Release KAMI RETRO [update/fix] commercial release

[matzesu]

Ok, this means Aurora Rift ist good


Now i only have to Download this game succesfull, seems like i have some Problem whit this download...


But until then i play Kami Retro and Final Fantasy IX..

 

[relliker]

Kami Retro, my first commercial Pandora game, purchased I thought using the touchscreen would be a no-go but it's ok(ish). The keyboard area does get in the way sometimes when using the right part of the screen (I use the stylus left-handed) but it's not a nightmare yet, although I've only tried the first 4 challenges. We'll see when things get complicated. I'm sure my daughter will enjoy it more though as she's the gamer in the family and is more used to touch screens.

 

[Farox]

Finally Paypal let me buy this game...


just played a bit and i must say that is a nice game, professionally programmed, a little bit annoing music (at least on the level i played) but is totally worth the price.


Thank's for developing on Pandora.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

@ZXDunny I completely understand, I made sure to be very explicit in the description of KAMI RETRO in this thread to specify that it is touch/gesture controls, as I'd rather users that do not like this control system did not download the game at all, rather being 'tricked' into downloading and not enjoying it (and probably leaving bad reviews/ratings) as that doesn't help anyone!


@EvilDragon @PokeParadox well any button based controls would need to allow the user not only to move the characters individually, but also allow the user to manipulate components, in frantic levels you sometimes are moving a couple of KAMI soldiers around, and you realise your bounce pad needs to go a couple of pixels higher; with touch controls you can easily/quickly move the bounce pad up inbetween moving the KAMI soldiers around. I think it maybe possible to come up with something that works on the Pandora gaming controls, but I feel it would actually be quite a lot of work to get it to something worth doing. I am not totally against looking into this, however it will have a wait until I have more time!


@Farox I am glad PayPal finally cooperated for you, and thanks for supporting.


And to everyone else that has bought it, thank you again! I will be sure to mention the Pandora and Pandora community to other people, last year I spoke at various conferences including GDC in the US, so I'll take my Pandora along next time I go anywhere and show them KAMI RETRO + other software running on it. You never know, we may get some more punters buying into the Pandora!


Steve

 

[diligentcircle]

@EvilDragon @PokeParadox well any button based controls would need to allow the user not only to move the characters individually, but also allow the user to manipulate components, in frantic levels you sometimes are moving a couple of KAMI soldiers around, and you realise your bounce pad needs to go a couple of pixels higher; with touch controls you can easily/quickly move the bounce pad up inbetween moving the KAMI soldiers around. I think it maybe possible to come up with something that works on the Pandora gaming controls, but I feel it would actually be quite a lot of work to get it to something worth doing. I am not totally against looking into this, however it will have a wait until I have more time!

Here's an idea:


Like ED suggested, use the buttons and d-pad to control the characters, i.e. assign each to a button and control them by holding the button and pressing up to jump and left and right to move. If jumping actually has an analog component, you can also allow the left nub to be used in place of the d-pad (if not, might as well do that anyway, since psychologically it feels to me like the jumping is analog even if it isn't; some people having this feeling might not think about it and feel the physical controls are lacking).


For all the objects you move around, cycle through them with L and R (so, L selects previous and R selects next) and move them with the right nub.


By the way, I bought the game and loved it. I also want to say, for the record, I wouldn't have bought it if it had DRM.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

Just a FYI, the paid downloads are as follows:


Tuesday : 13


Wednesday : 10


Thursday : 5


Friday : 3


Saturday : 1


Today (so far) : 2


Total : 34


Revenue : 67.66 GBP


I believe that if other companies were to target the Pandora, with a high quality title that utilises the hardware controls, it is plausible a number more users were be interested too. Obviously these numbers do not compete with the other big mobile players, but it is still very pleasing to have another revenue stream, especially when you can get feedback directly from users and talk to them on the forum. In terms of percentage of user base downloading a title, I think Pandora is a good market!


Steve

 

[mcobit]

Thats true but of course I hope you get more purchases over time.

 

[_wb_]

I would probably have bought it if it wasn't touchscreen-only. I suspect there are some others like me, since obviously one of the core features of the Pandora are the physical controls.

 

[ShleeDragon]

The only other similarly priced application has around 73~ downloads. I don't see why this wouldn't surpass it quickly enough.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Bought this today, tried it out, and I've 5-starred it on the repo. Good graphics, great music and sound FX, and a solid gameplay. Touchscreen-driven, but it works well for this game, trust me (I'm not one to take a liking to anything touchscreen-only).


I love that the game remembers your platform placement when you replay the level, very convenient.


