Wow! So that was iPad launch day.
I’ll talk a little more about the “day 1 FREE” experiment after some results. Just before disappearing, the game was sitting at #60 in the Top FREE Apps (#13 Top FREE Games). Earlier today, I caught it at #55. Anyways, I said I wasn’t going to talk about this!
Like many other developers, I shipped the game to Apple for launch day without actually testing it on a real device. There were rumors that some developers had devices, but that wasn’t me. I plan to talk more about my “no actual hardware” process, but it is getting late, and today was rather exhausting.
Anyways, now that I have an actual iPad (see above), it’s bug hunting time.
Smiles HD actually did extremely well. No showstopper bugs, the game is fully playable top to bottom, just a small handful of oddities. Those include:
1. Music is sometimes jumpy when a game/the menus start.
This one was unexpected, and unfortunate. At the moment I’m not sure what’s causing it, since music plays just fine in the simulator. But admittedly, music was added last minute, so it could be something I messed up. *shrug*. To be investigated.
2. Clipping bug on Achievements Screen when wide.
Awww! I was pretty sure I caught all the clipping bugs, but the clipping on the Achievement screen I am doing something stupid, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Ah well, easy fix.
3. Skip-track then mute causes game to crash! (submitted by Angelo)
Yikes, I totally missed this one! It actually crashes the PC version too! Should be an easy fix. Nice find Angelo! 🙂
And… that’s all I’ve got. If you find any more, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.
There are some frame-rate issues that pop up at times, but none of them hinder the game at all.
I will be getting on those soon. I also have a list of things I’d like to sneak in that didn’t make the March 27th and 31st deadline. I’ll detail those when I get a chance. The above plus that should make Smiles HD 1.1 a good incremental update.
I’ll be playing the game lots on a real deal device in the coming days. If you have any thoughts on play, responsiveness, stumbling, etc, feel free to leave me a comment.
Online scoring, I want it just as much as you! 😀
If I can make a healthy dent in the Top 100 paid charts, it will be sooner than later. Giving the game away for FREE was definitely a risky move, but I know the game is good; I just needed some way of standing out in the launch day crowd. So hey, if the crazy scheme works and everyone plays it, loves it, and tells their friends, then you will definitely be seeing online high scores soon.
Unfortunately, that appears to be all the rational thought my brain has left in it for tonight.
Until tomorrow.