21 replies to this topic

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

Cubes is now available on the Mac App Store and it is free! Please help support the GM4Mac Community by downloading and rating the game!

DOWNLOAD:

http://itunes.apple....404705245?mt=12

Thanks in advance,

BubbaMonkey Game Studios

Edited by BubbaMonkeyStudios, 05 February 2011 - 04:03 AM.

[ugriffin]

If it's free, I think you should also upload a .dmg of your game for those who don't have Snow Leopard. Yes, I know people who don't.

As for your game, I've written a little review!

• Really slow to load on my really recent MacBook.
• Lags at startup
• Great graphics! Really good graphics!
• Don't use the mouse so much for killing enemies! More on this later!
• Err, lots of lag in general? I think you're pushing Game Maker too hard.
• Unibody polycarbonate MacBook here, with a 2.26GHZ Core 2 Due, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600m (256VRAM)

Review:

Ok, so I started the game up, loaded (took a while), and started a new game. Movement is pretty good, if a bit slow, and I think the idea of dragging cubes to change your environment is pretty great too! Mostly what I didn't like is that the lag (or the slow motion you set the dragging/moving to) doesn't really let me move and hinders me. So I think you should increase both of these in an update.
One thing that really annoyed me about your game is that you have to click to kill some enemies. Apart from the fact that since movement is slow it's hard to evade these enemies, you have to consider that this is a Mac game, and Apple sometimes gets too... innovative with their mouses, and that can hurt gameplay. Since I'm on a multitouch MacBook, when I click, the mouse freezes. This doesn't sound so bad, but it really translates into really annoying and repetitive gameplay. The general lag didn't help.
I made it to the ice level, in the part that you have to shrink your Cube, and to be honest I just got bored and quit.


I was kind of thinking why I didn't enjoy this as much as identical concepts like Super Mario, and I realized it really boiled down to the flawed movement system you've got there: it's a bit prone to sticking your character to walls, it's slow, so I guess you end up getting annoyed because of it.

I'll be updating this review as I notice more stuff.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

If it's free, I think you should also upload a .dmg of your game for those who don't have Snow Leopard. Yes, I know people who don't.

As for your game, I've written a little review!

• Really slow to load on my really recent MacBook.
• Lags at startup
• Great graphics! Really good graphics!
• Don't use the mouse so much for killing enemies! More on this later!
• Err, lots of lag in general? I think you're pushing Game Maker too hard.
• Unibody polycarbonate MacBook here, with a 2.26GHZ Core 2 Due, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600m (256VRAM)

Review:

Ok, so I started the game up, loaded (took a while), and started a new game. Movement is pretty good, if a bit slow, and I think the idea of dragging cubes to change your environment is pretty great too! Mostly what I didn't like is that the lag (or the slow motion you set the dragging/moving to) doesn't really let me move and hinders me. So I think you should increase both of these in an update.
One thing that really annoyed me about your game is that you have to click to kill some enemies. Apart from the fact that since movement is slow it's hard to evade these enemies, you have to consider that this is a Mac game, and Apple sometimes gets too... innovative with their mouses, and that can hurt gameplay. Since I'm on a multitouch MacBook, when I click, the mouse freezes. This doesn't sound so bad, but it really translates into really annoying and repetitive gameplay. The general lag didn't help.
I made it to the ice level, in the part that you have to shrink your Cube, and to be honest I just got bored and quit.


I was kind of thinking why I didn't enjoy this as much as identical concepts like Super Mario, and I realized it really boiled down to the flawed movement system you've got there: it's a bit prone to sticking your character to walls, it's slow, so I guess you end up getting annoyed because of it.

I'll be updating this review as I notice more stuff.

I think the movement problem must be lag. The dragging speed IS a bit slow so that when dragged the character can keep up to it. I am aware of getting stuck to the walls and I'll address this soon. I think the lag is probably just because of the size of the graphics.

So are you using a mouse or the trackpad, because definitely this would be hard to play without a mouse and I should probably add that to the description since most Mac are laptops.

After the snow level the game mechanics are further built upon though, you go ALOT faster =P

Thanks for this ugriffin, very helpful,
BubbaMonkey Studios

[ugriffin]

:3

[11clock]

Way too many glitches!

The game is cluttered with bugs! Sticking to walls, dying randomly, creating the jump sound by pressing the jump button in air, delayed sound effects, lags, etc...

It has great potential, however. If the game didn't have so many bugs and glitches, it would definally be an excellent game.

2/5

Edited by 11clock, 06 February 2011 - 02:59 PM.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

Way too many glitches!

The game is cluttered with bugs! Sticking to walls, dying randomly, creating the jump sound by pressing the jump button in air, delayed sound effects, lags, etc...

It has great potential, however. If the game didn't have so many bugs and glitches, it would definally be an excellent game.

2/5

Thanks for the Reply!

As for the lag, what are your system specs? Is it a recent Mac?

