It's coming along decently. I'd tighten up the hit boxes a bit - right now it feels too sensitive, and I'm losing in situations where it doesn't seem like I should be losing.

The game I released was Cuddle Bears.

Played through the training. This was good - I actually had a very, very similar idea a couple years ago, so I'm glad to see someone working on it.

I agree with Quicksand-S - some of the silhouettes are way too similar. I did end up getting a couple units confused before realizing one didn't have little pointy bits on its base (that's the least eloquent sentence I've ever used).

It's crazy hard to follow what's going on in the introductory battle. I would definitely add unit sliding instead of just teleporting them from one space to another. It slows the game down a little, but it's essential to actually seeing what's going on. I would also highlight the active unit a little better.

It was unclear to me that the freeze unit could not actually move. If that was said anywhere, I missed it.

I don't understand why you opened up with unit promotion. It threw me off - I know what unit promotion is in chess, and so playing that I wondered why you were showing me this. When my unit wasn't promoted to what I expected, I was confused. I would start with something else and also explain the promotion a bit differently so it's evident to chess players what's going on.

Outside of those, it was good. I understood what was going on.

Outside the tutorial, that intro quote goes by way too fast to actually read.

Why not just throw in metrics for both? Most analytic systems are easy to use, there's no harm in tracking more things than you need to.

Anyway, there are a lot of different answers to this question depending on your goals. There's a decent series on GameDev.net about analytics in regard to gameplay & sales here:
Standard Gameplay and IAP Metrics for Mobile Games

What're the exact nature of the changes? That could help us give a more informed opinion.

Keep in mind that your existing users are the ones most likely to rate your game favorably. If you release an update, they will immediately see that update and you've got a solid base for positive feedback (I'd put in a new 'Rate Me' dialog to inspire them to re-rate the game). If you release the update as a separate game, you're dropping that audience and building up from scratch. Plus, as has been stated, you run the risk of alienating people.

Day one spikes aren't as relevant as they used to be. Apple & Google Play tossed out their "What's New" lists in favor of curated lists. So releasing a new game doesn't necessarily buy you as much. It's possible that a good update will get curated.

I liked your gameplay video. There were lots of nice little visual touches - the transformation between Retku and Flasa was really cool, as well as the little camera shake when the spiked balls hit the blocks.

The art style seems a little disjointed - the characters don't really match the environment. They seem small and a bit understated in your colorful, vibrant world.

I gave the Windows build a few minutes. I like the visual style and the way you move from room to room. Also love the fast, snappy feel.

The mouse controls didn't work at all for me. I wanted to swing my sword with the mouse, but I couldn't get it to work. I could use the keyboard, but that felt very strange - I couldn't get into any kind of good rhythm.

Couldn't get the shield to work. Spacebar wasn't doing anything. Using my mouse wasn't either. Or at least nothing visually changed.

Difficulty was way too high. I got murdered in pretty much every room I entered - swarmed by 6 enemies and no amount of slamming my keys allowed me to attack fast enough.

This has potential, I just wish I could've, y'know... actually played it.

Why not push up a web version (if possible) so we can see where it's at? It's hard to give useful suggestions on what's presented here.

I released an endless runner on iPhone several years ago. Here are some little features that made it feel better:
* The longer you hold your finger, the higher your character jumps. This makes the controls a little less one-dimensional.
* Simple games rely on lots of visual feedback to hold interest. To that end, add some effect when the player collects an apple. Maybe some little red particles that float upward. Also make the UI indicator in the top left do something interesting (like scale in and bounce a little).

These are more specific to your game:
* Break up the height & spacing of those trees so that the background looks more varied. Right now they look equidistant.
* Give that sleeping giant a little idle animation.
* Add some visual feedback when a new coin is acquired. Perhaps a coin floats upward from the character and fades away?

I couldn't get past any of the title screen UI on my MacBook Pro running in Chrome. I tried clicking "Options" first and nothing happened. Then "Play" and nothing happened. Also tried mashing my keys to elicit a response.

I tried a second time and was able to work my way around the issue. If I clicked 'Play' and then hit the space bar I got into the game. I then couldn't actually start up a game no matter what I tried. I'm guessing single player w/bots isn't properly supported w/mouse & keyboard?

A 100 MB download is pretty hefty and doesn't seem warranted given the content I'm seeing in your screenshots. What's going on there?

I enjoyed this. My largest prime number was 31. Not terribly impressive, but I was proud. 

Some feedback:

• I didn't care for the way numbers would change after I got a match. I was trying to plan ahead, and that threw some of my plans into disarray.
• I like the background effects you've got going on. But I think the squares & timer could still use some visual love.
• Instructions are clear, but I think a nice, polished in-game tutorial would benefit this.
• Ran fine for me. I'm on a high-end MacBook Pro.
• Easy was just fine for me. I lasted about as long as I wanted to.

Before you release, I'd consider giving the UI some attention - little polish animations and such. Also spruce up that Game Over screen.

Oh, definitely! Most of my screenshots are taken with my sandbox room - the actual levels will be considerably larger. That'll likely be part of my next update.

Thanks!

[Update 3: UI]

Update 3: UI

Most of the last few days has been spent putting together some necessary UI elements. I'm trying to keep the game pretty UI-lite, but there's no avoiding some things.

First, the level selection screen or "lobby." Right now we're assuming all the levels are unlocked, which is definitely not the start state. There are some graphical flares that don't get represented in a screenshot: stars randomly twinkle and the moons rotate around their parent planets.

