasty UI with a similar scrolling swipe system to Suit Yourself's Carousel. As you can see in the previous gif, I had all of the options visible on screen for the various floors, but have instead opted or seeing a limited number on screen at once (And a standardised colour). I doubled down on the idea of having the level select be a lift that you can only unlock once you've beaten the game.
7. Gameplay loop finished - At the end of the game, level select unlocks and the game circles back around to ground floor.
8. Further optimisation - In an effort to reduce the amount of content loaded per scene I've split the music up into atlases as well, reducing the majority of scene load by 4mb each. Whilst this doesn't seem like much, when I introduce the new soundtracks this will make a huge difference to load times. There's definitely still some refinement to do, but at this point it could probably wait till the update (Since we're talking about pretty minute amounts compared to what I had before (Down from 70mb to 18mb))
9. Ad implementation/iAP - The basic interstitial advertisements have been implemented on a simple system on 1 ad every 5 deaths. I'll also be implementing the coin unlock reward ads (Watch an ad for 50 coins)
10. OUTSOURCING! To finish the project, I've acquired the assistance of graphics designer Katy Marshall and Musician Will Bedford.
Katy will be doing some high resolution graphics for the App Store, the logo, banners and the in game splash screen. She's already taken my very rough drawing of a fish dollar and given it a remastering:
(Excuse the R missing from Corporate, my fault!)
Got me super excited to see what the actual Salmon looks like in HD!
Check out her work here: https://www.behance.net/ktmarshall
As for Will, he did the original soundtrack for Corporate Salmon a couple of years back and I've bought him back on board to produce the final release version! We've worked together a bunch on previous games before and he's done a bunch of other commercial projects.
Check out his tunes here: http://willbedfordmusic.com
30
iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.
« on: August 18, 2017, 05:05:52 am »
Hey Folks!
Got a biiiig update for you - Made a large amount of progress in the last week:
1. Bear graphics updates: After having it compared to an ant eater and the shape of the face being unclear, I've made some adjustments to its design, giving it a set of teeth, adjustment to the pupil/nostrils/ears and adding a suit similar to the portrait on the wall. I'll be updating that portrait as well to match in a more similar way to the bear in game.
2. Tutorial finished: After a lot of faffing around and racking my brains, the tutorial is fully implemented. In the end, I decided against having pop in panels that obstructed gameplay. Instead, I used the slow motion function to give the player a couple of seconds to view a new feature in moderate safety and giving labels highlighting what to do. These are spaced out over the first level (And one other feature introduced in level 2). This is shown and displayed with a finger that pops into view with instructions with what the player has to do. Spawning of objects is dictated by progress through the tutorial (Green lines aren't introduced until enemies have been cleared, a power up has been used and a coin collected). I'll have to do some testing with this to make sure this is a suitable and clear method for the game, but we will see.
3. Shop final pass: I've made a pile of changes to the shop structure:
a. Costumes - I've added 10 extra suits to the mix of available costumes, as well as ordering them in price (And giving them prices). At this point, the total stands at 31 suits in game (Including the one you start with).
b. Notification - Upon a suit being available for purchase, a notification comes through on the game over screen to notify a suit is available for purchase so the player doesn't have to continuously check back.
c. Made out of price range suits clearly un-purchasable by deactivating the buy button and replacing it with a low opacity padlock.
d. Display of price/cost offsetting adjusted to stop lower amounts being cut off the screen.
e. The naked player costume is unlocked from completing the game now, and cannot be purchased in store.
f. A lot of old costumes revamped and recoloured (since many were just duplicates of one another).
4. Power ups:
a. I've updated the icons for them once collected to make them clearer and cleaner in design. The feather for example at the size it was previously was hard to identify. I've now been able to add individual hairs(?) to the feather.
b. As with the coins, I've created an animation for the placeholder design I had before, changing it to a square shape and adding a rotating animation. I've also altered the colour to make it stand out.
c. The slow motion power up has been given a boost by not only slowing the player down but physically stopping the movement of all other objects in the level for that period of time.
d. Power ups that are collected in the previously level continue with you if you get promoted.
5. Level select: After beating the game, a "lift" will be available which will give access to various start points in game and the extra menu selection at the start of the game will unlock. For now, this will just unlock level select, but in time I want to add arcade mode to it as well as local multiplayer.
6. Best run so far: I've added a flag that points out your furthest point reached in game. Originally I had a margin line going horizontally across the screen but this was too messy visually (with the green and red lines passing down as well).
7. In game optimisation: previously, there was a lot of objects in game that were causing slowdown. Here's some of the fixes I did:
a. Coins were piling up on steps and causing slowdown, so I raised the height they were dropped in from spawn so they had a lower chance of running out of bounce. I also gave them an extra kick by adding a force to their descent multiplied by the current level difficulty (Factoring in the increased speed of escalator).
b. As mentioned in a previous post, rival salmon were getting removed from the level at the bottom of the screen but not at the top. To combat this, I set a maximum height the salmon could go before being removed from the level OR having their jump function disabled. This means they fall back down the level and therefore have more interactions with the player.
