A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine
I'm proud to announce that Moonlights has just reach the app store.
Demo video and all links available from here : http://www.bonuslevel.org/moonlights/
The dev started 4 months ago, the game was submitted a week ago and
has been approved today.
Thanks to riq and cocos2d community for this framework and the great
support.
Codemattic
Moderator
I just bought it, but it wont work bc I have a lousy gen 1 iPod Touch. Oh well, I should of read the system requirements closer. I dont regret it - Ill get a new pod someday - and itll be waiting for me to play. But I cant give you a review tho.
Is there a reason you restricted it to 2nd gen iPods? CPU speed? If it was a mistake make sure to switch it back on your next update!
D'oh! my bad, Codemattic
@ob1, the music is by reasoner http://reasoner.newgrounds.com/
@coolman, you have to shake the device to quit the about screen.
The game got a lot of good reviews on the internet, including toucharcade.com. It has reached about rank 30 in the category puzzle, but now it's decreasing very fast. It's not visible anymore on the app store in any list. I've spent about 3 months full time on this game...
Codemattic
Moderator
Its a good game! Please release a free/lite version with a handful of key levels. Sometimes the free version turns things around. Whats the approval wait time in the appstore these days?
I dont think any category matters other than top 100 apps and top 100 games.
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator
There has also been some talk on Touch Arcade that a lite version can hurt sales with some developers saying they will not do it again. One of the problems is people who download it on a whim and then rate it badly. I've lost count of how many games I've decided not to buy because of the lite version - either I got sick of playing it just based on the lite version (e.g. GeoDefense) or the game just wasn't as good as I thought it would be (e.g. ZenBound).
I also notice the Hopple guys pulled their lite version - maybe you should ask them why. Also notice Flight Control has no lite version, if it did I probably would never have bought the full version but on the other hand I don't have any buyer's remorse because at $1 who can complain.
An interesting test you can do is use the desktop version of iTunes to search for various games that offer lite and full versions and compare the popularity of the two versions.
Codemattic
Moderator
Great points Steve. Ive actually considered it. There are a bunch of crappy games I bought that I *never* would of bought if I had a lite version to try first. But if you have a quality game, with catchy gameplay, and you cant fully show that with your screenshots (man, iTunes AppStore should have short video previews in addition to screenshots) then I think the free/lite version is key.
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator
Codemattic, I agree there are some games you need to try and a lite version could work. I don't know if Moonlights is one of those games though. As soon as I saw the screen shot I got what it is about, I don't understand all the nuances but I saw enough to know I would enjoy it.
Maybe this week is a bad week to be selling games? I intend to buy Moonlights but I've blown my pocket money on my 3.0 upgrade and Peggle, I have to wait until next week now ;)
By the way, I've submitted a quick update to the app store 2 days ago. I made a new icon, imporved the deletion system, and added 2 more levels. On this update, you have to scroll with 2 fingers and you can draw the removing zone with one finger without waiting.
[Strange we can't edit our own posts ?]
Codemattic
Moderator
Some requests for the next Moonlights version!
I hate using shake as a control - Id rather have a small "menu" button that pauses the game and brings up the menu. I never know how much to shake the thing - and who wants to shake their device when you are on a train or bus or something.
Undo would be fantastic - every time I create new node or connection can you save the entire state of the game? Then in the menu let me undo back to the previous state.
Please keep the # of nodes I have left on the screen instead of letting the label fade away. Ill miss seeing the number, and then I dont know how many I have left.
Maybe some of these can make it into release 3.
[Yes its strange we cant edit our own posts - we used to be able to.]
Love the game, really nicely implemented. Congrats!
Agree with Codemattic's feedback above.
One other thing that might make things a little easier to play: being able to click and hold on the screen, and see where the new node will connect too before you let go (rather than just tapping to add a new one). Although not sure how difficult that might be to add. Tiki Towers has the same feature, and I found it helps build a sturdier structure ; )
Also, minor bug, music continues to play if the phone goes idle. Perhaps pausing the music might make more sense? Or disabling idle (e.g. application.idleTimerDisabled = YES;)?
Good luck with the game!
ob1
Member
> @ob1, the music is by reasoner http://reasoner.newgrounds.com/
Thanks!
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator
Got a great review on Pocket Gamer (8/10) - maybe that will boost sales.
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Moonlights/review.asp?c=13999
All great suggestions.
* Undo : Nice feature but not trivial. I will try.
* Pause the game with a button : Yes.
* Music continues to play if the phone goes idle : I will look at this.
* See where the new node will connect : that is problematic, the "clic+hold+move" is already used for removing nodes.
To let you know, my update (2 more levels+fast deletion) has been rejected by Apple because an information of price was in the app description. But it should be approved soon now.
Next version will implement your suggestions + a few more features I would like to add :
* Online editor + level download to test on your iPhone.
* Worlds : Different worlds to group the levels by their difficulty or theme. A different background for each worlds (the tuto levels in one world, hard levels, bubble levels etc...)
* Maybe new kind of items/moons but I have no precise idea right now.
Not sure when I can do all this, but when it's done, then I'll release a free version I think.
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator
@jp - re "Music continues to play if the phone goes idle". Make sure you are using the latest version of CocosDenshion (1.5), I made a recent change where the session category when playing background music was changed. The previous session category would indeed continue playing music in idle mode. However, I think disabling idle mode is a better solution.
I bought the game and love it.
Wow, this looks very nice!
Codemattic
Moderator
"has been rejected by Apple because an information of price was in the app description." thats tripping lots of devs up. I think coolman's GeoRain was delayed for the same reason.
"nice review by pocketgamer, but it doesn't change anything to the sales." Its crazy, so many devs saying that a good review does little/nothing for their sales.
Moonlights a great game.
Woot, Moonlights is featured by Apple in the iTunes app store / games page (from your PC).
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGenre?id=6014&mt=8
Can you confirm you can see it ?
I'm really happy with it but I didn't see any changes in the sales, I'll tell you tomorrow if it makes some effects.
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator
In the Australian store it is in a special feature called "Best Construction Puzzle Games" at the bottom of the front page.
Also has Tiki Towers, Fantastic Contraption, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Crazy Machines, Magnificent Gizmos, Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D and Perfect Balance.
Well done!
in Argentina too. it's 1st in the "Best Contruction Puzzle Games" category
ima747
Member
Congrats on the game it's great! I thought it would be more of a world of goo knock off at first but it's actually very unique (though still very similar) and you make great use of the iphone's features which is what really makes it stand out.
2 things I'd love to see
A setting for the hold->delete box time, 1 second feels long to me, but sounds right for a goo/iphone novice so something flexible
The graphics look a little fuzzy to me. I love the style but everything looks a little 16 bit. Not sure how much memory you have to play with high res graphics but I think it would crisp it up a bit. examples: the trophy when you complete a level seems somewhat flat despite the shading due to no fade in the shading. Moons/planets etc. tend to look much softer around the edges than the nodes. When you zoom out everything gets sharper and it's less of an issue, but up close it started to bother my eyes after playing for a while (fuzzy things do that to me). So if you could double the res of the images and then scale them appropriately I personally think it would look a lot sharper.
Congrats on all the exposure you're getting, it's well deserved!
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