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Welcome back for this second episode of Equilibrio Developer Diaries. If you missed the first episode or if you want to read it again, you can find it here.
Two weeks ago, I did a small presentation of the company, myself and the project we’re making on the iPhone/iPod Touch which is called Equilibrio. Today I want to talk a little bit more about what’s going on with the project, and it’s current status.
We are currently in alpha phase, meaning that we have all the game working, all the game features and mechanics have been implemented and are working as supposed to (oh yeah!). Which means we’re already looking at how and when to release the game. We’re also polishing the controls, adjusting the difficulty, placing the various bonuses etc.
So as you’ve guessed we’re already pretty much advanced in the development process. Except bugs, loading times and a small size problem to fit everything in memory our biggest concern is the testing process. I don’t own an iPhone yet (bouh!) but I own an iPod touch and for me it is quite difficult to get a testable version without having to put the build online or to grab it from the devs’ machine. It is also even worse if you don’t have a Macintosh…
When you’re developing a game, it should be easy to give a version to other collaborators whom may be designers, artists or musicians. Simply because a game is not just some code with graphics on top of it (I agree some games are like that). A game is a clock made of variables and gears which need to work smoothly together to create a good game experience. The gears (game mechanics) need to be adjusted by tuning variables. This process is done mainly through iterative tests. So as a game designer (I do the tuning), I do a lot of back and forth in all versions to adjust variables. If sharing versions is not a simple process, then it becomes a bottleneck for the whole production of the game.
In a nutshell, Apple’s system is pretty much secured for end users and I think it is simple and very intuitive to use. On the other side the system can be definitely improved on the developer side, especially if members of the same team aren’t physically in the same room and are remotely connected.
In two weeks, it will be screenshot week.
In the meantime have fun.
[...] third Equilibrio Dev Diary. You can read our previous entries at the following links: Entry 1 and Entry 2.Today I’m going to talk about a slippery subject: defining the price of a game on the App [...]