After months of struggle, I’m starting to find some progress in the iTunes store. I’m very happy with the success of Commove. The initial sales are strong. That doesn’t mean I just kick back and collect millions of dollars. It means I have to become more focused. I have to continue to build better games. It also means that my current library of games should get better too. I went back to improve Commove. Version 1.1 improves performance and resolves some issues.
Commove is based on version 0.8.7 of the GameSalad engine. This new version boasts better collision detection and tuned autorotation. You might even notice slightly improved loading times.
Here are the official update notes for Commove (version 1.1)
- Level 2 music updated
- Sound files optimized
- Bomb blast layering issue resolved
- Loading times may be slightly faster
- Title screen issue corrected (iPad)
- Optimized images (iPad)
There was a bit of a challenge with the sound files. By properly reducing the size of the sound files, the less resources are needed to play them. Yet, I didn’t want to drop stereo sound. While iPod Touch and iPhone players might not even be using headphones, I strongly believed that the higher quality audio should be available. So, it was a delicate balance of optimizing the audio tracks. I think the final result achieved a great balance between quality and compression.
While the sales have been satisfying, the feedback is surprisingly sparse. One user posted a comment on iTunes about crash issues. I checked the logs, but there aren’t any crash reports. Without more data, I’m not sure what to correct, Yet, I figured that I might be pushing Commove too close to the memory limit. To ensure that the iPad has enough space to work, I went back and optimized my image files. This not only frees up storage space, it also eases up the memory requirements. I’m thinking that the improvements, should help prevent crashing issues during longer play sessions.
When I played Commove, after it was published on the iTunes store, my game lasted a long time. I hit the sleep button to pause my game. Later, I returned to my game. After another lengthy session, I used the sleep button again to paused my game. Once gain, I returned to my game. It awoke right where I left it. While not as good as a saved game file or multitasking, it is an alternative to completely abandoning your game.
Version 1.1 has been sent to Apple for approval. It should be available for download in about seven days.