Apocalypse Max

Hi Everyone!

We've released Apocalypse Max on Google Play! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wandake.amaxr

Update
Now available on iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apocalypse-max/id1160346832

We started the beta about one month ago. Since then we have added 12 new levels including 2 boss battles along with improving the gameplay, performance, and controller support for the Nvidia Shield. Moving forward we have plans to add more levels, boss battles, and items.

You can also look at the work in progress thread here: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/apocalypse-max-android.417925/

Thanks for reading and we'd like to hear what you think!

Here are some screen shots:

 

always a fan of this genre!

 

Nice, professional workflow, please share the techniques, so we could also learn!
Regards,

 

Thanks! Here’s an overview of the development.

The original version was made in Cocos2d and we wanted a version that could easily be moved to other platforms so we decided to use Unity. From the old version we only brought over the sprite sheets and redid all of the code, animations, and effects. We used the Animation tools in unity for the characters and Shuriken for most of the effects.

We started out working toward making the game exactly like the iOS version but as time went on we’d come up with improvements, changes to the progression which caused the amount of work to grow too. After a couple weeks we made the decision to go free to play and begin to narrow down on what would be added. Over the next few weeks we built the levels and kept refining the gameplay and progression until we got the game to the point that it could be played by people.

We made the mistake of limiting the launch area instead of using the google play beta testing. After a day things were not going well so we looked at moving the game to Beta however it turns out that once a game is in Production you cannot move it back to Beta. The quickest solution to this was to create a new game listing and move everything over then release it. By using Unity Analytics and Ads changing the Bundle id to the new listing version was not a big issue.

Things were going much better at this point and we started receiving great feedback from players and they were able to find issues that the 3 of us had not. The next month was spent improving the game and adding content while fixing issues as they came along. This bring us to where we are now. We’re now working on new levels and fixing issues.

We did not really use any special technique it was mostly tools in Unity though the biggest help was that we used Google Sheets to hold the stats of everything in the game; levels, zombies, weapons, purchases, and ammo. Using "Google Sheets For Unity 2" from the asset store we set up a button in the editor to pull all the stats and the scriptable objects that hold the stats would be updated or new ones would be created automatically. This system took about a day to set up but it’s probably saved a few days of manually entering stats or creating new objects.

Let me know if you have any other questions or want to know more about something!

 

Looking great. Will try it hopefully soon when i have some free storage space in my android.

 

Looks gorgeous. Love the name

 

Looks good but sad that it isn't on PC, phones doesn't give the same enjoyment as a gamepad does.

 

that is an opinion. Not trying to be rude just saying... Mobile games have proven to do well, Candy Crush sold for Billions. I have seen many other games make millions. We been making PC, Console games for years, but since we went on own, and left our jobs in game development, we went to mobile development and it is the way to go to get going and make some money, also make some great games. To many people go to Kick Starter , ...You can make your own money with mobile to make other games....

The game looks pretty awesome, keep up the great work.. I played a game like this, trying to think of the name, but it was on XB1. and I believe I seen it on mobile and Steam.. I will post if I can think of it, looks and plays just like it.

I would make an Android version since your going IOS... Don't take much to set up an Android version and get more of a fan base.

 

Not to be rude but yes, it is an opinion, thought it was pretty obvious and didn't need to be spelled out... but there is also some knowledge and experience mixed into the comment.

You are still a game developer if you make games for phones... it is the making "games" part that define you as a game developer. You just left your life as a PC and Console developer behind to become a smartphone developer. You can be both a game and smartphone developer at the same time.

Yes, smartphones are very successful and games make millions on both markets. Smartphones are simply successful because more people own them. They aren't consoles, only meant for games, they are also a phone, calendar, document editing device etc. Thus, more people buy them because they fill many needs. Making a game for a smartphone still require that you are able to read the market, design an appropriate game for it, can develop, get through the noise and finally, that you have a bit of luck. Like always. Most developers are just happy if they make enough to survive and pay the bills. Very few make those lucrative millions that you mention... well... depends on the currency... one million vietnamese dong is roughly 300 swedish crowns. That is even less then the price of a single PC game xD Remember, anyone can easily make a million but not everyone have a million left after they deduct the development, marketing, material, personal etc costs.
The companies you mentioned are making millions because they exactly knew what they were doing with their big hits and spent millions on marketing to make sure that everyone knew of the games etc... they have and use resources that most others don't have access to. King (Candy Crush Saga) is best compared to Activision Blizzard on the PC and Console markets... no suprise that they are making lots of money with those resources.

