Space Watch Trilogy

It's been almost 3 months since Kepler Attack launched on the App Store as a paid Apple Watch exclusive.

The game did well out of the gate, getting a bunch of downloads without any featuring and has continued to perform well. So far it has garnered over 61 rating with an average review score of 4.6.

I quickly followed up the launch with an update that included iOS support - letting folks play the game on their iPhone or iPad using the touch screen in lieu of the Apple Watch Crown.

In terms of marketing I managed to get only two online reviews despite sending the game out to as many Apple and Watch sites as I could. I'd like to give a big shout out to The Apple Watch Cast and HotshotTek for their support! I will continue to try and get the other sites to notice my game, so if you're reading this you haven't heard the last of Kepler Attack!

As far as I can tell, most of my installs have been organic via people finding the game on the App Store through search and browsing. 

However, just this week I was excited to see that Apple featured Kepler Attack in the What We're Playing section of the App Store!

Featured on the App Store!

Plus, Kepler Attack is also featured on the Apple Watch App Store running on WatchOS 6 Beta!

The new Apple Watch App Store

Before any of this happened, I had decided to dig in and go hard on Apple Watch games. And now with the featuring it feels like I may have made the right call - of course time will tell.

It's no secret that I am a huge Apple Watch fan, having worn an Apple Watch since the day they were first released. I even had a game (Snappy Word) on the Watch on launch day. 

I love my Watch and I love games and I think there are others like me out there who enjoy playing on their Watch. The only problem is it's been damn hard to find apps and games made for the Watch. I'm hoping that the upcoming Watch App Store changes that.

So, along with Kepler Attack, I've been working hard to make a number of games for people to play now that they will be able to browse for content on their Watch.

I figured that I would share my journey making these games in a series of dev blogs.

To kick this off, here's a look at my next Watch game called Star Warp. It's another space shooter game, this time inspired by Galaxian.

Star Warp builds on a lot of the work I did for Kepler Attack - using the same framework for high scores leaderboards, front end menus, game over logic and ship movement.

I'm hoping to use the work I've done to start to evolve each game. I don't necessarily want to make them more complicated as I think there's a sweet spot for content and play session time for these games - but I definitely want to start pushing what the Watch can do in terms of mechanics and play style.

I'm aiming to launch Star Warp in early September - so In the meantime, why don't you check out Kepler Attack on the App Store here!

Oh, and the title of this post is Space Watch Trilogy... so yeah, there is a third space game in development.. but that will have to wait until the next post!

Cheers,

Johnno

Billy Carts Dev Blog 13 December 2016

Yesterday I caught up with the talented Pete Mullins, my co-conspirator on Billy Carts, so we could go over what we've done so far in the game, and more importantly, plan what we have yet to do.

Like many indie game projects Pete and I are working remotely on this one using Trello, Unity Collab, email and Google Drive to share assets, ideas and documents. So it's great to catch up in person every now and again!

As a result of our meeting we worked out that our first priority is making sure the game controls well and feels fun. Pretty obvious really :-) We're not too worried about the overall design just yet - we're fans of iterating rapidly on ideas to see if they work or not and letting that shape the game. Definitely not the approach I would take on an adventure game, but with fast action games it's all about the moment to moment feel.

Yesterday was also a great opportunity to get some first pass assets and integrate them into the game.

We're aiming for a very Australian theme with Billy Carts pulling inspiration from where we live. So I expect a few of my Aussie friends will cringe when they play the game. Make them squirm, I say!

Some of the new assets Pete built include a petrol can (or gas can for Americans) and a coin.

Collectable coin featuring a koala!

A petrol can that refills your billy cart.

Technically Billy Carts are box carts and don't have engines that require petrol/gas - but this is a game and we're prioritising fun over facts :-)

If the game has a positive reception and we're lucky enough to keep building on it post release, we're definitely keen on adding new environments inspired by other countries - particularly some of the beautiful scenery from the USA. So fingers crossed it does okay!

One of the new assets we added in during our catchup was a sharp right turn in the track. It sounded like it would be fun on paper but in practice it slowed down the game play - so we nixed it.

The track is  made up of small segments that are each unique in their shape and include small hairpin curves, dips, hills, etc. and this seems to work well.

So, the next step is to wire up the new assets, see how they feel and tweak them. This is a process we'll be repeating until done, so stay tuned to see where we end up.

Coins in the game!

Cheers,
Johnno

Gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away

Steve Jobs famously said "Focusing is about saying no."

I've been thinking about this quote a bit lately. Like many game developers I have a number of games I want to make. And like many game developers I've even started building some of these games.

I had been developing a prequel to my classic adventure game Flight of the Amazon Queen as an Apple Watch game. I love my Apple Watch and love adventure games. With titles like Lifeline doing well it seemed like an opportunity to do something in that space.

The game, creatively titled Return of the Amazon Queen, was shaping up to be an interesting adventure. I had the idea for it, and I said "Yes, I'm going to do this." In reality, I should have said no. The audience for adventure games lives on the PC. As much as I love my Watch, the audience for the game on the Watch was probably going to be me - and I already know how to solve all the puzzles!

Return of the Amazon Queen on Apple Watch

As well as the Amazon Queen prequel I had also developed a 2D endless runner in Swift. The game is 90% done, meaning the remaining 10% will take at least 90% of the time I already spent on it to actually wrap it up. It's the seemingly little things like ad networks, leaderboards, testing, etc. that take up way more time than people think.

A character from the endless runner made with programmer art!

While the game was fun to play (for me at least) it didn't get the reaction from family and friends that I had hoped for. They tended to play it for a bit then politely return the phone back, or switch to another game (never a good sign!). I could try and fix, but the reality is the style and mechanic, and the fact that it is 2D, are all factors keeping it from greatness.

So, I've folded these two games in order to focus on Billy Carts, a game that has already elicited more excitement from those I've shown it to than my previous efforts.

There is always that sense of duty to finish what you started, and that's a great thing to help you keep focused so you actually ship your game. But sometimes its best to put that game aside, write of the sunk cost of time and effort, and focus on the better idea.

The good news is that the time I spent on those two unfinished games only helped me become a better programmer and designer. I managed to get experience with some new frameworks that will carry over into Billy Carts.

Remember, even if you do say yes, it's okay to say no later and walk away if you really believe that that is the best thing to do.

Time is precious and as indie developers it's important to make stuff that isn't just okay but is great. We're doing this because we love what we do. We are fortunate that we're not a cog in a big publisher driven machine making some licensed game for a pay check. We're in control, and sometimes we may get a little out of control, but ultimately we have the power to say no and make things right.

You're never too old (or experienced) to ask for help

With the new game underway in Unity, I'm finding that I have a lot of new stuff to learn. I've been using Swift for the last year and now I'm learning how to program in C#. I can find my way around Xcode but now I need to find my way around the Unity IDE.

While the internet is an awesome resource full of tutorials, how-to-videos and code samples sometimes it can be a struggle to find the answer you're looking for.

If you find yourself hitting your head against the wall and are spending way more time than you should trying to solve a problem, then swallow your pride and reach out to other indies and ask for help. Most are cool and are more than happy to help out if they can.

Hopefully you'll get the answers you need and will be back making your game.

And don't forget to be on the lookout for others experiencing pain so you can pass on your newfound knowledge. It pays to pay it forward.