New iOS App! - Gravity Swap

Hey guys, been a while since I've posted, but I have exciting news!
Yesterday apple approved my new iOS game, Gravity Swap, and it is now live on the App Store!

The game is quite hard, but there is no down time so you can get right back into the action once you die.
My top score is 24 rooms, and I am fairly confident I'll stay #1 on the leaderboards for at least a few days.

Here are a couple screen shots:





Please let me know of any bugs you find or any suggestions you have. There is already an update being processed by apple to fix a few menu issues.

Here is the App Store link: Gravity Swap

Hope you enjoy!
- Blueteak

#15 worldwide! heh.

Anyway, you might want to go over the code for the retry dialog box. It appears on startup as well as at inappropriate non-death moments.

Nevermind I didn't even read your whole post, sorry! I like the game though.

Request: could you please only play the swap sound when the swap is successful? Having it play no matter what makes me think I timed it right but I still die.

Question: is this frame passable by the bottom route using the tiny square that's covered?
It is. I just did it.

Question 2: could you explain the hitboxes of the spikes and mega man? Looks like some odd overlap here:

I call hax

HiGuy you pwnt:
This image also demonstrates a GUI bug.

Finally, I believe I skipped an entire frame to get 10. It went from 8 to 9 for just an instant than switched to 10 immediately. I THINK but it happened fast.

Finally#2, I encountered consecutive identical frames. And both required zero swaps (was not floating island frame). Perhaps you could add an isPassableWithoutSwappingBasedOnCurrentGravityAndIsAlsoNotTheIslandFrame function?

Finally#2, I encountered consecutive identical frames.

I had the one screen where you just run through five times in a row. Just got a new type of WR right there.

Hey guys!
(Sorry for not responding sooner, I didn't realize this was successfully posted, since the first try got rejected as spam lol)

The update that was released today should fix the dialog box (I knew about it since release, but Apple takes a long time to approve updates)
as well as make the dialog see through so you can see where you died.

My current high score is 29, so you'll have to work pretty hard to beat it.
The hit box, I thought, was fairly generous, but I can see that on that level it seems a bit odd... It may just be that one time, usually you are visibly intersecting the red spikes if you die.

Glad you are enjoying it!

edit:
Also, the room's are entirely random, as well as the orientation (Vertical flip), so ya, it's totally possible to get 5 islands in a row, just not very likely. I don't really have a problem with it since you can just as easily get screwed with a couple of the double-middle-square-DEVIL levels.

edit2:
@sporlo, I think that the first screen you posted's minimum gravity swaps is 2.

Nice update. I'm 2nd place now. Totally choked though.

I still call hax

@higuy foot clipping that spike, how would you keep running if you stepped on a nail.

Probably need to fix some hit boxes, but that level at that orientation is the hardest in the game.

blueteak wrote: @higuy foot clipping that spike, how would you keep running if you stepped on a nail.

Probably need to fix some hit boxes, but that level at that orientation is the hardest in the game.

Except neither foot is actually clipping the spike. Even if both mega man and the spike have rectangular hitboxes perfectly bounding the largest visual area of the two elements, in that case, the two rectangles aren't touching at all.

The spikes are actually embedded inside the platform, not sitting exactly at the edge, so it is possible that the spikes are wider at the base, and that they are protruding slightly at the edge of the platform. Also, the hit boxes aren't per sprite for the spikes, that one is a set of two spikes with a single hotbox, which means I did it manually, and may have offset the box too much.

Submitting a new update, that when released should pull a few rooms in line with the others in terms of difficulty (that 3 platform one included lol).

Scores keep creeping up toward mine (29) so I may have to work on upping it a bit!

Dangit at least let me beat your score first before you make it harder

Seriously though, looking forward to the balances, some rooms were really easy/difficult, and run are currently like 90% RNG.

This time I'm not making any harder, but I'm making three slightly easier, since they basically just mean death, and you need to just RNG-not get them to have a chance at a high score. The average score is still about 4 rooms, so I don't think I need to increase the total difficulty yet. I'll be comfortable letting the average move up to 5.

After this one, If I see score keep rising I may make a few of the easier ones less so. Imagine if the island turned into the hardest level

The Island: now with spikes at the start and end so you have to flip at just the right time to make it.
N.B. NOT A SUGGESTION

Thinking about putting a single spike at the VERY end, so that it's easy to miss.

Then you'll easily be able to beat it, but if you don't then you feel dumb .
Also, it puts you mid flip for the next room, so if you're smart, you try to time it so you switch rooms just before you land on the opposite spike to start the next room on the ground.

Dangit I said that wasn't a suggestion! In all honesty, that room is a bit too easy; the only real way to lose it is if you mistap.

Edit for actual suggestion: Would be nice if you made holding down jump when you hit the ground. There are a couple frame-perfect jumps that just aren't possible on an iPhone screen, and they've killed most of my runs at this point.

That's actually a damn good idea, most people say I should let the game Queue up swaps, but I tried it and it kills you more then saves you. But the hold seems totally reasonable, I'll try it out and see how it feels.

I'm just saying it because, without that feature, I tap one frame too early and end up not jumping at all. It completely pisses me off, and I'd love to see a fix.

Because of that, I'm naming this screen the hardest one as of now:

There is some place on the first section that lands you on the next bit, but because of the jump bug you can't press jump in time to not completely wreck your day. Did I mention I'd love a workaround?

Really? I find that to be one of the easiest rooms... What iPhone are you using (ie 4, 4S, 5, 5C).

I'm have to wait until the currently pending update is approved/denied to submit another one, so the hold-down update will take at least a week and a half to show up

iPhone 5, what happens is that I somehow tap a frame too early and then I can't un-tap and re-tap fast enough to make it safely across.

Also, I remember the App Store waiting times personally, usually just takes a weekend or two and your app is accepted (longest one I had took 1-2 months in "testing" before I cancelled).

Ok, making sure it wasn't a aspect ratio thing (I use iPhone 5 as well).

I need the current update to be approved (hopefully this week) and then I have to submit a new one that will be another week.

There's a great resource to check current wait times for app/update approvals, that is pretty reliable:
Average Review Times

I guess I'm ok with holds, but that will make the game massively easier. Expect a huge average increase. I thought you purposely left out holds to make it harder (same with queues). I'm glad you took out the swapping in midair sound effect though. It helps with training.

Just an fyi, I don't ever play for more than a couple tries when the ads are displaying. It's simply too distracting.

I'm totally considering removing banner ads in the subsequent update after the current pending one. They've made about $10 total, which is nice, but I agree they are quite distracting.

I think I might try Interstitial (popup) ads every n'th death instead, any thoughts as to if that would be better or worse?

I can imagine some people thinking popups would be more "invasive" and they might be put off, but personally I'd prefer that idea to persistent banners.