XNAUK XAP test service

Re: Wizard Wars

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:25:33 GMT

Great news, will keep an eye out for your updated version

Re: Wizard Wars

DugongGames — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:55:37 GMT

Thank you very much for playing our game and providing feedback.

We've addressed the points you've raised in your post and your suggestions have been very valuable. In particular, I think being offered the tutorials the first time you hit "Play" is a nice touch, as well as the menu screens being a bit more "alive".

Thanks again, we appreciate it.

Re: Wizard Wars

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:00:18 GMT

Right had a good bash through Wizard Wars over the weekend, i found it to be an entertaining and eventually a high paced and well put together game.

Here are a collection of my thoughts for you:

You have a nice flip animation effect on the main menu, this should be carried though the rest of the menu's (possibly the game) to keep consistency
One of my bug bears with tutorials rises here, although the tutorial is nice and well thought out, I should just be able to tap on the screen to progress and for progressing through the tutorial stages, it should either just continue or prompt the user if they want to continue to the next stage. Pushing the user back to the tutorial selection is a bad experience.
Also make the menus active, they are the first thing the player see's and should surprise the player, animate the buttons or background (did have a daft thought where the characters on either side could pop up and shout / encourage the player to hurry up and pick :D)
If the user hasn't completed (or started) the tutorial on clicking play the first time, then ask the user just in case they didn't see the button :D, but remember the answer and don't prompt again.
When upgrading towers there needs to be something to show the tower is being upgraded (animation perhaps) and the tower should look different afterwards. I should be able to tell by just looking that a tower is upgraded (So either I'm not seeing it if it is already)
Needs more engagement with the game, this is a bit hard to describe but I'm not drawn in to the gameplay. This could be achieved with some audio clips while playing (random noises from the attackers and or defenders) or zoom in effects where important things are going on (gates about to be breached?). Look at games like Lushington springs for example which adds weather effects and such.
Size of the game needs to be drastically reduced. at 58Mb for a tower defence it seems a bit bloated in size. Try sizing down textures by a power of 2 or 4 and see if it still meets your quality levels. Same with audio, Mono 22k is usually enough. Remember it's a mobile device.
Where I really like the idea of the store, you should really give players an opportunity to enter the store between levels, with an option to return to gameplay afterwards. Consider little tutorial hot tips when a player buys a new item in game to describe how it's best used.

Overall it's a very nicely polished game but my biggest concern is that it doesn't go far enough and is too comparable to other tower defence type games out there. in this competing market it pays to be unique and offer a gameplay or style that hasn't been done before to draw people in. Take BBB App-ocalypse which throws in a 1st person shooter trick when the phone is flipped (granted not suitable for this game but just an example of something that stands out). Basically think bigger or throw in more humour or action.

I really like the way some of the levels are laid out and they provide enough of a fast paced challenge with the extra race to collect booty but in order to succeed you may need more, a killer feature or a collection of other elements to really grab players attention.

I hope the comments don't discourage you as it has the makings to be a fantastic game.

Re: Wizard Wars

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:16:10 GMT

Thanks for using our service, we'll get this tested shortly and get back to you :D

Wizard Wars

DugongGames — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:45:01 GMT

Wizard Wars is a Fantasy themed Tower defense game. Players are given the choice of 4 towers as well as the use of special items to use in order to defeat the Wrorc army.

Currently the game is almost ready for certification. We just require testing on different handsets. Feel free to give feedback on any non-hardware aswell.

Devices tested so far:

HTC Trophy - OK

HTC Motzart - OK

Any reviews would be appreciated too.

Thanks and have fun,

Chris

Dugong Games

www.Dugong-Games.co.uk

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:27:12 GMT

Thanks that's great,

I'll see if I can implement those final suggestions and then i'll go ahead and publish. Thanks again for taking the time to provide this awesome service!

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:52:58 GMT

Sorry for not getting back for a little while, but here now :D

Looks like it's almost there:

Like start page buttons could be bigger on game screen
Still hard to make out which scores I can select once a round has finished, the scores i've selected in previous rounds are bold but all other scores are grey. could do with a better way to represent this like, scores completed change to red, scores that are positive have a highlighted background (rectangle with rounded corners?) to show they can be selected from. Just to highlight more that this is what the player needs to select from. Leave options with no value ( 0 ) as they are.