The random dying is probably because you were hit in the head with a block, you can only jump on top of them.

Other stuff, I'm working on now.

Hopefully I'll get an update up today.

Thanks,
BMS

[Dangerous_Dave]

I just want to make one comment: ugriffin, you have really clean carpet

[Pikapika102]

i don't have snow leopard.. please give a .dmg link if you could for me and others that don't

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

i don't have snow leopard.. please give a .dmg link if you could for me and others that don't

I think that the Testing version I posted has mostly the same gameplay, but I'll post a .dmg sometime soon.

-BMS

[Dangerous_Dave]

I played it, but instead of being original, I'll just compare my experience to ugriffin's .

Really slow to load on my really recent MacBook.

I had no problem with this, but my MacBook is more recent .

Lags at startup

Non issue here.

Great graphics! Really good graphics!

Simple, but good.

Don't use the mouse so much for killing enemies! More on this later!

It's a bit more original than some other games. Not sure if I like it or not.

Err, lots of lag in general? I think you're pushing Game Maker too hard.

I haven't had a problem. But like I said, more recent .

Unibody polycarbonate MacBook here, with a 2.26GHZ Core 2 Due, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600m (256VRAM)

I've got the i7 15inch stock. Pretty much double your specs .

One thing that really annoyed me about your game is that you have to click to kill some enemies. Apart from the fact that since movement is slow it's hard to evade these enemies, you have to consider that this is a Mac game, and Apple sometimes gets too... innovative with their mouses, and that can hurt gameplay. Since I'm on a multitouch MacBook, when I click, the mouse freezes. This doesn't sound so bad, but it really translates into really annoying and repetitive gameplay. The general lag didn't help.

I had trouble with the trackpad too. I'll try again later, with a real mouse.



Edit: By the way, did you actually pay $99 to put your game on the store for free, or do you just know someone with a dev licence?

Edited by Dangerous_Dave, 08 February 2011 - 08:57 AM.

[ugriffin]

I played it, but instead of being original, I'll just compare my experience to ugriffin's .

Really slow to load on my really recent MacBook.

I had no problem with this, but my MacBook is more recent .

Lags at startup

Non issue here.

Great graphics! Really good graphics!

Simple, but good.

Don't use the mouse so much for killing enemies! More on this later!

It's a bit more original than some other games. Not sure if I like it or not.

Err, lots of lag in general? I think you're pushing Game Maker too hard.

I haven't had a problem. But like I said, more recent .

Unibody polycarbonate MacBook here, with a 2.26GHZ Core 2 Due, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600m (256VRAM)

I've got the i7 15inch stock. Pretty much double your specs .

One thing that really annoyed me about your game is that you have to click to kill some enemies. Apart from the fact that since movement is slow it's hard to evade these enemies, you have to consider that this is a Mac game, and Apple sometimes gets too... innovative with their mouses, and that can hurt gameplay. Since I'm on a multitouch MacBook, when I click, the mouse freezes. This doesn't sound so bad, but it really translates into really annoying and repetitive gameplay. The general lag didn't help.

I had trouble with the trackpad too. I'll try again later, with a real mouse.



Edit: By the way, did you actually pay $99 to put your game on the store for free, or do you just know someone with a dev licence?

Lol, your post was basically one big 'your Mac sucks'.

My computer is quite recent, (less than 1 year, on April it's its birthday), and it has no trouble with really heavy stuff like COD, nor any trouble with Frozzd or YPWMI

So unless your computer is some awesome beast like yours, yeah, it does lag. But 90% of us Mac users aren't!

As for the 99 dollar thing, yes, he did pay for the dev license. I don't see it as a bad thing, as your game really breaks into mainstream with the Store. It hasn't exactly got positive reviews, though, at least those that don't come from his family. XD So in that sense, yes, it was a bit of a waste.

Edited by ugriffin, 09 February 2011 - 02:18 AM.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

It's a bit more original than some other games. Not sure if I like it or not.

I haven't had a problem. But like I said, more recent .

I've got the i7 15inch stock. Pretty much double your specs .

I had trouble with the trackpad too. I'll try again later, with a real mouse.

Edit: By the way, did you actually pay $99 to put your game on the store for free, or do you just know someone with a dev licence?

Haha, thanks for the review. And the lag seems to be an issue with the older MacBooks from what I've gathered.

Mouse is highly recommended, as posted... somewhere.

And yes, the license is mine, thus the "BubbaMonkey Studios".

Lol, your post was basically one big 'your Mac sucks'.

My computer is quite recent, (less than 1 year, on April it's its birthday), and it has no trouble with really heavy stuff like COD, nor any trouble with Frozzd or YPWMI

So unless your computer is some awesome beast like you, yeah, it does lag. But 90% of us Mac users aren't!

