The gang at Playhaven just gave us the go-ahead to point our "Tips" button to the Snowferno game pages on playhaven.com.
Ben wrote previously about why we chose Playhaven to power our Support/Community features. He also wrote over on the escapeFactory blog how to open a UIWebView in Unity3D, which was essential to integrating Playhaven's model with Snowferno.
We're really excited about this partnership and the community features that Playhaven enables.
Here are some screenshots of what you'll find when you tap "Tips" from the Snowferno main menu... Enjoy!
(P.S: sorry I don't have a Lightbox plugin on the site yet -- it's added to my to-do list...)
It's easy to get spoiled with good reviews, and even easier to quote just those. But what about bad reviews?
Well, you're going to find them, so we'd be stupid to pretend they don't exist. And one of our first was Ben Briggs' Snowferno review today on we play iPhone.
Right off the bat, it's pretty impossible to recover when the reviewer expected from our app title a different game than what we wrote, but his review still had some good points. We don't think that what essentially boils down to "not terribly compelling" merits a D rating, but maybe a year ago -- when there weren't 100,000 other apps to choose from -- we might have scored better with our freshman effort.
Our goal with Snowferno was always, in fact, to tackle the App Store with a simple concept and learn a ton getting it built. We're extra pleased that most people love playing it. And if not? Well, we're just getting going and maybe you'll like our next one better. :)
Unity3D is progressing, as is our knowledge of optimizing within that game engine... we'll see if we can't also smooth out some more of those terrain bugs. But thanks to Ben Briggs for giving us his time for a review!
And last -- about the demerit for "no save state"... he must mean returning mid-level i.e. if interrupted by a call. But it makes it sound like we make you replay Snowferno from the beginning each time, which isn't true. There is a world map, and any level you solve is unlocked for good. Even if you have to reinstall Snowferno, our leaderboard remembers and unlocks your game the next time you boot up.
Not to split hairs, but I just wanted to point that out.
3 new (ahem, glowing) reviews from the iTunes App Store:
Very Fun & Challenging - 5 stars, by Greg Meach
"Starts out very easy but then fairly quickly it will challenge you. The online scoring keeps you coming back to try and improve your time(s). Once you solve the level that is. Check out the web site to see a demo. Highly recommend over many of the other "marble rolling" type games. The simple fact that you can get smaller (with fire) and larger (with snow) and a unique challenge."
Awesome Game - 5 stars, by I Firebird I
"This game is so much fun! Challenging entertainment for everyone. Graphics make you feel like you're there. The controls are great and quick to learn. Makes great use of the accelerometer. The adjustable camera angles is a real plus which most developers forget about. And with the leaderboard this game has it all - a must get."
Great game!!! - 4 stars, by ravenmk
"Fun and pretty ... Love live highscores :D"
The v1.1 update to Snowferno is now Ready For Sale!! Of course, if you already have it, just check your iTuneses or App Store "Updates" button for your free fresh copy.
In this update you will find:
- Better performance for all devices
- Built with new Unity iPhone 1.5
- New Global Leaderboard integration in-game with webview
- New tips from the Community powered by (the already-launched-but-soon-to-be-styled-for-in-game-coolness) playhaven.com
- Fixed a few terrain bugs where you could get stuck
Happy rolling!
We just submitted v1.1 of Snowferno to the App Store for approval last night.
This update was built with the new Unity iPhone 1.5 and the latest iPhone SDK, bringing significant performance improvements across all devices. Gameplay is really smooth now on my iPhone 3G.
Also new in v1.1:
- New Leaderboard integration in-game with UIWebView
- New Tips community in-game -- powered by playhaven.com
- Fixed a few terrain bugs where you could get stuck (thanks, Belly Lint!)
And any Unity devs that want to know how Ben got UIWebView working in Unity, check out his blog post Playhaven, Unity, and Snowferno complete with downloadable sample AppController code.
