Commove - The Video

Photics

It's pretty hard to promote a video game if you can't even mention the name. So today, I made a video for Commove.

http://photics.com/commove

It's a relaxing yet challenging strategy / puzzle game. The main objective is to make five in a row. That's not something easy to do with GameSalad, as the actors don't easily talk to each other. To work around this limitation, I created 35 sensor points on the 5x7 grid. One sensor for each point. I then created attributes to keep track of the sensor points and colors. It was highly tedious work, but I am quite satisfied with the results.

The game is easy to learn but the difficulty gradually ramps up. What's nice about Commove is that there are no annoying timers. The game doesn't limit how long it takes to make a move. That solves the "pause" problem with GameSalad games.

The iPad version is a bit more robust with features -- foreign language support, volume/audio controls, shapes to help users with color blindness, and story/instruction windows... I think I left in the hidden cheat too.

The music is great. I didn't compromise... STEREO SOUND!

Now that Commove is done, I feel a lot better about GameSalad as a development tool. Aside from the loading issue, I was able to resolve issues that I thought were once impossible. I think the game is incredibly fun.

You can visit http://photics.com/commove to learn more about Commove. The iPad version is scheduled to launch on June 4, 2010 and the iPhone / iPod Touch should be about a week after that.

If you want a promo code to review this game, and you're in the United States, then you can use the contact link at the bottom of Photics.com to send me an email about a promo code request.

design219

Looks like a winner!

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Tickle Stones http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tickle-stones/id363484260?mt=8
Food Fight! (free) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/food-fight/id352646643?mt=8

Photics

Thanks!

If not, I won't give up... I have an idea for another game.

Also, I posted screenshots on Touch Arcade...
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=1092081

BarkBarkCo

Can't wait for the iPhone version to hit. I must have had my head in the same cloud bank as you, as I have put a LOT of thought into managing a grid (5x5 in my case) of actors that need to "talk" to each other. Once I get a chance test your gameplay, I may have some pointers for you on the GS-logic side of things. 37 sensors sounds like overkill...but could be absolutely necessary. Like I said, I haven't played the game...

JackBQuick

It looks good! Congratulations!

Photics

barkbark00 said:
Can't wait for the iPhone version to hit.

Cool! I think a lot of people here are more interested in the iPod Touch / iPhone version of Commove. But unfortunately, it's still listed as "Waiting For Review".

barkbark00 said:37 sensors sounds like overkill...but could be absolutely necessary. Like I said, I haven't played the game...

I thought very seriously about the matter. Heh... sitting in my chair... staring at nothing in particular... I was thinking of ways to optimize my game. The sensors aren't visible and they aren't movable, so they are fairly efficient actors. This allowed me to break up the rules. I think it's better to have more actors with fewer rules than fewer actors with more rules.

JackBQuick said:
It looks good! Congratulations!

Thanks. I really like the video. I watched it many times today. Ha Ha!

chosenonestudios

Photics said:

I think it's better to have more actors with fewer rules than fewer actors with more rules.

I believe thats not true. I could be wrong, but I believe the more actors you have the harder it is on the processor. Lots of rules are hard too, but not as bad as lots of actors...

Anyway looks good! Can't wait for the iPhone/ iPod version!

Quick question will it run on 2nd gen and older hardware?

And how long are the loading times for iPad, and iPhone/iPod ???

BarkBarkCo

I'll be able to test on a 2nd gen iPhone...

goliath

looks pretty good my friend. I think that this has the potential to really catch on and sell big. I would be interested to hear how it does..

Photics

chosenonestudios said:
Quick question will it run on 2nd gen and older hardware?

The iPod Touch / iPhone version should work fine. I have an 8 gig iPod Touch, which is slower hardware. Commove runs at ~40 FPS and dips down some when the objects are moving. The game is designed as a GameSalad / iPhone (and iPad) game. So even when the game has a lot of action on the screen, it's still quite playable.

As for loading times... while not as bad as it was during development, (and I'm planning to update my game soon after Gendai Games releases a version of GameSalad with better loading times) I still consider it the worst part of my game, so I don't want to discuss that.