A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine
@AntonG: Thanks! and Thanks again for the links. I've got another 8 tracks with 2 new graphical environments which I need to monetise somehow. I've been reluctant to use in-app because it seems (and still looks) like a lot of grief. Time to dive into something new again.
@jd: if openfeint makes it easier then that would be fantastic. Looking through the docs now...
wow mhussa. It's a new game!!!!!!. Now I love Sprint Racers GP. The control and collision have significantly improved.
Good job.
Edit: And thank you again for the in-game ad.
-Manu
Yes, nice game! really remembers me that micro machines, or a small free multiuser game I used to play in office with colleagues, not sure the name, something to do with the VW Golf, but that one was real fun.
The controls are tricky part in games where we need precision/accuracy, happened to my game, an isometric platformer game, where main complaints are the controls. I wish we could use something like iControlPad (http://www.icontrolpad.com/), that would make a huge difference, and iPhone/iPod Touch could stand over other consoles like PSP or DS, I think.
As suggestion to your game, it may be just me, but I was expecting the car to brake faster when I release the speed button, that way I think you could control better the car.
For Japan, one of the best sites is http://www.appbank.net/ but you better have a Japanese friend! I am translating my game into Japanese and Chinese by the way, see if I can have any chance there...
@itlgames:Thanks. In this case I'm not sure its a case of controls as in buttons etc. Its more about the way the game plays e.g. quick/slow easy/hard to play. I think the line between playability and control gets blurred sometimes when it gets discussed.
The gamebone is a similar idea to the icontrolpad.
http://gizmodo.com/5497650/gamebone-accessory-will-turn-iphones-into-psp-look+alikes
I'll tweak the braking see if it alters things, thanks for the tip. At the moment you have to release early into a corner which most people won't want to do. It was meant to be an arcade type racer not a race accurate model.
Thanks for the japanese site link. I'll see if I can make sense of it with google translate, might be worth a try to submit it there.
This is an awesome game. You could easily sell it rather than give it away for free. InApp purchases are actually pretty easy to implement (I'd be happy to answer questions if you have any), but they back fired for me. I've used them for Pop Fizz, giving the basic game version away for free. However, it seemed that people equated the "free" part with "cheap game" and I hardly got any downloads even though they didn't cost anything. I even got an angry email from someone in the UK who downloaded Pop Fizz for his daughter, who then proceeded to buy the additional content in the game. In the email the guy demanded a refund for 59 pence because the game was apparently tricking innocent children into spending their parents' hard-earned pennies.
Anyway, my point is that people often associate value with price and I think you have a lot of value in your game.
It's incredible what people is expecting for one dollar!! Even so we try to deliver games/apps which are worth much than that.
I also think you could actually sell the game, maybe 1st tier. Maybe is better idea a free version limited, then the paid version, but I have seen apps backfired cos the free version, people still complaining about having to pay to get more contents... incredible!
By the way, so far the control pads like iControlPad only work for jailbreak phones, don't ask me why, but something to do with Apple and licenses or something like that. I think it would be a good idea offer games compatible with some kind of control pad like that, again, I think that is one of the main differences with game consoles, I know the iPhone is not intend to be just a console, but it's a great platform for us game developeres, try to release a game for PSP or DS and you will understand why!
@pfg2009: Thanks and I may take you up on your offer of help. The idea was to give SRGP away free to let people know it existed and that there was more on the way. Although it seems that even at zero people are fussy as hell and expect regular updates and support. I just had a review comment in the UK saying that the new handling was awful, change it back.
I guess the free-in-app model is sort of like the drug dealer model, get'em hooked and then charge for more.
One other model I was considering but I thought it was a bit cheesy was like the those "x" points apps. I have 2 additional racing environments with 4 tracks each. The game model is the same, 4 rookie, 4 pro and 4 ghost races. I could *easily* release them as separate games e.g SR Island GP and SR Space GP.
What do you think?
Would anyone feel agrieved if the game came in 3 parts rather than one? (interestingly rick dangerous from apogee games came in parts).
MisterX
Member
I tried the game out. It ran pretty good on my iPod Touch. I'm confused now as to what generation my iPod is.. Have there been 2 or 3 generations of the iPod Touch? I bought mine new in November 2009, it is an 8gig model, and it DOES NOT support Open GL ES 2.0 I thought it was a 2nd Generation unit, now I'm not sure.
The controls were the only thing I found kind of difficult about it. On the lowest Rookie level I always came in 4th place (last) and could never even see the finish line, race ended way before I was anywhere near it.
The accelerator is just an on/off switch, which makes it difficult to control your speed around the track, your either at 100% throttle or 0% throttle. When you release the throttle button, the car brakes a lot (slows down too rapidly). So your in effect, braking hard and skidding around every corner on the track. If you try to round corners without skidding you go too fast and wreck. Your tires would be worn out after just a couple laps if these were real cars. Lots of rubber burning off them on every turn. I can understand if your getting a lot of flak about the controls.
If you were intending to have the cars "drift" around corners, the car should not decelerate as rapidly as it currently does.
I just played it one more time and this time I could actually see the finish line, but still came in last lol. I did better with the sound completely off for some reason.
