VineKing - by Pixel Vandals Inc. - DRAW! TAP! GATHER! A multitasking frenzy!
by Richard Skala · in iTorque 2D · 06/10/2011 (12:35 am) · 31 replies
After lots of hard work, VineKing by Pixel Vandals Inc. is now available on the App Store! Thank you to GarageGames and the Torque community!
Here's a bit about VineKing:
DRAW! TAP! GATHER!
The VineKing is a great multitasker! Are you?
Buy VineKing on the App store now!
You are the last VineKing! Your planet has been destroyed by a cataclysmic event! Use the power of the VineKing to bring life back to your planet!
Challenge yourself with the frantic and fun VineKing! DRAW! TAP! GATHER! That's what it's all about! Sounds simple, right? It is! The challenge comes in Multitasking! The unique gameplay takes the simplest of tasks and combines them to create an extremely fun and challenging experience! As the last VineKing, experience heart pumping action as you travel through over 30 increasingly more challenging levels in a journey to bring life back to the entire planet!
DRAW!
Draw lines to smash through the Lava Rock that has covered your planet so life can regrow and flourish!
TAP!
Tap monsters to defeat them and protect the VineKing from danger!
GATHER!
Gather seeds to help regrow the entire planet!
FEATURES:
Fun, furious, and frantic gameplay!
Enjoy the rush of VineKing! Draw! Tap! Gather! A simple and frantic game! A quick pick up and play experience with a real challenge!
Over 30 increasingly more challenging levels.
At first it might be easy, but each level gets progressively more challenging! Each level is a hand crafted experience!
Game Center Support.
Over 60 achievements to earn!
Simple upgrade system with 18 levels of character upgrades.
As you play, invest rewards to reach new heights of power!
Beautiful hand-drawn graphics.
A mystical and magical world from the minds of the Pixel Vandals, this a true visual delight!
Unique Boss Levels!
Big bosses with big attitude! Can you stop them?
A Host of Enemies
Different enemy types with different abilities. Can you deal with them all?
"My world was once a place of lush green, a kingdom of life and beauty. But now it lies as only a dark shadow of its once glorious splendor. Shattered by the comet that came from the heavens, its molten core burst upon on the lands and twisted the planet into a place of soot and darkness.
With the power of the VineKings, I must rebuild our kingdom. I will set forth against this unknown darkness and prevail over whatever forces may oppose me. I will regrow all the lands, and they will give birth to a new generation of Vinelings and eventually a new VineKing to take my place. I will reclaim our planet!
I am the last VineKing. My journey begins here."
~the last VineKing
Here's a bit about VineKing:
DRAW! TAP! GATHER!
The VineKing is a great multitasker! Are you?
Buy VineKing on the App store now!
You are the last VineKing! Your planet has been destroyed by a cataclysmic event! Use the power of the VineKing to bring life back to your planet!
Challenge yourself with the frantic and fun VineKing! DRAW! TAP! GATHER! That's what it's all about! Sounds simple, right? It is! The challenge comes in Multitasking! The unique gameplay takes the simplest of tasks and combines them to create an extremely fun and challenging experience! As the last VineKing, experience heart pumping action as you travel through over 30 increasingly more challenging levels in a journey to bring life back to the entire planet!
DRAW!
Draw lines to smash through the Lava Rock that has covered your planet so life can regrow and flourish!
TAP!
Tap monsters to defeat them and protect the VineKing from danger!
GATHER!
Gather seeds to help regrow the entire planet!
FEATURES:
Fun, furious, and frantic gameplay!
Enjoy the rush of VineKing! Draw! Tap! Gather! A simple and frantic game! A quick pick up and play experience with a real challenge!
Over 30 increasingly more challenging levels.
At first it might be easy, but each level gets progressively more challenging! Each level is a hand crafted experience!
Game Center Support.
Over 60 achievements to earn!
Simple upgrade system with 18 levels of character upgrades.
As you play, invest rewards to reach new heights of power!
Beautiful hand-drawn graphics.
A mystical and magical world from the minds of the Pixel Vandals, this a true visual delight!
