★ Spooky Hoofs ★ Addictive Coach Ride by Gamesmold

124

Comments

  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    You're showcased all over the place. I bet you make top 10, I can feel it!

    I can't even give away my games as fast as you're selling yours.
  • nanygamesnanygames Member Posts: 41
    Hi! My game Star Jump Lite is Now On App Store! Download it now,I want to invite you to see it in this link:

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-jump-lite/id460983613?mt=8
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    You should make your own thread for your new game, nany.
  • gamesmoldgamesmold Member, PRO Posts: 279
    BackUpAndDown said:
    Nice, those are some pretty nice numbers. Just out of curiosity how long did it take to make the game?
    Hard to say. The main engine - about one week. The graphics - three to four weeks. Balancing, testing, bugfixing - four to five weeks. Approximately...
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    Deleted Nanny's post - please, if you're trying to promote your games, it's a bit rude to do it in someone else's game thread.

    Carry on!

    QS :D

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • nanygamesnanygames Member Posts: 41
    Sorry for my post , its not my intention.
  • gamesmoldgamesmold Member, PRO Posts: 279
    Cool, it has just surpassed Angry Birds Rio on the Mac App Store, place 7 in US Games.
    And place 23 in US Overall.

    Hope it also continues climbing on the iPhone.
    It's just on the brink of the Top 200 US iPhone Games, yesterday it has already been up there.
  • gamesmoldgamesmold Member, PRO Posts: 279
    iCliff said:
    http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/09/quickadvice-spooky-hoofs Great Game, Congrats :)

    Yeah, another review that was really positive! I had already discovered them and have put the best lines into the description text:

    Appadvice.com:
    "Spooky Hoofs sports one of the coolest art styles we’ve ever seen in a running game for the iPhone."
    "...easily one of the best time killers around"
    "If you’re a fan of the genre, or of really creepy iPhone titles, Spooky Hoofs is a must-have."

    TheAppShack:
    9 out of 10
    "Spooky Hoofs is a great endless runner with awesome graphics, and great power-ups, while the gothic vibe of the game makes it even better. This is one game that will be staying on my iPod for quite some time."

    Meanwhile, it's again slowly climbing into the Top 200 in US iPhone Games. At the moment, it's on place 196, while the peak was yesterday 189.

    On the Mac, it's been staying the whole weekend in the top 10 US Games, right now it's placed 8 and still 23 in US overall.

    Both of these weekend rankings seem to equate around 300 sales per day (means place 200 in US iPhone Games = around 300 sales, while place 8 in US Mac Games = also around 300 sales). But that might not be too correct, as Apple also considers some more factors for their ranking system than just the sales numbers (how long stuff stays installed, usage and so on).

    Over 600 a day, that is the best performing app I had so far.
    Only Puzzle Dozer HD once reached 800 on a single day, but that was when they had made it game of the week.
  • Seriously awesome game. There's nothing I love more than Halloween and retro games, and this one blends them together so perfectly. Just left a 5 star review in the AppStore and am currently trying to beat my high score of 20,000. Good luck with the sales (not that you'll need it).
  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    Downloaded it Yesterday from the Dutch AppStore for my iPhone.
    Awesome! I specialy like the way the game starts.
    Great job!
  • WeswogWeswog Member Posts: 1,171
    This looks awesome can't believe I didn't see it earlier will have to check it out :)

    Cheers, Weswog
  • wehaveapp.comwehaveapp.com Member Posts: 27
    Congratulations to this amazing game. Nice atmosphere and details combined with good looking animation. Looks very good and is fun to play!

    Cheers,
    Anselm
  • YodapolloYodapollo Inactive, Chef Emeritus Posts: 447
    @gamesmold

    Another killer app! I downloaded this from the Mac App Store the minute I found out it was live. I love it! I've been playing it everyday and don't plan on stopping any time soon.

    Great work, Thomas! Can't wait to see what you come up with next.

    --Yodapollo
  • sebmacflysebmacfly Member Posts: 1,018
    I bought it for iPhone...
    Just AWESOME... Nice job!!!!

    I love it, i'll left a great review in the french store.

    NICE NICE NICE
  • dreamZdreamZ Member Posts: 103
    I bought it this morning and i got addicted! Do you have a team or you did it all by yourself?
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    @gamesmold

    Can I ask you a question about the engine?
    Do you have one scene for all levels? This is a huge scene, with all the obstacles, power-ups, enemies, and backgrounds already in the scene, something like this:

    image

    or maybe you have different scene for each level (like town, swamp, hell?)

    or maybe this is standard scene (480x320), with random appearing obstacles, power-ups, enemies, and backgrounds - like in standard endless runner?

    Thank you!
  • gamesmoldgamesmold Member, PRO Posts: 279
    Hey, a yellow post... That's always nice, especially from you Yodapollo! :-) Thanks for enjoying my game. And of course thanks a lot to all of you guys...!

    @TheMoonwalls:
    Well, it's a single, very large scene. The background consists of two actors that simply change their images according to the appropriate stage. And they are continuously placing themselves on the far right once they went out of the screen to the left.
    The ground consists of 7 blocks that do pretty much the same, always placing themselves on the right side of the camera. That way, the coach can actually travel to the right and have the real physics working (the camera is following and the ground is also keeping up with it). And once the carriage has reached somewhat around x=10000 or so, I simply set back everything (ground, coach, enemies, background, camera etc.) to x minus 9000. That way you get the feeling you are traveling endlessly.
    And I only have 3 enemy/bonus actors: 1 for boni, 1 flyer, 1 walker. Bosses are the only actors that are spawned once they arrive.

