Last weekend I managed to squeak out an update to Squishy Bugs. The old url to the Squishy Bugs page on the Android market is no longer valid. I removed that package, which *poof* caused it to disappear from the market.
You can find the new Squishy Bugs market page here. I don’t expect to ever have to change market urls again. And if I do, you can always get the proper url at WaggSoft.com.
With this update I reduced the number of rows of tiles since some players complained that toward the end of the level it seemed to take too long for the bullet to reach the top-most tiles. This allowed me to display the player’s score at the top of the page. Which brings me to the other update.
The scoring system has been revised. Previously you were awarded 1 point for every tile that was falling the moment you squished a tile. 3 tiles falling? Squish a tile for 3 points. Squish another tile for 2 points (since there would only be 2 tiles left falling). And so on. Squishy bugs were worth a 2 point multiplier. No longer! Each tile awards a ridiculous number of points following the same number-of-tiles-falling rule. However, now you lose points for not catching tiles. Each tile that drops off the bottom of the screen will cause you to lose the same number of points as you would have had you managed to squish the tile. This prevents players from exploiting the multiplicative nature of the scoring system.
Also, the groundwork for adding new power ups has been completed. It should be relatively straight forward to add new power ups in the future. So in addition to the bouncy ball power up that’s already present, there will be a “drop similar icons” power up and a “drop similar colors” power up. They will work similar to the way dropping groups works right now, which is that groups of the same color and icon fall together if one of them is hit.
Some update in the future will see the addition of accounts which will tie into a WaggSoft community page. This will allow for global high scores (another feature to add) and potentially allow for the addition of special events.
So I totally forgot to mention that Squishy Bugs is now available on the Android market. It’s free. It’s ad supported but not in an intrusive way. You actually only see the advertisement when you are *not* playing the game. Like when you are viewing the main menu or settings page. That kind of stuff.
It’s an early release. I’m calling it version 0.0.1. It’s going to change a lot by the time it’s done. There are at least 3 powerups I can think of that need to be added to the game. The sound effects will be tweaked. I want to have global high scores, and I’ve already written most of the server code for that.
So if you have an Android device, please check it out. It installs to the SD card by default and it only takes up 1.9MB of data.
Also, if you have any issues to report or want to discuss the game or ask questions then you can do so at the forums. Or reach me over Twitter.
Squishy Bugs is scheduled for release soon, barring any surprises/complications. I haven’t gone through the process of submitting to the Android market, yet, so I’m expecting something as simple as uploading and pressing a button marked “Publish”. I hope there’s no signing any packages or hoops to jump through, and if there are that the instructions are simple. I’ve already created and paid for my Android market account. I’m already set up to receive funds through the market. All systems should be “Go”.
I’m just polishing up the last little bits I can in the time permitted. Just last night I started working on the tutorial. I would like to believe the game is simple enough to figure out without instructions, but it can’t hurt to be prepared.
I hope to have the tutorial finished tonight or tomorrow. Then I can go back to fixing the last couple (low priority) known issues. And then adding sound effects. And hiding the advertisement when not on the menu. And then tweaking the scoring system. And then… there’s a whole list of things left to do. Oh yeah, I kind of still need to add squishy bugs to the game. You know, the things that give the game its name? Yeah, they’re still not in here. And finish building the web site…
I’m still on schedule for a December 24 release. Progress will be posted here, as usual.
19 months ago I linked to a podcast where Tommy from Team Meat said that nobody uses Linux and that Super Meat Boy likely would not see a Linux release. He replied in the comments that there would need to be enough enthusiasm for a Linux version in order to make the effort worthwhile.
Humble Bundle 4 featuring Super Meat Boy.
Yes, that means Linux.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately on how to price a game on the Android market. I’ve given myself a deadline for codename Squishy Bugs (by the way, that’s the new name for codename Frog Fly). I plan on having something, anything, but hopefully something playable and fun on the market by December 24. There’s no strategic plan for that date, I just told myself I’d have the game playable and on the market by Christmas. December 24 just happened to be the furthest date away that still fits the deadline.
Now that a date is set, what do I do about the price?
I’ve been considering the following plan. First, the game gets posted to the Android market December 24 essentially as a fully featured demo. All power-ups and game-play elements are in place but users are restricted to a limited level set. And the game would be ad-supported.
Then I continue to polish the game. The December 24 demo would be considered the “first 90%” of the game. When the game is at a semi-polished level, somewhere in the last 10% of the development cycle (for those not in the know, the last 10% of development is the longest part of development) then I put a new build of the game up on the market with the lowest possible price point. $0.99. And I remove advertisements from the new build.
Early adopters get in at the low low price of $0.99 and get to play and suggest features as the game reaches completion. This could be a month, it could be half a year, but they get in at $0.99. And when that last 10% is done then the price raises to $1.99 (but not without a nice sale price for the first week or two to transition new purchasers into the product).
At least, that’s the thought right now. I’ll be continuing development on the game. I’m trying to post new screenshots every Saturday but there’s really not much new to show. It’s the same sort of screenshot every time. And I suppose I should get WaggSoft and the forums operational some time soon, too. I’ll need those forums to get feedback on demo.
