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Droid Odyssey BETA 1.06 Released!!
We are happy to announce we have (finally) completed work on the update to Droid Odyssey BETA. This took a bit longer than expected as we decided to squeeze in several much-needed improvements.
Most notable in this release are:
- Completely re-written sound engine. This should rectify problems occurring on some devices where sound files were being reloaded during gameplay due to sound system failures
- Added multi-touch! For devices running Android 2.0 or later (API level 5) we are now supporting multi-touch for on-screen controls
- Added support for hardware keyboards with customizable controls. Some devices have pretty crappy touch-screens so (hello CLIQ users), for those lucky enough to have a hardware keyboard you can now use this ans customize the controls to suit your preference.
- Added on-screen control configuration options. Some users reported problems with the on-screen controls being too near the device controls and accidentally hitting the device HOME button during gameplay. To overcome this we have added different configurations for on-screen controls.
- Added help/tutorial screens when starting a new game.
- Changed droid movement behavior. Many users suggested that allowing the droid to “float” after releasing a directional control was counter-intuitive. Although he was behaving “correctly” according to the physics engine, this meant that certain parts of the game were unnecessarily difficult (and for the wrong reasons). The droid will now cease horizontal movement when you release the corresponding movement control.
This pretty much wraps up the new additions/bug fixes ahead of the full version.. which we REALLY hope will be done by Christmas.
You can download the beta (on your device) here:
http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.carboncrystal.ro
Droid Odyssey BETA
Thanks!
Droid Odyssey BETA 1.06 Update RELEASE NOTES
We are just finishing off the final touches for the upcoming 1.06 update to Droid Odyssey BETA.
This update focuses on bug fixes, primarily associated with some control responsiveness issues reported. Unfortunately on some earlier devices we are seeing issues in control responsiveness and despite our best efforts it seems this is actually an Android problem:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=7836
For users experiencing these problems, if you are fortunate enough to have a hardware keyboard we are adding customizable keyboard controls to this release.
This should help users with devices running older Android versions (including Motorola Cliq users).
We are also introducing an alternate on-screen control option to avoid problems on some devices where the on-screen controls are a little too close to the handset home/back buttons (including HTC Aria users).
We’re aiming to push this update out in the next day or so.
Thanks!
Support for Droid Odyssey BETA continues to grow
We are getting some wonderful feedback, and a couple of very complimentary reviews.
Here’s one posted recently:
http://www.indiegamemag.com/droid-odyssey/
Thanks Meg!
And another one.. a little older but no less appreciated:
Thanks Andrew.
Why the device permissions?
I couple of users have asked why Droid Odyssey BETA needs phone state permissions (android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE). This is a fair question so we thought we should explain this.
The game has a “Feedback” function in which users can respond directly to us with suggestions or bug reports. In order to make this as valuable a process as possible, we use the READ_PHONE_STATE permission to gather information about the device. Because there are literally hundreds of different devices running Android we can’t hope to fully test the game on all platforms, so we use this information to help us understand and diagnose any issues.
This device information is also sent to use when an unexpected error occurs in the app.. for the same reasons.
Here is an example of the information we gather:
Device ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Game Version: 1.05 BETA
PRODUCT: htc_liberty
BRAND: cingular_us
DEVICE: liberty
DISPLAY: (480.0×320.0)
MODEL: HTC Liberty
ANDROID VERSION: 2.1-update1
We use the Device ID merely to track whether the same error is occurring several times on the same device. The rest is fairly self explanatory.
Hope this clears things up!
Droid Odyssey BETA 1.06 update
We are just getting ready to ship the next update to Droid Odyssey BETA (v1.06). This next release will contain a few new configuration options for the controls to accommodate users who have hardware keyboards, and particularly users for whom the on-screen controls interfere with core phone functions (HTC Aria users mostly).
We have also received reports of control responsiveness issues and are working to improve this. Hopefully we can squeeze in some control response improvements in this release, but it may be pushed to the next release if we can’t devise a really good solution.
