.EVADE - Available Now for Free!

ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24
edited October 2017 in Announce Your Game!

Hello! I recently joined the GameSalad community, and I just finished creating my first game. It's my no-coding-experience take on Ragdoll Avalanche (I was really surprised to see almost nothing similar at all to the game in the App Store). It's a pretty simple game (you just dodge spikes), but I'm happy with it.

I don't have a video preview, but here are some screenshots:


This is my first game, so there's bound to be some things I can improve on. I greatly appreciate any constructive criticism or advice, and I'm excited to be a part of the app store community!

Click here to download

Comments

  • tatiangtatiang Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 11,949
    edited October 2017

    It's a decently addictive game. I wouldn't play it more than a few times unless you add variety. But the controls feel pretty good and the randomness of the spikes seems fair.

    Are leaderboards only local at this point? Would be great to compete globally. I scored 352 on normal mode... we'll see how that holds up.

    Edit: 62 on hard mode.

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  • tatiangtatiang Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 11,949

    446! Think I forgot to blink.

    Congrats on finishing and publishing your first game.

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  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    @tatiang Thank you so much! Not a bad score, I believe my highest is slightly above 500.

    Yes, the leaderboards are only local at this point. I had considered adding global leaderboards, but I wasn't sure how to implement it (GameCenter?). I'll look into it and possibly add global leaderboards in a future update.

  • rainwaterstudiosrainwaterstudios Member Posts: 198

    @ryanb4257 said:
    (I was really surprised to see almost nothing similar at all to the game in the App Store).

    >
    Check out my game 'Evasion' on the app store :)

    It's a pretty simple game (you just dodge spikes), but I'm happy with it.

    The gameplay seems nearly identical to my 'Evasion: Dodge' game, which isn't available as a standalone app but is integrated into the main 'Evasion' game and implemented as one of an assortment of bonus round mini-games.
    In 'Evasion: Dodge', players accumulate score points over time, and can boost their score by catching items (stars, coins, etc) or activating lightning strikes that destroy enemies and provide points. When hit by an enemy, you lose both health and score points.

    I greatly appreciate any constructive criticism or advice, and I'm excited to be a part of the app store community!

    I would recommend:
    1) adding a health attribute, so players can get hit by more than one enemy instead of dying from a single hit
    2) adding a score can entice players to compete with others using the GameCenter.
    3) The visual aspect of your game is (IMO) overly simplistic, and would be much more appealing with some added colors or graphics.

    Is there a way to 'beat' your game/win? I'm sure you've heard the saying 'honey attracts more than vinegar' and I think you could benefit from applying this principle to your game - instead of getting an insult or sarcastic remark after being hit by an enemy and dying, you could award players with bonus points and congratulations based on their gameplay.

  • ToqueToque Member Posts: 1,187

    Nice. Clean black and white design works well for it.

  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    @rainwaterstudios (I apologize as I don't know how to quote so I'm just going to reply this way)

    I was clearly mistaken in saying that there is almost nothing similar on the app store, I guess a more accurate statement would have been "I couldn't find any similar games after a brief search".

    I played your game and I think it's great! There are so many different modes/arcade games so there's always something to do. I did have a bit of trouble, though, with not being able to see the character as well sometimes because of how it's controlled (by holding finger on top of it).

    1) that's an interesting concept, I hadn't thought about that. I'll consider adding it in an update.
    2) I had considered adding global leaderboards through GameCenter or in the app itself, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing it and I never really looked into it before release. A lot of the people that have played the game said they would like this feature, so I'll definitely add it in the next update.
    3) I personally like the simplistic design (largely because I'm not great at creating graphics), but players have also expressed to me that they would like different colors/skins so I'll be adding that in the next update as well.

    No, there isn't currently a way to beat my game/win, I wanted it to be set up as an endless game where you try to achieve a high score. However, I do think it would better if there was some way to progress (possibly like if you get above a certain score you unlock a new skin or something like that?), and I'll look into it.

    Finally, I do agree that congratulations/bonus points probably appeals to more people, but it's not my style and so I'm fine with that aspect of the game that I have currently (insults/sarcasting remarks) appealing to less people.

    Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate it!

  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    @Toque Thank you!!

  • rainwaterstudiosrainwaterstudios Member Posts: 198

    @ryanb4257 said:
    @rainwaterstudios (I apologize as I don't know how to quote so I'm just going to reply this way)

    You can quote a post by clicking 'Quote' directly underneath their post; you'll notice that each paragraph is preceded by an '>' symbol. To insert a comment within a quote, make a new line where you'd like to respond but leave out the '>' symbol.

    I was clearly mistaken in saying that there is almost nothing similar on the app store, I guess a more accurate statement would have been "I couldn't find any similar games after a brief search".

    In my experience finding games can be quite a hassle, even if you know what you're looking for; my games name is literally just "Evasion", but if I search for "Evasion" in the iOS app store, hundreds of apps and games show up in the results before mine even though the search is letter-for-letter identical with my game title. Super frustrating! Though your game reminds me of the 'Dodge' variant of my game, it isn't the primary play mode and is only implemented as a bonus round or mini-game. Thus, there aren't any screenshots of it and it would be hard to find without knowing that it's included in 'Evasion' and where to look for it.

