Invaders World Tour - My First Torque Project - Complete!
by Scott Wilson-Billing · 04/27/2010 (4:07 am) · 11 comments
I've only just spotted this section - always late to the party (usually stopped in a pub on the way ;-)
I started using Torque on Boxing Day 2009 and spent the week after putting together the bones on an Invader game - I wanted to reproduce something I'd written in the past to get a feel for what was possible with the engine. Bit of background and context, my day job is a Java software developer working on backend business systems and is the main focus of our line of work. We have, however, looked at the iPhone as a potential revenue stream for mobile business applications and had previously cut our teeth on straight objc-c and Unity. I wanted to see what we could achieve with Torque from a purely gaming point of view. Most of the effort was spent evenings and weekends whilst keeping the day job going.
Once I had a working game I then spent about three months refining the game and adding a storyline - the invaders are attacking the world on a country by country basis - you need to stop them. The countries gave me the framework for the levels and I decided to split each country phase into 5 time events; dawn, mid morning, mid-afternoon, dusk and nigh time. Fortunately we have a graphics artist working for our company and she produced quite quickly the graphics for the game.
I then went through the usual optimisation stuff and struggled to get anything decent on the older devices, but with the fantastic help from the Torque Community (special mention to Marc Shaerer!) I managed to get something that would pass muster.
The game was finally released on April 21st along with a lite version - one country only.
I already have plans for new features and an iPad version is in production.
We've got a web page with screen shots, video, iTunes links etc:
iwt.meyume.com
I started using Torque on Boxing Day 2009 and spent the week after putting together the bones on an Invader game - I wanted to reproduce something I'd written in the past to get a feel for what was possible with the engine. Bit of background and context, my day job is a Java software developer working on backend business systems and is the main focus of our line of work. We have, however, looked at the iPhone as a potential revenue stream for mobile business applications and had previously cut our teeth on straight objc-c and Unity. I wanted to see what we could achieve with Torque from a purely gaming point of view. Most of the effort was spent evenings and weekends whilst keeping the day job going.
Once I had a working game I then spent about three months refining the game and adding a storyline - the invaders are attacking the world on a country by country basis - you need to stop them. The countries gave me the framework for the levels and I decided to split each country phase into 5 time events; dawn, mid morning, mid-afternoon, dusk and nigh time. Fortunately we have a graphics artist working for our company and she produced quite quickly the graphics for the game.
I then went through the usual optimisation stuff and struggled to get anything decent on the older devices, but with the fantastic help from the Torque Community (special mention to Marc Shaerer!) I managed to get something that would pass muster.
The game was finally released on April 21st along with a lite version - one country only.
I already have plans for new features and an iPad version is in production.
We've got a web page with screen shots, video, iTunes links etc:
iwt.meyume.com
#2
04/27/2010 (5:38 am)
Looks good. Congratulations with finishing and shipping you game. I really like that black hole teleportation thing, nice little touch but adds a lot sense. 
#4
Kinda makes me wanna an i-phone. Great job.
04/27/2010 (2:42 pm)
These $0.99 games look great. Sequel?Kinda makes me wanna an i-phone. Great job.
#5
- iPad version with very detailed skylines, larger more detailed invaders, saucers etc
- more invader types; different patterns, not just left/right
- bosses at the end of each country level
- more powerups, ship upgrades, different missile types etc
- some extra countries
- progress map
- open feint / game centre / achievements / usual hit/body count/shooting accuracy etc
- in app purchase
- user selectable gfx detail - so can still support low end devices - this is just gonna be fluff stuff e.g. london eye turning, search lights, stuff in the sky, balloons etc, buildings on fire etc etc The idea being that 3GS and 3rd gen touch can ramp up the detail and get the fluff. This will be the last stuff I add.
04/27/2010 (4:00 pm)
Thanks everybody, glad you like it. Sequel wise, well I'm planning:- iPad version with very detailed skylines, larger more detailed invaders, saucers etc
- more invader types; different patterns, not just left/right
- bosses at the end of each country level
- more powerups, ship upgrades, different missile types etc
- some extra countries
- progress map
- open feint / game centre / achievements / usual hit/body count/shooting accuracy etc
- in app purchase
- user selectable gfx detail - so can still support low end devices - this is just gonna be fluff stuff e.g. london eye turning, search lights, stuff in the sky, balloons etc, buildings on fire etc etc The idea being that 3GS and 3rd gen touch can ramp up the detail and get the fluff. This will be the last stuff I add.
#6
04/27/2010 (10:33 pm)
Well done. I will buy this for sure. 
#7
04/28/2010 (4:05 am)
Looks good, well done on shipping, shipping is always a good thing because so few manage it. Hope it does well for you! :) 
#8
We hope to get some info about sales data, and all that kind of things that help comunity..
=)
04/28/2010 (7:52 pm)
Congratulations dude!... I got lite version few days ago...We hope to get some info about sales data, and all that kind of things that help comunity..
=)
#9
04/29/2010 (4:26 am)
Thanks everybody. Edinson, I'm happy to share some sales data; about 1200 downloads of the lite and about 50 sales over 6 days. Not as good as I was hoping, I think one of the issues with the lite is that it has been too easy - it is the first five starter levels and was meant to be an "ease in" on the full game. I have another update that is awaiting a review and this has the lite pitching the player in about level 30. Much more action and much more of a challenge so I'm hoping this might persuade a few more people to convert. We are also going to have some advertising etc and see if that makes a difference. I think it will be a slow burn but hopefully we'll get there in the end. Fortunately we don't rely on sales for company income - otherwise we would have given up a long time ago.
#10
Bad news about the sales though. I'm currently out of work and I was hoping this would be a way to pay the bills. That doesn't look likely, but hopefully my efforts will provide a springboard to something more profitable in the future.
Tough times....
05/01/2010 (9:55 pm)
I like the idea of having user selectable gfx details. I've been thinking of encorporating that into my game, perhaps as a user option selectable via a GUI or via auto selection (I've not thought about how the auto selection could be done though). There seems to be a big difference in the performance of the different devices, and now that the iPad is also available, that is even more so, so I think this could be the way to go. PC games have been doing that for yrs already.Bad news about the sales though. I'm currently out of work and I was hoping this would be a way to pay the bills. That doesn't look likely, but hopefully my efforts will provide a springboard to something more profitable in the future.
Tough times....
#11
What I have learnt is that you only get about two days (tops) on the "new releases" category before you slip down the pages - it seems that most people don't look beyond the first couple of pages. Therefore, I think we are reliant on old fashioned marketing. Also, (in my case), I'm just going to keep improving the game and hopefully it will eventually get some momentum of it's own - the more a person likes your game the more likely they to show their mates and so it starts.
05/02/2010 (10:34 am)
Mark, please don't take my sales figures as an indication of your prospects - there is plenty of stuff that can be done to boost sales, like sending promo codes to all the reviews sites. They (apparently) take up to three weeks to get around to a review so it is still very early days for me in terms of reviews. What I have learnt is that you only get about two days (tops) on the "new releases" category before you slip down the pages - it seems that most people don't look beyond the first couple of pages. Therefore, I think we are reliant on old fashioned marketing. Also, (in my case), I'm just going to keep improving the game and hopefully it will eventually get some momentum of it's own - the more a person likes your game the more likely they to show their mates and so it starts.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]
Also I saw the video earlier and thought it looked great fun.
:)