Turtle Trench (iPhone Lemmings game)

[ichidan]

I just picked up the Lite version, and had the same problem you mentioned above - the game crashes when I try to play level 2 (in either set). I'm using an iPod Touch. Can you assure me this won't happen on the full version?

Sorry about that, I'm going to release a new Lite version with a bunch of fixes in the next few days. (the crashing on level 2 bug on the 3GS has been fixed in the full version, just haven't re-released that yet). Some of the Fixes I've done (for the new Lite version)

/ - Bug: Remove high Post on cave_level10.xml (Trench Lock)
/ - Bug: Fix nuke restart (no music) bug./same with level failed. restart doesn't play music again.
/ - Bug: Nuking before turtle comes out messes up. (don't allow Nuke option until at least 1 turtle is alive)
/ - Bug: Umbrella should open way earlier
/ - Change: Consider making UIAction set at 75% alpha? so that it doesn't obscure turtles.
/ - world #3 Ad for get paid version. + need to add link.
/ - Change: Credits (ability to slide up - as you slide up - more than a few pixels in the negative, it'll drag the text up faster in accordance to speed ideally)
/ - Fix: Volume should be weaker when you zoom out.
/ - Fix: Add Death sound effect (Awwwwww)
/ - Fix: Add sound effect for lever
/ - Fix: Add trumpet sound effect for winning level!

Well, I went ahead and got the full game anyway, and it works just fine (so far at least). I'll try to play through the whole thing over the weekend, but for now here are some initial thoughts:

- As noted already, the graphics are excellent, and the characters are wonderfully cute (so much so that bombing them seems a bit mean ).

Thanks

- The restart function is too slow for my liking, it would be better to put this in the pause menu rather than having to nuke first.

I think the Lite version had Nuke outside as a button. I didn't like that as it was easy to accidentally press it, so I moved it to the menus, and removed 'restart'. So the full version has 'continue', 'nuke', 'quit'. I've been thinking of re-doing this menu. perhaps having big iconic buttons like other iOS games do (perhaps a '>' for continue, a recycle arrow for retry, and a door shut sign for quit, then an additional button for the nuke). If there was a neat solution to put the nuke somewhere in game i would, just wouldn't want it accidentally pressed. Of course the nuke is necessary for these lemmings-type games to get rid of the excess turtles.

- Diggers (of all types) feel very slow, I'd strongly consider increasing their movement speed. Even 2x as fast wouldn't be too much IMHO.

I think you could be right there, in consideration of the pace of the game (which is much faster than the default speed of most Lemmings games). I could double the speed of the digging. I could also introduce a Fast Forward button to toggle between slow and fast (with the game currently in Fast mode).
Note: I don't want to change the game mechanics too much as it can have an impact on the solutions for the levels. For now I can get away with minor tweaks, but soon I will have to keep everything the consistent.

- The ability to zoom out is great, but I'd prefer to start zoomed out and then zoom in if I need to. Maybe there could be an option for this?

Yeah, I've noticed people greatly appreciate this. There is extra CPU load whilst zoomed out though (which may be noticeable on some levels on the 3G or even 3GS device), and I was concerned about players' ability to select the turtles.

- The music doesn't play when you retry a level. (Though I typically prefer to play without music anyway )

Fixed for next release.

- Bombing the turtles on the title screen is wicked fun

Hehe.

Also, I do hope the 'coming soon' part amounts to something eventually, more levels are always good

I hope so too. I've got a lot of ideas of new levels, and worlds. Some of the features the game already has supported, I just didn't build any levels. A little hint of one of the features, is small Turtles (50% of normal size), so I'm thinking of introducing that in the next update (paid version only), along with many other ideas.

But it's not just about levels, I've got a bunch of ideas to further enrich the experience of existing levels, to keep them competitive. Don't want to spill all the beans here. But I like using forums as a means to gauge people's interest and what they would like to see changed/fixed.

So thank you very much for your input.

[ichidan]

btw, can you let me know what you think of the difficulty of the game?

1) Have you managed to complete all 40 levels?
2) Have you managed to collect all 120 stars?

[Clam]

- The ability to zoom out is great, but I'd prefer to start zoomed out and then zoom in if I need to. Maybe there could be an option for this?

Yeah, I've noticed people greatly appreciate this. There is extra CPU load whilst zoomed out though (which may be noticeable on some levels on the 3G or even 3GS device), and I was concerned about players' ability to select the turtles.

Good point actually, I've noticed it's quite difficult to select the turtles when zoomed out. It might be good to make the hit-detection more generous, at least while zoomed out.

btw, can you let me know what you think of the difficulty of the game?

1) Have you managed to complete all 40 levels?
2) Have you managed to collect all 120 stars?

Heh, sadly I didn't get to play as much as I'd planned on my weekend away, since I left my charger behind . I've played about half the levels so far, and the difficulty curve seems to be pretty nice so far. I'm noticing a spike with the introduction of switches, but that's to be expected, especially since I don't have experience with such objects.

[Clam]

All right, I've now played through the game, and collected all but one star. The one I'm missing is the star near the exit on Sky Scape level 8 ('Para Coup'), it looks like you need to assign two jumpers in very quick succession and it doesn't seem doable.