    Cheers,
    Thomas
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    Thank you Thomas for this great, and descriptive info!
  • dotsonj23dotsonj23 Member Posts: 316
    gamesmold said:

    Well, it's a single, very large scene. The background consists of two actors that simply change their images according to the appropriate stage. And they are continuously placing themselves on the far right once they went out of the screen to the left.
    The ground consists of 7 blocks that do pretty much the same, always placing themselves on the right side of the camera. That way, the coach can actually travel to the right and have the real physics working (the camera is following and the ground is also keeping up with it). And once the carriage has reached somewhat around x=10000 or so, I simply set back everything (ground, coach, enemies, background, camera etc.) to x minus 9000. That way you get the feeling you are traveling endlessly.

    That is pure genius. Doing it that way you can: (1) make the platforms (ground) etc... non-movable and thus can use gravity and not have to do that normal work around with acceleration; and 2) still have an endless runner (without having to use wrap or, alternatively, without having to make the platforms movable and the player static, which I hate because although the actor appears to be moving due to scrolling, the actor is stuck to one spot on the screen).

    It took me a several hours to figure out exactly how to do it, but I am now re-designing the engine for a runner I was working on using that method. It works so much better and once I figured it out, it made my rules much simpler than the old way of doing it. Again, awesome idea.

    One question: the only thing I can't figure out is when I do the reset of the X's, my main actor "blinks" once for about .05 seconds. Can't figure out how to stop that from happening. Is there a solution to that? If not, then I'll just make it part of the game and make it look like a power-up since the reset does not happen very often.
  • gamesmoldgamesmold Member, PRO Posts: 279
    dotsonj23 said:One question: the only thing I can't figure out is when I do the reset of the X's, my main actor "blinks" once for about .05 seconds.
    That is happening for a single frame when the reset is going on and the camera position is resetted in a different frame than the player actor. That is caused by the order of the actors executing this.

    The best way is to synchronize all actors to do the reset, using a special flag, let's say game.setback = true;

    The actor that sets game.setback to true must lie in the lowest layer in the lowest position. The order in which the actor codes are exectuted is from bottom to top. So when every other actor lies above that actor, they all get the signal in the same frame and set themselves back at the same time - including the camera.

    Hope this helps!
    Thomas
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    Congrats man, I noticed this was a Staff Favorite on iTunes in the US store.
  • SparkyidrSparkyidr Member Posts: 2,033
    Grabbed this last night.

    It's great...but boooooy... that initial load time is a killer! (on my 3gs at least)

    Great game though. Super playable, great look to it too. And I love the mechanics of the horses and the cart and stuff. Technically really good!
  • SparkyidrSparkyidr Member Posts: 2,033
    Very true. And as a gamesalad user, I love that technical feat.

    as a regular punter though.......not sure sure..

    Anyways.. this is getting away from the fact that it's a great game.
    So well done to all involved.
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    Sparkyidr said:
    Grabbed this last night.

    It's great...but boooooy... that initial load time is a killer! (on my 3gs at least)

    Great game though. Super playable, great look to it too. And I love the mechanics of the horses and the cart and stuff. Technically really good!

    My *other* have game of last week, Jetpack Joyride, takes at least 12 seconds to load up on my 1st gen iPad.

    Spooky Hoofs takes 15 seconds.

    I think it's more than bearable!

    QS :D

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • SparkyidrSparkyidr Member Posts: 2,033
    Hoofs takes 37seconds to load on my 3gs phone
    Jetpack takes 11
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    Sparkyidr said:
    Hoofs takes 37seconds to load on my 3gs phone
    Jetpack takes 11

    Ah.

    I lost my 3GS :(

    QS

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • dotsonj23dotsonj23 Member Posts: 316
    gamesmold said:
    That is happening for a single frame when the reset is going on and the camera position is resetted in a different frame than the player actor. That is caused by the order of the actors executing this.

    The best way is to synchronize all actors to do the reset, using a special flag, let's say game.setback = true;

    The actor that sets game.setback to true must lie in the lowest layer in the lowest position. The order in which the actor codes are exectuted is from bottom to top. So when every other actor lies above that actor, they all get the signal in the same frame and set themselves back at the same time - including the camera.

    Hope this helps!
    Thomas

    Worked like a charm. Thank you so much. Its really generous of you to give out those secret sauce tips. You are one of the people that makes this community so great! Again, congrats on the the game. I love it and it really is the type of game that I think appeals to a wide audience as my wife and 4.5 year old love it as well (he wants a spooky hoofs stuffed animal, like his Angry Birds ones)

    [FYI....For anyone else trying this, make sure the actor that controls the camera is not the same actor that triggers the game.setback=true attribute. Otherwise the camera then moves first and you get the same issue. That should have been obvious to me once Thomas explained how the order of operations work but at first I forgot that that particular actor was also controlling the camera

    Also, it won't look right if you are using continuous particles (.e.g. smoke or flame) since they will won't reset as far as I can tell. So I'll just have to animate those items instead]

    Many thanks againThomas,

    Jon
  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    If you don't mind me asking, how much has this game made since its release?
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