Progress and Multi-Platform Capability

Huzzah! Finally the game is now working on both iOS and Android platforms! This is a major milestone. There is still a lot of work to do, but with the game now working in both platforms, user testing can soon begin in earnest. The project is moving along now nicely. The college deadline set for 9th of January is beginning to rear its malformed and twisted head over the horizon, extruding terror and confusion as it rises. While the final hand up will not be the completed game, the scope of this project has greatly grown out of the confines of the college deadlines. What is handed up in January should be a solid and reliable representation of the final game, containing all the relevant mechanics and the basic game play elements.

The game itself is steadily moving forward. Marco recently completed the important and necessary task of re-factoring the game code. This is basically some house cleaning and tiding of the code, eliminating duplication and generally streamlining and polishing the games engine. This will make it more efficient, less likely to bug and should reduce the overall size of the game. This has been completed and now Marco is fixing any unintentional bugs that have come about as a result of the re-factoring.

From the testing that was done during the game seminar a few weeks ago, one of the main things that needed to fixed was the control layout. In the earlier versions, the button layout was aligned along the bottom. As mentioned in a previous blog post, this is a big problem for a game like this. This caused the players fingers to obstruct the game screen, crucially the bottom where the player would see the rising lava. So to fix this they have been moved to the side of the screen. There is also room now for the scoring and timer elements to be shown on screen in a non obstructive way. The buttons have also been enlarged and coloured to make them clearer and easier to see. While the layout of the buttons is slightly less intuitive and a little different to that of the normal control scheme that many players would be used to, specifically the left and right buttons, after a short time the player should be able to accept the new layout. This will be one of the primary objectives of early user testing of the game. 

Meanwhile in the background, the final report is also been written. This beast is will describe the whole project in detail and shall be my constant companion over the Christmas break. It will be posted online for all to see and enjoy once its done.

On Business Models

With last weeks seminar still fresh in my mind, I've begun to consider the ways in which to sell and distribute Magma Surge. With the huge amount of apps and games now available, an effective way to easily and quickly distribute the game to as many people as possible is very important. Magma Surge will be distributed through the App Store and Android Market.

While browsing for software in either of these stores, the first thing thats noticeable is the huge number of games and applications available. The user is inundated with tens of thousands of choices. When someone wants to buy something that they have not played or used before, they are taking a risk in buying something they may not like. This can off-putting for users and is can be a significant factor in whether the game will be bought. The bigger the user base for the game is, the higher the chances of people liking and talking about the game.

The business model I think is most applicable to getting Magma Surge out there is the Freemium method. This is where the product is given away initially free of charge, with the full product being bought a later date. The most popular software that uses this model would be Skype. The program is free to download as are calls to other Skype accounts. However if the user wishes to call phones they need to pay.

Another common model, especially for games is to release a 'Lite' version of the software free of charge. This is usually a stripped down version of the final game with the first few levels demonstrating the main game mechanics and features. Later levels, extra content and other aspects of the game are either locked or available for download if the user pays a fee. These versions also often include built in advertisements that are only removed when the full version is bought. Many games use this method of distribution. Rovio's Angry Birds is the best example of a very successful game distributed using this model.

While the idea can seem a bit strange, and there is a large disparity between downloads and actual purchases, this method has the added benefit of getting the software out there onto peoples phones. Even if 1000 people download it and only 100 pay for it, that still means, for better or for worse, that a thousand people have downloaded and played the game. Financial success is not the primary reason for making this game, so this will certainly be a very educational experience and will be something I can apply to future projects.