b096 released to testers
Posted on July 13, 2009 - benbritten
Hello all you beta testers! Beta 3 is ready!
B096 is uploading as I write this. Lots of changes since B094: You should go and get it here: http://www.snowferno.com/current-beta/.
This will most likely be the final beta release. If there are no show stoppers then we will most likely be able to add the final few sound FX and the end of game cutscene and submit late in the week!
ChangeLog:
- Compressed most all textures just a little bit more.
- turned the FPS counter off
- Changed the way the throttle works, so it should not get stuck anymore
- turned down the physics calculation rate (for performance reasons), this affected the way the accelerometer works slightly. I tried to bring it back in line with how it should feel.
- fix the post scores setting, now you can opt-out of posting your scores on the leaderboards (which will be turned on this week - watch this space.
- fixed the Firewheel level so that there is no longer a crash if you get into the flamethrower, and now the wheel is spinning again.
- changed the way the buttons work in level 12 linking rings. now it doesn't suck.
- fixed level 10 clock, now the exit passage is slightly wider and the middle ring should not get out of sync.
- fixed level 18 Infernal Machine, now the 'gears' should always spin fully 90 degrees instead of sometimes getting stuck on the last frame of animation
- fixed the popups so that they are visible again
Also, for those of you who managed to finish level 2 in under 10 seconds, how the hell did you manage that?
Cheers!
-Ben
Jul 15, 2009
Hey Ben,
Having a great time playing the beta and am getting some good reactions from my friends. I’ve seen them try some interesting things. In answer to your question about level 2 Little Jump, most people don’t look for the snow pile and it’s not too hard to fluke getting across the gap.
The good news first:
I’ve tested level 10 Clock — no issues with the sync of the centre piece and the corridor is a better size without being too wide.
Tested level 18 Infernal Machine — animations are finishing with no issues.
Tested level 12 Linking Rings — final animation is much improved and finishing this level is now fun. I liked the twist at the end.
The bad news:
The slider is much improved but will still jam every once in a while.
Intersection with boxes isn’t as reliable as before (or I never saw a bad case before). Most times the ball nudges a box and each object respects the others bounds. Other times the ball intersects halfway into a box. I’ve also had it pull the box along briefly.
In level 17 Fire Wheel the cannon has consistently shot the ball too far. I’ve made it to the cannon 3 times and tried different depths. Eg. half way up, one quarter & at the base. It’s over shot me each time. When playing b0.9.4, I found I had to be around a quarter of the way up to land in the right place. Sitting at the base meant falling short of the landing pad.
There’s also something else I’ve picked up in level 17. When you pause the game the animations continue to play. The result is that you don’t really get a pause if you’re on the wheel.
Overall looking very good and I’m enjoying the music this time round. It sets the mood for the levels and at times is in sync with your personal game play making the whole experience that much cooler.
Dan
Jul 15, 2009
Hey Dan!
Great feedback, very helpful! The cannon is supposed to work from just inside the base… I think that when I changed the physics calc rate, that mustve messed that up. (and it is a pain to test :-)
gonna have to fix level 2 i guess, make the gap bigger and the snow easier to find :-)
Cheers!
-B
Jul 16, 2009
Hey All!
we are updating the leaderboards! (you can go and check them out, upper right corner on this site)
however, we have also managed to insert a bug where you are ranked #1 (sweet!) no matter how you do on your level. However, you are not actually #1 (bummer.) but the ranking is just coming back wrong.
So, bask in the glory or always being #1 for another day or so while we fix it :-)
-Ben