Hey folks!
BREAK N TAKE is done! There's obviously still more tweaks/refinements, but from pushing myself to get the game done by the end of June, what might have taken a couple more weeks was completed in roughly one week!
Here's the trailer for the game now:
Objectives now up till release is looking into getting an Android port arranged (First time I've gone through the process) and getting as much play testing done on the iOS build as possible! I've currently got an arcade cabinet of the game
(Courtesy of Katy Marshall!) which uses an android tablet as it's core, so that will serve as a solid stress tester!
Here is the stuff I accomplished in the last week, most will be just a list but I've grabbed some of the most significant changes and expanded on them and why I made these changes so close to shipping:
+ Add tutorial to shop: One thing that has been persistent with playthroughs is folks not engaging with the shop (and once they do, not understanding what was going on). To improve engagement, I added a shop unlock countdown to exclude the player from accessing it (And create hype/curiosity for whats inside), built a tutorial where the shop functions were dramatically reduced (One option, one button) and most importantly have given tangible notifications of what you're unlocking. Previously, you just upgraded the powerups you already had, but now I've made it so you unlock each of the powerups first, then upgrade them. Not only does this create some degree of personalisation, but means I could remove the worst tier of power that most folks were complaining about. In tests since, I've seen a tangible uptick in player engagement.
+ Look into momentum/inertia in idle paddle: This was one of the large changes that I considered a risk this close to release, but many players have expressed a frustration with physics appearing to stop immediately after player contact. What I've done since is add a bit of gradient to the player slowing down, similar to that of an air hockey paddle.
+ Experiment with different paddle controls (Ball orientation): This was by far the riskiest change I've made in the game. I had several players point out that the paddle functions for BREAK N TAKE were that of Pong, rather than Breakout, meaning the accuracy required to nail those tricky blocks was cumbersome. I opted for a pretty straightforward solution; depending where on the X axis the paddle is hit, deflect back at that speed relative to the centre of the paddle. (E.g. Left side on the edge = -50, centre of paddle = 0, centre right = 25). This also had to be reflected in the wall sides and buildings and interestingly I realised that I had massive speed restrictions on blocks (Previously when the ball hit the screen limits, it slowed back down to default speed, now it didn't). Because of this, I had to dial everything down a little bit. It's definitely a lot better for those changes being made.
+ Optimise actors
+ Pause/exit buttons on shop moved
+ Tutorial Hand needs moving upwards
+ Disable all the debugging (Reset regions, shop lock)
+ Compile Trailer for Break N Take
+ Re-Attach the level lock code
+ "Hit the ball" instead of "Use the ball"
+ Reward ads infrastructure implemented
+ Have a reward ad popup for more humans if you're close to getting a full tank?
+ Need indicator that vats are full (MAKE BUTTON SAY MAX)
+ Replace play button in shop with notification to get more humans via reward ad
+ Possibly get rid of play button in shop (Once humans emptied)
+ Volume indicator is reversed/doesn't respond correctly
+ Weapon unlock: Level 1 unlocks item, level 2 3 4 upgrades
+ The amount of humans you've abducted looks like a price
+ First upgrade should be unlock, rest are upgrades
+ Improve the power of the first level of powerup
+ Fix shop sound issues
+ Make power ups better (by cutting out bottom upgrade)
+ Slowly unlock powerups cover course of game (Since certain ones are useless early on)
+ Ambiguity on shop
+ Beeps and boops not covered by audio toggle
+ Need alignment for devices for rating and dancing alien
+ Text bug on the main menu (black blocks)
+ Head should raise back up on shop of alien
+ Transitions are sluggish
+ Death text too risky to read: pause the game/centralise?
+ Make spin cutter activate higher in the shop
+ Tutorial bug where the humans don't warp
+ Number of humans look like price
+ Swipe to change levels/shop options
+ Make X flash when shop expired
+ Swipe on shop options/level select
+ Random direction of movement at the start (OR straight line down)
+ Turn off beam for second tutorial
+ Up the speed of the ball a little
+ "Humans taken" popup unnecessary on game over
+ Look at doing a humans 20/20 collected instead
+ X on level select low opacity (Need a shop variable turning off)
+ Make required shop unlock amount to be 25 instead of 20
+ Got press/head lift backwards in game
+ Potential experiment with advanced ball controls
+ Downward warp?
+ Press hold and tap to move (Tutorial)
+ Arrow to point at the death wall, lower text
+ Didn't notice DEATH text
+ White button underlaid apparently looks strange
+ Can't zero in on final blocks
+ Head shouldn't stay up in game
+ Make shield thicker
+ "Press and hold" in the tutorial instead of press
+ Paddle near the wall bounces off
THINGS LEFT TO DO:
- Disable pausing during death sequence
- Re-route folks who've clicked on popups to other ones (E.g. If you've already rated the game, you probably don't want to keep seeing that notification)
- Finalise game icon
- Change the game section labels
- Produce trailers/screenshots for the various device sizes
- Submit build for review
- Commission promotional art
- Tour Break N Take cabinet on the lead up to launch
BEYOND LAUNCH:
Since I don't know how the game is going to do, I'm currently going to be focusing my time on updating my previous games and ports since there's a sizeable gap between submitting and launching (3 months!). If things do go well, I'm wanting to:
- Extend the campaign to add back in the military units there were before
- Implement special blocks, such as shields, forcefields against abduction, drone paddles and maybe even a boss
- Arcade mode with a leaderboard (And potentially look into a weekly random seed)
- Remaster of the menu to have more sophisticated graphics
- Add a reward for getting 5 stars on all levels