8. UI Clean-Up: I noticed from looking back on a lot of my old footage that there was loads of overlapping numbers and text filling the screen that was honestly painful to look at:
a. Cut out the text identifiers for power ups, increasing their size to make it clearer what they do
b. Removed the instructions from the red and green lines, instead of including what to do with them in the tutorials.
c. Added a low opacity screen into the background of the pause menu, helping the icons stand out.
d. Shifting the height meter to the bottom of the screen as it's less important information.
e. Can't remember if I mentioned it in another post, but I've staggered the menu pop in in the game over screen - I had several complaints of people tapping the screen and pressing one of the various buttons (Other apps, unlock ads), so I've staggered their spawning so the replay button pops in first and the settings menu last.
To do today:
a. Finish level selection screen
b. Update player ties on the main menu
c. Release the latest Testflight build
To do in the long run:
Implement iOS Features/Ads
Add in splash screen/logo
Add in new music/audio
Promotional banner
Trailer production
Submit to Apple
Release browser version.
Stay tuned for more soon, I'll try and space these out more rather than just doing one massive post.
Got a biiiig update for you - Made a large amount of progress in the last week:
1. Bear graphics updates: After having it compared to an ant eater and the shape of the face being unclear, I've made some adjustments to its design, giving it a set of teeth, adjustment to the pupil/nostrils/ears and adding a suit similar to the portrait on the wall. I'll be updating that portrait as well to match in a more similar way to the bear in game.
2. Tutorial finished: After a lot of faffing around and racking my brains, the tutorial is fully implemented. In the end, I decided against having pop in panels that obstructed gameplay. Instead, I used the slow motion function to give the player a couple of seconds to view a new feature in moderate safety and giving labels highlighting what to do. These are spaced out over the first level (And one other feature introduced in level 2). This is shown and displayed with a finger that pops into view with instructions with what the player has to do. Spawning of objects is dictated by progress through the tutorial (Green lines aren't introduced until enemies have been cleared, a power up has been used and a coin collected). I'll have to do some testing with this to make sure this is a suitable and clear method for the game, but we will see.
3. Shop final pass: I've made a pile of changes to the shop structure:
a. Costumes - I've added 10 extra suits to the mix of available costumes, as well as ordering them in price (And giving them prices). At this point, the total stands at 31 suits in game (Including the one you start with).
b. Notification - Upon a suit being available for purchase, a notification comes through on the game over screen to notify a suit is available for purchase so the player doesn't have to continuously check back.
c. Made out of price range suits clearly un-purchasable by deactivating the buy button and replacing it with a low opacity padlock.
d. Display of price/cost offsetting adjusted to stop lower amounts being cut off the screen.
e. The naked player costume is unlocked from completing the game now, and cannot be purchased in store.
f. A lot of old costumes revamped and recoloured (since many were just duplicates of one another).
4. Power ups:
a. I've updated the icons for them once collected to make them clearer and cleaner in design. The feather for example at the size it was previously was hard to identify. I've now been able to add individual hairs(?) to the feather.
b. As with the coins, I've created an animation for the placeholder design I had before, changing it to a square shape and adding a rotating animation. I've also altered the colour to make it stand out.
c. The slow motion power up has been given a boost by not only slowing the player down but physically stopping the movement of all other objects in the level for that period of time.
d. Power ups that are collected in the previously level continue with you if you get promoted.
5. Level select: After beating the game, a "lift" will be available which will give access to various start points in game and the extra menu selection at the start of the game will unlock. For now, this will just unlock level select, but in time I want to add arcade mode to it as well as local multiplayer.
6. Best run so far: I've added a flag that points out your furthest point reached in game. Originally I had a margin line going horizontally across the screen but this was too messy visually (with the green and red lines passing down as well).
7. In game optimisation: previously, there was a lot of objects in game that were causing slowdown. Here's some of the fixes I did:
a. Coins were piling up on steps and causing slowdown, so I raised the height they were dropped in from spawn so they had a lower chance of running out of bounce. I also gave them an extra kick by adding a force to their descent multiplied by the current level difficulty (Factoring in the increased speed of escalator).
b. As mentioned in a previous post, rival salmon were getting removed from the level at the bottom of the screen but not at the top. To combat this, I set a maximum height the salmon could go before being removed from the level OR having their jump function disabled. This means they fall back down the level and therefore have more interactions with the player.
8. UI Clean-Up: I noticed from looking back on a lot of my old footage that there was loads of overlapping numbers and text filling the screen that was honestly painful to look at:
a. Cut out the text identifiers for power ups, increasing their size to make it clearer what they do
b. Removed the instructions from the red and green lines, instead of including what to do with them in the tutorials.
c. Added a low opacity screen into the background of the pause menu, helping the icons stand out.
d. Shifting the height meter to the bottom of the screen as it's less important information.
e. Can't remember if I mentioned it in another post, but I've staggered the menu pop in in the game over screen - I had several complaints of people tapping the screen and pressing one of the various buttons (Other apps, unlock ads), so I've staggered their spawning so the replay button pops in first and the settings menu last.
To do today:
a. Finish level selection screen
b. Update player ties on the main menu
c. Release the latest Testflight build
To do in the long run:
Implement iOS Features/Ads
Add in splash screen/logo
Add in new music/audio
Promotional banner
Trailer production
Submit to Apple
Release browser version.
Stay tuned for more soon, I'll try and space these out more rather than just doing one massive post.
