Bumps Review

Photics

OK, so I reviewed Bumps...
http://photics.com/bumps-review

I think I'm going to go eat lunch now. This game was so entertaining that I forgot to eat. HA!

DimensionGames

Nice

UtopianGames

Thanks for the review!

Working on an update for restart so it remembers your last position and as you mentioned 9 extra snow themed levels.

Did you try the breakout? that was one of my favs and we also had some fun with the 2 player modes in breakout.

Darren.

Photics

utopiangames said:
Did you try the breakout? that was one of my favs and we also had some fun with the 2 player modes in breakout.

Yeah, I didn't really like the Breakout game. The dude with the beard bothered me. Is he an evil bump? The game kept laughing at me. HA!

I think the main reason I didn't like the Breakout game because it's similar to Game #1 of Arcade Action. I think you made a better air hockey game than I did, but I liked my brick smashing game better. I did like how the Bump's eyes would react to a bounce.

It's good that you're adding more levels, but maybe an iPad version would be a better project? 54 levels, 4 mini games, some accelerometer stuff... how much do you have to put in a game to justify 99¢?

Riffel

Nice review!

UtopianGames

haha the guy with the beard is the wise old Bump

iPad would be better for this type of game for sure but while its high in the charts we thought we'd do the same as angry birds and the rest by updating with new content.

Yeah all that for 99c im with you on that one and have a few games i think would sell better than Bumps that i would love to start work on but while its still selling i think we should keep updating.

Darren.

AfterBurnett

Photics said:how much do you have to put in a game to justify 99¢?

I'd say by looking at the ratings, the price has been MORE than justified.

How much were you selling Arcade Action for again? Was it $1.99?

UtopianGames

Had a thought today...how long is it possible to be in the top 10? look at flight control how long has that been in the charts and when will the customers run out?

Say its selling on average 5000 a day surly the customer base will run out eventually? but it seems to keep selling and selling.

Bumps has just reached its highest position since release #18 Games so it must of be Photics review!!!

Darren.

AfterBurnett

utopiangames said: so it must of be Photics review!!!

Darren.

Dude... don't encourage him.

StusApps

Read the review. Not sure it really is a review. Kinda just criticises a few things and talks about yourself a bit.

When writing a review if you offer something 4.5 out of 5 then I would suggest that 4.5/5 (90%) of your review should be positive.

In your conclusion you said the flaws were minor but thats nearly all you have written about.

StusApps

@photics

on arcade action's brick smashing game, it is kinda broken. You used gravity (or I assume a downward acceleration) on the ball. So if you try to cut a side angle on the ball it doesn't give it enough distance or power to reach the blocks quite often. So it looks just like a weak girly throw and comes back down again. Not sure why a gravity effect would be needed at all for a block smasher. You could just turn down any drag and friction and let it behave like breakout or arkanoid.

Also the lack of any sound when the ball hits the bricks makes for a rather unsatisfying experience. The finger control is very unresponsive as well, jumps around and doesn't keep up with my finger. I felt it was one of the weaker of arcade action's mini games.

BarkBarkCo

StusApps said:
Not sure why a gravity effect would be needed at all for a block smasher.

Oh, I'm pretty sure his reason is explained in his book.

...Although, he might have cut that out (along with saving/loading high scores) so he could talk about himself some more. ;-)

quantumsheep

StusApps said:
@photics

on arcade action's brick smashing game, it is kinda broken. You used gravity (or I assume a downward acceleration) on the ball. So if you try to cut a side angle on the ball it doesn't give it enough distance or power to reach the blocks quite often. So it looks just like a weak girly throw and comes back down again. Not sure why a gravity effect would be needed at all for a block smasher. You could just turn down any drag and friction and let it behave like breakout or arkanoid.

Also the lack of any sound when the ball hits the bricks makes for a rather unsatisfying experience. The finger control is very unresponsive as well, jumps around and doesn't keep up with my finger. I felt it was one of the weaker of arcade action's mini games.

Are you officially a game reviewer now as well?



QS

AfterBurnett

I think he was just putting a certain "journalist" in his rightful place ;-)

StusApps

quantumsheep said:
Are you officially a game reviewer now as well?



QS

A kind of follow up to the bumps comments, and I needed to get some distance out of my 1.99 :-)

Photics

StusApps said:
Kinda just criticises a few things and talks about yourself a bit.

Did you read the same review?

-- it’s one of the best games in its class
-- it's the music and the artwork that makes this app special. It's vivid and lively.
-- It shows the game development skills of Darren Spencer.
-- It's a highly economical and entertaining iPhone / iPod Touch game.
-- The flaws I found were minor when compared to the quality of the game.
-- I suspect that many of the issues I found could be resolved with future updates.

It is my blog, so it's not unusual for the review to be from my perspective. I mentioned that I played it and forgot about eating lunch. Is that really a comment about my eating habits or is it a comment about the game?

The disclosure at the end is something more bloggers should do. I'm stating possible bias as I received a promo code and I'm an author of a GameSalad Textbook.

I think it's a strong review.

BarkBarkCo said:
...Although, he might have cut that out (along with saving/loading high scores) so he could talk about himself some more. ;-)

I was doubtful that a High Score / achievements chapter was necessary. It requires a lot of extra rules, behaviors and other attributes that can slow down the game. Today, I'm starting to change my mind. I'm considering adding more on that topic in the book. Bumps has an excellent stage select / stage unlock system.

