New Patch Notes July 30th

ManicGames · 07-29-2011, 12:09 PM

Hi,

The patch has been sent to steam and will hopefully be live within the next 24 hrs. All changes apply to the full version of the game only. The demo will be updated later next week. As always your feedback is welcome.

Patch Notes:

Difficulty: We have reduced the difficulty level of classic mode by 15% in casual 10% in normal and 5% in expert. The amount of mass removed when you create a combo has been multiplied by these percentages.

Practice Mode: We have added a non ranked practice mode to the game. This will allow players to skip to any level on any difficulty setting without the need to progress through each level first. However, In this mode you will not earn skillpoints, achievements or ranks on the leaderboards.

Performance Tweaks: We have added code that should significantly increase performance on lower end systems. Support for OpenGL 1.4 has been delayed due to technical issues and we are hoping to patch that in later next week.

Current Color: We have added a new element to the HUD that will show the player the current colored cube they have. This will change instantly once the block as been placed to the next color.

New Tutorials: We have added two new pop up tutorials to help better explain the mechanics of the game. If you have already viewed the tutorials these will still appear for you so there is no need to reset the tutorials in order to view them.

Known Issues: Ranking is still disabled and we hope to have that fixed sometime over the weekend if not early next week. A patch will not be required and we will inform you once the change has been made. We apologize for the delay and we hope that you understand we are working as hard as we can to get this system back online.

breichart · 07-29-2011, 12:48 PM

That is a huge patch! I love everything about it. Nice work responding to people suggestions so quickly. You are how game developers should be. I hope you guys make many more games.

Notoday · 07-29-2011, 02:02 PM

Great patch. Only problem is that I can't quite find practice mode...

Edit: Found it. I'm a fool, haha.

Talky-Guy · 07-29-2011, 02:04 PM

May I do a few suggestions?

1. Except from the bottom-right cube that denotes the current color, please give an option to users, which, if is enabled, should change the mouse-cursor color ENTIERLY to current color. This means that you will just watch your mouse-cursor-color to understand which color you have: More direct, and without loosing your focus as mouse cursor is always in the point of view.

Now you just set the border of mouse-cursor with the next color (except from the bottom-right cube). But that's hard to see, and distracts you from the cube. If you change the whole cursor color, the player-eyes can understant it without loosing focus over the cube.

2. It would be great if, near the bottom-right current-colored cube, you add a smaller cube (75% size) that would denote the.. next color! While someone is planning to do a big combo, trying also not to be out of time, it is usefull to know which the next color is. Knowing the next color coming, it also gives a speed up advantage making the game more challenging. (Like Tetris which shows you next part, in order to help you not only to decide where to put your item, but also to plan your next move!).

3. I know i am asking too much, but how about.. more stages?.. Or even better: Bigger stages - longer distance from player.

ManicGames · 07-29-2011, 07:13 PM

Hi Talky-Guy,

Thanks for your suggestions.

The reason why we have designed the mouse cursor in this way is to keep it neutral so that it stands out against the colors of the cubes and the background.

If we were to change the color of the entire cursor it would be easy to lose it in all of the bright colors.

We can not show you the "next" color as the cubes are procedurally generated based on what is left in play to ensure that there is not an unwinnable situation and to prevent exploitation of the game mechanics.

You may notice that the procedural generation will be biased towards any big combos you have set up while still being somewhat random, so it is possible to get a "feel" for what cube is coming next, and this is actually an experience that we had planned for players to have. After playing for a while, people seem to get an intuition of what color will come next and use it to their advantage. You wont always get it right though and that's where reaction times and reflexes take a massive part.

As for running out of time while creating big combos, a strategy that works is to choose one or two colours to set up a big combo and then make sure you're getting additional smaller combos on the side to keep the mass down.

We have discussed releasing more content/DLC, but at this stage Mac and iOS versions are taking priority over that. After those are released and we're happy with the community response we may look at expanding the content of the game.

