Having survived the update deadline crunch, Alex and I are now happily sweeping up bits of awards and polish that weren’t quite ready in time for Gauntlet’s release. A minor update will hit your device this month. A major update will explode your device next month. So start saving up for a new device.
My gift to you:
My personal iTouch wallpaper. If you put this on your iTouch and set it next to mine, I’ll probably be baffled! If you don’t understand why this wallpaper is great, then you didn’t get a 700 combo. If you can’t get a 700 combo, feel free to use a more accessible wallpaper.
So we’ve finished the massive game mode update we had planned for April release. Sadly, we finished it a bit behind schedule :[. Having submitted the final binary to Apple very early this morning we suspect it’ll be a few days past our intended launch date before the game goes live on the app store. My frustration for shipping late was only outweighed by our vicious desire to not release something we felt was unfit for release. Those extra few of days of gameplay tweaking and balancing we feel paid off in spades in the end, so we’re hoping you guys will get a kick out of the new modes :). In case you already forgot about what’s going to be in this update:
- 2 new game modes: Gauntlet and Code Red. Each with their own AGON leaderboards!
- 6 new awards to earn and brag to your friends about
- New how to play screen that gives a slightly better explanation of WTF is going on
- Fixed a nasty bug causing devices with some international region formats to crash
As always with game development, we didn’t get everything we wanted in this single update, but we certainly got the fun stuff :]. We’ve got a decently sized list of user-requested improvements and features that we didn’t have much time to work through in this update, but will be hopefully addressing in a little while. We’ve got a few more goodies in the coming months for Tilt to Live so watch this space.
Oh, and mucho thanks to TA for the honor of being one of the Games of the Month for March.
“lol i wonder if the app store will allow the [Code Red] description to be “classic mode on crack” cuz doesnt that violate some drug reference rule or something”
That’s a difficult question, and I’m glad you asked. Technically, it’s justifiable for Apple to reject our update if we don’t disclose that as a drug reference and change our rating accordingly. There’s no double meaning to it; crack is crack. On the other hand, it may be permissible because it doesn’t imply that any people are using the crack, just that a game mode is experiencing the effects of crack metaphorically. It’s not actually illegal for an abstract noun to use metaphor crack, which I believe eliminates the controversy altogether. In the interest of delivering the update on time, though, we may want to tread softly on this explosive topic. Tempers run high in the war on crack.
We’ve got an interim update for Tilt to Live coming in the next week or so. It’ll be addressing some issues we’ve come across from the mountain of feedback we’ve received. We weren’t able to get to everything, so if you don’t see an improvement you were hoping for in this update, keep in mind we’ve got a huge update coming in April and it may be in that one. Hopefully it won’t take to long, but I imagine Apple is having it’s hands full with reviews of the slew of games and apps for the launch of the iPad in the next week or so.
So what’s in this update?
Fixes/Improvements
- The “Quit Blowing Bubbles” achievement exploit is now fixed.
- Cluster Missiles and Blackhole pick ups are now correctly muted when you mute the SFX in the options menu.
- Pausing the game is now no longer triggered on the very edges of the screen, avoiding accidental pausing.
- Simplified in-game HUD. No more HUD elements that obstruct the playfield.
- Some new loading screen material.
- Other minor bug fixes
Calibration
I think our biggest complaint (and strangely enough also our biggest praise) was the calibration for movement. Looking through all the e-mails, tweets, forum posts, and facebook wall post, we have a contingent of users who, as far as I’m concerned, play the game literally like the custom icon implies. I’ll spare you the technical details of trying to get an accelerometer game to work in as many positions as possible.
Out of all the presets, Sleepy and Custom were having the most problems. Namely, when someone tried to play the game in a ‘vertical’ orientation (ie, 90 degrees from the Top-Down setting) they would lose horizontal control. So to remedy this we had to add a steering control scheme for those specific types of calibrations. It’s not the most elegant way of going about it because it introduces a bit more complexity to the player, but hey, you can now play in “Sleepy” without your arms getting tired :).