I've noticed some various glitches/annoyances throughout the game:

- Turtles can walk through thin walls, for example when I used a bomber near a wooden barrier and mis-timed it slightly so it didn't completely break it, the turtles could still walk through. While this is helpful, it looks odd. Maybe when fixing this, the bomber crater size could be increased to compensate (so as to avoid making bomber levels harder).
- Blockers next to a wall can't be freed with the jumper skill - it tries to jump but hits the wall and goes back to blocking.
- Upside-down turtles can't jump (they ought to be able to 'jump' downwards)
- On Sky Scape level 9 ('Water Control'), the turtles can walk through the wall from the big circular hole under the steel.
- Glass panes look like terrain, this is likely to catch players out on the first try, forcing a needless restart.


As for the difficulty curve overall, I find that it jumps somewhat with the introduction of 'new' stuff (switches, rising water etc), but then tapers off somewhat. One common theme I've noticed is that the save requirements are very low throughout, and so the main difficulty component is getting the stars. The problem is, in some cases the stars seem as though they were added as an afterthought, rather than being integral to the design. This is especially noticeable on some levels where you have to send a turtle to its doom to collect a star. I'm not saying this is a bad way to add difficulty, but it means the difficulty in just passing the level (without stars) isn't so relevant. As it is, some of the hardest stars are in the middle levels (like the one I can't get ), and so these end up being the hardest levels overall if your aim is to get all stars. I think you might get better lategame difficulty by raising the save requirements for the last few levels in each set.

[ichidan]

Thanks Clam, you've made some excellent points. I'm in the process of releasing a new Lite version (should be approved in the next few days by Apple). It doesn't cover these new points you've listed, but deals with a few of the older glitches mentioned.

I'm going to work on some new features for the paid version, and in addition address the points you've mentioned. I think I may be able to get away with adjusting the turtle save requirement to make some of the later levels more difficult without annoying existing customers.

Thanks for your input!

[ichidan]

Just released a new update of the Lite version. Comes with a number of fixes (although haven't tested on an iPad 1/2 yet, once I get a chance to test, I'll re-release a Paid version update with this, throw in some more levels, and adjust the difficulty balance). Hopefully this is something I can get started on, on the weekend.

I've not altered the speed of things yet, but basically these are the changes to the Lite version (on the iPad version it starts Zoomed out always):

Bug fix: Crashing on second level of iPod Touch/iPhone 3G models.
Bug fix: Restarting caused music to stop playing.
Bug fix: Nuking before turtle comes out messes up.
Bug fix: Umbrella should open way earlier.
Change: Consider making UIAction set at 75% alpha? so that it doesn't obscure turtles.
Feature: World #3 Ad for get paid version.
Feature: Ability to slide up Credits.
Feature: Volume should be weaker when you zoom out.
Feature: Add Death sound effect (Awwwwww)
Feature: Add trumpet sound effect for winning level!
Feature: Added Facebook & Twitter buttons on Main Menu.
Feature: Added iPad Mode

I'm actually curious, as the game runs pretty fast on my computer. I mean compared to many of the other Lemmings games, mine is like there games on 2x (or turbo speed). So wondering if the game is dropping frames/running half speed on your device (although I tested the game on an iPod Touch 2 - iPhone 3G equiv. and it ran fast still). Anyhow, I'll look into adding some sort of speed dial in the next release so you can slow things down (50%) and increase speed (200%) of the current speed.

[R o n]

Just found out about this game and installed both the lite and the paid versions. However, for iPad only the light version is currently available. Hope you can release the paid version for iPad soon (retina display support for new iPad would be great). I will give you some game feedback when I actually have played the game.

[ichidan]

Just found out about this game and installed both the lite and the paid versions. However, for iPad only the light version is currently available. Hope you can release the paid version for iPad soon (retina display support for new iPad would be great). I will give you some game feedback when I actually have played the game.

Good news for you buddy, The updated version of the Paid app is now available on iPad. Please check it out, and leave feedback. So I can fix any issues.

The next step, now that the game is compatible with both iPhone and iPad. Is to look at adding more levels, new in-game features, and adding a social element to the game (local/global high-scores, replays, multiplayer?), more options (to customise the way the levels are played i.e. no. of bombers, no. of floaters, no. of turtles, release rate, gravity, size of turtles. game speed - might be better to be an in game option this).

How do you feel about the game speed? Is it too fast? too slow? There is currently no way to change the speed of the game, unlike other lemmings-clone games. However, the default speed is considerably faster than the default speed of lemmings, chicks, nooms, and perhaps pingus.

With the advent of the iPad 3's retina screen. I could make the game utilise this (higher res turtles, high res graphics for the same levels, high res interface, ability for the community to create levels).

I currently make the levels using a flash-based web app on the PC, as the iPhone/iPod Touch is too awkward. The iPad would be a good interface for making levels, but would take considerable time to develop, as opposed to just making the flash app I have already more user friendly (and thus iPhone/iPod Touch users can make levels, without needing to purchase an iPad).

Also I'm thinking of producing extra large super-levels (2048x1536 or 4096x3072 in iPad 3 retina), the equivalent of 4 ipad screens (2x2) or 20 iphone screens (4x5). As well as the introduction of small turtles (50% the size), which would give way for truly massive worlds.