ManicGames · 07-29-2011, 07:15 PM

Hi breichart,

Thanks for expressing your appreciation. It's no trivial task for us to do this, so I'm glad to know you're happy about it.

ManicGames · 07-29-2011, 07:17 PM

Hi Notoday,

Glad you found it! Just so others reading this can see, the Practice Mode is a subset of Classic Mode (has the same rules and format) and can be chosen after you select a difficulty within Classic.

Talky-Guy · 07-31-2011, 01:57 AM

@ManicGames

Thank you for your answers.

For the cursor only, what if you used colored cursor with a white glow/stroke, with darker colors? (This option should be user-defined from options, thus users to choose if they want it or not).

One more question.. Does the amount of mass reduction depending on the combo you make? Or it's the same, if you get a x4 as getting a x13 combo? (I have the impression the amount of reduction is the same but I am not quite sure). If it's the same, how about to make it a bit different depending on the combo?...

ManicGames · 07-31-2011, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talky-Guy

@ManicGames

Thank you for your answers.

For the cursor only, what if you used colored cursor with a white glow/stroke, with darker colors? (This option should be user-defined from options, thus users to choose if they want it or not).

One more question.. Does the amount of mass reduction depending on the combo you make? Or it's the same, if you get a x4 as getting a x13 combo? (I have the impression the amount of reduction is the same but I am not quite sure). If it's the same, how about to make it a bit different depending on the combo?...

Thanks for your suggestions, The mass system is based on the number of blocks in the combo. The larger the combo the larger the reduction in mass.

flava_clown · 07-31-2011, 03:21 AM

i just wanted to "express my appreciation" for the patch and your work.

thank you very much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by breichart

That is a huge patch! I love everything about it. Nice work responding to people suggestions so quickly. You are how game developers should be. I hope you guys make many more games.

couldn't agree more with that...

jimbodan · 07-31-2011, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flava_clown

i just wanted to "express my appreciation" for the patch and your work.

thank you very much.

couldn't agree more with that...

Agreed. Can't wait for the online rankings to be fixed to see where I stand!

cristian240sx · 07-31-2011, 10:08 PM

awesome patch. the only thing i would change now is a reduction to the amount of motion blur visible when utilizing the time warp bonus; i find it way too distracting in its current state

07-29-2011, 12:09 PM	#1
ManicGames Manic Game Studios Join Date: Jun 2011 Reputation: 28 Posts: 155	New Patch Notes July 30th Hi, The patch has been sent to steam and will hopefully be live within the next 24 hrs. All changes apply to the full version of the game only. The demo will be updated later next week. As always your feedback is welcome. Patch Notes: Difficulty: We have reduced the difficulty level of classic mode by 15% in casual 10% in normal and 5% in expert. The amount of mass removed when you create a combo has been multiplied by these percentages. Practice Mode: We have added a non ranked practice mode to the game. This will allow players to skip to any level on any difficulty setting without the need to progress through each level first. However, In this mode you will not earn skillpoints, achievements or ranks on the leaderboards. Performance Tweaks: We have added code that should significantly increase performance on lower end systems. Support for OpenGL 1.4 has been delayed due to technical issues and we are hoping to patch that in later next week. Current Color: We have added a new element to the HUD that will show the player the current colored cube they have. This will change instantly once the block as been placed to the next color. New Tutorials: We have added two new pop up tutorials to help better explain the mechanics of the game. If you have already viewed the tutorials these will still appear for you so there is no need to reset the tutorials in order to view them. Known Issues: Ranking is still disabled and we hope to have that fixed sometime over the weekend if not early next week. A patch will not be required and we will inform you once the change has been made. We apologize for the delay and we hope that you understand we are working as hard as we can to get this system back online.

07-29-2011, 02:02 PM	#3
Notoday Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 22	Great patch. Only problem is that I can't quite find practice mode... Edit: Found it. I'm a fool, haha. Last edited by Notoday: 07-29-2011 at 02:07 PM.