That's it.

Make sure you have run the marketplace test kit against your project and also ensure you also test tombstoning on each screen (set the option in the project properties "Debug" tab to force tombstone on suspend/exit) and make sure it doesn't crash.

Great job, look forward to seeing it out there!

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:40:59 GMT

I've uploaded v1.02 with the following changes:

Splashscreen :)
Bigger buttons on main page
Removed app title from info page and all pages for consistency.
Broken up text on the intro page into more pages... 'intro', 'basic rules' and 'more rules'... 'advanced rules' was too long for the screen.
Start button is bigger on "select players" screen.
Significantly reduced stutter when starting a game.
I've got my app Id so the 'Share This App' button is finished. (Obviously the link won't be valid until the app is published)
Slightly improved the image quality used for the buttons.

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:27:20 GMT

Thanks again for the feedback and encouragement :) I'll get working on an update.

If you have selected the "Don't show this screen again" checkbox on the introduction screen it can still be accessed from the Options menu (Options->Rules).

When you say some scores were highlighted but not valid I think you mean they were showing with a score of zero, but still selectable? This is intentional because you may want to strategically sacrifice one of your scores even if it means zero points for that round. e.g. if you are going for sixes and on your third roll you only manage to get 3-4-5-5-6 (and you have already used up your 'fives' score) then you may want to select 'Ones' on the scorecard and get zero points because you may think you can get more than one six on another round. So choosing the highest available score for a particular round is not necessarily the correct decision strategically speaking :). Also, there will be times, especially toward the end of a game, where all the unused scores show zero points because you've been unable to roll the right combination, and you must always select a score to end your turn.

I would be very interested in the pre-loading article especially if it caters for deactivation/tombstoning in a Silverlight/XNA hybrid situation :) (if that makes any difference?)

Btw i'm not sure if it is obvious but did you know you can play against other human players on the same phone? On the player selection screen, tap the monitor icon next to the player name and it will change it to a human player. You can mix any combination of AI and human players. Just wandered if I need to make it more explicit by mentioning it in the introduction section?

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:31:36 GMT

Right great progress, few more points:

Splashscreen!! :D
Buttons need to be bigger on the main page, although they are not really in line with Metro guidelines as its a game you should be ok
In the new info page, drop the app title as you don't need it, you need more space for the text
Better to break up the text on the first page as it's too wordy for a page (try not to scroll if possible!) , have an intro (just basic info), a basic rules pivot, advanced rules pivot.
Must have a way to get the info page back up again (button on main page?)
make Start game bigger on "Select Players" screen
Consider pre-loading XNA assets on the main page (I've created a separate static XNAManager class in the past , just be sure to "SetSharingMode" on the graphics adapter before loading and set it back afterwards), use a separate thread to kick it off. I did have a couple of occasions where the game page stuttered on start. (if you have trouble about the pre-loading, i'll throw up a quick blog post on it.
Consider Having the Scorecard highlight the best scoring options after finishing rolling / playing the round to make it easier for the player to select scores, or have a pop up window to make it more obvious (might be better to just auto select the highest unless there is a choice) - Main reason is after playing a few rounds some of the scores were highlighted but not valid for the current round, not sure if this was intended or not

Keep it up as it looks like a fantastic simple game and the 3D dice really set off the scene

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:22:46 GMT

Right, picking this up again now, will get back to you soon.

