Beta-Build …1720 released…December 16,2009 3:58 pmOur latest beta build, which released today to those who bought it has a bunch of new things in it, including: Secondary Abilities…which means each piece has another fire/ability unique to it. For example, one of the pieces that has previously been pretty weak is now VERY vital on the strategy board. The BANSHEE’s secondary ability is to suck 1 health point per turn from every opponent directly around her on the Strategy Board. Conversely, the VALKYRIE’s ability is to HEAL everyone around her on the Strategy Board…so she’s like a moving Power Square and very important now in the overall strategy of the game. These are the only two that have this ability on the Strategy board…everyone else has something that affects their fighting in the Combat Arena. For example, the Wizard clones himself (there is a possibility of an 8 vs. 8 Combat, but it gets REALLY crazy!) The Sorceress calls down lightning bolts that fry everyone in it’s path. The Basilisk calls forth little snakes to aid it and the Knight has a reflective shield that works on all projectiles, sending them back to their originator. All abilities are very unique to the piece and pretty balanced. We are really excited to hear what everyone thinks about this new mode, which can be turned on and off. Also, there is a switch to turn on and off FRIENDLY FIRE. Play it. It’s well worth the $15 bucks. We’ve been playing for over 6 months (at least 1 game a day) and still don’t get sick of it. Crunch Weekend…December 7,2009 2:16 pmWe worked 25.7 hours Friday (from Friday morning to Saturday morning) to get the latest build finished and out. We put in a bunch of additions to this latest build, which includes: MANY tiny enhancements to the core game, MANY visual effects (it now rains on the dark squares during combat), additional UI enhancements and overall…a really great game. If you haven’t played Archon in a while, pick up a copy and play. We are now diving headfirst into the multiplayer portion of the game, we’ve been doing portions and planning for it…so now it is time to really hit it. I’m hoping it goes as smoothly as everything else in the game. We are at build 3617.1860…it would be a great Christmas gift for anyone! Pre-BETA release tonight…October 30,2009 5:29 pmWe’ve still got a few bugs to work out tonight with the delivery mechanism for the download, but the installer is done, the game is ready…just a few more wrinkles. I should have everything done tonight…For those who’ve bought the game already, a few more hours of patience and you’ll be playing the greatest game ever created! So buy some controllers, if you haven’t got any, and hold on to your seats! Pre-Beta build…October 23,2009 6:07 pmHere is a quick shot of the New Golem, which is just one of the graphical updates we’re doing for the game. We’re really excited about getting this Pre-Beta build out and into the hands of fans around the world. Currently we are only building for XP and Vista, but we’re planning on Mac versions in the future and hopefully Linux.  New Golem character We’re still on target for getting a build out and into the hands of the faithful fans next week. I can’t wait to get feedback on everything. We had our little tournament the other week and learned a lot about how people are playing the game and navigating the menus. We’ve used this data to sharpen the Strategy elements and include other things to make the game easier to get into (for the new player) yet satisfy the Archon buff. We also have something really cool planned for next week (something besides the Beta.) Indie Game Night…October 15,2009 10:57 amWe attended and partially sponsored the quarterly “Indie Game Night” which was hosted by the great folks at Ninja Bee/Wahoo studios. Steve Taylor (Studio Owner) and Greg Squire (Indie Organizer) let us come and show off our pre-Beta build of Archon PC. We took down several machines and had a mini “Archon Tournament!” The first since, well…probably since the game released back in ‘83 (anyone correct me if I’m wrong.) Congrats to Jake Dinkins and Justin Barlow for beating out all the other teams to become our first EVER Archon champions. They got T-shirts for their win. They played through several different boards in our TEAM mode 2 vs. 2. They caught on early to the strategies of doubling up characters and attacking on opposite colored square. It wasn’t an easy victory, but it sure was fun to watch.