As for the physics on Game #1 of Arcade Action, I prefer the gravity method. It creates a more random experience. It also fits the theme of flying through space.

Photics

POLYGAMe said:
I think he was just putting a certain "journalist" in his rightful place ;-)

Heh... don't you have a domain name bill to pay? Maybe spend less time trying to bring me down and put more energy into lifting yourself up.

I think the review is good and the game is great... 4.5 out of 5 stars!

StusApps

All those comments are there. But it's broken down like this:

1 x Intro paragraph
2 x positive comments paragraphs and game info
4 x criticism and things you didn't like
2 x conclusion in which you say you won't bother keeping it.

I dunno, maybe its a personality thing. Overall after reading the review it left me with the thought that you didn't like it much.

Devils

Well Darren the only thing that I could say as a customer is that the game was FUN! I'm 26 years old both of my kids 6 and 4 years old loved your game. As long as you stay with the $0.99 cents in mind I don't think the game will do bad. Keep coming with your updates and keep advertising the game and you will see that the game could beat most of the top 10 games on the App Store. I watch the App Store everyday and before I saw you game up there I was waiting for Dark Nebula 2 to come in and take over Angry Birds #1 spot. But seeing your game I have to say you stand a chance. I've been working on my game for a little over a year in a half now and it's still not up in the App Store. I just recently heard about Ian from DebugDesign and started to work with him on my artwork, just 2 days ago I finally spoke with someone that will possibly be doing my character animations so I hope that if everything keeps going like this maybe one day my app will give yours a run for your money All I gotta say is congrats you did a great job and keep it up. As for Photics review I think it could had been a little better since you are a member of the same community he is from but I also understand that he was doing a job when reviewing the app so no favoritism was involved. I think it was fair enough but a little harsh just my 2 cents.

Photics

StusApps said:
I dunno, maybe its a personality thing. Overall after reading the review it left me with the thought that you didn't like it much.

Well, I think the replay is an issue. Once you figure out how to clear a map, it's not a challenge anymore. For example, I think that blue key level could be better if the real key location was random.

I think the way to fix that is with more timing. The swinging arm levels are great. You have to concentrate and time it perfectly. Even if you know how to do it, you could still mess it up. But would that really add to the replay value? I don't think so. Some players hate precision gaming. Bumps is cool because it's more relaxed.

But if you read the article, I mentioned that for 99 cents, the game is yours indefinitely. It's surprising to me how the iPhone dropped the bottom out game prices. Back when arcades were strong, you could blast through a dollar in less than 5 minutes. It took me much longer than that just to clear the harder levels in the game. Just one of the mini games could be worth 99 cents. I think the air hockey one was great.

I think the message is there. The first and last paragraphs are highly favorable towards Bumps.

AfterBurnett

Photics said:
Heh... don't you have a domain name bill to pay? Maybe spend less time trying to bring me down and put more energy into lifting yourself up.

I think the review is good and the game is great... 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I've held my tongue for long enough. You're so quick to jump on everyone else and explain what they have done wrong in their games, you even devoted a chapter in your book on marketing, yet all you've done is release a couple of FLOPS.

Your pathetic little comments are really grating. First off you write "I like the idea that you don't know the secrets in the book" when I said I wouldn't buy it because of your NO PRINTING policy. And now taking a dig that I forgot to pay my domain bill (which is only ten bucks, by the way). And I don't need to "lift myself up" as you are endlessly trying to to in every one of your posts, you egotistical little *&%$. I'm quite happy being an equal in society... not a God in my own head.

You are a right tool.

quantumsheep

POLYGAMe said:
I've held my tongue for long enough.

Actually, I've been holding it for you.

Would you like it back now?



QS

AfterBurnett

Aw man, the last time you gave it back it was covered in hair.

quantumsheep

Yeah. Sorry about that.

If it's any consolation, none of it was mine.

Cheers,

QS

AfterBurnett

I'd already deduced that, hence stating it was covered in hair... not wool and dags :P

expired_012

Today it crashed on me 10 times Don't know why it crashed since i have a 3G 32GB Ipod Touch. Now it works fine after I rebooted my device. Regardless of the crashes, its an awesome game and it deserves to be up there. Maybe its only me experiencing the crashing anyways, but im sure you'll get it fixed. Ill leave a 5 star review right now lets bring it up to the top 25!

StusApps

POLYGAMe said:
I'd already deduced that, hence stating it was covered in hair... not wool and dags :P

Though I'm sure being a kiwi you'd prefer that :-)

UtopianGames

Yeah the break out physics....i coded it to act that way as it felt more in tune with the Bumps main game and it didn't feel right keeping a constant speed so yes sometimes you do have to bounce a few times to get higher.

10 times crashing awwww that's not good and im sorry about that but honestly im not sure what i can do about it.

Im guessing it was random crashing because of memory.

Maybe GS has a memory leak? and you need to reset device every now and then but we had long long testing periods will in development with no problems.

Darren.

UtopianGames

As a side note i just noticed we got 3 one star reviews in a row because of crashing

Darren.

AfterBurnett

I wouldn't worry. LOOK AT YOUR RANKINGS!!!! ;-)