Then there's the squad selection screen, where the player selects which units will go into combat. Will probably need a bit of text to tell the player what to do. But it's fully functional - you can drag units into the squad and they will be represented in battle!

And finally, the basic cinematic text dialog. Most of the story is going to be represented by one or two sentences at the beginning/end of each mission. This isn't an RPG - it's a tactics game, and the story is not a driving focus.

It all needs a little love. More flares, tweaked layout, definitely a better font. But it's functional, which right now is the most important part!

If you're using Unity, have you looked into its vehicle capabilities, namely its WheelCollider and related systems? They take a little while to get used to (and can't be tricky to tweak), but they might give you what you want. They also give you a point of reference for future searches.

This is pretty fantastic - definitely my type of game, and I'll be awaiting its release eagerly. I seriously don't have enough praise for you guys.  Loved the intro.

Small bits of feedback:

• Auto-save would be nice. I stopped between the intro & Lea's training and then had to replay the intro because I didn't think to save because it's 2014 and I haven't had to do that in years.
• It's a little annoying to not have an option to quit from within the game (that I could find) - I had to return to the title screen, watch the whole intro sequence, and then hit 'Exit.'

Played the downloaded version: On the first few runs, the game was completely bugged on my Windows Surfaced Pro 3. When I actually entered a level, all I would see was the blue background, the UI, a little glowing triangle, and some text popups when I started clicking around the UI. The environment and sprites were entirely missing.

Eventually I got it to work. Not sure exactly what did it, but here's what I tried:

• Switching to fullscreen mode. When I quit/returned, the fullscreen setting was lost.
• Playing the web version
• Going to the upgrade screen & returning

The bug is still intermittent among multiple playthroughs. I haven't found any common repro steps.

Before getting to that point, some minor UI quibbles:

• The controls screen is a bit cluttered.
• I can control some parts of the menu screen with the keyboard but it still requires a mouse, which threw me off.
• When I entered the Upgrade menu and returned, it was impossible for me to switch levels in level select.

The web version wouldn't load at all for me in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Just see a black page. This could be any number of reasons though, I may have some luck just switching browsers...

I enjoyed this! Played the tutorial levels and several of the easy levels. May or may not come back to it, I'm not sure.

For the sequel, I'd like to see a little more pressure on the player earlier on. The water works pretty well, especially on the levels where you have to use it to progress - more of that, I think.

For some time, I've been working on a board game heavily inspired by early console JRPGs (tentatively titled RPG Town). Players take on the role of a town mayor, managing production centers & shops & resources. Heroes come through and buy those resources. Essentially, the player who manages his town best and sells the most resources wins.

One of the secondary hooks of the game is that the art style changes to reflect how JRPGs evolved. Things start 8-bit then shift to 16-bit and 32-bit. Both the town art and hero art reflects these changes, and the gameplay ramps up as the progression unfolds (numbers get bigger, special powers become more useful).

At this point, the rules are solid - it's been playtested a good bit, though obviously more playtesting is still to come. Trying to reach the point where I can put together a "pretty prototype" with final/near-final art to show off to outside people.




Here is the design document. - it's not meant to teach as much as it is to break everything down.
Pinterest board showcasing some of the art

All the art for the game is finished, but it needs a graphic designer - someone who can design card and tile layouts/arrangements. Closer to a 'user interface' than an 'illustrator.' There would be some texture work involved for card fronts/backs, but it's mostly the design aspects I'm concerned with right now.

The scope of the work is roughly 3 different card layouts and 3 different tile layouts plus a handful of small icons.

It's a paying gig. We can negotiate prices. I'm paying for this out-of-pocket right now (with the intention of Kickstarting a print run), so I can't make you rich, but I understand art costs money. 

Feel free to send me a message if you're interested or have any questions.

[Forgive me if TIG isn't appropriate for board games; I thought the concept might overlap with the interests of some of the people here]

I gave this a look. Not too shabby!

• Seems to be a bit bugged on my Mac. When I start the game up, it doesn't always center on the player. If I move my mouse around a bit I'll eventually find him.
• The zoom seems to have a weird velocity where it never stops (I'm using a touchpad, not a mouse wheel).
• I managed to get the enemies into a funnel where I was able to choke them all out one after the other. Like 10 guys. I was safe the whole time (they kept shooting each other).
• It seems like enemies can see through walls? The "last seen" indicator often seemed to suggest this.
• I don't understand the function of the mask. Is it just a thing I have to put on to walk in certain places? It doesn't seem to change how anything responds to me.

I'll second the monstrous gap in difficulty. I was up to boss 16 in pansy before getting bored. On normal I was soundly defeated on boss 2.

It'd be nice to tweak the speed of the player's bullets such that they actually look like they're animating. I also think it's a bit... strange that the boss bullets originate from the top left.

This looks pretty incredible, and I'd really like to see the board game version.

Yea, it definitely depends on the type of game you're making. A mixture of physics & non-physics based solutions is often appropriate.

prime31 usually has solid plugins/components - I haven't used their CharacterController2D specifically, but I can vouch for their other stuff, and their customer support is pretty good. Back in the XNA days I coded all this from scratch using non-physics based solutions, and it's actually not terribly hard (if you're a programmer; being a non-programmer, there may be a learning curve).

As an unrelated side note, can we take a moment and accept that Prinsessa's video looks awesome and is the only game starring a cat I actually want to play?