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07-29-2011, 12:48 PM	#2
breichart Join Date: Apr 2010 Reputation: 4 Posts: 61	That is a huge patch! I love everything about it. Nice work responding to people suggestions so quickly. You are how game developers should be. I hope you guys make many more games.

07-29-2011, 02:04 PM	#4
Talky-Guy Join Date: Jul 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 17	May I do a few suggestions? 1. Except from the bottom-right cube that denotes the current color, please give an option to users, which, if is enabled, should change the mouse-cursor color ENTIERLY to current color. This means that you will just watch your mouse-cursor-color to understand which color you have: More direct, and without loosing your focus as mouse cursor is always in the point of view. Now you just set the border of mouse-cursor with the next color (except from the bottom-right cube). But that's hard to see, and distracts you from the cube. If you change the whole cursor color, the player-eyes can understant it without loosing focus over the cube. 2. It would be great if, near the bottom-right current-colored cube, you add a smaller cube (75% size) that would denote the.. next color! While someone is planning to do a big combo, trying also not to be out of time, it is usefull to know which the next color is. Knowing the next color coming, it also gives a speed up advantage making the game more challenging. (Like Tetris which shows you next part, in order to help you not only to decide where to put your item, but also to plan your next move!). 3. I know i am asking too much, but how about.. more stages?.. Or even better: Bigger stages - longer distance from player.

07-29-2011, 07:13 PM	#5
ManicGames Manic Game Studios Join Date: Jun 2011 Reputation: 28 Posts: 155	Hi Talky-Guy, Thanks for your suggestions. The reason why we have designed the mouse cursor in this way is to keep it neutral so that it stands out against the colors of the cubes and the background. If we were to change the color of the entire cursor it would be easy to lose it in all of the bright colors. We can not show you the "next" color as the cubes are procedurally generated based on what is left in play to ensure that there is not an unwinnable situation and to prevent exploitation of the game mechanics. You may notice that the procedural generation will be biased towards any big combos you have set up while still being somewhat random, so it is possible to get a "feel" for what cube is coming next, and this is actually an experience that we had planned for players to have. After playing for a while, people seem to get an intuition of what color will come next and use it to their advantage. You wont always get it right though and that's where reaction times and reflexes take a massive part. As for running out of time while creating big combos, a strategy that works is to choose one or two colours to set up a big combo and then make sure you're getting additional smaller combos on the side to keep the mass down. We have discussed releasing more content/DLC, but at this stage Mac and iOS versions are taking priority over that. After those are released and we're happy with the community response we may look at expanding the content of the game.

07-29-2011, 07:15 PM	#6
ManicGames Manic Game Studios Join Date: Jun 2011 Reputation: 28 Posts: 155	Hi breichart, Thanks for expressing your appreciation. It's no trivial task for us to do this, so I'm glad to know you're happy about it.

07-29-2011, 07:17 PM	#7
ManicGames Manic Game Studios Join Date: Jun 2011 Reputation: 28 Posts: 155	Hi Notoday, Glad you found it! Just so others reading this can see, the Practice Mode is a subset of Classic Mode (has the same rules and format) and can be chosen after you select a difficulty within Classic.

07-31-2011, 01:57 AM	#8
Talky-Guy Join Date: Jul 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 17	@ManicGames Thank you for your answers. For the cursor only, what if you used colored cursor with a white glow/stroke, with darker colors? (This option should be user-defined from options, thus users to choose if they want it or not). One more question.. Does the amount of mass reduction depending on the combo you make? Or it's the same, if you get a x4 as getting a x13 combo? (I have the impression the amount of reduction is the same but I am not quite sure). If it's the same, how about to make it a bit different depending on the combo?...

07-31-2011, 10:08 PM	#12
cristian240sx Join Date: Jan 2010 Reputation: 5 Posts: 73	awesome patch. the only thing i would change now is a reduction to the amount of motion blur visible when utilizing the time warp bonus; i find it way too distracting in its current state