As for the 99 dollar thing, yes, he did pay for the dev license. I don't see it as a bad thing, as your game really breaks into mainstream with the Store. It hasn't exactly got positive reviews, though, at least those that don't come from his family. XD So in that sense, yes, it was a bit of a waste.

I have more releases planned, which will correct mistakes made in the design of Cubes, more than anything I think this will help me to make a great second release.

Edited by BubbaMonkeyStudios, 09 February 2011 - 01:54 AM.

[Dangerous_Dave]

Lol, your post was basically one big 'your Mac sucks'.

Haha that may be, but this sort of game shouldn't lag on any half decent hardware. It's not neccesarily the game's fault though, I have had lag issues with GM4Mac games that don't exist on Windows.

and it has no trouble with really heavy stuff like COD, nor any trouble with Frozzd or YPWMI

Though this does suggest it's this game...

As for the 99 dollar thing, yes, he did pay for the dev license. I don't see it as a bad thing, as your game really breaks into mainstream with the Store. It hasn't exactly got positive reviews, though, at least those that don't come from his family. XD So in that sense, yes, it was a bit of a waste.

Haha maybe, maybe not.

What I would like to know is what kind of downloads it gets. I've heard that the Mac App store being limited to Snow Leopard has really limited the audience. I'd love to hear how a game like this fares on the store. But it's no problem if no one wants to comment.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

What I would like to know is what kind of downloads it gets. I've heard that the Mac App store being limited to Snow Leopard has really limited the audience. I'd love to hear how a game like this fares on the store. But it's no problem if no one wants to comment.

Well, first of all I think this game got very lucky in terms of its popularity rise, it was ranked #2 out of all games a few hours ago.

That being said, Cubes has had over 20,000 downloads since its launch four days ago on the App Store.

Edited by BubbaMonkeyStudios, 09 February 2011 - 08:24 AM.

[Dangerous_Dave]

Wow. Just, wow. I'm sure the ranking has helped hugely, but I was still only expecting a few hundred to a few thousand downloads. 20,000 is just mind blowing for 4 days. Say what you will, but I'd pay $99 to have my game downloaded 20,000 in 4 days, with no regrets.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

Wow. Just, wow. I'm sure the ranking has helped hugely, but I was still only expecting a few hundred to a few thousand downloads. 20,000 is just mind blowing for 4 days. Say what you will, but I'd pay $99 to have my game downloaded 20,000 in 4 days, with no regrets.

I think so too, I'm really excited about the App Store so far, and as I said am working on a much much recent, high quality game.

[ugriffin]

You indeed got plenty of downloads. The average of your app is pretty bad, though. Maybe you should focus on fixing the existing content before adding new games? Just saying, this game has plenty of potential, you should harness it.



I wantz hard, exact evidence! iTunes connect screenies, please?

That said, Frozzd and YPWMI did pretty well for commercial games. I would agree that right now the Store is not at its strongest, nor it probably ever will compare to iOS. The Mac has always been a minority, and I hope it stays that way.

Edited by ugriffin, 10 February 2011 - 01:38 AM.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

You indeed got plenty of downloads. The average of your app is pretty bad, though. Maybe you should focus on fixing the existing content before adding new games? Just saying, this game has plenty of potential, you should harness it.

I wantz hard, exact evidence! iTunes connect screenies, please?

That said, Frozzd and YPWMI did pretty well for commercial games. I would agree that right now the Store is not at its strongest, nor it probably ever will compare to iOS. The Mac has always been a minority, and I hope it stays that way.

I will of course continue to add updates to Cubes, but I really don't understand what people want (other than bug fixes, I am working on the collisions =0). Lots of people just tend to dismiss the game entirely so there's not much I can do to fix that.

That number is practically exact, (21,110).

And that's true, it looks like YPWMI got a lot of attention actually.

Also, that 1.5 star rating is confusing me =/, it has 3 stars now with 9 ratings.

-BMS

Edited by BubbaMonkeyStudios, 10 February 2011 - 02:53 AM.

[ugriffin]

I'm on Canada, the average is much lower over here, since we're on different Stores. I guess the US rating is higher because of your family members that rated it, plus a few genuine 5 stars here and there.


Maybe what you need to do is just make a few tweaks: look at tried & true like mario and change enemies (because some are very annoying), decrease lag, etc. May I suggest external loading instead of making the game handle all that content by itself? Game Maker doesn't like that.

[BubbaMonkeyStudios]

I'm on Canada, the average is much lower over here, since we're on different Stores. I guess the US rating is higher because of your family members that rated it, plus a few genuine 5 stars here and there.


Maybe what you need to do is just make a few tweaks: look at tried & true like mario and change enemies (because some are very annoying), decrease lag, etc. May I suggest external loading instead of making the game handle all that content by itself? Game Maker doesn't like that.

, and peop
Hmm, thats strange that there are different ratings. I only recognized one name of a reviewer, I did post it to Facebook though =P

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion on graphics, that might be what is causing the jagged scrolling as well.