Pocket Scores and YOU
We also did some UI tweaks to help better convey how the awards work with the the weapon unlock system. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to how pocket score related to weapons, which wasn’t very clear in the UI. So hopefully this’ll make that a little easier to understand.
Tilt to Live is off to an amazing start, and it’s only going to get better! So help support Tilt to Live by letting your friends know about us!
Touch Arcade was kind enough to host our announcement for the new game modes we have planned in our April update!
Gauntlet
Run the Gauntlet to put your precision tilting skills to the test! In Gauntlet mode, players compete for the longest survival time rather than highscores or combos. Enemies waves will no longer relentlessly chase you. Instead, the dots work together to form an increasingly difficult treadmill course of smashers, battle axes, windmills, and more. It’s an entirely new gameplay experience! The difficulty curve will be comparable to our original gametype, a crescendo from manageable to kick-your-butt.
Code Red
Rather than guiding players along a polite difficulty curve, we’re chucking them off a difficulty cliff with Code Red mode. This gametype is best described as “Classic mode on crack”. Everything from Classic is there, but the red dots will spawn at their highest intensity right from the start. It’s tailor-made for experienced players that “just wanna get to the good part”, without enduring the buildup.
On your iDevice that is! It’s been pretty hectic since Tilt to Live’s release. We’ve been super busy working on some stuff we’ll be announcing soon. In the meantime….
Here’s some wallpapers we put together that we figured some of you might enjoy using for whatever devious purposes you can conjure up. We’ve got ’em sized for desktops and iDevices as well. Enjoy!
Click the thumbnails to open the full size images and save them.
iPhone/iPod Touch
Desktop Mac/PC
Tilt to Live will be on sale for 99¢ all this weekend, March 12th through 14th! So if a dollar has been standing between you and this five-star title, then let us hold that digit at bay so that you may act! But beware the Ides of March. Like its namesake, the Assassination of Julius Caesar Sale will be BETRAYED AND MURDERED ON MARCH 15th.
I dunno. Looks new… and not the right colors. I wonder if there will be some kind of big announcement about it on TouchArcade on Friday, March 19th? If only someone inside One Man Left Studios could confirm or deny that oddly specific suspicion!
Imagine my surprise when we noticed Tilt to Live is hovering around 30-40 in the Game Arcade/Action categories! The overall response has been amazingly positive! Special thanks to the community of iPhone gamers over at Touch Arcade for giving our game some early legs in the first hours of release! You guys have been great. Not to mention, all the reviews pouring in from the likes of:
- App Advice – “The game is extremely addictive, so this review comes with not just caution, or a warning but a full scale alert. Alert: You will be addicted.”
- Touch Arcade – “…it shows an attention to detail and knack for the inventive that escapes many games we see on the AppStore.”
- PocketGamer – “A title like Tilt to Live is as much a warning as it is a call to action.”
- Games Uncovered – “Tackling tough achievements earns you rewards; but playing Tilt to Live is a reward unto itself. We can’t put it down.”
- AppModo – “Tilt to Live takes addictiveness to a whole new level! It is probably one of the best pick up and play games on the appstore!
- The Tanooki – “Tilt to Live is a shining example of what arcade iPhone gameplay should be”
There are several other sites I don’t have in front of me at the moment, so blame my disorganized self :[. A HUGE thanks to all the editors, contributors, reviewers, and previewers that worked with us over the past several weeks, even months, to get the word out on Tilt to Live! Adam and I are both hoping this is sign of good things to come…
Now, I’ve gotta finish up some prototype builds before the night is done ;)…
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Internets and Outernets. After an arduous journey fraught with eye strain, we present Tilt to Live, a catchy little iDevice game about the genocide of red dots. Little known fact: the dots are a metaphor for your troubles. And the weapons represent… I guess beer or a nice jog.
Keep an eye on this blog for news on Tilt to Live updates, other project announcements, and our secret feelings.
With the release accomplished, I guess it’s time to turn our attention to marketing, the land of redundant emails and home of the promo code holocaust. I’ll close with a rejected tag line from our impending marketing campaign:
“Tilt to Live: Not a game you can play on a seesaw.”