Unique Boss Levels!
Big bosses with big attitude! Can you stop them?
A Host of Enemies
Different enemy types with different abilities. Can you deal with them all?
"My world was once a place of lush green, a kingdom of life and beauty. But now it lies as only a dark shadow of its once glorious splendor. Shattered by the comet that came from the heavens, its molten core burst upon on the lands and twisted the planet into a place of soot and darkness.
With the power of the VineKings, I must rebuild our kingdom. I will set forth against this unknown darkness and prevail over whatever forces may oppose me. I will regrow all the lands, and they will give birth to a new generation of Vinelings and eventually a new VineKing to take my place. I will reclaim our planet!
I am the last VineKing. My journey begins here."
~the last VineKing
About the author
Founded in 2009, Pixel Vandals Inc. is focused on bringing fun, fresh, and new ideas to the iPhone. www.pixelvandals.com www.pixelvandals.com/vineking
#4
We also just got a review on TouchArcade!
http://toucharcade.com/2011/07/08/vineking-review-multitask-your-way-to-a-greener-world/
07/08/2011 (5:52 pm)
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Right now, I'm working on adding Leaderboards and some new levels for the next update.We also just got a review on TouchArcade!
http://toucharcade.com/2011/07/08/vineking-review-multitask-your-way-to-a-greener-world/
#6
07/09/2011 (9:34 pm)
Thanks! btw Rennie, I bought Temple Racer a while back, and I need to redownload it, but I can't find it in the App Store any more! What happened to it?
#7
iTunes connect says I have a "Contract Pending" but I can not find the contract. The Apple boards are surprisingly turning up nothing. Hmmm.
EDIT:
So I found it. They must have created a new contract recently that I did not know about. So for anyone, in the same situation, it is in the iTunes Connect, Contracts, Tax and Banking section surprisingly enough.
Thanks.
07/10/2011 (9:37 am)
@Richard. I had no idea. Thanks. iTunes connect says I have a "Contract Pending" but I can not find the contract. The Apple boards are surprisingly turning up nothing. Hmmm.
EDIT:
So I found it. They must have created a new contract recently that I did not know about. So for anyone, in the same situation, it is in the iTunes Connect, Contracts, Tax and Banking section surprisingly enough.
Thanks.
#8
07/10/2011 (11:20 am)
Yeah, whenever Apple updates the contracts (from a new iOS version or whatever), you HAVE to go to iTunes Connect -> Contracts, Tax, and Banking and accept the new contracts.
#9
did not know that one was sent out or that i had to update. do you know when that new contract came up? Just wondering how long I have been out of business. I have not been keeping track.
07/10/2011 (1:05 pm)
yups.did not know that one was sent out or that i had to update. do you know when that new contract came up? Just wondering how long I have been out of business. I have not been keeping track.
#10
07/10/2011 (1:26 pm)
Vaguely remember it was about six weeks ago.
#11
07/11/2011 (3:08 am)
ok. so no real loss. 
#12
07/11/2011 (7:34 am)
Did you get much of a sales boost from the Toucharcade review?
#13
Overall the game gave me good exposure tho and has opened up a few doors for me that I am very thankful for.
07/11/2011 (2:26 pm)
I never received a review, that I am aware of. I simply posted in their forums promoting the game. Having said that, it gave me fair exposure. Sales really took off in the first week but slowly lost momentum. I attribute this to a few things, 1. I had incorrectly set the base SDK to 4.1 ( i think ) so anyone not on at least 4.1 could not use it (rookie mistake). 2. The game's levels are quite large and perhaps my programming was not perfectly efficient so the game can be slow on older devices. 3. the game itself is not very "cute", one of the major factors I think in a game's success. Granted many games make it that are not cute make it, but most, if not many are. Overall the game gave me good exposure tho and has opened up a few doors for me that I am very thankful for.
#14
07/11/2011 (6:19 pm)
We've gotten a sales boost for every review posted, especially TouchArcade and iFanzine. One of my partners has been very diligent about getting exposure for the game.