Anyway, that is my 2 cents worth of commentary. Game looks good and the animation was nice and smooth. Maybe if the car decelerated less rapidly it might improve the driving experience.
I might add it looks like I may have found a bug. After the end of a race, before I reached the finish line, the engine sound of my car never stopped and continued to drone on during at menu screen and continued on through out the next race and again at the menu. Making it sound like an airplane was flying over the track. I had to quit the application and re-start it to get rid of the engine drone.
@MisterX: Thanks for taking the time to look at it and to post a fair assessment. I have an acceleration setting which is used to speed up and slow down the car if it was on/off believe me you would know, but if it "feels" that way then that's useful to know. I'm working in a vacuum where only I can see how great and perfect it is and nobody else can ;) It takes a bit of practice, but times can improve once you learnt how the car reacts to input.
About the sound bug, I'll look at that code again. I currently stop the sound for each engine sound source and then dealloc it, maybe I'm mis-counting and leaving one open. If you hear more than one car sound during the game, then the code I added in the update has detected you're using a 3G+ device. Anything less and will only get one engine sound and skidding.
@abitofcode Yes, but the iPhone / iPod sometimes caches your pwd, so you might not need to enter it every time.
Blue Ether
Member
There are parental controls for in-app purchases though, as I recall. Also, I don't think I've ever experienced the password being cached for an in-app purchase. You need to enter it every time, or at least once per app per session. Or maybe there's a setting for that too?
^ From the time your quoting thats got to be the Ghost Longway track. I've tried a few races but can't get the time out of sync.
I use a ccTime to store the lap time which I update using the deltaTime on every draw tick, I don't mind a few hundredths of a second difference but over 5 seconds is not good. I'll focus in that area to see whats up, I think it may be related to the size of the map and the 8 engine loops playing.
I might convert the timing to using the system timer directly rather than using the deltaTime.
@rig: You could be right, it could be a loss of precision. I think I know where it is, I might be doing something a bit silly (ahem). I truncate the lap time to 2 places on each tick and display it. I did that to prevent tiny fractional changes causing different results on devices. Although now I can see that over time the truncation builds up quite significantly and it stands out more in the ghost races because people are racing down to tenths of a second level. In the other races they are probably not too bothered or watching carefully.
Thanks for the info. Once I have a reproducible test case on my device I know I'll be able to fix it.
Aikidoka
Member
Hi mhussa
I downloaded the first version of your app to see what cocos 2d is capable of, and I must say I do like the game a lot - well done!
Regarding the steering issue - The first version was too sensitive, but even with the sensitivity turned right up, I don't think the sensitivity is right for me. The cars are much easier to control now though.
Well done with this game, and I hope you can find a way to charge for at least a part of it.
@aikidoka: Thankyou, glad you like it. The appstore review and rating system seems to be a pessimists paradise so to hear from someone willing to post fair+positive feedback is more than welcome (REALLY welcome).
As for cocos2d, I can't recommend it highly enough. SRGP simply would not exist without cocos2d. I do this type of coding part-time and had I written my own framework I would have run out of morale/energy to complete it a long time ago. It has allowed me to spend more time on the creative and presentation aspects of the game. The framework has a really nice simple OO design and all the intelligent choices for a general framework have already been made.
Control will not change in future updates, its better now because it rewards those who spend more time with it. Some of the ghost recordings show how good the players are and how well they can control the car, their times are at the top of the leaderboards as a result.
I'm working on in-app purchases at the moment to make new track packs available. I'll post back here when its ready.
Genji
Member
Just downloaded it and played a few of the tracks. It took a few laps to get used to the steering, but once I did I had no issues with it at all. I like how the control is forgiving so if you 'crash', you bounce off and can continue driving immediately, no need to worry about reversing etc.
The only odd thing I ran into was I got stuck inside/next to another car and we both slowed down to a crawl (although this could be intentional so that you don't bounce off cars out of control?).
Great game, I'll definitely be playing it some more to better my times. Congrats!
Thanks Genji.
I've been tweaking the car to car collision, it used to be like a pool game before you could hit a car and it would go bouncing around the track. I've tried to limit the loss of momemtum when hitting other cars to minimise player frustration. I think its better than my first attempt. The cars do stick together in some situations especially when other developers are testing its limits and the AI etc ;)
I've noticed a surge in downloads and its all part of my careful planning to ensure SRGP was released when the Formula 1 racing season was in full swing. OK that's BS its a fluke, but the lesson is that if you're writing a game which can be tied to some real world event then try to time its release with it. It could make quite a difference.
I'm going to tie my next game with the apocalypse next year, the end of the world is nigh! It'll probably have zombies in it, maybe a unicorn ;)
Btw: I stuck a review up on the UK app store, I meant to do it earlier but you'd just stuck the update in for review. (aka codemuppet)
@abitofcode: Thanks much appreciated. I updated the description with a driving tip but whether anybody will read it is another matter.
If you can arrange for the end of the world to coincide with the release of your next apocalyptic game then I promise you although short lived it could make a difference to your appstore rankings :)
The robot unicorn game you posted about was really slick. Lots of talent out there in the world, it just needs chanelling into more non-unicorny type stuff.
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