Today marks the last day of January Idea Diarrhea (TM). Wait. I can do that better. January Idea-rrhea.
We’re wrapping up our game design experiments today, so early next week we can resume making things to sell, to make a living or whatever. First up on the agenda: Outwitters remix maps! We’ve got some new designs like Foundry II and Thorn Gulley II that we’re eager to balance for a release. Should have those ready sometime in February.
As you’ve likely already noticed, Outwitters 1.5 is out! This update buffs the Veggienauts’ thorn patches to 3 health, so enemy soldiers and runners will have a harder time cutting through. You can even medic-boost them to 4, so no one can kill them in one hit! Since it’s tougher to clear thorns from the map, we’re giving out a bonus wit for each patch that’s killed directly.
Changes:
- Bramble thorns now have 3 health
- Players get 1 wit for killing a thorn directly
- The League Point system was amended to make divisions more competitive
- Fixed some memory leaks that would cause crashes
The special unit buff update (which does not have a very catchy name) is still in Apple’s review queue at the moment, but should be arriving soon. We’ve already had a few inquiring minds asking about what’s next: Gametypes? New team? New maps? We haven’t actually decided yet. It’s what we’ve been thinking about all month.
Around the start of the new year, Alex and I decided that January would be dedicated to experimentation. A time to explore different prototypes of things that could be, before we dive back into the production grind. We’ve still got one more week of exploration before we have to figure out that whole “what’s next” thing.
Signups end today for the Outwitters 2013 Winter World Cup! This is the forum tournament big leagues, so we’re putting up prizes for the top three contenders:
- First Place: $25 iTunes Gift Certificate and Most Respect
- Second Place: $15 iTunes Gift Certificate and Some Respect
- Third Place: $10 iTunes Gift Certificate and Hints of Respect
You must be at least 13 years of age and provide a valid email to claim your prize. Click here to sign up, and remember: your registration is incomplete without ALL of the requested information.
This slipped under our radar, but voting is underway for the Best App Ever awards and we’ve been nominated in FIVE flippin’ categories! Those are nominations by the public, so it really means a lot that you guys thought us worthy. Click a link to support Outwitters in whatever category you like. If we win something because you voted, it’s kinda like you won something, eh?
We’ve been testing that special unit buff for a week now, and will be meeting sometime today or Monday to give it a thumbs up or down. Big thanks to our testers for providing your feedback on the beta boards. We don’t always have time to reply directly, but we do read through and consider everything. Keep an eye on your email, because we’ll be needing your help again very soon for something a bit more interesting.
King of the Unit Shuffle
Congratulations are in order for TheGreatErenan, who has conquered probably the craziest tournament idea you guys have come up with. In the Micro Strategic Starting Unit Tournament (TM), competitors dueled using starting units only. That’s right: perma-death for everyone involved. As you can see from watching a replay: this means LOTS of hopping around and fog of war manipulation.
TheGreatErenan mastered the art of the unit shuffle and came out on top, and for that we salute him.
- Tiered Tournament (Some Super-Titan slots still open)
- 2v2 Tournament (Partner and rank required)
- Tournament for All (All skill levels welcome)
Tinkering with an Update
Like I mentioned last week, we’ve got a beta build being put through its paces to tweak an under-performing special unit. Dialing back the suck a bit. My and Alex’s preliminary testing has our slacker feeling a lot less feeble, so if the tester data looks good we’ll ship it off for Apple’s approval soon!
Our New Year’s resolution is to stop 2012’ing. From now on, we’re only 2013’ing, or higher.
Our first order of business was to take a look at our analytics and see how the last gameplay changes have settled out. Surprisingly, the balance seems to have improved across the board. Where once there was a heavy first-turn advantage, it’s much closer to 50/50. The special units are even looking more evenly matched. There is one exception, and we’ll be sending a buff their way in the next update.
Really Cool Fan Stuff We Noticed
As a side note, if you haven’t checked out the fan-made Outwitters Sports Network recently, you might want to give it a fresh look. David Lambert the Code Penguin has been busy. You can now watch popular replays from high-level players, or break down replays of your own move by move. It’s honestly better than our in-game replay for people wanting a closer look at their matches.
And while we’re dropping fan links, there’s also the super-cool Map Creator Tool developed by forum vet Harti. You can’t use your maps in-game, but there’s nothing stopping you from printing that bad boy out and playing on a tabletop with pen and paper, like pappy used to do. Fair warning: it’s a beta, so it’s only been tested in Chrome 23, IE9, Chrome on iPad 3, and Safari on iPad 3 (sometimes laggy, cannot load maps).
It’s a new year. A fresh start. Where there was once a two, now there is a three.
And in honor of that new three (or perhaps for no reason at all) everything in the Outwitters store is on sale for a limited time! Act now to grab the Über Pack for two bucks off, or a shiny new base for 99¢. Did I mention this is only for a limited time? Yes, I just reread it and it looks like I did mention that already.
