I'm busier than ever with student teaching and Blue Band, so I haven't had a chance to write about how Fight on State has done since its launch over 2 weeks ago.
However, don't let that understate the success this game as already seen: we've gotten over 6000 downloads since launch (over 3000 the first day), and there's plenty more every day. FOS rose to be the 148th most popular free game on the app store on its launch day, as well as placing high in its genre categories (rising to the 30's and 40's in each).
I can't thank all of you enough for supporting what started out as just a crazy idea, especially for the 76-and-counting 5-star reviews on the app store.
I was working on an update to the game since before it even launched, and it has just gone live. I rewrote a ton of code to improve its performance on all devices, especially the iPhone 4, on which it runs much more smoothly now. I also added silks and majorettes to the ranks of marchers. You were not forgotten!
There's also a little secret that you can find if you are really good or really lucky, though only members of the Blue Band will likely be able to truly appreciate it. See if you can find it!
It's only been a few weeks since I released Bugs and Bacon, but there's another game I've been working on for the past couple months... and it's going to be released this Wednesday, October 24!
Fight on State is a game based on the Penn State Blue Band, which I have been a member of for almost 5 years now. I was showing Bugs and Bacon off to fellow trumpet Becky Guldin, who suggested that it would really cool if there was a game about the Blue Band and tossed out the idea of the drum major running through the band at the beginning of pregame.
We laughed about such a crazy idea... then I went home and built a prototype in just a couple days.
As soon as I showed her what I put together (using a stripped-down version of the code behind Bugs and Bacon), I knew we were onto something special. This was confirmed when we showed the prototype to Dr. Bundy. I've never seen him giggle like that, especially when he saw the drum major's flip (and yes, "giggle" is the best word to describe it).
I built the prototype as a see-what-I-can-do kind of thing, but then things started to get serious. I redrew all of the graphics (maybe I'll post a before/after comparison later) as well as a ton more and began to flesh the game out. I've never worked so hard on a game before, and this was happening as I was student teaching and marching in the Blue Band!
We added more features, like a whiteout round and a feature twirler minigame. The ability to get a speed boost from music notes to plow through the football players was also a very late addition, but probably my favorite part.
We decided to release the game for free, and Becky had the brilliant idea of putting THON donation links in it, so I hope the game has a positive impact on the world. This is really the most important game I've ever had the chance to work on, in more ways than one.
I'm still floored by the number of people who are excitedly anticipating the game's release, made obvious by how quickly its Facebook page has grown--all thanks to Becky's incredible PR work. She's not taking nearly enough credit for what she has done for this game, so if you see her, give her a big high-five.
Well, that's about it for now. I've never been so excited to launch a game, but the time is almost here!
I'm happy to announce that Bugs and Bacon should be released on October 4! This of course is pending Apple approval, but assuming all goes well, you'll be able to play it in barely over a week from the time I'm writing this.
Since I'm student teaching full-time and marching in the Penn State Blue Band, I've been swamped with things to do, which has really slowed down my ability to work on the game. But with every ounce of free time and brain juice I had left, I've finally managed to get Bugs and Bacon to a point where I'm proud to show it to the world.
I'll keep you updated on the status of the game, but until then, I've got math stuff to teach to a bunch of high-schoolers.
For a lot of information on Bugs and Bacon all in one place, click here.
Here's a video showing off a lot of the features of Bugs and Bacon. That's it.
Oh, I'll be submitting to Apple for approval soon, I promise. I'm beginning student teaching this semester, so who knows how much time I'll have to focus on development, so I want to wait until I have a better grasp of all of the crazy things that are about to happen.
It's been a crazy couple weeks since my last post, and I haven't been able to work on Bugs and Bacon as much as I would have liked in that time. That being said, I managed to cut the amount of memory the game uses while playing by 2/3, which feels like enough of an accomplishment for that amount of time. It's running at a smooth 60 frames per second at all times on my iPhone 4S, and my friends testing it on their devices are also pleased.
Just about the last thing left to do now is implement Game Center support, which I'm trying to figure out for the first time. I hope to finish soon, as the fall semester has almost caught up to me. I'll be student teaching at a nearby high school along with playing in the Blue Band, so my schedule is about to get pretty hectic for the next few months. However, I won't be ignoring game development the whole time, as I hope it will help me keep my sanity as the pressures of life arise. (These experiences are supposed to build character, right?)