Excellent work.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

@bismuthdrummer thank you for downloading, and I am glad you enjoy it! Our first title, KamiCrazy, didn't have the functionality of it remembering the placement of all the components on restarting a level, and based on user feedback, we added it to KAMI RETRO! We actually released KamiCrazy on a few other platforms much later (as a classic release) and I can't remember for sure, but I think we added the component position saving stuff into that too!


If anyone does end up playing through KAMI RETRO, I can point out that there are also 9 golden letters hidden in levels (they will not appear until the level in question has already been completed, maybe even with a gold medal), when you pick up the golden letters they'll appear in the theme select screen. They are only there for a bit of fun, collecting all of them won't do anything fancy, or pay your mortgage etc.! Also, if you set your team up as four bunnies, the collectables will then become Easter eggs! One or two of the additional characters you unlock require a certain number of Easter eggs, which gives an incentive to play as four bunnies for a while!


Steve

 

[PokeParadox]

I bought it and had a very quick go - Seems very good! Very polished and the Touch gameplay seems quite nice really. Not played too much more since my Pandora is poorly... it has the PTOD so not so fun to play anything on it right now.


Thanks for a great game release!

 

[Rockthesmurf]

Just thought I'd post a quick update for latest sales figures, for those that are interested:


21 Aug : 13


22 Aug : 10


23 Aug : 5


24 Aug : 3


25 Aug : 1


26 Aug : 5


27 Aug : 1


28 Aug : 2


29 Aug : 1


30 Aug : 0


31 Aug : 2


01 Sep : 1


02 Sep : 1


03 Sep : 1


04 Sep : 3


05-12 Sep : 0


Total to date : 49


Revenue to date : £97.51


So around 50% more than my previous update on the 26th August, at this stage, it feels like it would be a hard sell for an indie to decide to come aboard the Pandora to make money (obviously a better title, that works with the native controls, may sell more copies) but just recouping the cost of the hardware is tricky, however for any developers that make games for other platforms and happen to be interested in the Pandora (and ideally own one) it feels like a nice little market to meet cool people and earn some beer monies! I ordered a Pandora on day one of pre-orders, so at the time releasing commercial titles wasn't even a consideration, so I'm not bothered about recouping the hardware cost (certainly it is a personal cost to me, not something passed onto Paw Print Games).


Thanks again to anyone that has brought a copy, I haven't received any proper bug reports, so hopefully it is working out for everyone.


Steve

 

[kuru]

^ Thanks for trusting in and supporting this project, too!

 

[A2000]

^^^Bug report...that reminds me of something

@Evildragon, I can't say I've noticed any issue with the control. Other than I am not very good at it yet when the game gets busier.

Then that's probably my issue as well


Just was wondering why even the tutorial failed to let the little guy jump


Will take a video when I find the time

I can confirm this. The guy won't jump, even in the tutorial. And it's tough to miss him there. It seems as the strike isn't recognized at all.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

@A2000: Could you possibly make a video of this bug? EvilDragon reported it, but hasn't found time to make a quick video to demonstrate it. I've never seen this issue on any platform, and would like to see it happen in case I can get any clues. I am certainly keen to find a fix, and am also happy to refund if I can't find a fix and this issue is making the game unplayable for you. During the tutorial, it doesn't take your input at all, it is more of a cut scene style system, so him failing to jump there is all the more intriguing.


Steve

 

[A2000]

*blush*...ahem... Epic Failure.


I thought I was expected to make the guy jump myself in the tutorial just like it was shown there.


I owe you an apology for making you think your game is buggy.


Now, on to the next levels .

 

[Rockthesmurf]

@A2000: Ah! Well, I'd say it's a failure on our part, the tutorial should be more specific that it is non interactive. The reason it does the 'cross' and 'tick' during the tutorial is to try to indicate that you need to swipe through the player, not just swipe anywhere on the screen. I have a feeling this isn't particularly obvious. Initially the tutorial didn't do this whole cross/tick process, however we found a number of users were attempting to do full screen gestures in game (nowhere near the character) which doesn't work. For your reference, the reason the gesture needs to be through the player, is on later levels you have to control multiple characters at once, so we need to be able to determine what character each gesture is intended to control.


I hope that helps!


Steve

 

[diligentcircle]

FWIW, I didn't find the tutorial confusing at all. But if people are confusing it with an interactive tutorial, maybe you should replace the word "tutorial" with "instructions"; that makes it pretty explicit that it's non-interactive (whereas a lot of games use interactive tutorials).

 

[EvilDragon]

I wasn't confused by the Tutorial, I expected it to be non-interactive.


I just found it weird that the Tutorial tried to showed me how to make the little guy jump and failed doing so.


It made the streak and the guy didn't react.