We learned many things through this event, it was like a test market/focus group event for us. We payed close attention to how they played, what was unclear, where they tripped up and what we could to better. Thankfully, most of the issues were in the front end design…navigation is a bit unclear in some places and it was good to see that when people got into the game, it was virtually bug free (with very few exceptions.) Thanks again to NinjaBee and Greg Squire to letting us hold our little tournament. It allowed us to see our game in the real-world and see people’s reactions. We had a good mix of new and old school gamers. About half heard of Archon and remember playing it on the C64 or Atari at one point. We’ll take our observations and start changing things around to make it better. Archon:Conquest on App store RIGHT NOW!October 15,2009 2:29 amArchon:Conquest is now on the App store for $0.99. We’ve put a lot of hard work and testing to make this one of the best games around. I still play it when I have a chance and haven’t gotten tired of it. We designed this with the single player in mind, so there is no multiplayer…just you progressing through a series of quests that takes you through several immersive stories revolving around a few characters. Play as Light and Dark as there are 2 Light campaigns and 2 Dark campaigns…each with 15 quests. You encounter 60 different boards that will put your brains and skills to the test. You will have power-ups at your disposal and let me warn you…they are needed. Especially since several quests contain multiple enemies you have to fight at the same time!!! We’ve updated our CONTROLS on the Combat board, so it plays very smoothly! All the complaints concerning the controls have been addressed and now we have one of the best virtual dpads on the iPhone market. Archon:Conquest has a leaderboard system powered by “Plus+.” NGMOCO came out with their Plus+ technology to provide a platform that would be similar to an XBLA experience on the iPhone and they did a great job. It adds a whole new depth to our games, as you can see where you actually rank worldwide. Conquest fits perfectly on the iPhone and will keep you busy for hours. Once you complete a quest, you unlock INSANE difficulty! There are many Awards to get for you people who like that, and the leaderboard system is really nice. Our beta testers (these are good players) have reported it takes them about 4 hours to complete each Campaign, when they really hunker down and try to get the best scores they can (you’re rewarded medals based on your performance — they’ve gotten all golds.) So, you could spend over 12 hours getting through these quests…or you can go through them as fast as you can. I can’t say enough of Conquest…except go buy it, you won’t be disappointed! Phoenix rises from the ashes…October 14,2009 8:20 amTo anyone who has played Archon in the past, there was one piece you either loved or hated…and that’s the Phoenix. Most people I’ve talked to say this was the one piece that was way underpowered, even though she held a high ranking in the lineup (opposite of the much feared Dragon.) There are many who consider the Phoenix a ‘throw away’ piece, used only to whittle down an opposing piece…
Well, those days are over. We’ve spend the last several months working and reworking the pieces per team and have reached a perfect balance. The Phoenix will now strike fear in the hearts of opposing forces and takes it rightful place beside the Wizard, opposite the Dragon. She (I think the Phoenix has to be a “her”) is an awesome creature to behold, especially when she reaches a “level 3″ on boards that allow leveling. We’ve been play testing both the iPhone and PC for a while now and have taken all the comments from the forums, emails and App store into consideration and have made a perfect mix. This, I believe, is the ultimate Archon experience…which has been long awaited by fans the world over. I’m not just saying this because I’m the owner of the studio making the game…but because I am one of the biggest fans of this game, and have been since the day I loaded it up on my Atari 800 (it was from a 5 1/4 floppy.) The work is hard, but fun and well worth it. Our 4 player games last about an hour because we have to really think about strategy now (I’m playing against one of the best Archon players in the world.) We all get beat by Brad (our lead designer), but most of the time, we are ganging up on him during combat. Tomorrow Pre-sales will go live and we have a special treat for those who buy early. I’ll have that announcement later today. PC layout for Combat…October 8,2009 11:31 amSince we’re doing everything with HD in mind, we have a lot of lateral room to play around with. So we’ve added a few new things to the PC version (design-wise.) See the screenshot below:
We have the players name along with a nifty (huge) recharge indicator. We’ve need to really make this big, because you need a quick read when you’re battling 3 other people. It gets really hectic during combat…especially when you accidently kill your teammate and have to go it alone! We’ve also put in a faint “recharge” timer so you know how long before you’ll be able to fire (it fills up with a subtle grey, then pops to Green.) I’ll have more to show as I get it finished. Archon for the PC…October 7,2009 10:09 amWe’ve been so busy…I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last entry. Well, it’s official…we’ll be releasing the PC version soon. We’ve been playing it for the last couple of day and it’s been GREAT, AWESOME, FUN, and all those other wonderfully descriptive words. 4 player definitely adds an intensity to an already intense game during combat. Image being the Djinni, and you’re entering battle with a level 3 Dragon (he has triple shot), a Troll and a Wizard. I found myself trying to hide in a corner and letting them duke it out, until I hear “HE’S HIDING! GET HIM!” Then all three of them turn on me. For those who’ve played the board game “RISK”, there can be a lot of similarities as far as truces and alliances being formed during gameplay. I also found myself in a battle with 2 knights…I was a Dragon and thought, “Hah, 2 Knights on a grey square…easy!” That was before they expertly herded me into a corner and hacked me to death….Oohhh the fun of 4 player games. We have “Teams” or “Free for All”, along with AI…so if there are only 3 people playing, 2 can be on a team and the leftover player simply grabs an AI for his teammate (and selecting INSANE for his setting.) There are many other surprises in store for the PC, such as various new boards, new abilities, etc. I don’t have any screenshots yet, mainly because the TEMP art is so ugly…but that will change soon. We’ve decided to start pre-sales from our site OCT 15th, so tell everyone you know to buy the game so you can play against each other. Achievements…September 3,2009 9:00 amWe’re just finishing up our “Achievements” list for Archon. Some of them are pretty fun, some are hard, but most are easy. We’re finding that in one game, a person will get 5, 6 even 8 achievements from the list we have. In a game like Archon, you could possibly target a few achievements, because there are so many pieces and the games can be long…but come on…8 in one game?! We’ve got to fix that. So, I thought a good place to turn for ideas would be the community. Who better to ask for help than the people playing the game? So, people…What would make a really good achievement? I mean a REALLY hard one? Maybe even one that nobody can get…like: “Annihilate the Dark team by only using 1 Knight.” or, “Win a game in under 1 minute.” We have a list of about 20 or so…but some are really easy. Let me know your thoughts on our forums. Click here to enter your idea. Thanks and I look forward to your ideas! Archon 1.7 submitted to App Store…September 1,2009 11:57 amSorry it’s been a while since this update…we’re hard at work! We submitted the last update 1.7 two weeks ago and we’re still waiting. They came back with a small issue that had to be fixed, but I’m hoping it will be available soon. Mainly so you can experience some fixes that have been a long time coming. A HUGE fix we implemented in this latest update is with the controls. One of the biggest complaints we have (and every other game on the iPhone) is the controls. Where we erred was with the firing input. I think the Dpad works just as well as the best virtual Dpads on the iPhone, and the firing mechanism is simple…just touch the right side of the screen. The problem we discovered was the iPhone was confusing the ‘firing’ touches with ‘pinching’ and since we didn’t support pinching in combat, it would ignore the touch…hence the piece wouldn’t fire. Sorry…our fault…but it’s fixed now with the 1.7 update. Also, we’ve included a new board called “Invictis.” It implements “Power-ups” during combat along with special Power Squares during Strategy that give other abilities (see image below.)
Color is very important on this board. You can see on this Strategy board, the new look of Power Squares. They each have a different number, which affects a different ability of each character. Orange=Movement of the character, Red=Weapon and Green=Health. So, landing on a Power Square with a Red dot could give you a triple shot, or a more powerful shot or even a faster shot. Once you land on this new Power Square, the ability it gives you will stay the rest of the game…so it’s a different way of leveling up, like in Ascension.
In Combat, you’ll randomly have other Power-Ups appear throughout the course of the game. We’ve kept the color the same as the Strategy Board, so you know Red affects your weapon, Green affects your Health and Orange your speed.