    I played your game and I think it's great! There are so many different modes/arcade games so there's always something to do. I did have a bit of trouble, though, with not being able to see the character as well sometimes because of how it's controlled (by holding finger on top of it).

    Thanks for the support! I know what you mean about the finger control interfering with your view, particularly on a smaller device such as on an iPhone, as opposed to a larger tablet or iPad. I've actually implemented several different methods of controlling the icon which can be selected by accessing the 'Settings' menu from the main menu. Check it out and let me know which of the movement methods you like best! :smile:

    Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate it!

    Sure thing! :smiley: I look forward to seeing your updates! If you have any questions I'll do my best to advise you and if you have any suggestions for my game feel free to shoot me a message.

  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    Thanks for the support! I know what you mean about the finger control interfering with your view, particularly on a smaller device such as on an iPhone, as opposed to a larger tablet or iPad. I've actually implemented several different methods of controlling the icon which can be selected by accessing the 'Settings' menu from the main menu. Check it out and let me know which of the movement methods you like best! :smile:

    Ah, I hadn't looked there. And yeah I have an iPhone 5 so that explains the issue. I like touch screen the best as a movement option, although one bug I found: if you just get the character to move off screen with the touch screen movement option, it will dodge almost all if not all of the enemies, often allowing you to reach the end of the level without doing anything.

    Also, I will be adding unlockable skins and GameCenter leaderboards to EVADE in an update in the near future.

  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    EVADE: First Week

    EVADE has officially been on the App Store for a week. I'm very curious as to how other people's GameSalad games do on the App Store (the ones that aren't immensely popular and award-winning), so I thought I'd post my game's downloads, reviews, keyword rankings, etc. for its first week in the App Store. This isn't because I want to brag or because I think that the stats are great or anything, but because it's something that I'd like to know about other people's games and so I guess I should start by sharing my stats first.

    Downloads
    Day 1 - 29 downloads (I had texted a few friends telling them that I made an app and it was on the app store, but surprisingly 18 of these downloads were from outside of the US)
    Day 2 - 71 downloads (I posted about the game on my Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram, which explains the large spike)
    Day 3 - 22 downloads
    Day 4 - 8 downloads
    Day 5 - 9 downloads
    Day 6 - 6 downloads
    Day 7 - 4 downloads
    TOTAL: 149 downloads

    The downloads have been on a downwards trend since I posted about the game on social media, I'm hoping that it'll stop going down at some point and that with the update that I'm going to be releasing soon I can get around 15-30 downloads consistently per week. This is only a goal, I'll have to see how things actually go.

    Reviews
    19 ratings, 4.74 star average
    17 reviews, 5 star average
    (these high numbers are largely because a lot of my friends play the game and reviewed it)

    Notable Keyword Rankings
    (these are all for iPhone, since less than 10% of downloads are on iPad)
    "Evade" - 1 out of 1960
    "Retry" - 66 out of 262
    "Spike" - 87 out of 2133
    "Triangle" - 207 out of 1388

    Impressions
    Total - 15,764
    Unique Devices - 11,826

    As I mentioned previously, hopefully my numbers will reach their lowest point soon and then from there stay consistent. I'm not sure if the downloads from days 4-7 are organic (app being found in the app store) or are simple residue from the social media posts, I guess I'll find out based on whether or not they continue to drop over the next week.

    I'll be releasing an update soon with Game Center leaderboards and new skins, along with that I'll be hosting a contest where one of the top 10 scores on Game Center will be randomly selected to win a $5 iTunes Gift Card, so stay posted here for updates on that (or follow EVADE on social media, it's iOSEvadeApp on Twitter and Facebook).

    (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the social media accounts on here so if not then someone inform me and I can remove them)

  • ToqueToque Member Posts: 1,187

    I’ve had worse numbers for downloads. Nice even a few people download and play a few times.

  • rainwaterstudiosrainwaterstudios Member Posts: 198

    @ryanb4257 said:
    one bug I found: if you just get the character to move off screen with the touch screen movement option, it will dodge almost all if not all of the enemies, often allowing you to reach the end of the level without doing anything.

    Not sure what you mean by this... could you take a screenshot of this happening? The levels have walls on every side that should contain the character actor and make it impossible to move even to the edge of the screen, let alone off it completely; if you hit a wall, your health and score are both decreased, so if you make contact with a wall it will repeatedly damage you until you run out of hearts/health...

  • ryanb4257ryanb4257 Member Posts: 24

    UPDATE: I just released the first update for EVADE! It includes global leaderboards and unlockable skins. Gives a lot more motivation for playing the game as well as replayability.

    I'm also hosting a contest, all you have to do is retweet my tweet about the contest (I'll link below) and play the game, one of the top 15 scorers will be chosen to win a $5 itunes gift card! More details at the link below:

    Tweet link: https://twitter.com/NotRyanB/status/937809659410382853

    if you don't have a twitter, you can check out the contest details at https://evadeapp.weebly.com/contest.html

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