We are also working on incorporating some game play instructions in response to user feedback, and steaming ahead with level production in preparation for the full version release later this month (hopefully!)
Stay tuned…
Droid Odyssey Screenshots
Just a couple of screenshots…
Droid Odyssey BETA 1.05 Released!
We have just published an update to Droid Odyssey on the Android Market.
This update includes a number of bug fixes, chief of which was a re-write of some of the core audio systems to prevent some unwanted audio reloads mid-game that were causing lag on some devices.
Most importantly, this update contains a NEW LEVEL!!!
The new level, “They’re Out To Get You” marks the first introduction of enemy robots into the Droid Odyseey world.
Grab the update now and let us know how you like it!
Show me the features!
We have received many many suggestions on features to improve game-play (thank you all for contributing!) and after much sifting through these suggestions, we thought it might be a good idea to share the ones we plan to implement:
Here we go…
Sideways motion and “drifting”.
Many users have suggested that your robot should not continue to drift after you release a movement control. Although his behavior is accurate from a physics perspective, it seems this is more annoying than it is interesting. So as long as we can still get the gameplay right we will look at tuning this down or removing it all together
Customizable Controls.
On devices with a hardware keyboard it often makes sense to use this rather than the on-screen controls however the game currently does not allow you to customize these hardware controls. This seems like a very sensible feature so we will definitely implement this, however it may have to be in an update to the full version as we already have a full bag of goodies!
More/Better Instructions.
Although we don’t want to interrupt gameplay with too many annoying popup instructions, it seems that we have left a few too many things to chance and this has resulted in some frustration amongst users. We therefore plan to add a help section with some very brief (visual) instructions on the basic game mechanics.
Equipment Purchases and/or Power Ups
This is a feature we would love to include, as soon as we work out how to do it! The problem here is that power ups by their nature have an effect on how your robot behaves (e.g. move faster, jump etc) and this can in-turn affect how easy or difficult the level is to complete. If the player fails to get the power up, the level becomes very difficult, and if they do get it the level becomes too easy. Striking a fine balance between the two often means that the power up is sort of pointless because it becomes too weak. However, there are some interesting concepts in here that we have started exploring… the foremost of which is using the batteries you collect to purchase “things”. Just what these things are remains to be discovered…
That’s all for now, if there are any new developments we will post them here.
Droid Odyssey Update Imminent
We are getting ready to release an update to the BETA version of Droid Odyssey and are just finishing up the final testing.
This next release is mostly a bug fix release. We have been working hard to resolve the most common problems reported from our users.
These fixes should hopefully resolve some of the lag problems (which we believe are caused by unexpected reloads of audio files mid-game due to audio errors), as well as some other smaller problems.
We haven’t yet had a chance to focus on some of the more “game-play” style suggestions that have come through (faster moving platforms, better controls etc). These will be coming in the next few updates.
We should have the update live in a couple of days.. so stay tuned.. (and watch out for a surprise inclusion!)
Thanks for the help Bug Reporters…
Amongst the many positive comments we are receiving for Droid Odyssey have been an equally welcomed set of bug reports and general game-play feedback. We are working hard to resolve all issues prior to the full version launch, however it’s worth noting that two devices in particular seem to be having some problems with the game:
- Motorola Droid X
- Samsung Galaxy Tablet
If you have tried to play our game on either of these devices, or indeed any other device where you have experienced issues; please be patient (and kind!), we are doing our best to address all of these issues as and when we can.
Having said that, our Flurry stats are telling us that a touch over 96% of all games played were done so with zero errors (of course this doesn’t account for laggy controls, misaligned graphics etc). Regardless of this, we know that at least 4% of our [current] user base has experience an error.. and this is just not good enough.
On current numbers this equates to around 450 people. That’s way too many people to be getting errors.
So we are committed to resolving these issues, and hopefully the full version will work on all (well.. almost all) devices.
Carbon Crystal Games 