So, This new board offers a whole different type of Strategy than previous ones. And the best part is it’ll be available to play through Multiplayer, when we get that finished (around the corner.) We’re close to finishing Bluetooth and let me just say…there are LOTS of surprises around the corner! Multiplayer is a blast, the game is more robust than ever and next update, I’ll talk about Multiplayer and the 1 player Campaign we’ve finished. Your thoughts on Ascension…August 12,2009 12:17 pmThe new update for Ascension has been out for a little bit, it’s getting TONS of downloads so I’m curious to see what you think about it? Sound off in our forums http://forums.reactgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1071 We really like this board and the different strategies involved. For example, your flying units are extremely important and every DEATH is important because you know it is leveling up somebody. No longer can you afford to simply throw your knights or goblins away in suicidal combat! Also, the Phoenix is truly a Dragon hunter, especially when he gets to level 3. It is our new favorite board. Still waiting for 1.5…August 6,2009 7:26 amI was hoping Apple would follow the trend of approving each update we sent in about a week, but alas…this one has taken a week and a half. We’ve already got 1.7 ready to go, but can’t submit it until this first update (1.5) hits. Oh well. That’s how it goes. Here are a few screenshots about the new board “Ascension” that is the highlight of the 1.5 update. This board is very cool and lots of fun to play. In fact, we find ourselves coming back to this board to play over and over. We almost never play the “classic” version anymore because we have so many more options to play (more on that later.)
It’s pretty cool to have a Level 3 Dragon fighting a Level 3 Djinni or Valkyrie. The whole board lights up with pretty little particles! I can’t wait for you to play it and give us feedback. 1.5 Update…August 1,2009 1:14 amGameplay Video of Archon 1.5 update Our newest update, due out next week is 1.5 and we refer to it as “Ascension” We call it that because it contains a new board of that name. Now, when you want to play a game, you can select “classic” or “ascension” as your board type. Why is this new board unique? Well, it’s not just a new layout with characters placed differently…but there are a bunch of new things added. Particle effects add more visual POP to it, There is one less Power Point and the best part is your characters will LEVEL UP based on the number of kills they have. There are 3 levels each one can achieve and with each level, they get different abilities. I don’t want to spoil it for you…but just look at the video and see for yourself. Some get a ton more health, others move faster, while others get more powerful shots. We’ve balanced everything out nicely and it is a BLAST to play! I can’t wait for you to play it…It adds so much more depth and value to the game. I’ve noticed, through my browsing the game sites, that some reviewers have changed their ratings and scores solely based on our last update (1.2)…let’s hope this update continues that trend (hint, hint!) We’ve committed to having weekly updates until mid September, which will add a ton of value to this game…so log onto the forums and let’s hear your comments. Lite version coming to iPhone…July 20,2009 2:17 pmAfter the 1.2 update is made available on the App store, which should be this week (probably tomorrow, if the Apple approval trend stays consistent,) the Lite version will hit next. Most likely that will hit the store the week after. We’re pretty excited about the LITE version and the potential new users this will bring to the Archon universe. It will feature the following: 8 unique characters, play either as Light or Dark, Left handed mode, Smart Aim settings on or off and Accelerometer support. It gives a good taste of what the full version will be like…and it’s pretty engaging, although the AI setting will be easy, it will give enough strategy and combat to get people hooked. We’ve got our update schedule outlined, which we’ll average about 1 update and/or feature a week for the next month (if all goes well)…and YES, it includes the Multiplayer version as a 2.0 update. Since our engine is multi-platform, most of the things we implement will carry over to the PC and other platforms, so if you like the iPhone version, imagine playing with a controller! Of course, we’ll upgrade many things for the other platforms to fit it, so it won’t be a straight port from one to the next. We’ll even redo the graphics to fit the platform, so each one will have it’s own unique look. Can’t wait to see the responses to the 1.2 update. It’s like Christmas eve for us, waiting for everyone to open the present we’ve taken so much time to prepare and wrap…we can hardly wait. Anticipation is killing me!July 16,2009 9:01 amI can’t wait to show everyone what we are working on! As well as working on the multiplayer aspect, we are working on the 1 player “campaign” mode which we’ll call something else…something cooler. This portion of the game has exploded from a small mode into a whole game in and of itself. It will double the value of the current game as it is and provide hours of gameplay for a single player. The multiplayer also has a few big surprises, which we are excited to present. Maybe I’ll leak a few screenshots soon just to give you a taste, or preview of what is coming down the line. The 1.2 update should hit next week. We will also be releasing a LITE version shortly after the 1.2 update, then it’s version 1.5 (we had so many features added, we skipped .3 and .4) which will include the campaign mode, then version 2.0 will be the multiplayer. More on the Campaign mode later. So, stay tuned…I’ll be updating shortly. Just as a matter of curiosity…how many people actually read this? Shoot me a quick comment or email to let me know you’re out there. Update 1.2…July 9,2009 10:58 amHere are the things we’ve fixed for our version 1.2 update. We’ll be submitting it this week, so it should be available on the App store in a few weeks (barring any rejection on their part.) We’ve addressed all the issues from the forums and some of the legitimate ones from the App store reviews.