Now, back to the comment. The problem with action games on phones is that they only have a screen with touch functionality. This doesn't provide the precision and feedback that many players hope for. There are of course these button and stick thingies that you can stick to the screen but not everyone own those or will carry them around. Why are these so important? Because you can miss a button on a screen because but this doesn't happen on other devices because you can feel the buttons and sticks under your fingers without looking down. A gamepad also have very sensitive sticks that know how hard you re pressing them, this allows the player to control the direction and speed of his avatar with high precision. Even some of the shoulder buttons might have this functionality. This si why gamepads always will be superior to smartphones in action games. The same way that mouse & keyboard always will be superior to a gamepad in FPS games.

And, yes, I am very familiar with the western AAA games industry. You might run into colleagues and friends in many of the big studios.

[Note] The game looked fun that is why I even bothered to mention that I would have given a good port a shot if I could play it with a proper input device even though I have a backlog filled with other games that I need to play and analyze due to work. That is a big compliment for a smartphone game coming from me. Especially like the art

 

lol...... I been in this business a long time...Making a console game, and a PC game I worked for company's...Now that we are our own company, making PC, console games, you need to hire more help and the cost is greater..If you don't know that, then I can't help you at all... Now if it was a tiny PC, or console game, that is different..But we don't make these tiny games, when we all know most of them don't do well...There a few that do, but its not as common I wont go into more detail about business and game development, because if you are one, you should already know that..



I know business...Many people think they do, well I own them and have ran them for many years.. In gaming and out... Now that I have total control over my own company, games cost money to make, so making both , costs money so if you think you can make a game with a few people and make all platforms, more power to you...But our game for mobile will cost plenty for a small indie ....So we budgeted for that...We aren't going to be fools and think we can make all platforms, support them all with 5 people.... If people think they can do it...Go for it...I have seen to many fail and have egos get in the way ...So we will be smart and build our way up ... We have goals in mind, and I been successful with business, with the process we use, and will continue to be successful and make a good living with a great product...

We also have done alot of work as freelancers and do work to work on our own games, and have done well. Which is another way to get your funds up to grow your company...To many people run to Kick Starter, which I find to be silly, I don't like using others people money like that most people don't understand how a game is made and the time involved...Now using investors which I have, is a bit better but you can run into the same issues as Kick Starter.... SADLY a good % of games on Kick Starter never get done, due to lack of experience in game development, and BUSINESS and Marketing..and more.




Ego's is one main reason many indies don't make it as I stated.. I love the developers who think they can make a game and because of that become successful.. You need to know much more than that... Best of Luck.. to you.

To the developer of this game, don't always buy into the nonsense about mobile games...People who bash the controls , just tell me, they don't have a clue how to DESIGN the UI properly, something I been a designer for a decade for games, and web another 20 +...So if you know how to design, program, test, etc, you can make any action game you want for mobile...This one for sure, would NOT be hard at all.. If you have a clear understanding of UX/UI design.

The game looks pretty good, I have NOT played it, but I would stick to your plan, and run with it. Going with mobile is being smart...We have seen to many company's make MMORPG and PC games and never made a game as a TEAM before.... and fail at it... Best of luck, I think you will do great.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Thanks, one of the reasons we went with Unity was ease of getting it on other platforms. We'll be looking at the PC release once we get more levels in. We do support the Nvidia shield controller now and are looking at others.

This version is the Android release.


Here’s the iOS version cocos2d:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apocalypse-max-better-dead/id518327015?mt=8


Thanks!

 

The first big update has been released! It brings:

-A new boss battle for the sewers

-10 new levels set in a cemetery and crypt.

-Performance is increased on lower end devices.

-The in app purchases scale with the players levels so you’ll receive the same value no matter how far into the game you are.

-Other improvements to the UI, controls, stats, and zombie behavior.


Moving forward we’re going to try to get out more smaller updates more often to fix issues as they come along. This update took 3 weeks, mostly because of the new levels, which caused many small issues to go unfixed for too long. We also learned quite a bit about UI optimization, one of the largest causes of low frame rate was having the health bars move every frame. The second was a couple of textures were not compressed properly. After that it was mainly moving as much of the zombies behaviors out of Update and FixedUpdate while still keeping the gameplay smooth.


Here are a some screenshots of the new levels: