Taxiball 1.1 on its way!

[selfawaregames]

Taxiball's first update's been submitted to Apple for approval!

For our first update, we were really interested in what the players had to say about the game - and one of the big pieces of feedback we got was that while people loved the replayability of the levels, they wanted things that were shorter, and faster - stuff you could blaze through in two, rather than ten, minutes.

For 1.1, we thought we were going to add one level, but we got a little crazy there at the end and added two.

NAS Ball is an easy level - might be deceptively easy to people who've already played the game. Its goals are twofold - to give brand-new players an area where they can really get familiar with rolling the ball around, with not much else to concentrate on - and to give players who've mastered the core mechanics something different - a place to roll around that's not about bumping into things, but going as fast as possible, and compete on the leaderboards for the highest score. Finishing is easy, but getting that number 1 spot? Good luck!

The second level... well, there's gotta be *some* mystery to the experience, right?

For both levels, there are new leaderboards to keep track of your friends' scores, and new Awards to add to your collection!

In keeping with peoples' desire for a faster, leaner introduction to the game, we've also streamlined the tutorial, making it a less-intrusive experience.

1.1 also fixes a problem for users who don't have access to WiFi - you no longer need a WiFi connection to play the game! It also now saves volume & SFX settings from game-to-game.

The feedback we've received from the community has been invaluable, and we hope that update 1.1 improves on the experience for everyone!

[Fraser]

I've really been enjoying this title lately, though there are some things I'd like to see added.

The ball rolls a bit too freely at times I think. It'd be great if there were bonuses for not touching the walls between customers, but at the moment, that would be too difficult to achieve within a reasonable time limit. If the ball moved the way it does on grass all of the time however, it might be possible to ferry customers without bashing into things.

I'm nit picking though, it's really good fun as it is and I'm looking forward to the update.

[selfawaregames]

Hey, Fraser! Thanks for the feedback.

One of the things we had early on was actually that the default surface was grass, and the "other" surface was asphalt - it actually made the game feel *really* sluggish and slow. If you get to the Venice level, one of the corners of the map is primarily grass, and you can see how different it feels in that area. Different strokes for different folks, though - while I didn't like how it felt, maybe other people would enjoy it. It's definitely something we can try in an update level.

Also, I dunno if you've noticed, but there *are* Awards for getting through a level without hitting walls, or upsetting fares. The Deft Touch Award is something I think you can do with a little practice, but the Untouchable one is quite a bit harder.

[Fraser]

Also, I dunno if you've noticed, but there *are* Awards for getting through a level without hitting walls, or upsetting fares. The Deft Touch Award is something I think you can do with a little practice, but the Untouchable one is quite a bit harder.

Ahh I see. Looks like I'm too rubbish at it to earn that one yet , glad to hear it's there though. Point taken about how slowing things down might make things a little sluggish. I suppose it would mess with how everything is timed too, making for levels that last a bit too long.

What does everyone else think? Surely I can't be Taxiball's only fan? This is one of the most enjoyable iPhone games I've played in weeks.

[selfawaregames]

...and finally, 1.1 is LIVE! In addition to two new levels, we made a sort of subtle change. People were getting confused by the negative emotes when you hit walls hard - rightfully so, they thought that it would penalize your score. Strangely, this is one of those things that slipped by because we'd just been too close to the game for too long. As a result, some people have been playing WAY too "delicately" trying to avoid the frowning faces. This isn't what we'd originally intended at all!

(dumb mistake!)

So now, in v.1.1, the wall-collision emotes still happen, but rather than frowning, they'll tend to smile. It's not the absolute best fix in the universe, but hopefully, it's a step in the right direction.

Cheers!
seppo

[fishsticks]

People were getting confused by the negative emotes when you hit walls hard - rightfully so, they thought that it would penalize your score. Strangely, this is one of those things that slipped by because we'd just been too close to the game for too long. As a result, some people have been playing WAY too "delicately" trying to avoid the frowning faces. This isn't what we'd originally intended at all!

Darn, I wondered how I was supposed to get all the fares in a city - it was a struggle just to get over 30 in Hometown, 44 looked utterly impossible! This should get much easier now I know I can speed around and happily start bouncing off the walls

[Fraser]

Yep, a certain amount of wall bumping is necessary, it's still great fun though!