#15
07/11/2011 (6:23 pm)
How did you get the review? Did you just send then a demo/free copy? Do you have to pay a fee? 
#16
I bought Vine King and I have a couple questions and suggestions:
1) There is a bug that causes an app to crash if it uses sound, as explained here
www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/126759
I noticed that Vine King resumes game play if put on foreground after being put on background. To my knowledge it is the only Torque app that does so.
All Torque apps I tried so far, if put on background (pressing the Home button) *re-start* execution when put on foreground again.
Where you aware of this problem? Did you implement your own similar fix?
2) Regarding the GUI interface (options, etc), did you use Torque GUI calls or the native Objective-C API? I am asking cause I need to add the same for my app, just considering pros and cons. I like the Angry Birds GUI interface, but I am not sure what they used.
Regarding the game, I thought game play was well made. Graphics are excellent. Did you use an in house artist?
One thing that I think could use improvement is the green line (I guess an OpenGL primitive call); I think it would look better if it was a sprite animation.
07/12/2011 (9:08 am)
@Richard I bought Vine King and I have a couple questions and suggestions:
1) There is a bug that causes an app to crash if it uses sound, as explained here
www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/126759
I noticed that Vine King resumes game play if put on foreground after being put on background. To my knowledge it is the only Torque app that does so.
All Torque apps I tried so far, if put on background (pressing the Home button) *re-start* execution when put on foreground again.
Where you aware of this problem? Did you implement your own similar fix?
2) Regarding the GUI interface (options, etc), did you use Torque GUI calls or the native Objective-C API? I am asking cause I need to add the same for my app, just considering pros and cons. I like the Angry Birds GUI interface, but I am not sure what they used.
Regarding the game, I thought game play was well made. Graphics are excellent. Did you use an in house artist?
One thing that I think could use improvement is the green line (I guess an OpenGL primitive call); I think it would look better if it was a sprite animation.
#17
Also, the dragons seems to rarely hit you. Makes them less important. If they hit you with more accuracy, they pose more of a threat and thus raise the heart beat of the user.
07/12/2011 (9:10 am)
I would agree with Pedro regarding the green line. It looks a bit primitive.Also, the dragons seems to rarely hit you. Makes them less important. If they hit you with more accuracy, they pose more of a threat and thus raise the heart beat of the user.
#18
Also bought Temple Racer
I would expect Apple to at least send us an email notification to update the contract.
07/12/2011 (9:14 am)
@RennieAlso bought Temple Racer
Quote:
Yeah, whenever Apple updates the contracts (from a new iOS version or whatever), you HAVE to go to iTunes Connect -> Contracts, Tax, and Banking and accept the new contracts.
I would expect Apple to at least send us an email notification to update the contract.
#19
Regarding Temple Racer, one thing that could use improvement is the art; here are some resources
www.lostgarden.com/2011/03/list-of-game-artists.html
www.lostgarden.com/2007/12/how-to-bootstrap-your-indie-art-needs.html
I have the same problem; I have a potential Top Ten hit but without good art is not going anywhere.
Other thing, this also applies to Vine King: Retina and Universal App.
here's some pointers
www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/21048
With iPad support the display looks *way* much better.
07/12/2011 (11:41 am)
@RennieRegarding Temple Racer, one thing that could use improvement is the art; here are some resources
www.lostgarden.com/2011/03/list-of-game-artists.html
www.lostgarden.com/2007/12/how-to-bootstrap-your-indie-art-needs.html
I have the same problem; I have a potential Top Ten hit but without good art is not going anywhere.
Other thing, this also applies to Vine King: Retina and Universal App.
here's some pointers
www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/21048
With iPad support the display looks *way* much better.
#20
Re: iPad support, are you talking in general or with Temple Racer? And overall what did you like about it (the game) and what would you change if you could?
07/12/2011 (11:51 am)
@Pedro, Thanks for the tips!Re: iPad support, are you talking in general or with Temple Racer? And overall what did you like about it (the game) and what would you change if you could?
Conor O'Kane
cokane.com