Big Changes This Way Come...Again

[Xienen]

If you guys have been interacting with us here, you already know that some big changes are coming again. They're not quite as big as the last big changes, but the whole game space is getting a needed overhaul to stream line the gameplay experience, so this is pretty big. Let us celebrate, as we often do, by listening to another of Stephen White's amazing tracks: the Punk song.

Since we've released new versions of the game, we've been getting tons of feedback from every direction. The 2 things we heard the most were "I don't understand how I'm supposed to win" and "I couldn't tell if I was winning". If you're one of our veterans that kicked this game's butt, then I'm sure these sound like crazy people talking. Interestingly enough, though, even the people that said these things still claimed the game was fun and addictive. From this, we could have just stuck to our guns and hoped for the best when we release the game later this year, but that's just not our style. We take every piece of feedback into consideration and check to see if there's something we could do better. In these cases, we believe we can.

First we contemplated "what are these dance moves here for?" with the obvious answer being "to give the game more depth". But are they really needed? They were intended to give players a way to strategize, but we considered the possibility that they are simply unnecessary. So we tried playing without them for a bit. Ta-da! They are a pointless addition to the game that detracts from the core gameplay, which is to simply hit the right color to the beat of the music and clear areas of similarly colored blocks. 1 problem down, 1 to go...

Why can't people tell if they're winning? Isn't that bar on the top very obvious? Why, yes it is; in fact, it's perfectly clear to even those people that made that statement, but they asked "when am I supposed to look at the top of the screen? in the middle of building? that's not a good idea". You know what? They were right! All of the action takes place in the center of the game board...so why do we have a crowd bar at the top of the screen? Could we possibly get rid of the crowd bar all together? Yes we can! And yes we did!



Last but not least, we opted to make the gameplay space a bit smaller, as well. There used to be 8 rings to place the blocks, but now it's down to 6. What do ya think? Looks pretty sleek and streamlined now, doesn't it?

[fiftyone]

I'm following.

[Bobdog]

I guess it will make it harder to instantly dominate the other guy with the dance moves removed.

[Xienen]

Well, the dance moves were never properly balanced, as we were focused on other aspects of the game before our initial release. We knew it was easy to game the system if you knew what you were doing, but we could have balanced it all out before the final release of the game.

This definitely closes the door on some of the potential balance issues, though, so you are correct. In fact, right now, it's nearly impossible to dominate an enemy ever =)

We'll be balancing it out before we release the next Early Adopters Build, which will be coming next weekend, with a slight possibility of us getting out this weekend.

[THEDDLE]

I see you are moving right up with this. I remember when I was first told about it. Congrats.

[Xienen]

Danke =)

Now we've just gotta finish it up, polish it up, and ship it out. Everyone seems to love the game...let's hope Steam loves it as well

[THEDDLE]

Well good luck. I wish you the best. Maybe some day I will learn how to make games to.... I am glad to see it is working out for you.

[Xienen]

Making games is probably the best job in the world It's just awesome...creating a game, watching it take shape, guiding it toward something fun, and then watching people play it and enjoy themselves is a priceless process. The only downside is that you'll probably become obsessed with it and not want to do much of anything else in life until the game is complete, polished, and fun...which is still awesome, just not for your friends and family

[THEDDLE]

If family and friends love you they support you. Sounds good to me. Keep up the good work.