A note on the AI…we bumped up all the settings EXCEPT easy. Easy is still easy, but we’ve added an “INSANE” setting….so good luck winning a combat let alone a game. Control issues…July 7,2009 8:33 amI’ve been reading the reviews from the App store and it seems there are some complaints about the controls (The Dpad and firing) during Combat. I think the issues stem from the “Smart Fire” we put in to help the twitch response that is necessary. This feature works great when you’re far away, however, when you’re close, it seems to have some issues figuring out the best angle (since there are probably 3 to choose from). Here is how the “Smart Fire” feature works. It is a bit of AI to help in the aiming process. It keeps track of where your enemy is and your location, then it is constantly figuring out the best direction to fire in order to hit your enemy. Once you press fire, it helps you shoot in the right direction (if you’re not pressing in the exact direction of the enemy). The thinking behind this came from the inherent lack of response from any virtual Dpad for the iPhone (it’s not tactile, so even the best ones won’t have the response of a physical one.) Far away, it works great…I can be running straight up with my unicorn, when my enemy is in line with me horizontally, I press fire and it shoots along the horizontal plane, without me even having to change direction. This is something that is necessary on the iPhone. When you’re close to your enemy and in a few other situations, however, I think Smart Fire gets a little confused. We’re working on addressing that issue, along with making a setting to turn it off, if you choose. This will be in update 1.2. We’ve also fixed the accelerometer not working for the dark side, enhanced the Dpad to be a bit more sensitive and we’re working on making the hard AI setting REALLY hard…we may even come up with a fourth setting, which is “insane” for you hard-core people…but don’t cry about it once we do it, because it will be VERY hard and few people (including myself) will be able to beat it. And to note “Easy” is meant to be easy, thus the name. That setting is for people who’ve never played on the iPhone before, the grandmas and kids under 8. If you’re any type of gamer, use the medium or hard setting. We’re being very aggressive with the multiplayer design, which I think everyone will be very happy about. There will be a few surprises, I’ll let you know as soon as I know they’re going to work. In the top 100 apps…July 6,2009 9:49 amI just checked on the app store and we’ve broken into the top 100! Our stats are #99 overall, #58 in the games category, #9 in strategy and #29 in action. Our sale over the weekend worked, although we’re still trying to figure things out as far as marketing…the App store is so new and everyone has an opinion on what to do, but not everything works in every situation. The one sure thing is getting featured on the App store somewhere. We’ve been in the “What’s Hot” section for a week and that definitely boosted sales and we’re hoping that plus being in the top spots will help us even more. We’re excited about multiplayer and know that will add to the longevity of the game, giving our users that much more of an experience. I can’t wait to play against real people. We’re also working on updates and requested features based on the forums and reviews on the app store. We’re really happy with what we’ve done so far and where we’re going with not only this app, but other consoles as well. I’d like to thank all those who’ve taken the time to leave a review and comment on the forums, as we take those into consideration as we’re doing updates and planning for the future. Update to 1.1July 2,2009 12:13 pmWe’ve addressed some of the issues from the forums, mainly those that have to do with gameplay and a pretty big exploit that got past our testers…(won’t go into that.) We’ve added a few visual enhancements in the UI and prepared the way for a LITE version, should we choose to release one. Seems like it would be a good idea to help spread the Archon bug. We’re also laying the groundwork for the multiplayer, which we’re pretty happy about. We’re also looking into services to host our leaderboards and such so we don’t have to start from scratch and make our own…but we may end up doing it ourselves anyway. Not too sure at the moment, doesn’t look that hard to get something simple up and running, although something like the Plus+ stuff looks pretty cool. |
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