09 November 2011

iPad Update

Introduction screen (work in progress)
The first pass at doing an iPad build is just to get it running on iPad, making each of the 40 or so screens big. This is not yet complete, but all of the management screens, interactive scenes, and the intro have been converted. It’s kind of cool playing the game and seeing all the artwork, while very rarely needing to scroll.

On the other hand, it’s painfully obvious that we still need new assets, and a lot of attention to layout.

One interesting thing that has come out of this so far: there is one less management screen. The two screens that appear as part of Sacred Time can be combined into one.

I also have a rough estimate for the size: probably about 250 MB. That’s for a universal build that has assets at two sizes. This compares to 104 MB for the current iPhone-sized build.

It’s also less than a number of games I’ve downloaded, such as the special editions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2. And way less than RAGE HD at 1.21 GB!

That’s a plausible size, and it also doesn’t appear that I’ve broken anything on iPhone. So it seems likely that there will be a universal build. That is, an eventual update that will play in native resolution on iPhone and iPad.

14 comments:

  1. It may be early to ask, but any ETA on it? Before 2012? As soon as you can confirm it will definitely be a universal build, I'll go ahead and buy it (as I'm sure many others will as well).

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  2. Never too early to ask, but it is too early to answer :) There's still a lot of work to do. Have I said it's a big game recently?

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  3. I'm not sure if this is the place to make feature requests, but as you are doing a new version, I'm guessing this might be a good time for it - I'd love to be able to see my sacred time magic distributions even after sacred time. A crisis or two requiring more actions than just the immediate response (repairing damage, taking advantage of an opportunity etc.) makes me often forget what I was doing and how I spread my magic during sacred time.

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  4. Most of the important Sacred Time magic allocations are commented on by advisors.

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  5. I really love your game and I'd like to make some requests too.
    1. I'd like enemies to attack your village while you're out raiding another village - or even theirs. Losing a few cows to cattle raids every now and then doesn't do much when you're gaining more by raiding than you lose by leaving few warriors at home.
    2. It would be awesome if you could actually land some damage on impossible enemies like Ironhoof. Sure, you'd still probably get trounced, but I'd like to see how well my village could fare against them. And I'd like to be able to win, even if only with massive casualties, against them if you have enough thanes/magic/blessings.
    3. Sometimes you can't take captives even when your enemy meets you with 0 soldiers. Why is that?

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  6. So... I just finished the long campaign on my iPad... and this is an incredible game! I'm amazed that more people haven't heard of it! If you make an iPad version I promise I'll get it!

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  7. Nivas, 1) There is such an event. 2) If you could, they wouldn't be impossible, would they? You will absolutely do very poorly against forces of nature. You will never have large enough forces. 3) Taking captives is always hard, but if you're being met with 0 warriors, that sounds like a bug.

    Josh, 1) I hope you're telling them! 2) You probably won't need to, all signs point to a Universal version so far.

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  8. Hi, if I buy KoDP for my Ipod touch now, i will have to buy it again for my ipad if KoDP is released as an universal app?

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  9. A Universal app takes advantage of the full screen size on any device. Our plan is to create such an app, so you would not have to buy a version for different sized screens.

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  10. That makes sense. I've never had that scene of being raided while raiding, though.

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  11. Hmm I didn't know there was a time limit on winning the game! Just stumbled on it in mine when another clan became king of Dragon Pass. Is this only for difficulties above normal?

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  12. Rats. Guess I'll keep holding out to purchase this, as I'd be bummed if I had to buy it twice. (only have an iPad). I'll keep checking here!

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  13. RJ: No time limit in the long game, but if you set things in motion and aren't able to complete them, you can lose.

    Mark, a Universal build is looking more and more likely.

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  14. That's exciting! I'll keep checking back here for the announcement. I'm looking forward to playing/buying this game.

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