Dice Tower 1.1 is now available

Dice Tower 1.1 is now available on the AppStore worldwide. If you like dice games with great challenge and strategy, this game is for you. This new version adds and fixes the following:

Fixes:

- Fixed Earthquake die crash.
- Fixed Bomb die crash.
- Fixed red squares that stay on screen bug.
- Fixed level completed window from appearing twice in a row.

Enhancements:

- Enhanced game play music by adding new partition.

New Features:

- Added new smoother game music that plays during evening and night.
- Music fade out, fade in effect added.
iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dice-tower/id392988136?mt=8

Dice Tower v1.1 has been submitted to Apple.

We are proud to announce that version 1.1 of Dice Tower has been submitted to Apple this morning.

Fixes:

- Fixed Earthquake die crash.
- Fixed Bomb die crash.
- Fixed red squares that stay on screen bug.
- Fixed level completed window from appearing twice in a row.

Enhancements:

- Enhanced game play music by adding new partition.

New Features:

- Added new smoother game music that plays during evening and night.
- Music fade out, fade in effect added.

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dice-tower/id392988136?mt=8

Dice Tower is now available!

Our first game "Dice Tower" is now available for download.


http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dice-tower/id392988136?mt=8

Dice Tower has been submitted

Dice Tower has finally been submitted to the AppStore. It is now in Apple's hands. I will keep the blog up to date with status when they are changed.

Going on my own

After a few tries with different publishers, I have decided to release the game on my own. Most of them want me to dumb-down the game to make it more accessible to a bigger market. I say, the game is easy enough as it is, removing and simplifying things more will move the game far away from the way I envisioned it since the beginning.

I have decided Dice Tower will be free initially and in-app purchase items will be made available if there is some interest for the game. These in-app purchases will be in the form of:

• New themes (backgrounds, music, etc...)
• New dice models
• New special dice
• New game modes

This will allow the game to keep being upgraded and keep people interested in it.

Beta 5

Beta 5 was released yesterday and today we are confirming that 1.0 is done and ready. A few more days until submission to Apple. Cannot wait...

New forums now open

We have just opened our new forums for users to discuss about the game.




http://forums.arianesoft.ca/forumdisplay.php?f=55

Dice Tower beta 4

Finally, beta 4 was released yesterday. This one is the last step towards the ultimate goal of submitting to Apple. However, I have flirted with some publishers lately and will need to send them a build of the game and see what they have to offer first. This game has great potential and I already have some neat ideas for future updates to add more RPG elements to the game.

Here is what changed since beta 3.

    - iOS 4 fastapp switching support added.
    - Faster web view loading times.
    - Fixed name entry field in iOS 4.
    - Fixed hint system issue with multiple hints one after the other.
    - Removed FPS counter from release builds.
    - Fixed lots of documentation and hints.
    - Fixed rectangle drawing routine.
    - Added icons to most buttons.
    - New step-by-step tutorial.
    - Roll button badge does not track presses anymore. Should be easier to press roll button.
    - Fixed Continue button to be disabled on Title screen.
    - OpenFeint notifications appear from the top of the screen now.

Why not give you some more screenshots while we are at it? I have improved the artworks once more for this latest beta.

Doesn't the icon look beautiful next to the iOS4 Game Center icon?

The loading screen in action...

The title screen with the new button icons. It still says version 0.3 on this screen but it is really 0.4.

Dice Tower comes with a great online help designed in HTML and easy to access anytime.

Dice Tower beta 4 progress

Just a few days after beta 3 was released, things are going very well with beta 4 already. I have added full iOS 4 support, with fast-app switching. I have also upgraded Cocos2d to the latest version. Documentation and tutorials are really taking shape now. So after beta 4, there won't be much left until an official release. So next week might be a good estimate time frame for a submission to Apple.

Work has already started on a new game for the iPad, it's only on paper right now but the game mechanic is going to be very cool. More on this later and in another blog! :)

Beta 3

Beta 2 was released this past Saturday and so far the new features and changes have been greeted with excitement. This is a very encouraging sign for the game. We are still tweaking the artistic style of the game as I write this. One important thing I will be working on before beta 3 is the balancing of combo multipliers and luck factoring. These are extremely important to the fun of the game. Also, a new combo will be introduced,  the "Full House".

