[GAME] Runica « cocos2d for iPhone

cocos2d for iPhone » cocos2d games

[GAME] Runica

(11 posts) (3 voices)

Started 7 months ago by shaunti
Latest reply from shaunti

Tags:

game
puzzle

shaunti
Member

This is our first app Runica.

First off, a big thanks to group who have made cocos2d what it is today. This really allowed me to focus on my game ideas, and not get bogged down with openGL and quartz 2d code. Since I was pretty new to a mac, iphone, and Objective-C, I needed all the help I could get.

I have pages of game designs. I recruited my old high school friends to help on the graphics and sounds. We have since launched our own company Touch Craft Studios LLC. Now we have this app and another in review already.

We started with a more complex game idea and I quickly realized it was going to take a while to do it right. I wanted us to switch gears and build a simpler game in a month just to start getting things out there and bringing in some revenue. We could all use new mac gear and software.

So anyway I thought up this game Runica on October 12, 2009. It was approved December 10th. I started out with a bejeweled clone that was using diamonds and had an 8-way matching system. I then realized I could apply it to any geometric shape for the game grid. But we needed a theme. Then my graphics buddy said "How about a Nordic runes theme, and I'll draw some hot Valkyrie chicks and put runes on the gems".

Brilliant!

Then I thought that instead of simple match 3 stuff, how about we add some spell casting things to add a new level of gameplay. Then it turned into offensive and defensive spells. I applied this to the player versus the computer AI and also Player versus Player over bluetooth.

This is the end result of that. It turned out to be much better than the simple "let's make something quick first" game.

If you use a promo code please write a review in iTunes. I do that for all promos I've used from this forum.

Enjoy.

REQUIRES 3.1.2 OS !!!

FJTNKNAEYRE4
7NRLEMRYX6L4
Y4KJMNAMHNKA
7E4E7YLM3TYK
HKTK44HYH76L
FW6Y7LYJT7MX
7LTPWAL4E4N9
JRNJTWHM994H
W7W63XW3R6RW
Y9XJKHKJ7FRW
JXFK9H6YLK6Y
MWWXLHFEPWXH

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

I would love to hear some feedback from the cocos2d community.

My touchArcade post and private messages have got some great responses.

Posted 7 months ago #
Mitch Lindgren
Member

Looks nice - very professional. Unfortunately, I tried 5 promo codes and none of them worked. I believe that non-developers frequently visit this forum specifically for promo codes, so that's probably why all of the codes seem to be gone but you haven't received any feedback yet.

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

Well thanks. I'll PM you one. I have a few reserved specifically for Riq, and the crew, and a few more for developers if you would PM me.

Next time I'll only give out to PMs from members.

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

woops. I guess there's no PMs on this forum.

Posted 7 months ago #
Mitch Lindgren
Member

Indeed there are not. I'm still interested to try it out, though - if you don't mind going to the trouble, you could e-mail a code to puzzlepanel ~ puzzlepanel : net where ~ and : are replaced with their usual symbols. (Trying to avoid spam...) If not, no biggie.

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

Wow look. they added PMs! Right on.

Posted 7 months ago #
Mitch Lindgren
Member

shaunti sent me a promo code, so here are my thoughts on the game (from an email I sent him):

"I gave the game a four star rating. I think it's pretty cool - very well produced, and there seems to be a lot of depth to it. The addition of multiplayer over Bluetooth is very nice.

My main complaint is that you don't give the player very much information about core gameplay mechanics - it says in the "Hints" section that you want players to discover the game themselves, and while I think I understand what you're trying to do, I didn't really enjoy trying to figure out the basics of the game through trial and error. I still don't feel like I understand how the spells on the top half of the screen are supposed to work - the lower ones are obvious, but the upper ones don't seem to do anything. It also seems counter-intuitive that the only way to pass a level is to run out of time - it feels as though I'm losing in order to win. Perhaps the level should change automatically as soon as I pass the score goal.

A couple nitpicks: UI seems a bit crowded and busy - if it's not too difficult a change, I think it might be wise to consider removing the border around the playing field, moving both rows of spell gems up to the top of the screen, and extending the playing field to take up more of the lower part of the screen. Finally, I'd like to see the option to turn music and/or sound effects on and off independently.

Besides those issues, the game is pretty fun and I'd certainly sooner buy it for $1.99 than Bejeweled for $2.99. I hope it does well for you - in my experience, it's hard to succeed on the app store. I think your main concern now should be to get a Lite version out, as that tends to help your exposure. Good luck!"

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback.

I hope you don't doze off from the long email I sent you.

I have some things I will work on. I think this could become a classic game with the right tweaking.

Posted 7 months ago #
AkumaStreak
Member

I really like the presentation (the way the tiles break away/come into the playfield) and the atmospheric voice samples. Good job!

Posted 7 months ago #
shaunti
Member

Thank you. Those were the most polished sections. The "no moves available" code was interesting to figure out for the different shaped grids as well.

I just outlined a massive new addition based on the ver 1.0 feedback.

I don't want to give it away yet, but it will be hilarious. I'll post here when I get them finished.
I think it will fill the gaps and really make this a well rounded game.

Posted 7 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.