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.
I remember the crushing disappointment when I learned that Tilt to Live’s cooperative mode only worked with blue tooth connections. I have only ever had white teeth.
But lo! Through the magic of Game Center, Viva la Coop now features online matchmaking in new updates for both Tilt to Live iPhone and Tilt to Live HD! Just don’t try to play HD with your iPhone buddy; they’re different games. You can match to random strangers, or invite a Game Center buddy to help out. Bullet points!
- Viva la Coop can now be played online via Game Center!
- Big fat iPhone 5 display support! See parts of the background you have only dreamed about.
- No mic support, so your friends won’t hear you yelling at them.
- Replaced a few images that have been blurry for like 2 years.
For those wondering what the “Current Season” bit in their profile means, and for those that aren’t, here is a run down on seasons in Outwitters league play. Starting with season 2, each season will run approximately two months. We may change this in the future based on feedback and other factors. When a new season starts, your current rank and league are immortalized into a stone plaque in your profile page and you are put back into placement. When the new season starts, you will do 1 placement match to get promoted into a new division and league. Your hidden skill rating will carry over from the previous season, so you will continue to match up against similarly skilled players. We’re also changing points attribution to be slightly more reflective of someone’s success in the division instead of how many games they’ve played.
Season 2 is starting this Wednesday after a short period of server downtime while we roll out the changes and season 1 awards. So if you’ve been aching to crack that top spot in your division, now is the time to do it!
Joy to the world, Outwitters 1.4 is come! Here’s what’s new:
Season Support:
Like a real sport, but requiring less coordination. Outwitters ranks will now reset at the start of each new season, so you might not be in Fluffy League forever. The end of Season 1 will be announced soon.
Also Fixes:
- iPad base avatar store now works.
- You can no longer hear thorn patches being grown in the fog of war.
- Mobi’s position is no longer revealed in the fog of war when moving hidden teammates.
- Fixed HUD issue with tutorial on iPhone 5.
What’s Next?
We’ll be taking a look at some server statistics and shifting unit balances where needed, in preparation for Season 2! Edit: Sike. We’ll start Season 2 while we look over the balance.
Alex is jumping between Tilt to Live’s iPhone 5 support, an update to ¡Viva la Coop!, and Outwitters’ Seasons support (which has already been submitted). His goal is to get all of this done before the App Store holiday deadline. What’s all that got to do with me? Not a whole lot. I’m exploring new styles and experimenting with new techniques. It’s been a lovely week.
Tilt to Live went free this past week, and may still be free in an App Store near you. We were featured under Impossible Games and decided to get experimental with the price.