Here is the change log for beta 3 so far:

    - Increased odds for Bomb, EarthQuake and Time Down in randomization of dice when rolling.
    - Tutorial and hints are activated now when you first launch the game.
    - In the Options menu, the "Tutorial" checkbox is now a button called "Reset Tutorial".
    - Fixed HTML help files transparency. Was showing with black background.
    - Increased the odds of Joker and Extra Roll special dice in Endless game mode.
    - Sound and music are back into the game now. Stupid little mistake on my part.
    - Changed the star particle image for better bonus animation.
    - Polished most the graphics.
    - Redone the fonts from scratch to get a more unified overall look.
    - Changed the scores UI display.
    - Added OpenFeint icon to Pause menu screen and the Title screen.
    - Fixed Enter Name button not responding to click.
    - Goal line, now moves when scrolling occurs.

Why not leave you with some cool screens of the new graphics in beta 3?

 

Beta 2 is coming soon

Quick update on the status for Beta 2 of Dice Tower.

Here is the change log as of today. Dice Tower is really shaping up to be a great and fun game.

    - Die position is higher when moved with finger.

    - Improved die movement recognition over slots.

    - Routine to verify out of moves now checks if Extra Roll die is in play but not processed when rolls left are equal to zero.

    - Moving die colour is changed to red if cannot assign to die slot.

    - New goal line graphic.

    - Can now go over goal line, all completed rows over it are extra points.

    - Increased starting number of dice rolls per level.

    - Straight combo gives you Extra Roll, Treasure or TimeUp die.

    - Fixed bomb die.

    - Fixed Joker die not changing to any value when row is finished.

    - Now show version number in Title screen.

    - Accelerometer support added. You need to shake the device quite a bit to shake the dice cup though.

    - Added a number of games played counter internally.

    - Changed the score icon to a Trophy.

    - Fixed small memory leaks.

    - New dynamic hint system implemented.

    - How To Play page is a nice transparent HTML page now.

    - Updated scoring calculations for combos and chains.

    - Increased start time to complete a tower in Time Attack mode.

    - Updated how combo chains affect scoring of each floor.

    - Fixed the Earthquake special die behaviour.

    - Number of starting rolls in endless mode is set to 6.

    - Implemented a better dice randomization mechanism.

    - Fixed multi-touch issue.

    - New OpenFeint leader boards for Time Attack and Endless mode.

    - Tons of new OpenFeint achievements added.

    - New multiplier value that accumulates when you do combos. It goes down by 1 point every 15 seconds or more depending on your luck factor (combo chains value).

    - Support for multiple combos per floor added.

    - Chest added to allow you to save dice in your inventory to re-use later on.

There are still a few things left to do before it will be released. I am planning on getting it out tomorrow if all goes well.

New hint system

With the beta going full strength, testers have requested for some kind of help system or tutorial level. We have decided to provide both. Dice Tower can be a complex game to understand at first. So dynamic help with a step-by-step tutorial is what we have decided to do.

Here is an early screenshot of the dynamic help system.

Beta 2

First beta round was sent a few days ago. Already we are receiving extremely detailed reports from our beta testers. That is really amazing. We can improve the game concept, mechanics and make it more accessible using the feedbacks we are getting.

The general concensus so far is that the game is good and the game play mechanics works great.

The second beta will be sent out either today or tomorrow. We will keep on having betas until everyone is satisfied with the game.

Woohoo, beta testing is starting tomorrow!

Beta testing is officially starting tomorrow. Today will be a quick post because there are so much to finish up before beta testing can start. The game is ready, only a few polishing and fixes here and there but overall it is ready.

New logo and App Icon

Yesterday has been a long art design class for me. I am learning the ins and outs of vector graphics design. Here is what I have come up with for the ArianeSoft Games logo.

And finally the Dice Tower app icon:

Please give me your feedback, I would really appreciate it.

Beta Testing Phase 1, NEXT WEEK!

Yes, finally. The first phase of beta testing is starting next week. Releasing is coming faster than I thought.

