Hi everyone!
I wanted to share with you a sneak peek at Squares, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch game that I've been developing with Sparrow lately!
Enjoy and tell me what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO3Z6wkAKaM&hd=1
Squares for iOS - Sneak Peek
(27 posts) (9 voices)-
Looks very cool, Brian! So you can remove the green squares by touching them, and the blue squares by flipping them off the screen, right? I guess one can get into the flow with that gameplay!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ah, I didn't check how the bombs work in the video! Great idea
Posted 1 year ago # -
Looking good Brian! Don't flatter yourself, I'm talking about the game.
Posted 1 year ago # -
baike
ModeratorHey Brian, what about a bonus square with a mario question mark on it? It can either give you 5 extra seconds or a score bonus or a shield to protect you from bombs, but the square disappears in 1 second and you have to pinch it in half to collect it.
Maybe save that for an update
Good luck with sales!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hi baike.
What a great idea! I love it.
I also think that it would be a great thing to save for an update, although I have one doubt. Will this determine the success of my application initially? My thinking here is that if my game doesn't get on to enough devices (isn't fun enough) in the first release, I won't have any numbers to release the upgrade to.
Also, I have no idea how I would implement the pinch gesture although I'm sure I could figure it out.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback.Posted 1 year ago # -
UIPinchGestureRecognizer
Also adding other ones too, like rotate and double tap, would be cool. Maybe have it gradually add harder squares like those, the farther you get in the session.
Personally I would add all the extra before releasing the game.
Posted 1 year ago # -
baike
ModeratorSee if this works well enough. I can't try it atm. I'm sure you'll figure something out if it doesn't work. You can use squared distance if you're worried about performance.
// Do these inits somewhere appropriate #define MIN_PINCH_DISTANCE 40 #define BONUS_SQUARE_PINCHED @"bonusSquarePinchedEvent" sparrowView.multipleTouchEnabled = YES; int mTouchCount = 0; float mPinchDistance; - (void)onTouch:(SPTouchEvent *)event { assert(mTouchCount >= 0); NSArray *touches = nil; if (mTouchCount < 2) { touches = [[event touchesWithTarget:self andPhase:SPTouchPhaseBegan] allObjects]; mTouchCount += touches.count; if (mTouchCount == 2) { SPTouch *touchA = [touches objectAtIndex:0]; SPTouch *touchB = [touches objectAtIndex:1]; mPinchDistance = [SPPoint distanceFromPoint:touchA toPoint:touchB]; } } touches = [[event touchesWithTarget:self andPhase:SPTouchPhaseMoved] allObjects]; if (touches.count == 2 && mTouchCount == 2) { SPTouch *touchA = [touches objectAtIndex:0]; SPTouch *touchB = [touches objectAtIndex:1]; if (([SPPoint distanceFromPoint:touchA toPoint:touchB] - mPinchDistance) > MIN_PINCH_DISTANCE) [self dispatchEvent:[SPEvent eventWithType:BONUS_SQUARE_PINCHED]]; } NSSet *endTouches = [event touchesWithTarget:self andPhase:SPTouchPhaseEnded]; mTouchCount -= endTouches.count; }
Posted 1 year ago # -
Cool mate, it's that kind of addicting games that make you dislocate your thumbs!
I also think that it would be a great thing to save for an update, although I have one doubt. Will this determine the success of my application initially? My thinking here is that if my game doesn't get on to enough devices (isn't fun enough) in the first release, I won't have any numbers to release the upgrade to.
As you know i have just a one game experience but i totally agree with your doubts. My two cents are that there are too many good games that deep pockets devs release for free just because they are some months old... we can't face them anymore in any way and, IMHO, you can actually count only on the quality of your product and so on the word of mouth.
Make your game at its best before releasing it, then listen for the users for the future updates. If you think that Baike's idea is good (i think the same) then drop it in the first release.
I got one single "medium low" review for my game and i totally agree with it. I was just too optimistic when i released it and i'm pretty sure that the same game done with less hurry was way more apreciated from customers.
I'm not comparing my game with your, you say that you will drop many different gameplay in it and this is very very important. But i advice you to hold on till you think your game is perfect because i don't believe that updates could save the life of a game.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sorry, just because of my english i would like to add a short and better response to what i quoted before.
My experience is that you risk to have a lot of people waiting and claiming for updates of a game that made you earn less than expected. I did not earned the 99$ of the dev license yet with my incomes but if i don't update my game again and soon you will see a lot of complains raining on me.