Congrats on the quick turn around :D

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:08:35 GMT

I've uploaded the latest xap file which I think addresses all your feedback. I also went a little bit crazy with the restyling so I hope it's an improvement, but a bit worried I made it worse :)

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:48:27 GMT

Thanks for the excellent feedback,

I'll look into making those changes. To complete your turn after you have finished rolling, you need to select a score on the scorecard by tapping it and then the score button becomes active. I guess that bit isn't intuitive. And I completely agree the styling could be improved, i think I was a little bit lazy although I have to admit it is not my strong point :-)

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:15:32 GMT

Few first thoughts:

Best to have the prompt on location pop up after the main menu has loaded, currently if the user waits to make a choice the app crash/closes before a choice is made (the app 20 seconds start / 5 seconds show limit).
The wording on the location prompt is too wordy, just use the standard, do you want to let this app use your location question text
The buttons on the front page are out of theme with the rest of the app, best to use images for the buttons or style them better
Might be better on the "Select players" screen to start with just 2/3 players and have an "Add more players" button, rather than the 8 options from the beginning, then drop the check boxes
Consider styling default title panel on the "Select Players" page to be more in line with your game page
The Ad's are very harsh in the game view, best to have them animate in with some opacity over the page
Buttons on Game page need styling
(*Bug) Cannot continue game, once my rolls have complete i cannot continue the game, score button does not activate and computer player does not get a turn
Consider using the shake gesture to roll the dice?
Game needs a little intro on how to play, even knowing it's Yahtze, you have to account for people who have not played it before. it also has to be intuitive if you have not seen it (just imaging you have never used the app and think what would someone think)

Overall it's a very clean and simple game which really shines with the use of XNA 3D on top of the Silverlight background.

Generally it just needs styling to meet the game play view.

Re: Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:55:37 GMT

Just picked up your XAP for test, will let you know how I get on.

Remember though this service is for any XAP not just games :D, apps are welcome too.

Name: Yaht 3D - Author: Kelbicom

kelbicon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:30:48 GMT

Hi,

I've uploaded my game Yaht 3D for testing. It's not my first XNA app, but it is my first game so please be nice :-). It's actually an XNA/Silverlight hybrid. Apologies that the game is not an original idea, but I'm hoping that it will be the best of it's kind on the Windows Phone.

I'm pretty much ready to submit the app to the marketplace I just need some sanity testing to make sure i've not missed anything and some general feedback would also be helpful.

The only thing I haven't finished is the "Share This App" feature because I want the user to be able to share the marketplace link using their social media but I need an app Id first. Not sure whether I can get an app ID until after submission but i'll soon find out.

I see that you also write app reviews so if you can spare some time for that, that would be awesome. :-)

And thanks for providing this excellent service.

Cheers,

Dunc

A slightly unusual test request...

RyokuMas76 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:42:42 GMT

All,

We (Leda Entertainment) have had a few issues with our web hosting of late - to the point where we will probably be jumping to a new provider.

The new provider we have in mind is offering us a ten-day trial, during which time we need to test whether our needs are met - this includes our online high-score table system - which is where the XAP test service comes in.

If all the other aspects of the site check out under this new provider, Paul and I will be producing a specially modified version of our "Rummycomb" title, with its high-score table links pointing at the new site. We need people to play this modified version to check that everything is interacting with the site as it should.

Would you marvelous people - who have been such a great support to the successes of Leda Entertainment to date - be able to lend us your aid once more?

Thanks!

Ben

Re: Rummycomb (RC1)

pauliharman — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:53:57 GMT

Did anyone notice any problems with Rummycomb? It failed certification, apparently because it didn't resume from tombstone fast enough. That's not a problem I've ever encountered with it :-(

Rummycomb (RC1)

pauliharman — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:12:20 GMT

I've posted Rummycomb up to the test service for you guys to try out. I'm interested in any and all feedback. It's a "choose a set of gems and they disappear" game in the tradition of Bejeweled and Tetris, but played out over a hexagonal grid and with Rams that can force columns of tokens to rise a level (but thence blocking part of the field of play).

The "Space" graphics are just placeholders at the moment, and I haven't added the sound effects or leaderboards yet... but everything else is done.

Please let me know if you find any bugs or Marketplace failures! I'm hoping to release this sometime in early November.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Re: Planet Cute Defense

Simon Jackson XNAUK Admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:25:54 GMT

You may still want to publish a Free version with a link to the paid full to get better exposure, with or without ads!

Just a thought before you completely relax

And don't forget to publicise your game to the usual channels, google wp7 marketing and you will get a god idea