...Is release still anticipated this month? ...Now that there are only 6 days left in the month I feel unsure.
We are still in a great position to get the game to apple this month. Of course there will still be a little wait after that while apple approves the game but given the level of testing we've been doing we don't expect any problems.
Ok! An Update! The good news is that we've just put a feature freeze on the tactical parts of the game. So that means we're happy with the gameplay and the interface. We put a lot of effort in to getting a tactical interface that does some complex stuff but never feels in the way or cumbersome. We really hope you like it. It's a dream to play and the attention to detail really shines. While the tactical parts are feature complete, the menu and AI still have a tiny list of tasks to get through so it'll be a sprint to the finish line. I'll keep you all posted but I'll have to go now and push on with those menu bits!
We've posted some progress info here : http://www.tome-studios.com/ Unfortunately, because Danger Alliance is completely self funded and I ran out of funds, I had to find full time work which has been seriously cutting into my Danger Alliance project time. We tried to make solid plans around this but with my time now spread so thin the slightest hiccup can take a while to resolve. With a core team of only an artist/designer and a programmer things take a serious hit when the programmer has to spend most of his time elsewhere. Thanks for sticking with us during this period - we really are working on Danger Alliance in every spare moment we have and it really is getting closer to completion. So you can track the progress, here are the main things left to do: * Animate the loading screens that give hints on how to play Danger Alliance * Make a few tweaks to the Strategic Victory AI to make them a bit more challenging * Fix some issues with resuming the game after pressing the home key * Fix a couple of missing stats that go missing when saving/loading * Lock certain levels for the Lite version * Hook up a few sounds in the main menu. So the main parts of the game are well and truly done and it's just some extra polish and fixing some side case issues. Thanks again for supporting us through our development and we'd love to hear some words of encouragement to get us over the finish line!
I've followed the game when it first launched the topic Lost Company but I forgot about toucharcade in general, will it support 2g iPod Touch? And is the focus still multiplayer?
To run Danger Alliance you'll need a device with OpenGL ES 2.0 support. As far as I know that includes: iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4 iPod Touch 3rd and 4th Gen iPad 1 and 2 In order to get the game performing and looking great we had to use some of the features of the newer graphics libraries.
We've done it! After weeks of near sleepless nights, hundreds of hours of testing and even more in development we've finally completed the final 2% of tasks and Danger Alliance: Battles has been submitted to the App Store! It's been an exciting two years of development as we sweated it out to create our vision of perfection - a 3D tactical turn based game that's gorgeous and pays high attention to the fine detail. This isn't just a slapped together tactical mashup - this is art - with all the trimmings. So much thought has gone into every element - every character - every weapon - every level - even every different screen orientation on every different device to make the interface perfect for how you're playing the game. And the AI has been providing a competitive challenge to our Beta testers on normal difficulty (no buffs or handicaps - an even playing field for you and the AI) which is really exciting. We're just so excited and proud of what we've accomplished and we just can't wait for you guys to try it out. Despite being forced to play it 24/7 for testing, I still load it up and play it for fun Thanks for hanging in there - this is going to be awesome !!
I am concerned this might not reflect well on your testers. You also need to test the game with people who can exploit the AI's flaws. But I am looking forward to seeing for myself.
The best way to think of Danger Alliance: Battles is like a sophisticated chess game on steroids. One tester actually described DA as "Like chess with rocket launchers and cricket bats!" So the core fun in this title is the turn based tactical match-ups, and out-witting your opponent with careful placement and planning that lets you smash them when you get within range. Watching the cartoony characters performing your commands and dealing deadly killing blows is also a lot of fun There are 6 battlefields to play on and each map has its own strengths, weaknesses and features - * Maps come in various sizes for long range or short range match-ups * The 3D terrain really matters! We have a sophisticated Line Of Sight engine that makes cliffs and hills provide cover for your units. You can hide up against the base of cliffs, or take the high points for greater coverage. * Water zones on maps slow you down to half speed to make key points more of a challenge to control * Obstacles at full and half hight provide tactical barriers - half hight gives some protection against projectiles, full height means you're mostly safe (but watch out for grenadiers who can lob grenades over both!) * Each battlefield has been hand crafted over many, many months to provide an excellent balance of tactical control points and game pace. We have about 10 battlefields that have been tossed as they didn't make the grade and provide the deep tactical engagement we were looking for. (You should thank Moj for his excellent level design skills!) When you get the game, you'll only be able to play the first battlefield - as you complete games against the AI more levels will become unlocked. And once you unlock all the levels, a special Strategic Victory (capture the flag) mode is made available for all the previous battlefields! And to top it off, you'll really have to think hard about choosing the right team as we have a bunch of pre-made AI teams for you to fight against. You wont know who you're fighting until you start the battle so you'll have to adapt your tactics on the fly. And as you get better you can play through with an Easy, Normal and Hard AI. So back to your question : Skirmish battles *are* the only game mode in this release, but it's not *only* a skirmish mode. With all the game modes, complex level features, different AI challenges and the ability to play against friends on the same device it's a very rich experience. We still have a story line and a bunch of campaign levels so they will come - but they are more of an extra than the main event to add depth to the characters. And now that we have a solid rule set and interface, it's going to make the campaign much easier to complete. And finally, with iOS 5 just around the corner, we will also be utilising the new Challenges feature to allow turn based games over Game Center. A bunch of new characters and weapons are also in the final stages of testing and will be ready for the game soon too.