If i could have a time machine i would release my game with all the updates in the first version and then forget it if it does not fly or it does not have bugs to be corrected.
If it fly your customers will ask you what they really expect
Posted 1 year ago # -
LOL baike. Thanks for the amazing feedback everyone. I couldn't ask for a kinder or warmer community than this forum.
@Mik
WHAT? DRIBBLING IS SO COOL! ONE OF MY FAVORITE SPARROW GAMES!
That's too bad that you got a low first review.@baike
Again, thank you for your pinch square suggestion, I have contemplated it before and dismissed it as difficult to implement. Knowing that it is a welcome feature is very motivating and I have it working right now!
Posted 1 year ago # -
@enbr:
I'm quite happy of that review (Edit: sorry not the user one, the mobot one that i linked), infact i added a quote of it to my game's description:
"On the face of it, Dribbling probably seems a bit crap. Indeed, it does, literally, look quite rubbish. But it’s well worth spending a little time with." Added as "what people say"
Edit: The first user's review after the update is very bad because he bought the game and now it's free 
@baike:
Nope, your idea is great! Just wanted to share my sad and bloody experience I'm around 77$ till now. BTW, it's maybe important to say that most of them comes from banners instead of sells!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hello, just wanted to let everyone know I started a blog here.
I will post some stuff on different squares later.
Blog @ Brian Ensor AppsPosted 1 year ago # -
Can't remember what program he said it was, but i'm almost positive that it is Sound Stage from the Mac AppStore.
Posted 11 months ago # -
nice one!
I guess the game over/score screen could become a little posher, the white on gray font looks a little too simple IMO... use a little pattern/texture on the gray
I like the font, but you also want to play around with it, the green dots are a nice motif, maybe you can add that element to the font? Or add small arrows into it.
It appeared to be quite hard right at the start, so either make the trailer look easier and show a speed level where you play super fast (maybe even speed up the video) to see how "exciting" the game will be.
In order to make the game become harder over time, you can make the squares smaller over time, and also start changing the colors, so that the dots become blue, the arrows maybe red.You might want to have "ghost" tiles which become more and more transparent over time and once faded kill you (like bombs but with a different effect).
Or tiles that become stuck, or double dots which you need to tap twice?
Also maybe two modes, one is remove a certain number of tiles within a minute and the number of tiles to remove becomes continuously more, and one mode that just counts how many tiles in total within a given time, would work very nicely on openFeint in terms or achievements or competitions.
I was also wondering if you could use different "world" themes, where you add a frame of flames for "hell" or clouds for "heaven" something like that, the world determines either the level, or maybe the composition so in hell are tons of bombs, in heaven are more swipes...
I admit I am procrastinating, and use an excuse not to code right now, but maybe some of the ideas above are worth something,
Cheers Arend
Posted 11 months ago # -
Bart, yes I used Sound Stage and then edited with iMovie. It makes demo videos look a lot better. You could also use iSimulate in conjunction with this for accelerometer or multitouch based games, or just to make the gameplay look more natural. It was very difficult to play Squares in the simulator.
ahnt, thanks for your recommendations! I would definitely like to spice up the interface a bit before release, but I FAIL at graphics. The gameplay is very fast, the video just didn't do a good job showing it because I was playing with the mouse. A lot of your suggestions sound like great content for updates, and I will refer back to this later. The idea now is to get a fun, playable first game out and let players get good at it before I release more challenges. I actually do have double dots, not shown in the trailer because I put them in afterward. The double tap square (looks like concentric circles) and the rotate square (looks like rotation arrow) are powerups and are very fun.
Again, thanks for the advice. I will try to improve my interface some and include some of your ideas in future updates.Posted 11 months ago # -
Actually you can record videos with your device itself if it's jailbroken using Display recorder, that's what I did.
Posted 11 months ago # -
@freerunnering
Now THAT is slow. LOL!It's not bad though, only thing I hate is that you can't save the videos into the camera roll. You think that would have been the primary feature.
Posted 11 months ago # -
@shilo actually I don't notice a slowdown when running it.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Bart
MemberI'm getting a new mac when apples back2school promo starts again, and I just realized that my game might actually run smoother on that new machine. So maybe making a video from the simulator would be an option then.
@freerunnering: Thanks. My device isn't jailbroken right now, but that might be an option if the simulator is still slow.Posted 11 months ago #
You know like: "Oh sure I'd love to come to dinner...I'll let you know when my schedule opens up" 
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