Yesterday was the first time we have put the game on a physical device, an 8MB iPhone 1st gen. The game runs pretty well but the dice needs to be bigger and moving the dice is quite a challenge with the fingers. They are way bigger than a mouse cursor and they hide most of the phone's screen surface when moving dice around. So some tweaking needs to be done there today. As for the game performance, we are quite happy with it so far. It still needs some optimization in some areas but overall it runs smooth.

More on the beta testing progress next week...

Simplicity

After a long time trying to make the game more complex, I have decided to come back to the roots, the simplicity, the fun of the game. This game does not land itself to RPG elements very well. Sometimes, simpler is better.

The game is already very fun, so now I am concentrating on polishing, bug fixing, finishing songs and getting the graphics reworked by a professional. My goal is to go beta in two weeks.

RPG Elements

I told you guys that Dice Tower was going to incorporate RPG elements. How can this be done, you ask? Well, the mechanic is pretty simple but very fun (it needs to be played by more people than just myself, I admit). Each tower you build is made up of floors with 3 to 4 rooms. Random objects/monsters can appear in rooms. This is where the fun starts. As you build your tower, you need to fill each room with the appropriate dice in order to move to the next floor upward. You can only place a dice on a room if it is NOT populated with a monster dice.

I won't reveal everything about the mechanic yet, there are so much patent thiefs! Let's just say it has combat and treasure hunting.

More to come, with screen shots of course.

Jackpot

Today, I have been working on power-ups and enhancing the game mechanics a bit. You now have to collect coins that fall-off of dice that were part of a combo. You must act fast since they will disappear after some time. Each tool requires a number of coins to be used.

Talking about tools, they will have an experience counter that will increase each time you use the tool. Once the experience points reaches the required amount, the tool will have its level increased making it more powerful and cheaper to use.

Also, each die slot (where you place your die on in the tower) has a modifier number that multiplies the value of the die by, can be increased or decreased by tools or natural element dice. Fire, will cause die modifier to be reduced every minute if you don't extinguish it. Ice storm will lock your die in the slot until you use the pick tool to remove the ice. There are a lot of RPG elements like this thrown into Dice Tower.

Balancing and beta testing are scheduled very soon. Here are some images for some specialty dice:

Some early screenshots

Ok, it is time today to introduce you to Dice Tower in a more visual way. I have been designing the graphics all by myself, using Inkscape and tutorials on the Internet. Yep, a programmer creating art. Art is a big word here actually.

All the graphics will be either redone or retouched to be more streamlined and more homogeneous. Lot's of work is left to be done in the visual compartment.

Power Ups

What a ride. Yesterday, we have worked on implementing some additional power-up/special die type for the game. Some are pretty cool:

• Fire (sets the whole top floor of the tower on fire)
• Water (Extinguish fire on top floor)
• Time Up
• Time Down
• Clover Leaf (Increases your luck by 10%, helps you obtain more positive bonus dice when rolling)
• Extra Roll
• Earthquake (Random number of top floors are destroyed)
• Star (extra points are attributed to bonus dice matches)

A tool chest to store dice.

Today, we have added a tool chest that allow you to store special dice to help you build your tower and fight against elements of mother nature and others...

This is going to play a major role in the strategic design elements of the game. We are brainstorming on adding more tool dice that can be added to the chest.

More tomorrow...

First day

Hi all,

Today is the first day I start blogging about Dice Tower our new game that will be in beta soon. It has been in development for some time now and things are progressing really fast.

The game is about you building the highest tower possible using dice and math operations. Each floor is made up of a set of dice that must match with addition or subtraction the one dice on the floor below.

There are different game modes that includes: Casual, Time Attack and Endless. Casual lets you play each level with a timer and each level has a set number of floors to build. The Time Attack mode gives you a specific time to finish the level. And the last mode, Endless, lets you build towers as high as you want, giving you bonus points for each floor over the goal line.

You have a set number of rolls you can make per level. Your hand is made up of 6 dice. You can hold as many dice as you want and re-roll. However you only have so much rolls per level.

There are special dice that do different actions. Some are power-ups, some are bonuses, some are bad, some are good.

There are a lot of strategy involve in finishing a level.

Will continue tomorrow with more information and some early screen shots too.